Tāmaki locals,
I’ve Got Some Questions ForYou
By Petra Shotwell (she/they) Unlike your typical ‘welcome back’ issue, I don’t set out to provide you with all the answers for your first year at uni. In lieu, I’m going to give you a list of questions – and I guarantee many of you newbies have been asking the very same. Like many of you fresh-faced and fizzing first years, I, too, am new to town and nervously embarking on my AUT journey (though, considerably less fresh-faced). Me, from being so safe in Pōneke’s loving arms, and you, from wherever you ran from, chose to move to Covid central. Whether heading for post-grad study like yours truly, leaving home for the first time, or none of the above, decisions
were made, and they landed us here. Some were sceptical, but wished us well; others whole-heartedly congratulated us; but the Wellingtonians…the Wellingtonians shook their heads and asked us ‘why?’ It is a well-known fact, a requirement, if you will: Wellingtonians hate Auckland. ‘Hate’ is a strong word, but so is the Wellington wind, so those hipsters know what they’re talking about. I, having only visited Tāmaki Makaurau once prior to moving, was riddled with nerves but somewhat prepared to address the feelings of hatred that I was warned would follow me. Those feelings never came. Instead, the past month has been quite comfortable – enjoyable, even. Do I like it here? Am I a bad Wellingtonian?
Can I even call myself a Wellingtonian anymore, or have I been claimed by this secretly not-so-bad city? Accepting my fate as an almighty JAFA, I’ve chosen to take the high road. It is now my quest to prove Wellington wrong, with sufficient evidence to answer for Auckland’s downfalls. But you see, I just can’t get my head around the downfalls – that’s where you come in. Those with answers to the following are invited to write a letter to the editor, or, if your curiosity should stray, track me down on Instagram and provide me with the answers I so desperately crave. Editor’s note: debate@autsa.org.nz welcomes any beach recs and ant killer suggestions.
