Kiwi as

Throughout my time here in NZ, I've come across a few things that are undeniably Kiwi. So kiwi, that I just can't help thinking, or even saying, "that is Kiwi as."

The music video for Wandering Eye by Fat Freddy's Drop. It features the band working in a fish and chips shop. Fish and chips may be an English tradition, but the people of NZ have whole heartedly embraced this delicious meal.

On the subject of food, there's also Pavlova. It may be named after a Russian Ballerina, but I can assure you, it is Kiwi as. No dessert spread is complete without Pavlova. Meringue-y, whipped creamy deliciousness topped with fruit (usually kiwifruit and strawberries), this is the dish no one can avoid in New Zealand!

Well, since I love food so much we'll just keep going (hope y'all aren't hungry). So, pineapple lumps and L&P (Lemon and Peroa). While I have had pineapple lumps, I have yet to try L&P. I've been told by a Kiwi girl that "eating pineapple lumps and drinking L&P is Kiwi as. You have to do it before you leave!" Oh, I will do this, don't any of y'all worry. Gotta be kiwi as while I'm in NZ, right?!


Pineapple on pizza. And not just on Hawaiian pizza, but virtually any pizza. I don't really understand it to be honest. I mean I love pizza, and I love pineapple, and I enjoy a good Hawaiian pizza every now and then, but pineapple on all my pizzas? Too much for me, but Kiwi as!

Raspberry cola. Raspberry cordial with cola basically. It's real popular here. Which seems random to me, but hey, it's good!


Well I've kind of switched to drinks now...but let's just keep on!

Cider. It's like sparkling grape juice, but better! "That's not possible!" you may say. But let me tell you, it is. How? It's alcoholic. Side note, I swear I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just in New Zealand! Anyways, it's the perfect drink for a day at the beach, hanging with friends on those warm summer nights, or anytime you're in New Zealand!

Speights, Macs, SoGo and Monteiths. These are the kiwi versions of Miller, Coors, Busch, and PBR. But possibly better...



Being called a bro when you are most definitely not a bro. But it's cool. Like I and many other Americans say "dude," saying "bro" is the kiwi version of that.

Going to the beach on christmas (or anytime in December, January and February). It's warm, so why not?! Granted, this may not be not be solely a kiwi thing so much as a southern hemisphere/equatorial region tradition, but in NZ, you can't have Christmas without the sun, and the best place for sun is at the beach of course! Which is where I plan on going tomorrow!

Having an honest conversation with a boy about his rattail. As I've mentioned before, rattails are HUGE here. Every self-respecting bro seems to have one. I however, think they are gross. But anyways, they're Kiwi as, and I finally managed to ask a Kiwi boy with one why on earth he thought it was a good idea. He actually had a good reason, but couldn't answer for the rest of his bros. It may not have been a conclusive conversation, but it strikes me as the type of conversation I would only ever have in New Zealand.

Public Service Announcements. I don't know why, but they're all over the place here. There's the classic "Don't drink and Fry" encouraging drunks to go to a restaurant or fast food joint instead of trying to cook at home. The slightly disturbing "Is your child setting fires? We can help." The scare the *%^& out of you "drink" (aka drunk) driving and "don't drive distracted" ones. And many, many more, that often seem more bewildering than helpful. Buy maybe that's just because I'm not from here?

Then of course, there are the phrases. "Whatya reckon?" "Good on ya!" "Chur." "Ta." "Cheers." Any word (it seems) followed by as. I'm not gonna lie, I don't entirely understand all the phrases, and generally feel quite silly whenever I try to use them. But sometimes I like to think I pull them off quite nicely!


Saying zed not zee. As in when you see the letter "Z." I actually like saying it the Kiwi way better!


Sunburn. You don't understand the concept of getting a sunburn until you've done it in New Zealand. That hole in the ozone layer can really do a number!

Kiwifruit. Kiwi bird. Kiwis. When you say "Kiwi," it means the person or as relating to New Zealand culture. So if you say "I want to eat a Kiwi," you're probably a cannibal. What I'm trying to say is, you need to say Kiwifruit, unless of course you really are a cannibal... And I haven't quite figured out how to refer to the bird...I think people maybe just pick up on it depending on the context? Or I've been saying it wrong and I really should be saying Kiwi Bird...woops!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Mapua!! aka food heaven (and a few other updates)

Well a lot has happened in the last few weeks, but I've been too lazy to share it all with you...until now! So I suppose I'll start at the beginning.

After my last final (geology, gross), we took a trip to Stewart Island! We spent a little over a week there, and it was super fun! Though I can very definitely say I never want to go that long without showering again. Or tramp through that much mud ever again.

When I still thought the mud was amusing enough to take a picture

There was a lot of mud. It got everywhere. And was partly responsible for a minor meltdown on the trail our second day tramping. That and having to tramp down a stream bed and falling and getting a gross bruise. But I persevered! And when we came back to that same stretch I finished it faster and I wasn't the last person finished in our group and the conditions were even worse!! So all in all a good tramp!

And I almost forgot, I saw three different kiwis! The birds, not the people. They are so adorable! And kind of blind and stupid. One literally almost ran into me, I thought I was gonna get stabbed by a kiwi beak! Thankfully I didn't. 

So after Stewart Island, we got back and had our big Thanksgiving celebration! It featured chicken (turkey was too expensive), gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes (with marshmallows!), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, rosemary focaccia, custard pie and apple pie. Since there were only three Americans around (me, Sara, and Michele), we invited some international friends! Two Brits, two Aussies, two Germans, and a Kiwi (the person type this time) all got to have their first Thanksgiving!

full plate club

So after all that excitement, I took it pretty easy for awhile. Then Sara left, so I cried a lot. Then I packed everything up, did a ton of cleaning, and got on a bus!

A big coach bus going to Christchurch to be exact! Why you might ask? Because I had to go to Mapua for my summer work exchange I might answer!

I got a work exchange job at the Playhouse Cafe, in Mapua! Basically, I get a place to sleep and three meals a day in exchange for working about 5 hours everyday. The best part is that the three meals I get are all amazing top notch quality. I'd say it's like eating at a fancy restaurant for every meal, but it's not "like" it "is". If that makes sense? 

So yeah, gourmet meals three times a day. AWESOME. I love my life. So much right now. 

But back to getting here. It was a two day journey! So as I mentioned, I went to Christchurch first. Then I stayed overnight at Around the World Hostel, and I'm telling you the name because if you're ever in Christchurch, that's where you should stay! Everyone was super chill and nice, and it was a really nice place! So then the next I woke up waaaayyyy early (5am), got ready, had some breakfast, and went to the bus stop to catch my bus to Nelson! So I sat on that bus for awhile, until we got to Blenheim, where I switched buses. Which involved waiting outside in the cold and thinking "*&%* I should have worn pants, I thought it was supposed to be warm in the northern area!" But no worries, after I got on that bus and we drove over some mountains it warmed right up and got ridiculously sunny. The Nelson area is actually the sunniest in New Zealand! 

So once in Nelson, I caught another bus that took me to Mapua! There two of my co-workers met me, and we went to the Playhouse! I'll be mostly doing waitressing and behind the bar stuff, and it's been going pretty well so far! No broken glasses yet!

But by far the most stressful part of working here so far was when we ran out of wine. And I got sent to Richmond to pick up some more. What I'm trying to say is, I drove in New Zealand! It was terrifying!! I've never said the word "left!" so many times to myself in my life before! But I made it without any accidents, and only a minor getting lost incident on the way back, and plenty of wine!

And then I did some stress eating since it was dinner time. SUCH GOOD FOOD!

It's been awhile!

Sorry I haven't written anything at all lately, but my life hasn't been too exciting. Finals will do that to me. Luckily, I don't have another final until November 10, so I have plenty of time for adventures when I stop being lazy!

I've been cooking a lot lately, mostly delicious cheesy things, this being one of them! Yum. Don't you just love cheese?!

So when I didn't feel like cooking, I went to the botanical gardens right by my flat. I've walked through there a million times by now to get to the grocery store, but for some reason I haven't really explored it at all. So I finally decided to do that, and discovered how big the garden is! I only covered a little bit before I got too hungry and went back to my flat for lunch. Thankfully I picked a good time to visit, as everything is blooming like crazy now that spring has most definitely come to New Zealand! So I might have gone a little georgia o'keefe on y'all, but the flowers were so pretty and colorful! It was hard to believe they were real!

A view of north Dunedin! Home sweet home

Me and a giant tree!

Well now that we're done with the flowers, let's move onto the beach! My british friend Rich (side note: he'll be celebrating thanksgiving with us!) and I decided to go on an adventure to Tomahawk and Smailles beaches. We picked a perfect day, it was probably the warmest in Dunedin so far! Our original plan was to take the bus out to the peninsula, but for some reason it never showed up. So we decided to walk instead! We got to see the statues of molars:

And a great view of the Otago Harbour!

So after we got a little lost (or maybe a lot, my instincts should not be trusted apparently), we finally saw the beach! And after a bit of clambering around, made it down to the beach! And then, I got to eat lunch with a sea lion.

This is why I love New Zealand :)

Love and miss y'all back home!!

More Minor Differences

So I've thought of a few more differences, and thought I'd share them with y'all again! If you missed the last entry, you can find it here. And yes I have started saying y'all, not because they say that at all here, but because one of my best friends is from texas and says it constantly and it's started to rub off on me!

Anyways, back to the topic at hand!

Cheese
Yeah I know I already mentioned this, but it's on my mind a lot, I can't help it! So cheese is still very expensive, and I've realized they don't have a lot of options. There's a white cheddar, colby, edam, and a few small bags of shredded mozzarella and parmesan. To get any other kind, you have to wander around until you find the specialty foods cold case, and then it's so expensive that I generally don't even go over there in an effort to avoid crying in the middle of the store.

Alcohol, It's expensive
And a good thing too. These kiwis would drink even more if it wasn't, and they already drink soooo much! It's downright impressive at times. Until, you know, it isn't.

Going Out
So if you go out in Dunedin, you cannot leave your flat, or your friend's flat, before 11:30 pm at the absolute earliest. And usually 12:30 am is best. No one is out yet if you do go earlier, and you get labelled a bit of a noob if you can't make it that late. It's a wee bit exhausting!

Curb vs. Kerb
That's how they spell curb here, with a K and an E. The first time I saw it written out I honestly thought it was some sort of cutesy misspelling. But they actually spell it like that.

Macs
University of Otago uses Macs in all of their classrooms, and a lot of profs even have ipads. Love it!

Fortnight
Kiwis actually still use that term. A surprising amount too. I don't quite remember what the exact amount of days is in said term, so I'm always a bit confused when someone uses it.

Short-shorts
Not worn by girls here too terribly often, but guys? They wear them all the time. Now the rugby players can pull them off, mostly because they are pure muscle, but the average Kiwi guy, not so much. At least in my opinion. Also, it's just weird going to the gym and working out next to a guy in shorter shorts than you.

Swearing
They all swear like sailors here. And it's not considered a big deal at all. And just like Michele's y'alls, it's starting to rub off on me. Sorry mom.

Hats
Specifically, baseball hats. They don't really wear them here. Especially the girls. So when I wore mine after working out the other day, I got a million weird looks. Plus, I was wearing sweatpants. So I just looked super American. Which isn't exactly considered the best look anywhere outside of the US.

Ethnic Food
It's amazing here. Why, I'm not entirely sure. But who am I to question when there's delicious food to be eaten?

Sandflies vs. Mosquitoes
Sandflies are mosquitoes older, much eviler brother. They suck. Literally and figuratively. They draw major blood. And you think they're not that bad for the first day, and then you wake up in the middle of the night itching your legs. For a week in a row. And you realize they are the most awful creature in existence.

Exams
The exam timetable lasts about 3 weeks here. And you have time off from when exams start, and classes end. Since I do nothing here for school, I will be traveling during this time.

... as
Sweet as, awkward as, kiwi as, cheap as, skanky as....the list goes on. You may want to ask, as what? But there is no answer to that question. So just go with it. Ok? Sweet as!

RWC
You might be wondering what those letters stand for, but don't tell any Kiwis that, because they will think you are a crazy person who's been living under a rock for the last hundred years. But I won't think that, because I understand your confusion. RWC stands for Rugby World Cup. And Rugby is huge here. The entire country is crazy about the All Blacks like the entire state of Wisconsin is crazy about the Packers. But times ten. I didn't even know it was possible to be that much of a fan of anything. So, yeah, the whole country is hoping the ABs don't choke again and win them that world cup again for the first time in a really long time. Because they have a history of choking in the finals or semi-finals. I'm a little afraid of what might happen if they don't win...

9/11
So you know how I hate to get all serious on y'all, but it's something that's been on my mind a lot lately. It was weird not being home to remember the tenth anniversary of that day, especially since I know it would have been everywhere in the US. I talked about it a little bit with my American flatmate, but I didn't hear about it all beyond that. Granted, I don't have a tv or anything, and am too cheap to buy a newspaper, so there probs was something going on in that media. But besides that, I really just didn't hear about it. I guess I'm just trying to say that it was an odd experience knowing something was on the mind of everyone back home, and it just wasn't here. I felt really disconnected from home for the first time.


But to end on a happier note, I have a kiwi joke for you! Well, it's not super kiwi, but I learned it in NZ, so good enough!

How many snowboard instructors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Nine. One to screw it in, and eight more to say "good turn! good turn!"

lol. Makes me laugh every time!

Love and miss y'all!!

long time, no write...

woops. my bad. But to make up for it, I have some mildly epic adventures to share with you!

Let's start with last week thursday, the beginning of my weekend. Because weekends start on thursday in New Zealand.

This picture is a good example of the awesome night we had. We chilled out home for a while, then went out to the clubs and danced, and then made our way home. That's the tame version of the story. I'll refrain from saying much else, or else some of my friends might not be too happy with me. So in short, I got some great stories and some even better pictures!

So on friday, Sara and I went all out. We went to Wanaka! It was a gorgeous drive up, and we got to know some pretty cool med school students in our carpool. Then we stayed in a hostel, that was actually quite nice! Except for these two drunk English girls in our room that would not shut up. The entire night. It's a good thing I've met a lot of other Brits over here that have been incredibly nice and totally cool, or else I really would not be a fan of them right now!

So despite that setback, we woke up completely pumped to go skiing on saturday! I mean, it's August, we're in New Zealand, and we were about to ski in New Zealand. How could we not be crazy excited?!?! So within an hour of waking up, I got to see this view.

AMAZING.

So then we skied hard all day, and had a fantastic day that I'll for one never forget! I was on cloud nine! Literally, I skied down a run named cloud nine.

And after that I pretty much spent the rest of my weekend in my onsie. Which is pretty darn close to being the best part of my weekend...

Which also gave me the idea of starting another blog. "Adventures in my Onsie." Yes or No? Let me know!

Miss you all!

What I've learned so far...

Well, it's about six weeks since I left the states and landed here in New Zealand, and I can honestly say that they've been some of the best six weeks of my life. That being said, I've learned a lot about myself, and what it really means to live in another country. So for this post, I'm gonna share a bit with you about all that, and those of you about to leave for another country (Kelly and Ducky), or thinking about it, will hopefully learn a few things too!

Clothes are not that important in packing, but make sure you have enough socks and underwear and a variety of styles. For example, I mostly just brought comfortable outdoorsy clothes, and a lot of them. Turns out I really do not need that many clothes, and outdoorsy is not in style here. At all. In fact, sweatpants in class will get you a lot of really weird looks. So don't decide on just one style before you get here, because sometimes looking like an American just isn't good. And I think the socks and underwear part pretty much needs no explanation.

You will miss everything about home, even stuff you never thought you would. And I mean everything. It will suck. But that being said...

Don't let missing home stop you from having fun abroad. You're in a whole other country!! Also, that fact will either never sink in, or it takes a really long time. Not quite sure on that yet.

When you do miss everything and everyone, don't go cry in your room by yourself, go out with your new friends, and do something! Most of the friends you make abroad will likely be other internationals, at least at first, so remember they are going through the exact same thing. Be there for each other!


Don't worry about boys, abroad or at home. Just let things happen, that's all you can really do. Come to think of it, that's just a really good thing to do in general.

Don't forget to do what you originally came to do. It may be fun to go out every weekend with your new friends, but if you dreamed of hiking around, like me, or doing whatever else, make sure you do it.

Take pictures. Of Everything. The beautiful scenery, nights out with friends, your new room, the pile of dirty dishes after 24 hours of the girls deciding not to do any dishes in an effort to make the boys do them (which won't work, by the way), and whatever else random your heart desires.

Write it all down. In a blog or a journal or whatever. One day you're gonna be old, and your year abroad will seem like forever ago. I'm guessing it will be pretty nice to be able to go back and be reminded of all the little things that made up your day to day life. I could be wrong on this point, but I'm willing to bet that I'm not.

Be friendly. To everyone. Yes, people will immediately be able to tell that you are American, literally before you even talk, and some people will not be impressed by that fact. So change their minds by being super friendly!

Say hi to people that you've met, regardless of whether or not you think they remember you. This is a great way to make friends, and if they don't remember you (for various reasons), it's a great thing to laugh over.

Don't stress too much about money. It's harder said than done, but sometimes you just have to say, screw it, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm gonna do it.

Keep in touch with family and friends back home, but not too much. It can be tempting to completely ignore emails and just go off on your adventures, but people back home will not be happy with you if you do that. At the same time, you won't really have the same experience if you're constantly running home and cutting good times short just to read an email or skype. So don't do that, no matter how much you miss anyone!

Always be up for fun, no matter when, no matter what. This is vital. This also means you should not procrastinate on your school work so you actually can do whatever, whenever. Some of my favorite memories are a result of just randomly deciding to go somewhere and do something because someone suggested it.

Just because it's something you would never in a million years do back home, don't let it stop you from doing it now. It may be crazy, and possibly dangerous (but not really), but do it. Again, some of my best memories are as a result of putting my prejudices aside (especially those about sketch vans) and just going for it. But if it is actually dangerous, don't do it. Obviously.

So everything so far can essentially be summed up by saying live in the moment, but don't ignore the past or forget to plan for the future. Getting to live abroad is the chance of a lifetime, don't let it pass you by!!

Love to you all!

Why My Life is Awesome

So, you may or may not have noticed, but lately I've been having a pretty good time. And that's because my life is awesome. Why? Well let me walk you through my last two days as an example.

Sleep. Eat. Beach. Class. Eat. Paper. Sleep. Beach. Eat at Beach. Skype. Relax. Eat. Eat Chocolate.

And that is pretty much my life right now.

Not convinced? Here's a picture of where I ate lunch today. I sat right where the white sweatshirt is!

So yeah. That's my life. I love it. And everyone needs to come to New Zealand and eat lunch on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It'll make you appreciate life, the world, and everything in it!

Surrealism at its Best

Have you ever had that feeling that what you're looking at or what you're doing is just so incredibly amazing that it can't possibly be real, it can't possibly be your life actually happening?

I've been getting that feeling a lot here lately. And I love it. I've been seeing so many amazing sights, and just doing things I never thought I would do! I'm starting to think one year of New Zealand just isn't going to be enough. Maybe a job here after I graduate? But I suppose it's a bit too early to be thinking about that...

Anyways, I had some more adventures today! We went down the Otago Peninsula, and it was gorgeous! We had perfect weather, and the scenery is just unreal. The colors everywhere are just so vivid and unexpected.

So after staring at the scenery for awhile, Sara and I decided we needed get up close and personal with some sheep. We made our friendliest "Baaa's," but those sheep just didn't want to know us. Perhaps another day they'll be more sociable!

Next we went to the Albatross Colony all the way at the end of the Peninsula. There were more seagulls than albatross, but they were kind of cool. The best was getting to stare out at the ocean, what an amazing sight (complete with lighthouse)!

After that, our quick tour of the peninsula was done, and I got to enjoy a lovely, scenic ride back to our flat, with a quick grocery stop on the way. Where I tried this Nestle Aero bar, that was weird. But really delicious. But anyways, back to the point about the scenic ride. I enjoyed it from a backseat/mattress in a super sketch van with curtains that will still run when the keys fall out. Because that occasionally happens. Can definitely put that on the list of things I never thought I would do! Nonetheless, Vanette, as her former owner affectionately named her, got us there and back safely, in a way that was much more fun than the average van ride!

And before I forget, here are almost all of my flatmates! We were heading out to a circus themed birthday party, and managed to grab this shot! Best flat ever? I like to think so. 

Wish you all could be here!

New Zealand Lately...

Sorry it's been awhile, but life has been busy lately! Amazingly fun as always though! So let's recap...

Snow Day
Dunedin had snow!! It was only a few centimeters, but it brought everything to a halt. They just don't get snow, or ice, around here. So most of my profs couldn't even make it to class, so I had a day off! To celebrate, two of my flatmates, a friend of ours, and I decided to go sledding. The thing was, we didn't really have sleds....so we improvised of course! For various reasons we had a large whiteboard in our living room, so we used that. There wasn't a ton of snow, but we made it work! Here's Liam and Adam, taking the first run!

After that we went home and did our best to stay warm!

So the next couple days I spent working on a presentation for my energy management class. Actually having to do school work again is not too fun.

Weekend
So then we get to Thursday night, and in Dunedin, Thursday is the new Friday. And you always start early and end late. Which is exhausting. But so much fun!! And a word to the wise, be careful when someone tries to get you to play electricity. Also, I learned that Brits don't just sound like geniuses, they actually are really smart. At least when it comes to having a good weekend!

So looking ahead to this weekend, I have Adam's birthday party tonight! It's supposed to be a circus theme, so i'm thinking I'll go as a trapeze artist. That way, I can get away with wearing my long underwear out in public. And as a flat, we will all be wearing floaties. Yep, you read that right. Floaties. As in those little mini intertubes that 4 year-olds wear in the pool because they can't swim. Liam has 6 or so of them, and we decided not to make too much fun of him for it, and just use it to our advantage!

Miss you all, but I'm off to go have some more once-in-a-lifetime experiences!

Beach!!

So on saturday, I went to St. Claire's Beach! It was a beautiful, sunny day, too. My friends Sara, Kevin, Michele, Sophie and Sophie's flatmate all took the bus through the city, and got off just a few yards from the beach! First we went to the "second beach," which is all volcanic rocks. It was so pretty, and made the coolest sound as the waves dragged the rocks back. I may not be a surfer yet, but I can already tell the waves in Dunedin are going to be great for surfing!

Then we climbed back up and went over to the sandy beach. There we took of our socks and shoes, and played in the waves! It was so fun, and my feet were happy to be out of their socks for longer than a few minutes! After our frolicking, we were a bit tired out, and a little cold too! But that didn't stop us from having some fun at a beachside playground...

Minor Differences...

As most of you could probs guess, there are a few differences between Kiwi culture and the American culture I've grown up in. So I decided to highlight a few them in this blog post!

Cheese
It's really expensive here. Like obnoxiously so. I'm gonna have to cut back on my cheese intake, and dairy intake in general, if I want my funds to last more than a couple months.

Accents, Accents, Accents
The accents are crazy here!!! I didn't even think about it before I came here, but the Kiwi accent varies from region to region, just like in the US. I've met some Kiwi's that almost sound American, others that sound English, and even more that just don't sound like anything else I've ever heard. Sometimes I have a major problem understanding them. Like while I was in lecture the other day, it took me a full minute to understand a Kiwi trying to tell me he liked my rain boots. Literally sounded like another language.


Gingers
They are everywhere. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place. Maybe southpark was right about them taking over the world.

U's instead of O's
As expected, Kiwis say "mum" instead of "mom." Not expected, they put u's in place of o's in other places too. Like instead of "nom nom nom," they say "num num num." Which I personally find even funnier.

Dunners
That's what they call Dunedin for short, makes me laugh every time!

Hitchhiking
It's quite popular here. Not sure whether I'm willing to try it myself, but according to everyone here, it's perfectly safe.

Male Hairstyles
Guys seem to spend more time on their hair here than I ever do. The funny thing is, these hairstyles include what I refer to as "stylized bedhead," a weird mohawk thing that isn't quite a faux-hawk, and rattails. They're all kind of gross actually. Especially the rattails. I even saw one guy that had multiple rattails, one of which was braided. Super gross.

Nature Valley Bars
They're even better here than they are at home. Like, a million times better. Soooo delicious!!!

Lecture Wear
Back home, the most popular outfit for college students sitting in class all day is sweats. Here, people actually look really nice. Like they didn't just wake up five minutes ago and could totally go out to a fancy restaurant at the end of the day without needing to change. I've never felt so underdressed for class before....

Z
The letter, is pronounced "zed" here.

Class Size
So I was in my lecture for Marketing, about a hundred students, and the teacher said, in absolute seriousness, "I see we have a smaller class size here, with 130 enrolled..." WHAT?! 130 students is not small!! It's giant! And yet it's still not my biggest lecture by far!

So those are a few of the differences I've noticed so far, though there are a million more out there!! But that being said, a lot of things are still the same, too!

Another update, I am meeting lots of awesome people here!! Plenty of other international students of course, one of whom spent the last few weeks in a van driving around all of New Zealand! I think that sounds like so much fun! I've also met a few people that know how to surf, so I'm hoping they'll be able to teach me!! I've literally met so many people these last couple weeks, I doubt I could pick them out of a line up. Who knew I could be so social?!

Well I'm off to continue having the time of my life, more to come soon on my beach adventures from this weekend!

Sitting in the library...

Waiting for my next class to start, and taking advantage of some free internet. It's weird that classes have started already, but I think I'm really going to like all of mine so far. Although, my judgement hasn't been the greatest, being sick the last few days. But I've slept a lot, and I'm almost completely better! Yay for good health! Being sick definitely made me super homesick though. I really miss everyone!! Thankfully I got to skype with some of you last week, but sometimes I think skyping and stuff just makes me miss my friends more. And then I avoid talking to people for, like, a day. And I just end up thinking not being able to talk to people I know is even worse. Guess it's just something I have to get used to.

But enough of being a downer, I've got a funny story to share! So, the first day of classes was yesterday, and I was sick and feeling awful. But I told myself "Lauren, suck it up, you have your first day of New Zealand classes! Get pumped!" So i tried that, somewhat sucessfully. And walked to campus. And found my first lecture hall pretty fast. Only it wasn't the right time. And my real first lecture was across the river and up four flights. So I walked as fast as I could, got there late, had to be let in because the door was locked, and generally felt incredibly embarrassed for the next hour. Thankfully, I made to the rest of my classes alright, and I've had friends in every one of them! And today in Geology, a Kiwi complemented my gummies, which are also know as wellies, which are also known as rainboots. I felt so bad when he first said something to me, because I literally had no idea what he said. Sometimes those Kiwi accents are just too much for me!

So classes are good so far, and I have to go to one right now. So talk to you all soon!! And Amber, I'm working on that Kiwi (the bird) picture, I won't forget!

In Dunedin (and beyond!)

I'm finally in Dunedin! And (almost) settled into my flat, and I love it so far!! I have a roommate from china, two from the US, and my Kiwihost! I've met a bunch of other international students, but not too many kiwis. So far we've been having a great time, as you can see below...

Yesterday, Otago sponsored a train trip to the Taieri Gorge, so we got the chance to go to the countryside, and see some more of New Zealand's incredible beauty!! And we got to see it from this great old train, it was sooo cool! Here's one of my favorite pictures, but it still doesn't do the landscape justice! 

And before we left Rotorua, we went to a traditional Maori hangi dinner. It was delicious!! Even with a fearsome Maori warrior nearby!

Looking ahead, I start classes on monday, and hopefully during the week I'll have time to walk around the botanical gardens nearby, and maybe even do a hike next weekend! I'll be sure to let you all know of course. 

Miss and love you all!

finally here!!

New Zealand is so much more amazing than I ever could have dreamed!! It is so beautiful, I can't wait to share pictures, although they can hardly do it justice! I've had the most incredible experiences so far, and I've only been here three days. Which is awesome, because that is what I came to do.

So, the first day, I walked around Auckland with some friends in the afternoon, and then had the most delicious (and cheap!) calamari. Auckland was interesting, but very American, so I really still felt like I was at home. Especially when we left the city the next day, and there was immediately pastures full of cows! Although unfortunately, cheese is fairly expensive here. That could be a problem.

So anyways, the next day we had left Auckland for Rotorua, and went through Hobbiton! Only for a few minutes, but I'll get back there eventually to see more! So when we got to Rotorua, we had some free time, and then we learned the Haka! The same one the All Blacks do! I don't think I was quite so fierce as they were though...

So today we went caving!! I even volunteered to be the first of my group to repel down, so I was down at the bottom all by myself for awhile, and it was the coolest thing! I turned off my light, and it was absolutely dark. You can't imagine it until you see it for yourself, or not see anything in this case. So then we walked through caves, and then we ziplined!! I decided to do that in the absolute dark too, and it was the most incredible feeling ever. And of course I laughed the entire way!

Check my facebook for more pictures soon! Miss you all, but I'm still having the time of my life!

HOLY S***!!!

I'M GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!!! TODAY!!!!!!

I can't believe the time to leave is already here, it feels so surreal, like my life can't really be this awesome! But it is.

Don't you just love life sometimes?!

However, first, I must drive down to Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, then hop on a flight to LA. Then a nice long wait...then I board the plane to Auckland! For 12 hours and 40 minutes...hopefully I'll get some sleep! And when I land, my year abroad begins! I've planning this for so long it seems like, and now I'm finally on my way. Ready to start the adventure of a lifetime!

I'll learn to surf, maybe even work on my longboarding skills, see kiwis and penguins in the wild, ski the Southern Alps of New Zealand, go bungi-jumping, and soooo much more I haven't even realized yet!

Love you all, miss you already(so much), and wish me luck!!

so much to pack!!

I've begun my packing adventure, with much help from mom, and it is crazy!! There's so much I want to bring, but so little space to pack it all! I've managed to trim the list of what I plan on bringing pretty far down, but it's looking like I'm still going to have too much! And unfortunately, my cheesehead had to be cut from the list...but I still have my Aaron Rodgers jersey! There's still an area stretching from the front of the living room, through the dining room, that is FULL of stuff though. You can see most of it above. And when I say most, I mean there's still a pile of stuff behind me that didn't fit into the picture...

Anyways, here is a helpful time difference site I found, so whether you are in Denver, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Ireland, Russia or anywhere else in the world, you can find out what time it is in New Zealand!

Also, I figured out my skype name! It's lauren0410jelinek. Although I might not be able to skype too often, as I will have limited internet access, and skype can really eat that up apparently. But go ahead and add me anyways, and we'll figure something out!

Much Love to you all!

Almost There!!

Wow! I can't believe that I will be leaving for New Zealand in less than a month, 26 days to be precise! And there's still so much to do! Including packing!! How on earth will I fit my life into 2 large duffels weighing no more than 50 lbs each, and one carry on? And then still have room to bring back whatever additional stuff I acquire over there during the course of a year? Well thanks to my excellent packing skills (thanks mom!) I will surely find a way! Though I have a feeling it may involve being very selective about what clothes I bring, which means that I will probably have to do laundry more often, which really, if that's the worse thing about going to New Zealand for a year, sign me up! Oh wait... I already am!
But on a more serious note, as much as I am excited about going to New Zealand, and basically having the experience of a lifetime, I am not excited about leaving all my friends, family, and loved ones behind! A year apart from you all will be rough, but thank goodness for skype! This would be the ideal time for me to tell you my skype name, but I cannot for the life of me remember what is, so you're all just gonna have to search my name and find me that way! Also, I have no idea what the time difference is yet, besides being a day ahead, so eventually I will post that stuff as a reference for setting up skype dates.
Well, that's about it. Nothing too exciting, but I'm sure things will pick up the closer I get to leaving, and of course once I'm gone!

81 days...

Until my prospective leaving date for New Zealand! That's right folks, if you haven't heard already, starting June 27, 2011, I will be spending a year studying in New Zealand! I'm excited, and nervous, and can't wait! Although I'm a little worried about whether I'll be able to find a turkey for thanksgiving...but I have awhile before I have to figure that out!
Anyways, I'll be at the University of Otago in Dunedin, which is on the South island of New Zealand, and is 7868.9 miles from Denver, and 8717.9 miles from Milwaukee.
Since I'm already anticipating being horrible at keeping in touch with everyone, I'm hoping blogging will help! I'll do my best to keep it updated and respond to comments and post pictures!