Writing Christmas Cards on the beach?

I've realized I'm not very good with this whole blogging thing. It could be because I'm slow at everything or that I'm too busy having fun to keep up, but I think the main problem is condensing WORLD TRAVEL into a paragraph or two. I couldn't possibly relay my experiences.

people, food, weather, history...

Change in oneself is so gradual that you hardly notice any difference at all until you place yourself into a past experience and realize your actions would now be different.

change in passions, relationships, talents, fashion, perception...

It's also interesting to notice the people in your life who you'd never miss and those who you now know you couldn't live without.

Anyways,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

It's crazy how not-in-the-season I feel. Im not upset about it, it's just that without the winter wonderland, songs, shopping, or family it doesn't feel like the holidays. I'm sweating my butt off here in Australia, not sipping hot chocolate by the fire and making cookies. I don't wanna complain either because this is all doing wonders for my tan ;)

A Game Called 'Catch Up':

I haven't written in over a month so I guess I should fill you in. I had THE MOST AMAZING trip in NZ to Te Anau and MILFORD SOUND. If you're keen to visit New Zealand, this is a must see. It was absolutely stunning and I went on the most perfectly sunny day in Spring! We had a great hike the day before but the fog was so thick that you couldn't see a meter in front of you... We also stayed in century-old cabins with coal and wood-burning stoves. On the way home, seeing that it was Laurel's birthday, I offered to drive while the other three girls started the nights festivities early ;)

Finals came and went (much less stressful than Richmond), and sunbathing began as Spring finally set in. Sadly everyone started heading off for new adventures whether it was the North Island, Fiji, Tonga, Australia, or Thailand. It was really hard to say goodbye... to some forever.

Then Dad came. Of course he arrived a day late (if you knew my Dad...) but we were able to keep the schedule. Our course was:

Christchurch -> Kaikoura -> Hanmer Springs -> Wanaka -> Queenstown -> Christchurch

in four days.

Quite a lot of driving. If you're also into geography check out a map!

All in all, we had a lot of fun and some great meals. Success.

Australia aka "Oz"

Our trip started with a 6:00am flight (3am wake up) and an extra bag costing $400. yikes. It could only go uphill from there. Dad stayed for 3 days, and now me and Lisa are taking on Sydney solo.

Sydney is awesome. Great city with MILLIONS of fantastic CAFES! I really dont know how Ill ever drink coffee again after this. We're living on the top floor of this gorgeous apartment building with roof access and an amazing city view from the kitchen and living area. I'll be spending the next 11 days reading books at cafes, relaxing on the beaches, and exploring the awesome morning markets before I'm off to Europe!

Funtastic Week!

Tuesday

Maori Dance Peformance

A few friends took a Maori song and dance class and had a public performance as part of their final. (Maori = NZ's Native American) For all those who have never seen a Haka:

This is a clip from an All Blacks rugby game - The Haka is performed before every game. Warning : Extremely Badass.

Lazer Tag & Mini Golf

For only $12 each, a bunch of us were able to spend the night playing Lazer Tag and Mini-Golf at a local bar. we each also got a free drink from the bar :)

Good News: I kicked ass at minigolf!

Bad News: Anna broke her front tooth in half running into a wall during Lazer Tag. True story.

Thursday

Red Card

A Red Card is something a friend/flatmate can pull on another only once. It usually involves setting up some ridiculous, embarrassing event usually involving costumes and drinking.

Ex: Tyson pulled Fiona's red card and made her organize an Assassin's game for all of their friends. Ninja-themed of course.

480's Red Card:

Team Scavenger Hunt -- Noah's Ark themed -- teams of 4/5 ducktaped together

Example tasks: 1. Shotgun a beer in a lecture hall while lecture is in progress. 2. Approach random stranger mistaking them for Justin Bieber/Miley Cyrus and get their autograph as said celebrity.

Friday - - End of Classes!

Ross's Creek

Anna, Collette, and I finally got to take a walk to the unknown area of "Ross's Creek" (directions courtesy of Alex Child). We finally saw the 2nd botanical gardens in town and took a short little hike into the mountains surrounding Dunedin.

Saturday

Wine -tasting Bike Tour

Six of us decided to bike to a cluster of wineries just outside of Cromwell for wine tastings! It was a beautiful breezy day and got to three different wineries, all small and charming. This was one of my favorite activities I've done so far, and also one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen... Hello retirement home!

Note of fun discovery: My flatmate's parents lived in a wigwam (aka teepee) for a significant amount of time, even once the first child was born.

The Exponential Ends of Luck (in light of my A in statistics)

Friday, August 27 - Sunday, September 5

Mid-Semester Break (i’ve left out an exclamation point for a reason)

Having just watched a Lord of the Rings marathon, I must admit my journey was not quite as epic as Frodo’s but it was quite similar to a Chevy Chase vacation film. Enjoy my misfortune.

3 girls take on the North Island

Friday.

Anna, Carolina, and I get a ride to Christchurch with our friend Fiona who doesn’t stay with us during the whole trip but basically made the entire trip possible. We stay with her family friend Rob and his 2 cats... his family was gone for the weekend he wasn’t some lonely cat man waiting to lock us in his basement.

Fiona’s Contributions:

- 1 sleeping bag

- 1 tramping bag

- 4 different family/friends’ houses to sleep overnight

- Food

- Travel Advice

Saturday.

Rob was quite hospitable-- even made us breakfast before dropping us off at (what we thought to be) a prime hitch-hiking location at a gas station on a main road at 6AM. We waited about an hour and finally got a ride with nice but dirty Miner. It’s not the safest feeling to be driving in a truck filled with dried mud, garbage, and ice picks/mining tools in the boot... but we had to make our ferry (six hours away) by 5:30pm. He only drove us about 30min North, but after waiting only 5min we were picked up again by Jan (“Yan”).

Jan:

- German

- 29 yrs old

- Accountant on a business trip

- ALSO taking the same ferry!

- ULTIMATE PLAYER (crazy!? there are under 10 teams in all of Germany AND he is coming to Georgia for Spring Break!!) we threw his disc waiting for the ferry :)

He was awesome. We chatted about frisbee, boys and dating, business and traveling. Since he was also a tourist, we stopped to see the seals while driving up the coast. Jan drove us all the way through the mountains to the ferry in Picton, and we made it to the earlier one at 3pm. The 3 hour ferry ride was beautiful!

Finally we arrived in Picton and were greeted by the Jupps! (my complex-mate Lara and her family) We ate dinner then got a taste of the city nightlife!

Sunday.

We have breakfast at the indoor/outdoor farmer’s market in town, visited the Te Papa museum, shopped along Cuba St., and ended at the WETA Cave by Lara’s house. The WETA Cave is a mini-museum of paraphernalia from a ton of famous movies such as Lord of the Rings, District 9, and Avatar. We got to see an awesome behind-the-scenes movie too. Extremely cool.

Monday.

We leave the Jupps and pick up our rental car to begin our exploration of the North Island. About 30 min later we find ourselves with a flat tire on the side of the road. This was the first of our bad luck. The way we saw it was that for any good luck we had (finding Jan) we must endure equal misfortune (flat tire). Good news, I now know how to put on a spare. I should mention that NZ highways are usually 1-2 lanes so we were driving about 30mph on a 1 lane, 70 mph highway until we reached the next town.

While waiting for a new tire, we wander the town of Upperhutt and find the Toy Library. Confused? Us too. Its a small 1 room building with heaps of kids toys that can be rented out like a library book. Churr. (kiwi slang meaning “cool” or “neat”)

Because of our little detour we don’t get to Napier until 5pm.. stores were closed but we still got to walk around and see the art deco buildings the town is famous for. Napier is also a beach town on the East Coast, full of murals and palm tree-type vegetation.

We slept at Fiona’s Auntie’s house that night in the neighboring town. Tracie is a single mom with 3 kids, Benjamin, Matt, and Steph – sounds like “Steve” in the kiwi accent so we totally thought they named the girl steve until fiona corrected us a week later— the kids were SO cute! They told us that Matt is autistic and “his head is broken” but he was so much fun, we playedBop It! all night.

Tuesday.

We head up to Taupo to meet up with Fiona at her grandparents’ house. We can’t go on the tramp we planned because of the rain. We veg out for a while and then take a drive to Puzzle World...more like a room with some puzzles on the tables. Oh, let’s not forget the garbage bag-wall maze about 4 ft high. Definitely not the life-size Puzzle World in Wanaka.. LAME.

Bored and looking for non-strenuous fun, we find the FREE hot springs in town. It was literally a natural, hot jacuzzi! See the steam??

Wednesday.

We leave Fiona and Taupo and start our drive to Rotorua, home of natural hot springs/geysers and the sweet smell of sulfur. No literally, half their tourism is based on tourists coming to grab a whiff of the rotten egg smell encompassing the city. Unfortunately there were very few things to do for free. We do, however, find a (non-natural) heated pool for a cheap swim... ALL PRIVATE by the way. Private as in no one else thought it was as cool as another natural, more expensive pool. Their loss.

The smell of the city finally got to us. We walked along the docks at Lake Rotorua for sunset and then moved the party to Auckland for a little taste of the nightlife.

When we were changing to go out I couldn’t find a bag of clothes I had packed before leaving Taupo earlier. Turns out Anna had mistaken my bag of clothes for a trash bag. I hate my life. So I lost my Richmond sweatpants, only two sweatshirts I have in NZ (my only jackets for this week too), my gym sneakers, and my everyday sneakers. BAD LUCK. Bad bad bad luck. I ended up going out that night looking like trailer-park cat woman in black leggings, a tight black dress, and black flip flops (only shoes I had). Embarrassing..

That night we slept in the car in the middle of the largest city in NZ.

My Feelings (in Pie Chart form)

38% worried about cops

27% worried about cracking the window enough not to lose oxygen

18% worried about a parking ticket

13% worried about getting kidnapped and tortured in Eastern Europe

4% totally calm and collected

= 100% = 1 ... long night.

Thursday.

My fears weren’t all irrational... we woke up as the parking cop was writing a ticket for the car behind us so I slipped my feet out of the sleeping bag, turned the key, and hit the gas. Anna got her new passport later that morning (kind of the point of our trip) and we headed a little south towards Hamilton, 2^nd largest city and Fiona’s hometown. While stopping to get directions at the Information center we got a parking ticket. Surprise! Our luck continues to plummet.

Staying at Fi’s was definitely an experience. She has four younger brothers (making a total of 7 in the house) and yet they always have overnight guests. Honestly, they are some of the most giving people I have ever met. Their house is interesting in that its HUGE but it has nothing in it. You would think they had just moved in. Example Bedroom includes: 1 bed, 1 dresser... nothing on the walls, no desk, no messy closets, not even a trash can. Fiona says her mom just doesn’t like “stuff.” They also live on a small farm. They were 18 cows when we were there and a baby lamb was born! Tradition is the guests name it, so I called her Lambchop. Unfortunately she died the next morning because her mom didn’t have much milk.

Friday.

We dropped Fiona off at the airport in Auckland and explored a little outside Auckland, driving through cute little beach towns and going outlet shopping to replace my lost shoes. That night we slept in the car again.. this time in a car park so we felt a safer.

Saturday.

Ahh, time to fly home! We are pretty tired at this point and fed up with our bad luck streak. We have an early flight (8:30am) so we rush to the airport but then get lost trying to find the rental car drop-off. We are literally running through the airport (think Home Alone) because we realize we’re too late to check our bags. We finally get to our airline and notice everyone is standing around yelling at each other and no one is boarding. A man turns to us and says not to worry about checking bags... there’s a delay. There was an earthquake in Christchurch at 4am. ?!??! No way. What are the chances that an earthquake occurs in the city we need to fly into on that specific morning??

With our luck you would have thought we committed murder.

Ok, no big deal, we’ll just get our flight redirected right back to Dunedin where we live. NOPE. Funny thing is Jetstar is the ONLY airline in NZ that doesn’t fly to Dunedin. Coincidence? They want to book us to Christchurch on the later flight that will arrive at 7pm that day but since we had to hitchhike home from Christchurch there’s no way we could start at 7 when its dark. We would have to stay overnight in a hostel. On top of that, there was an earthquake! Nothing was open and a lot of roads were cracked and closed.

We had to go to another city. Then we remember my flatmate, Laurel, has her car in Queenstown and might be able to give us a ride home if we can get a flight there. Two problems: Laurel was supposed to leave Queenstown that day, she would have to stay another night to drive us home the next day and all three of us had dead cell phones and no chargers. Thank god for free airport email. We asked about five different people to contact laurel and when we finally got an answer back that Laurel would wait for us, all we had to do was get a flight to Queenstown the next morning. They immediately said NO, explaining they could only give us another flight to the same city. I cried and begged and finally the manager came out. “Are you American?” “Ugh, just change it.” SCORE for all young American girls out there. Finally something went right.

Wait no, that was too lucky. We were being really good about our 27 hours in the airport (8am Sat – 11am Sun) and as we were finding a nice chair to sleep in, I realize I’ve lost my sleeping bag. BAHHH!?!! We called lost and found, retraced our steps outside, and checked the entire international terminal. Our last hope was to run back to the domestic terminal that closed in 10 min. I asked the first lady I saw who was working for another airline, far away from Jetstar, and crazy enough she was the one who found it! She apologized for not contacting lost and found and handed it over, safe and sound.

The only thing keeping me from having a mental breakdown was drawing a scrapbook of our trip. I would, I know.

Sunday.

Fly to Queenstown, drive home with Laurel and Kevin to Dunedin. Nice and Simple.

Culmination of the Trip:

- 1 flat tire

- 1 parking ticket

- 1 speeding ticket

- 1 lost bag of clothes

- 1 earthquake

- 2 entire loaves of pbj and pb-banana sandwiches consumed (just me, no jokes)

Apologies

Its been a long time since my last post. No, it’s not because I have no life and nothing interesting has happened. It’s due to a combination of factors:

- terrible internet connection

- homework (don’t they know I’m abroad?)

- disease

- laziness

- global warming

i’ll still try to trick you by posting a bunch of posts all at once making it look like your fault for not keeping up ;)

The Curse of the Crystal Spirit Artist

Sounds like a Nancy Drew novel, Ay?

So my friend Anna's boyfriend (Jason) came to visit her last week and they had rented a car to go adventuring. I decided to join them on Friday on a trip to...

The Catlins: Get back to nature on a captivating road trip through rugged coastline, isolated forests and wildlife-filled bays! (thank you Lonely Planet)

Got that feelin' youre third wheelin' ? Nah, Anna and Jason were really cool and the third wheel's job is to take a ton of pictures. No big. I was having a ton of fun ;)

Kaka Point

Our first stop down the East Coast was the beach at Kaka Point. Beaches are always amazing, but the coolest part was all the small tide pools amongst the rocks. We even found an 8-legged starfish alive and crawling!

Nugget Point

Our second stop was Nugget Point but we had a few adventures along the way. We're following the map (which isn't very hard when there's usually only one road. Yes, in all of NZ) and we have to venture on to this gravel/rocky road along the coast to get to the point where there's supposed to be the rarest of all penguins, seals, and a light house with amazing views! Along this tiny road by the beach we see a small house (the first one in ages). Then we notice there's a sign resembling something of a store so I convince everyone to stop to check it out.

Chapter 5: Nancy Encounters the Crystal Spirit Artist

Now before you think I'm even remotely exaggerating...

As we tip toe through her magical displays of gnomes and fairies in the yard, an old hippie woman with dry white hair comes out to greet us. She welcomes us into her 10x10 gallery shed and warns, "No pictures allowed." Then, if the garden gnomes and fairies weren't strange enough, she shows us all of these crystals and rocks and small paintings and fairies and unicorns.

And I bet you saw this coming. What does every spirit artist worth her salt have? A troll. A protective troll "that may EAT YOU!!" to be specific. I hope by now you know I don't joke around, but just in case...

In order to discourage insanity, we chose not to purchase spiritual art of any kind. In retrospect, I believe this was our downfall (or literally the sheep's downfall...)

We moved on pretty quickly after that. We parked at the first landing halfway up Nugget Point and unfortunately came at a bad time to see the penguins. We saw zero penguins. Since they are supposedly the rarest in the world, I guess zero is a fair number to see.

We walked to the next spot up the point to see the seals. Apparently, when they say you can see seals they mean you can stand hundreds of feet above them and pretend that the black smudge on the breakwater below is a seal. Fun? No. But did we just accept that and move on? No. What would Dora do? Explore.

There we were hiking down the grassy mountain. No trail, no permission. It only cost a muddy butt and a little sweat to come 20 feet away from the seals! And let me tell you, so much cooler than a zoo! We were very careful not to speak louder than a whisper and we stayed behind a bush to try not to scare them. The babies were the cutest with their little blubbery bodies plopping along :) 2,700 pictures later, we hiked back up and continued on.

Last stop: the Lighthouse. There were AMAZING views of the water below and the huge rock formations! Absolutely beautiful. Nothing funny about this, just awesome.

Purakaunui Falls

Wanting to get home before dark, we chose our last destination only a little farther south. This was such a great quick walk into what seemed to be a tropical rainforest. Five minutes in you find the waterfall! Its not huge and you can't walk behind the falls, but its still a beautiful place!

Murder or the Curse?

On our way out there were a few sheep in the road just hanging around like lazy puff balls. We had some carrots for snacks that we thought we could feed the sheep with. Anna stayed in the car while Jason and I tried to get closer. No surprise, the sheep kept walking away. When we tried to run to them, they ran too. Instinctively, we wanted to catch up. (predator-prey psychology? i dont know...) We jumped in the car and Anna started to slowly continue our drive down the road. The car was obviously faster than the sheep and we stopped at first, but it was kinda funny that they stayed on the road and kept running. Now we're not monsters-- we did stay a safe distance away from the sheep, and a little exercise is good for any animal. Then we noticed it: the Fatty. There was a really fat sheep that started to lag behind and it was just the most hilarious thing we had ever seen at the moment. We still remained a safe distance away but I guess the Fatty decided not to run anymore and moved to the side of the road where there was what looked to be a grassy area with bushes. That seemed like a logical move except for the fact that there was a 10 ft drop about two ft off the edge of the road! The Fatty took one step and poof! he was gone. We were sure that such a fluffy fatty like himself would roll down and hop back up. We stopped and got out to check anyway. Apparently sheep have no physical relation to cats. Poor Fatty was lying at the bottom of the drop amongst the bushes. He lifted his head a few times, but he didn't get up and scurry away.

We couldn't get down to get a better look at him, and there weren't any farmers around to tell. We payed our respects and left a half-empty milk jug on the road hoping someone would stop to pick up the trash and find the sheep. Anna and Jason say we're not murderers (or at least it wasn't intentional). I think that this was a curse put on us by the Spirit Artist and her troll. We didn't buy her crystals that she swore would bring us luck, and then we mocked her crazy lawn decor. If the sheep incident wasn't enough, 2 hours after I got home from the trip I lost my voice. I wasn't sick and I'd been fine all day, but after telling the sheep story 3 times, my voice was gone and didn't come back for days.

Coincidence? I think not.

Ultimate Update!

I never did make it to that Ultimate tourney in Christchurch but my friend Spencer picked me up a disc!! The theme was Futurama but unfortunately the disc is pretty boring and white. That's ok, I'm still so happy to have one! We threw around a little today because the weather was unbelievably warm!

Also, I might try scrimmaging with the local team this weekend. We'll see how it goes :)

Jesus Drives a Pimp Mobile

This is long, but so good.

Just when I thought I had no ride to Christchurch Friday morning, I was offered a spot in a 12-person van rental. We even got 1 day free on the price! Then I found out some space opened up at a friend's house and I'd have a free bed for the two nights! So we drive the six hours up to the city Friday afternoon and I get dropped off at my friend Jono's house to get settled.

Jono's House: Warmth, great bed, heated tile floors and towel rack, awesome parents

Jono shows us around the city a bit to experience the night life and after a long night of dancing at Boogie Nights we go back home to nice warm beds! The next morning (after the best sleep since I left home) Jono took us to the Wildlife Preserve. It was like a zoo, but better! We danced with the talking parrot, pet eels, and shook hands with monkeys! We also got to see wallabies, whining otters, and KIWIS! The kiwis were really special because they're endangered, the national bird, nocturnal, and so funny to watch waddle around uselessly.

Later that day, half of us watched the game at the stadium and the rest watched it back at the house (saved $50, stayed out of the rain, and had dinner courtesy of Jono's parents) UNFORTUNATELY i couldn't make it to the Ultimate tournament.. it's kinda hard when you're the only one interested and you're lacking transportation. So sadly, I still have no disc.

I met back up with my van buddies Sunday to head home around noon. We got some gas and snacks and settled in with our ipods for the journey back to Dunedin. The van started slowing down about 40 min into the trip. We knew there was definitely something wrong when we were going 10K/hr while flooring it. Five minutes later and we were twelve international students in a dead van on a highway with nothing but open fields in sight. Our friend who rented the van never asked one VERY important question about the car: petrol or diesel. We put petrol in a diesel van and killed it. DEAD. We're not sure if we have to buy it now or what. I don't really wanna know.

get the cameras rolling... TRUE LIFE: I'm a Hitch Hiker

(Before you have a heart attack mom, I am still alive)

It's pouring freezing rain and the wind is whipping, and we have to leave the van to get towed. We grab our backpacks and sleeping bags and head out of the van in pairs (girl and guy), stick out our thumbs, and put on a big puppy dog face.

It took Chris and I no more than 10 minutes to get our first ride. This guy was a total creeper. He was in his late 40s, covered in tatts playing some hard metal music like Disturbed. When he reached into the arm rest we were sure he was about to pull out a gun! Just a cassette. Well, it was a Dashboard Confessional cassette. Creeper. He drops us off in the center of the very next town about 15 min away. We're trekking through the wind and rain to try to find the major highway when we see three kids standing at a nearby gas station holding cardboard signs saying "To Dunedin" and "Heading South." Getting closer we realize its our friends (2 of them being my flatmates)! Crazy thing is, they weren't in the van with us earlier. They had bought a car and driven up to Christchurch on their own. Their car ALSO broke down the day before and we had just happened to find them in this random small town about 1.5 hours out of the city.

Sadly, we had to keep moving without them. A group of three is hard enough to hitch with, forget five. We felt like bums having to move on to the next corner so weren't competing for the nickels and dimes of passersby. Ten/fifteen min later we see a van (not a minivan, more like a small shipping truck) start to pull over. Our friends that we just left are inside waving!! They stop and tell us to hop in!

This was Jesus. in the flesh. in a pimp mobile.

Pimp Mobile: sink, lighting, makeshift bed, stereo system, custom wooden trim shaped like waves, pictures, 2 surfboards, snowboard, skateboard, guitar, beanbag

This guy was young, friendly, loved KFC, and was headed all the way (5 more hours) to Dunedin! He was actually really happy to give us a lift because in such high winds the height of the van causes a ton of wobbling, reducing his speed by half. Five people added a lot of weight and would make his trip faster. If this wasn't a miracle enough, he drove us right to our door! So what if he grows his own weed, this man dropped straight from heaven.

One hot shower and hot meal later, I was alive and well with one crazy story.

No Plans, High Expectations

Two papers to write. For those who know me, I'm sure you'll agree this will take about 73 hours. I wish I was joking. BUT the reason why I'm writing tonight instead of sunday hours before they're due is because...

were traveling to CHRISTCHURCH this weekend! There's an All Blacks game there Saturday, but instead of watching rugby for $50, I'm going to watch an Ultimate tournament FOR FREE! Im expecting them to be selling awesome discs with kiwis and ferns/ anything NZish. Soo excited to finally get my hands on a disc again!

Funny thing about short notice travel is..

1. We don't know where we're staying. We could be staying in a hostel/ couch surfing/ staying at an already packed friend's house/ camping/ sleeping in the car.

2. We don't know how we're getting there. We could be renting a van/ taking a bus/ hitch hiking (no im not kidding. my friends did it last weekend in pairs and it was "a great success!") (thats for purds and mack)

...We'll see. Im sure I'll have a good story or two on Monday!


I'll leave you with a few notes of wisdom:

Pocket knives are for fingerless people only.

Never buy saucy tortellini in a bag.

Never make the Pukana Maori face to the bouncer. (see below) He will kick you out of the club.

Typical Fruit

A Week In the Life...

Basically every weeknight we watch a movie. Lazy and entertaining. We've also just finished the 1st season of a tv show called Archer which everyone should check out!

Weekend partying occurs on Thursdays and Saturdays only. It's not kosher to party on Fridays because Saturdays guys are supposed to get up fresh and early to play some rugby (but no one actually does.) I'm not complaining because it's a tradition that keeps us from getting too rundown and broke.

BONUS! No classes Friday! aka: the traveler's dream schedule :)

Speaking of Rugby...

The NZ team, the All Blacks, are REALLY famous and REALLY good in the world of rugby. I consider them very similar to a national olympic team for NZ. A VERY BIG DEAL.

My friend is dating one of them :)

Well, he's an ex All Black but still, its pretty cool! And I would venture to say that (by association) I know him!

Spring Break!

Plans are starting to come together to go to the North Island for our week off in September! It's the first week of the month which is pretty funny because some people going abroad will have just arrived. A friend lives in Wellington so a bunch of us are planning to fly up and then bus around the north seeing as much as possible, but definitely Wellington, Rotarua and Auckland!

Upcoming Destinations:

Sandfly Bay, Queenstown, and more beaches!

Quite Arbitrary

Identity

It's quite an opportunity to be able to invent oneself again in a new environment. I did not take advantage of such an opportunity.

Jenna (pronouned by Kiwis as Ginna)

aka: Martha Stewart

aka: Mom

It has been only 3 weeks and my obsession of babies is well known.

Surprised? Neither am I.

You're from the States, ay?

Damn ignorant Americans. We're probably going to criticize everything that is not exactly done in "the American way" and we're never going to be the most cultured international students, but I've got a second bullet of judgement to dodge: NEW JERSEY. How does everyone outside of the US know of NJ? I was actually asked, "Is NJ really the butthole of the US?" Great. As a result, I'm now a born and bred citizen of NY or CT (however I'm feeling at the moment)

Exercise?

If that's what you wanna call it.. My friend Anna and I have begun our 3 month plan of P90x. It can get pretty intense, especially when we're doing AB RIPPER X! Unfortunately we do not own weights so with those exercises we must resort to common household goods such as jars of terriaki and tomato sauce. Embarrassing.

Trip to the Pharmacy

I've had a pretty nasty cold for awhile now and I explored one of the local pharmacies one day to get some snot medicine. Much more concentrated on medicinal products than CVS, the pharmacy was a little intimidating with many women decked out in lab coats advising me on the many shades of mucus. I was pleasantly surprised however when I received a GIFT BAG with my $10 purchase of over-the-counter cold medicine. Contents included:

- 1 pair of comfy socks

- 1 bottle of body wash

- 1 pack of travel tissues

- 2 fiber packets for water bottles

- 2 condoms

I basically left the store feeling like a celebrity.

Drinking

The cheapest thing to drink here is wine, preferably the boxed assortment. For those of us who are familiar with the oh so popular Franzia and the accompanying tradition "Slap The Bag", here in NZ they call it "Slap the GOON"!

On another note, I've introduced "Fuck Yo Shit" to this great country of the long white cloud. I'm like a missionary of great drinking games.

Tunnel Beach!

A beautiful, beautiful place. My new Kiwi friend Jono took us there (only 10min out of Dunedin on the Peninsula). I hope everyone has seen the pictures on facebook. It's a magical place of sea-carved sandstone cliffs, rock arches, and caves! The history behind the beach is that John Cargill carved this tunnel down through the cliff to give his daughters access to their own private beach.

Speights Brewery

We took a tour of the local brewery during Cadbury Chocolate Week so we got to sample different chocolates with the 6 or 7 different beers they had on tap. The coolest thing I saw was in their souvenir shop: A coozie with an attached coozie glove!

The Key to Happiness

Imagination.

When I begin to wonder why I didn't choose a university located directly on the equator and why I left a warm summer living at the beach, I just look at the millions of seagulls outside my window and I imagine that its 100 degrees outside and that the reason for my 30 degree flat is none other than voluntary air conditioning.

As my wisdom teeth break through my gums and cause continuous swelling and uncomfort, I convince myself that these new teeth will bring me wisdom as I continue my adventures abroad. Similar to how the octopus predicts the results of the world cup.

My First Post! after 2 weeks down under

Where do I begin? I should mention that I have ADD with writing so my posts will mostly include brief descriptions of a variety of events.

My Flat :: I live in a small complex of 8 flats (which should really be called "The Lodges" because all the walls/ceilings are wood) Each flat houses four (2 girls, 2 guys) and everyone has a Kiwi host. We're all mostly Americans and we've been getting along great! During previous semesters the 480 kids (we live at 480 Leith St.) have made sweatshirts repping this awesome complex, and I hope we will do the same.

Friends :: Yes, I do have friends. My roommates are Laurel (F- Vermont), Mirko (M- Germany), and Michael (M- New Zealand). I'm also very good friends with most of the people in my complex, especially Laurel and Anna (from Hawaii). We've all been hanging out together and partying (since we had a week of no classes and we're all LEGAL!) which leads me to...

Partying :: Very different from Richmond. Here we go to bars and clubs, no such thing as frats. Because alcohol is SOO expensive you'll never be offered a beer. People are very protective of their alcohol. They also don't sell anything as big as a handle, so most of us Americans have gotten used to drinking cheap wine and a little gem called BIGFOOT. This is a cheap premixed drink sold in a large soda bottle that also tastes like soda. Perfect.

Weather :: It's cold. Really cold. Well it's really no worse than winter at home, but imagine living in a house that's the same temp. inside and outside. Luckily I've found an equation that results in some comfort: 5 thermal layers + sleeping bag + normal bedding + hot water bottle = sufficient warmth to sleep through the night

Speaking of partying and the weather... I'm sick. It was bound to happen, but nonetheless embarrassing when you huck a loogie on the cute Kiwi boy in front of you in class.

Food :: quite expensive. It's almost cheaper to eat out. A few notes on food: 1. i just want some freakin pretzels. I don't know what they have against pretzels here, but they've banished them from the country. 2. Lamb. It's just as expensive as back home but they have more sheep than people here! 3. The Dairy is magical. Either that, or I'm not longer lactose intolerant.. you decide. 4. So much Thai! I haven't eaten out yet, but there are soo many Thai restaurants! 5. All eggs are organic fresh brown eggs, and they're not expensive! 6. Farmers Markets are CHEAPER! Every saturday we walk into town to grab some fruit and veggies :) Also, I'm happy to say I've been drinking more tea than the Queen of England.

Classes :: Education - Classroom Management; Geography - Economic Geography; History - U.S. Rise to Globalism; Business- Business Statistics

Activities :: So far I've taken a train trip through the mountains and a cruise around the Otago peninsula where we saw dolphins, seals, and albatrosses! Today is the Carnival at school and the International Food Festival! This week is also Cadbury Chocolate Week where there are tons of different chocolate-related events and activities. Tomorrow we are touring a local brewery ending with a beer and chocolate tasting!

What can be better than a city with local breweries and their very own Chocolate Factory?! I'm like the new Charlie in Willy Wonka!