fall break!

So I am currently on fall break and can only write a tiny bit as my internet is running out. But I already have successfully completed my first 5 day backpacking trip in the Abel Tasman National Park (look it up- it's gorgeous) and have been spending the last 3 dayts in the Marlborough region visiting vineyards for a school fieldtrip. It's a rough life I know. And now we are about to leave for the West Coast of NZ for an overnight trek to a rock type stadium thing called "the ballroom". Not sure on the details just know it's supposed to be epic. Then from there a quick day in Queenstown aka the adrenaline capital of NZ for some canyon swinging/bunjee jumping (maybe) and then off to another 4 day trip through teh Fiordlands on the Keplar Track! It'll be chily so let's hope my warm weather gear is adequate enough!! THen finishing up the break with a run through Dunedin next weekend to visit Allie again and get some college student bar hopping in. I can't believe how much we are trying to fit in to the break but it's so worth it beause this country is gorgeous and i just know it wants me to see as much of it as i can. Good things have been happening at home too as my friend Mackenzie and my family are both in the process of booking tickets to come see me so really I'm just exploring the countryside for them- gotta know what's good to do when they get here!

If you're reading this, know that I miss you immensely and won't be checking fb/email for another week probably so will respond to those posts then.

Love to all!!!

Wildfooooods!

Alright a special thanks to Mom#2 for reminding me to update this thing! I'm getting quite bad at it already. But in any case, last weekend was my friend Alli's 21st birthday so that was quite a fun 4 day stretch. We made our first west coast trip to the Wildfoods Festival which was exactly like the title implies- full of wild (gross, disgusting, but wild) foods. Yours truly didn't get anything crazier than a potato fritter- that whole vegetarian thing really saved me from some of that gross stuff!

Oh yeah- and you're supposed to get dressed up ridiculously for the festival. So we tried to do jungle themes animals.... but we just turned out... um.. ridiculous! So it was ok. I was a tiger, as you can tell by my awesome paws in this first picture with the birthday girl, Kevin, and I.And here are the only jungle cats in the herd... Malia and I.
Close up of animal face awesomeness! Allie that I visited in Dunedin made it up to the festival to celebrate with us and be a super cute bear.
On the way to the festival through Arthur's Pass- couldn't complain much about the scenery.
Mmm crickets for dinner anyone?
Another short one but I think you got the general jist of the fun that was had last weekend. This weekend on the other hand is going to be a lay low and catch up on school .Hoping to fit in a day hike tomorrow and break in some new hiking boots :) Can't wait to get outside for some great weekend trips!!

Love to all and sorry about bad communication skills. I actually have to work on school during the week thanks to all these weekendly adventures. All this "school-responsibility-business" follows me across the world... figures.

Field Trip Days Rock My World...

Hey guys so this will probably be a short update since it's way past my bedtime (alright it's only 11:55 but still, usually try to make bedtime 12 when I've got school to wake up for). But anyway this past weekend was awesome since it started on Friday when I got my first field trip day! With my nature and heritage interp class I went into Christchurch to the Antarctic Museum ,Christchurch Museum, and then up to the Port Hills which overlook Christchurch.
So the antarctic museum was just plain fun. There was a room that imitated a "summer" storm from the Antarctic where the winds were a mere 26 mph in the snow! In the winter apparently they can reach up to 200 mph, so that was a light breeze. Despite all this though, I still want to make the Antarctic a place to go visit now. (In the summer, obviously).So for picture 1, I'm not sure why my girlfriends are smiling- clearly it is serious business driving a snowmobile around the Antarctic!
And picture number 2 is my buddy Orlando, she's blind in one eye but they do a rescue mission at the center so she get's to hang out there! I thought she was pretty darn cute.
The Christchurch Museum had this place called the Paua Shell House that was originally made by these 2 kiwis Fred and Myrtle. Apparently they really liked these shells, and made their house into a type of sharing place for them until the passed away, and the museum tried to replicate their house as closely as possible- so this is what their living room actually looked like. So Fred and Myrtle definitely look like people that were fun to meet!
















The Port Hills were amazing, just a gorgeous view of Christchurch, got to speak to a park ranger- made me miss Tahoe days! And lots of day hikes to conquer in weekends to come.


Then I got to go to my first Rugby Game on Saturday! Christchurch Crusaders vs. the Auckland Blues.They reeeeeeeeally enjoy the Wave there. I mean, kiwis clearly think it is THE coolest thing since sliced bread. Or something. Although I really didn't have a clue what was going on for most of the game, I did rush the field with Malia after the game so we could get signatures and pictures with the players- since they're pretty much the equivalent of a Hollywood celeb in Christchurch. I think the little kids trying to get their autographs were a littlleee confused by us being there in the mix...



And this week it's off to the Wildfoods Festival to celebrate Allie's birthday, one of the girls from UCSC- the big 2-1 for her! I'll be sure to post pix of that next week. Love to all

A Scarfie Weekend

Scarfie is the nickname universally given to Otago students because of how cold it gets down there in the wintertime- lots of scarves. So yes I was hanging out with quite a few Scarfies this weekend! My friend Allie was gracious enough to let Nick and I stay with her for 2 nights and she showed us around the city- which was kind of nice after living in a town where the grocery store closes at 9 and if you're hungry/ want to go grocery shopping after 9 then that's just unlucky for you.
Woops ok so getting there on Friday. Way easier than I anticipated it to be! We took a bus to Hornby, which is the closest city-esque place to us. So 20 minutes on that bus and then we were out on the road standing with our saweet home-made (hmm spelling on that?) sign to Dunedin. The picture below is from Sunday on the way back, but you get the idea.
So anywho we got there Friday after only 2 rides (Dunedin's about 5 hoursish from Christchurch/Lincoln) and met both of them were ladies. Well, one was a girl about our age and she invited us to go wine tasting with her this weekend and the other was a lady- but both awesome people. Met up with Allie, dropped off our stuff and went out for some delicious Asian food right down the street from her. By the time we were done with that it was about 9 o clock so we got ready to go and then we hit the town! Dancing to the kiwi version of American pop songs is definitely not something I will tire of anytime soon. Also, I can now openly sing the 'Party in the USA' song without getting dirty looks from everyone else in the room- even though they all know the words and just wish they were cool enough to sing them with me. Representin the states and Miley well!

Saturday morning was a late start, but after a delicious breakfast we went out to explore in the daytime too. Saw some of Otago's campus, other pretty parts of Dunedin, and toured the Speights brewery! It was a gorgeous day, as you can tell from the picture of Dunedin's train station. We keep getting so lucky with the weather! (Sorry for all you winter folk back in the states!).






Sunday morning we had to go out for breakfast again- it was just too good to pass up! Left to find a pick-up spot about 2, found one at 2:20, and were on our way back to Christchurch at 2:30! Found a guy that took us all the way there in one stop AND stopped at these tourist attractions called the Moeraki boulders. Aaand yeah- they were pretty darn round! Not sure if there was much else to say except that I wanted to jump in the water. It is all so pretty and inviting when it's not a windy day.

And now I'm back in Lincoln! Had first meeting of "Food Appreciation Club" last night and must say that New Zealand's fake veggie sausages are a delight! Keeping up with the vegetarian thing isn't an issue at all here I've met quite a few of veggies in addition to myself. Looking forward to our first Field Trip day on Friday, unfortunately I can't make it a 3 day weekend because I actually do have a field trip to attend but it's in Christchurch so it should be fun.

Cheers to all!

School, Vineyards, Hitchiking, oh my!

So this week has been crazy fantastic- I've got some spectacular classes (which you already know about if you read previous blog post) and meeting some interesting people in all of them. And the Professors are so friendly! I don't mind having small classes in the slightest. Although, it is forcing me to be on top of my game when it comes to reading and whatnot since I can't hide behind 200 other students when they ask a question. I also signed up for... The Alpine Club (basically outdoors club), Env Club, and Netball- kind of like US version of basketball I guess. Obviously I won't be good at it but it'll be fun to try and meet people because I definitely won't be getting into rugby anytime soon...

Lab for Viticulture includes keeping my own row of grapes! They're Pinot Noir and they are pretty darn cute for wine grapes, if I do say so myself. I ended up getting assigned to this row with another UCSB kid, too- so naturally it will be producing THE BEST wine at the end of the semester. Although, note to us, when we're out plucking leaves it is definitely good to have sunscreen. The days have still been good to us and there is lots and lots of sun. Though as I look out my window clouds do seem to be moving in... which would not be ideal for my weekend plans!

Hitchiking down to Dunedin to visit the Otago campus and meet up with some of the cool kids I met at EAP Orientation in Auckland. Yes that's right I am getting down there via hitchiking. I know I've discussed the pros and cons of this with quite a few of you already but I'm sooooooooooo excited it's going to be great. I'm going with Nick (actually, same guy from SB discussed earlier) and he got around the whole North Island doing it and seems to have met some crazy cool people so I'm really quite stoked on the whole idea, especially since I have a seasoned person to accompany me. My backpack is packed and is as ready to go as much as I am, I'm sure.

Hope everyone has as great of a weekend as I'm prepared for!

Back to the new grind!

First day of school was pretty inspiring! I was worried at my first class though- I was told that the class was going to be pretty packed (I hadn't officially added the course yet.) Well, lucky me apparently "packed" just means an almost-full lecture hall. So, 63 students worth of being packed for the popular Viticulture class that I am STOKED to be in! I'll have my first lab for that tomorrow. The other 2 classes that I was set about being in are both environmental classes. One on Environmental planning based on regions- si that's kind of an international culture/ policy/ sustainability class. Which sounds like a weird mix but the professor seems like a great guy he's originally from India and has studied in the states, and he seems to have a pretty good grasp on sarcasm. Which is nice since some people I've met have not been so quick on that... also, I have heard people say in the past that I'm just simply not good as sarcasm but I choose to ignore all of you.
Class 3 is Agricultural Systems Management/Sustainability which sounds like it will be based a lot on resources, mainly water. Lots of field trips to local farms for that class. Oooooooh which brings me to field trip days.
You read right- I get FIELD TRIP days. Days of no class if I don't have a trip for a class, but otherwise on a bus to visit a farm, or in the case of my wine tasting class, up to the North Island for 2 and a half days of wine drinking.. er, tasting and learning!
My last class is Under the Recreation and Tourism classes, and it focuses a lot on interpretation. Sounds like something Heidi (my boss from my internship this summer) would've loooved to have seen on my resume. One of our assignments for that class is to give a guided tour. So, if nothing else it will give me a chance to practice public speaking. Which in the past I haven't been too bad at, but I'm not sure about it here. Here I have managed to make a scene in situations where normally I can stay under the radar. For example:

Day 1: Connecting flight from Australia, walking up the stairs to my plane. So close to getting on and fumbling simultaneously with passport and boarding pass. One falls to the ground but the other goes flying under the wing of the plane... I pointed to it when I stepped up the the flight attendant and said "That's my boarding pass!", but for some reason they didn't accept that. A friendly flight attendant braved the plane engine to get it for me.

Day 1 to 12ish: Out in Auckland, constantly being "that tourist" who is excited about everything. Consequently, I managed to run into quite a few kiwis this way. Although most of them were quite lovely and willing to point me in the right direction, pointing out in our final moments of conversation that I should actually look ahead when I'm walking rather than anywhere BUT ahead.

First day of school: Gorgeous day. Insanely sunny, not a cloud in the sky- which keeps the day from being perfect, in my opinion- but still so nice to be soaking up the warmth in shorts and flip flops. (Or jandals if I'm being NZ appropiate. ) Anyway, I managed to find the one mud puddle that probably exists on the entirety of the campus and get my foot stuck in it. Given, it was only about a millisecond until I took it out, but I'm sure I made a few people laugh as I wiped it off on the grass. It was a good experience.

Also, I have seen enough boys now to realize that my brother would have loved being here in the preteen years. Ah back in the days when the length of a boys' shorts were the only thing that really warranted any attention as far as male fashion sense was concerned. ALL of the rugby boys here- so, pretty much every boy- wears rugby shorts everywhere, which are about the same length as my own. So, pretty darn short. Combine that with a nice little mullet and rattail and you have the stereotypical Lincoln rugby schoolboy!

Sadly, the voice is still not back, so most of my introductions are preceded with "I don't always sound like this, but Hi..." etc etc. Feeling immensely better though! IT'S ABOUT TIME. Penicillin in NZ apparently takes 72 hours before it works. Oh how I miss American drugs.

Love to all from a happy NZ school girl!

Immune systems are down, while napping skills are at an all time high.

Yes it's true, I have somehow managed to get myself sick with some form of strep for the 3rd time within... less than 12 months I think. I asked the doctors if this was unusual and they said it was viral. I couldn't think much after that because I was too distracted by the thought of "Pants on the Ground"- the American Idol hit that Simon promised would go viral. Glad that I can blame my easily distracted mind on the sickness!

So anyway it has also allowed me to get to know the campus quite well... or at the very least the path between my dorm hall and the health office. Unfortunately, the NZ culture is not working with me- the whole "lets all be outgoing and friendly to the new kid" attitude is fantastic, except for when you have lost your voice and can only make a sentence with extreme amounts of energy exerted. And even then this voice sounds quite manly. In any case, after my health office visit and the discovery that they don't have a pharmacy on campus (this should not have come as a surprise) I took a stroll into town to the closest one, and made quite a few discoveries along the way...

- The honey does not come in cute little plastic bears, rather it comes in jars. Thus when I came home and added it to my tea, I was amazed to find that I have been making my tea with approximately 3 spoonfuls of honey for most of my life. No wonder it always tastes so much better when I make it myself instead of getting it from Java Jones!

-No saltine crackers. Devastating discovery to say the least. They might be labeled as salad crackers- although I couldn't be sure so I went with Ritz instead.

- The ice cream is way better here. Alright fine, I've known that since the first day I got here, but still. I treated myself to a double scoop of Boysenberry ice cream for my walk home and am still so pleased that they know how to make my favorite dessert here. (They have one called Hokey Pokey too!) Sadly they do not have my favorite- they always have orange chip instead of mint chocolate chip... maybe I've just been going in the wrong places, but I'm okay with expanding my horizons. :)

- The younger children wear bright vests when they are walking home from school. The kind that traffic workers wear. This knowledge combined with their outstanding HUGE signs of "smoking kills" on every pack of cigarettes really makes me happy. Either New Zealanders are incredibly smart when it comes to taking care of themselves or America is just.. er, not smart. Hmmm.....

I'll sign off with that. It's time for more tea and nap number 2 of the day!