What I'll miss most

So, as I mentioned I would a post or two ago, I sat down and made myself a list of everything I'm going to miss about living New Zealand. Yes, there may been some misty eyes, and yes, it may have occurred in the middle of a crowded lecture hall. Writing this list during class may not have been my brightest idea ever...  But in no particular order, and by no means conclusive...

Cadbury Chocolate
Need I say more? Though apparently Canada has lots of cadbury...might be time to take a trip north of the border!

Chips/Wedges
The Kiwis know how to do their potatoes. I have thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe a little too much at times! But who said you need to eat healthy whilst studying abroad?!

Pies
Pies are amazing. Steak, chicken, mince, veggie, whatever combo you want, in a pie form, it is always delicious. For those non-Kiwi folks, think chicken pot pie. But better. And not limited to chicken and vegetables.

Rob Roys Ice Cream
So yummy and so cheap, rob roys has always satisfied my ice cream cravings whilst in New Zealand. Limonata cheesecake, ambrosia, hokey pokey, and so many other incredible flavours that just don't seem to exist back in the states.

Rugby
So much fun to watch!! And write awesome marketing proposals for! I am definitely a rugby fan for life after this year.

Clubs
We just don't have good clubs to go dance at during the weekends back home. Plus, there's cover charges. Not so here! Any thursday or saturday night out here is not complete without a trip to Monkey Bar, followed by Metro, Ten, or that one bar on the far side of the octagon I can never remember the name of!

Scarfie Culture
Scarfies are crazy. And I love it. They certainly know how to have a good as well.

Kiwi-speak
So many words and phrases exist in New Zealand english that I have never before heard in my life. They don't always make sense, but they always make me smile!

Accents
Those kiwi accents, get me everytime!

Friends
I've made some super awesome amazing friends here, and I am going to miss them soooooo much!! Thank goodness for skype!

Adventures
Every day seems to be an adventure here in New Zealand. Whether I'm actually exploring the New Zealand bush or just exploring the library, the experience is different from anything back home. But I've been thinking, the adventures don't have to end just because I'm back in my home country. There's a million things to do wherever I go, and New Zealand has inspired me to live everyday I can like it's an adventure! How well I follow through on this sentiment remains to be seen though...

The Ocean
I've grown up on lakes, some of them quite large (Lake Michigan for the win!), but they just can't compare to the ocean, and how jaw-droppingly immense and amazing it is. Blows my mind everytime I get to see it, which is pretty often, and I will miss that feeling you get from sitting on the beach, staring out at the waves and just letting your mind take it all in.

Free Time
I have A LOT of free time here. Not during the end of the semester and finals really, but the rest of the time I do. Once I start taking real classes and have a job again I'm pretty sure that free time won't exist so much anymore...

Landscapes
Everywhere you look in this country it's gorgeous. You can't ever just look out your window and think "meh," because it's always "gosh darn it all that is gorgeous."

Lambs
Those little lambs are so freaking cute! I've never said "aww" so many times as I did during lambing season down here.

Dressing Up
People dress up for everything down here! Yeah, it's a pain when I'm feeling lazy and just want to roll out of bed 15 minutes before class and throw on some sweat pants, but generally I enjoy it! It's fun to wear my nice clothes without everyone asking me why I'm so dressed up.

Pams
I love the Pams brand. It's always cheap, always good, and always pleasantly labelled.

Pineapple Lumps
Those things are so good! Def bringing a family sized bag home with me. Hopefully I finish it in less than a week.

Speights
I love a good speights. So good. Generally cheaper. And you can't get more authentically south island than when you're drinking a speights.

Cider
So good! Like drinking fruit juice! But better!!

The Critic
Otago's student magazine has a habit of printing wildly innapropriate things that would make student journalists tremble to even think about writing back home. It's hilarious, in short.

Everyone being super chill
Kiwis are just so chilled out! They hardly ever seem to really worry about much of anything, and make it so easy to just relax.

Top knots
I've become rather fond of this hairstyle. I'll admit, I ridiculed it at first for looking ridiculous. But it is quite convenient, and I've come to think it looks fairly stylish when done right. Plus, it's one of the few hairstyles that keeps my ridiculous amounts of hair out of my face.

Black puffers
These jackets are everywhere! Scarfie as because they are warm and the black ones are cheapest. Plus the style down here isn't exactly huge on colour. It's comforting seeing those jackets wherever I go, and it'll be odd to stop seeing them once I'm back in the states. It'll just be odd to see colourful jackets actually.

Kapiti Ice Cream Bars
Once again, another food item that is absolutely amazing. A bit on the expensive side as far as ice cream goes, but always worth it.

Pass/Fail classes
I'm not sure if I remember how to put the required amount of effort into getting a good grade anymore...next semester might be a little rough.

Satay Houses
They are cheap and have delicious asian food. Enough said.

Kiwis
The people and the bird. The bird is adorable and I want to spend the rest of my life saving them everytime I see one, and the people are just generally all around awesome.

So what will I miss most?

Easy answer, everything. Everything I have experienced in New Zealand has been so incredible, and I can't believe it's been almost a full year already. I've loved every moment, even the ones that were cold and wet and kind of sucked and possibly involved stupid boys, because those moments made New Zealand what New Zealand is to me. And how can I not love every single part of that experience? This has been by far the most incredible year of my life, and I never want it to stop! The incredibleness may have to take a break for awhile so I can be a real person and earn some money and finish college, but I will definitely be coming back to it sooner than I think. Maybe in New Zealand, maybe someplace else in the world, but in the words of Northface, I will "Never stop exploring."

Hopefully in New Zealand a whole bunch more, too!

Miss and love y'all!!

Library...

I've spent the majority of my day getting work done in the library, and consequently look like this:

Yes, I've been making that face the entire time too. 

And the next three days will be exactly the same... Uni is rough sometimes. 

But hiking Silver Peaks on Saturday! Just gotta focus on the positive. Actually I just need to focus on the freshwater issues facing Peru....

BEST DAY EVER!!!!!

Reasons today was awesome: (and i thought it was gonna suck...)
1. Gorgeous weather!! Gotta love that sunshine.
2. I WON!!!!!!! THE HIGHLANDERS PICKED MY PROPOSAL!!!!!! And my partner's, and another group's. But still!! They liked mine, and I was worrying that I would get a fail grade on that paper! And I also got a ticket, a rugby ball, a t-shirt (that works better as a dress, but whatever) and a poster! And I get to see the promotional strategy my partner and I came up with in action next week!!! So really, this about 50% of the reason this day is so awesome, but it's a pretty darn good reason if you ask me!

Highlanders vs Bulls, get ready to see some sweet as promotion Dunedin!

3. Got out of my MART207 class early, which means I had a lunch break and time to...
4. Skype my Dad!!! Always nice to talk to the parents
5. Ecology lab was actually interesting! Our course coordinator talked to us about his research on tapeworms in sharks and giant squids, and I'm a dork so I loved hearing about it!
6. Ecology lab also featured coffee and biscuits!! And who doesn't love free coffee and biscuits?!
7. My flattie just got a years supply of toilet paper! Okay, okay, so not that exciting. But if you can't appreciate the little things what can you appreciate?!
8. I'm going aqua-jogging again!! Yes, I realise this makes me a bit of a grandma, but wasn't I already? I mean I have the sense of humour of an old man/ my grandpa, and I was voted most likely to be the cool grandma and have a majority holding of Hobby Lobby, so really this love of aqua-jogging is no surprise.
9. Today was just supposed to suck cause I have class from 9 to 5 usually without a break, but it turned out to be awesome. And the fact that I totally wasn't expecting just makes it even better!

As usual, love y'all, and hope your day was as awesome as mine!