The Remainder of the South Island Adventures

I updated while we were on vacation, but didn't always have the internet access to upload--if my present and past tense confuse themselves, I apologize!

Our time in Wanaka is coming to a close. The scenery here is really amazing and also very diverse—you have lakes, mountains, ferns, beaches, and even deserts. On Sunday (Happy Easter!), I got to have a short and sleepy conversation with Alex before 8AM my time and then we all got a chance to skype with Anna and Grandma, which was exciting. Apparently Anna is now an expert cook, so anyone who doesn’t feel like making dinner, just call her up! Afterwards we tried to get to Easter Mass at the nearby church, only to find out that it had been at 9AM, not 11AM. Whoops. We headed back to a craft fair in Wanaka where Mom and I both got jewelry from this one guy who had some pretty cool stuff.

We headed out to look for an easy walk around Lake Wanaka. We decided to walk around part of Glendhu Bay and it was fun to walk near the beach. Mom found a piece of driftwood that she liked, although we’re unsure if it will make it through customs. We even took some pictures of each other so that Anna would be happy. Usually she is in charge of taking the portraits while I do the scenery, and apparently looking at my pictures of scenery “is as boring as reading your blog.” I guess I can be assured that she’ll never read and get upset about that statement!

After a jaunt through town, we stopped for some lunch at a local seafood restaurant. The waitress mistook us to be from Chicago, seeing Dad’s C on his jacket (which would only further have confused her since it’s a Canadiens jacket). Dad made the suggestion of prawns, which sounded good to me. Then these five huge shrimpy things with all of their heads, antennas and body armor arrived on a skewer. Unfortunately my camera was under the table in my purse and Dad was unable to capture the prawns or my look of absolute disgust. He did all of the manual labor for me, hooray!

On Monday, we got a chance to talk to everyone who was over at Grandma’s for Easter. I was awakened after this conversation began, so I was looking my finest. I was a little confused (remember, I was sleepy!) as to why everyone was more interested in talking to me and seeing me on the screen than Mom and Dad…then I remembered that I had been gone for over two months. Whoops. Then it made more sense! After finishing our Skype session, we headed to Cromwell to check out some wineries and tasting rooms. Unfortunately it is a public holiday here, ANZAC day (similar to Memorial Day and Veterans Day), and there are rules against serving alcohol in the morning. A lot of places were also closed for the whole day, so instead we stopped in Cromwell to get a picture of the giant fruit. It’s pretty exciting, as I’m sure my pictures will show once I get them online. We headed back towards Wanaka but discovered that a winery that had been closed was now open. We stopped and learned about the rules with alcohol in the morning and were told that some of the bigger wineries down past Cromwell in Bannockburn. After stopping for a scenic lunch along the lake (with some ducks that appeared threatening at first but moved on to pester other people), we stopped in at one more winery. The specialty down here is Pinot Gris, a dry red wine. Needless to say, I don’t have much of a wine palate myself, but it was perfect for Mom’s taste. She got a bottle of Chardonnay at the first place and one of Pinot Gris at the second. Also at the second winery there was a yellow Lab in residence which was fun. I miss Evey! Later on, Mom and I went for a walk in town and later we got some vegetarian pizza at The Cow (a bit backwards to get vegetarian if you think about it!). The pizza was described as having “any vegetable in the house.” Turns out that celery was one of those in the house. Can’t say that it’s my new favorite pizza topping, but it was definitely different.

The past couple days have been mostly comprised of time in the car. On Tuesday, we left Wanaka and headed to Ashburton, which was just a stopover point. On the way we drove near the desert-area, the “real” mountains (with new snow), and two stunning lakes. We stopped at Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo on the way to take some pictures and eat some lunch. After reaching Ashburton, we laid low after looking around the craft village and getting some Thai takeaway.

Wednesday we were up and out before then, before heading to the illustrious McDonalds for breakfast per Mom’s request. I guess she got tired of cereal and muffins. We then hit the road to Kaikoura, stopping in Christchurch on the way. We were in the central business district, which was the hardest hit area by the earthquake back in February. The earthquake’s effects were still obvious from the surroundings. Almost all of the bridges across the river were not accessible with what I would guess were Army Reserves at each one. All of the buildings had pink spray paint on their doors indicating when they had been checked for safety. There was a lot of broken buildings, and it was far too quiet in an area that should have been bustling at lunchtime on a weekday. We walked around the Botanic Gardens, although I have to say that I’m partial to the gardens right outside of my door in Wellington. The ones in Christchurch just weren’t hilly enough!

We continued on to Kaikoura, which is on the east coast. The Pacific seems a lot rougher than the Tasman on the other side of the island, but it was also a bit of a dreary and wet day. We found a few seal friends, one of whom reminded me of Evey—no movement when I approached, but just continued to lie like a lump, completely unbothered with everyone else. While checking out another nearby seal colony, where there were a few seals posing for pictures, I ran into one of my housemates. Surprise! She and her friends said that they had visited a seal colony up the road at a waterfall where there were about fifty baby seals who were very friendly. Before it got dark, we headed off in the direction of the waterfall, but must have taken a wrong turn. Hopefully we can locate it in the morning on the way to Picton.

After a night in Kaikoura with noisy neighbors who were up late and rose early, as well as the delightful sound of trucks rushing by on the highway, we headed out to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington. Along our drive, we stopped at another seal colony that was near a waterfall. There were no baby seals, but we did get to see a few exceptionally lazy ones. We were remarking that they reminded us of David anytime before 6PM. After reaching Picton and returning the rental car without problems, we continued on to the ferry terminal. We already knew that our ferry had been delayed five minutes, but when we arrived at 12:30, the 10:30 was just leaving. Uh oh. They loaded us all on to the ferry (we sat in the family area with the Disney Playhouse channel) on time. However, only once we were onboard did we learn that we would not be leaving at 1:15, but more like 2:30. Luckily we had brought our lunch with us so we had a chance to eat before the boat left the dock. After a decent passage (Mom and I thought it was less rocky than the ferry to Picton), we loaded onto a bus with about eight million other people to the train station where we walked back to the hotel. We decided to try something different for dinner and went to the nearby Cambodian restaurant, which was packed. The food was pretty good though, so I might have to make a return trip before I leave. After picking up some Hokey Pokey ice cream for Dad to try (vanilla with toffee pieces for those of you who have forgotten since my Rotorua blog updates…I don’t blame you), we spent our last night in a nice and quiet hotel room.

Friday morning we were up early to fit in some last minute shopping before Mom and Dad had to get to the airport. After shopping and getting my luggage up the hill to my house, we had some lunch and headed out. Turns out that airport procedures are a little different in WLG than at BWI. You don’t go through security until you get to your gate, and they won’t let you in to your gate until about twenty minutes before your flight leaves. Therefore, we were a little early. After a wander around the airport and some even more last minute shopping, we exchanged our final hugs and they went along their way. I’m really glad that they were able to come and visit me. Even though it’s still two months until I come home, I feel more at ease being here now that I’ve seen my parents. I guess it kind of let me understand that they’re still real even when I’m here, as strange as that sounds. 

And now here I am, back at home base for a while. Now it’s time to catch up with my friends and their adventures and write a paper by Monday. Really, why do teachers insist on having work due the first day back from break??

Glaciers, Rain, and some more rain...but with some cool scenery!

Happy early Easter! I guess it is especially early for all of those in the US since it’s not even Sunday here yet. The three of us are continuing on our merry way journeying through the South Island. After a solid night’s sleep on Thursday (the noisy kids did not return!!), we took a short drive to the glaciers. At Franz Josef, the path to the glacier was 1.5 hours round trip—we decided instead to go for the half hour walk to Peter’s Pool (quite fitting!). It was really neat because you could see the reflection of the glacier in the pristine pool, and there wasn’t anyone else around when we got there which was pretty cool. Then we headed onwards to Fox Glacier, were we walked the hour long trip to and fro. Almost…Mom balked at the last stream we had to cross with stepping stones, and it had also started drizzling, increasing the chances for slipping and falling into the water. To be honest, I was more impressed with the surrounding scenery and the numerous waterfalls than the glaciers themselves. I’m sure up close they would have been pretty cool, but from farther away they mostly struck me as a bunch of dirty ice. A horrible thing to say I’m sure, and perhaps I will find a glacier that will change my opinion. Perhaps a trip to Alaska would be a good plan, we shall see!

After all of our excitement, we headed back to the town near Franz Josef where we were staying for the night. After finding that to our dismay, there was no microwave or oven in our suite, we were unable to reheat our Indian food or cook our planned spaghetti. Luckily, being a town completely made up of tourists visiting the glaciers, some of the local places to eat were open even though it was Good Friday. The 20% surcharge due to it being a public holiday was a bit offsetting, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice to be had. After chowing down, we retreated to our room to attempt to turn the heat on. Turns out that we did our job too well, as we were all very warm while sleeping that night. Or should I say, attempting to sleep. We knew that a big rain was headed in our direction, and it hit on Friday starting with the drizzle at the glaciers. It increased to a regular downpour, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if we weren’t on the top floor of a hotel that had a tin roof. The sound was deafening to the point that I could hardly hear Dad snoring in the next bed for part of the night. Mom and I didn’t get too much sleep, although from the amount of snoring that I heard while lying in bed staring at the dark ceiling, Dad slept just fine. I guess it was best for him to get the most sleep since he was the one driving to Wanaka the next day.

Today (Saturday), we drove from Franz Josef to Wanaka. It was still very rainy as we worked our way through some mountains, but the amount of waterfalls the rain had created was staggering. And pretty awesome…it provided excellent entertainment on the ride. There was everything from little mini waterfalls right by the road to huge roaring ones up in the mountains. There was even a ridiculously long one that snaked its way all the way down the side of one mountain…so cool. After we passed through Haast and continued on towards Lake Hawea, a magical moment occurred. We turned the bend in the rainy and dark wilderness to be met with one of the most fantastic views I’ve seen since coming here (and that’s saying something). The sun had broken out of the clouds, the sky was blue, and the mountains were lit up in many colors by the sunbeams. It was totally amazing. As we continued on, the lake only made the view that much better. Although the road was relatively straight and I didn’t have to worry about the possibility of motion sickness as I had earlier, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the continual views to read my book (by the way, I’ve finished The Fellowship of the Ring and I’m blazing through The Two Towers!). After passing through Lake Hawea, we reached Lake Wanaka and the small town where we will be staying until Tuesday. The weather was perfect and the tourists were out in full force to take advantage of the weather and the stunning views of the lake and mountains surrounding the town. The place where we are staying, besides having the first free internet since we’ve been traveling (woo hoo!), has a small balcony out of the back. The view is great as you can see the lake in the distance and there is a babbling brook of sorts that runs right through the back of the hotel property, so you can be soothed by the running water. Although I don’t get the joy of my own bathroom (somehow I will survive), I do get my own room with two single beds—one for me and one for Carlos (my monkey with an attitude that Alex lent me for my stay in NZ). And now, after some belated picture uploading (whoops), it’s off to bed in preparation for a few exciting days in Wanaka!

NZ Weeks 7-8 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150548222585707.655032.597595706&l=4afb40be1c 

Birthday and the beginning of BREAK!

Well, I’ve been slacking on my blogging recently! So I guess we should go back to where I left off, which was my birthday!

My birthday was lots of fun. Laura, Nicole, Jessica and I got dressed in our best and started out at Laura’s house with a few drinks. After some giggling, we headed down to dinner at an Italian place in town which was yummy. It was a Wednesday, so you might expect that it would be pretty empty in town, but Wednesday is student night so we were expecting a decent crowd. However, we never found this crowd of people who apparently go out, and neither did some of the bars we were planning to frequent. Therefore, two were closed before we arrived and the other two took forever to serve our drinks. We did get to visit a cool new bar called The Library. You can see why it might appeal to a bookworm such as myself. It was pretty crowded so we couldn’t look around, but a return trip is definitely in order. After we had exhausted our list of bars to check out, we stopped at McDonalds on the way home for a family meal. It was trickier that you would have thought, since they were ridiculously understaffed and there were a lot of students along with us. Overall, the food and drinks were good and the company was fantastic, so I couldn’t have asked for anything better!

The next morning Mom and Dad were supposed to arrive around 8:30am. However, the day before Anna and I had been skyping when she found out that their plane had been delayed out of Dulles, giving them only five minutes to make it to their connecting flight in San Francisco. Needless to say, it didn’t happen. They got rerouted to Sydney and came back to Wellington later that afternoon. Luckily I was just getting back in that night when Anna messaged me at 2AM my time to let me know that they wouldn’t be getting in until later. They finally made it in around 3PM and managed to stay awake until about 7PM. However, no luggage arrived with them. Luckily my s’mores materials were in Mom’s carry-on bag, although my macaroni and cheese was lost at sea. A few days later before we headed off on our South Island adventure, the luggage arrived along with my two birthday cards and scarf from Anna and my Jif peanut butter, Swiss Miss, and Kraft Mac & Cheese. Now I’m set until July! For the next few days I showed them around town…in the rain. The three most solid days of rain that Wellington has had since I arrived in February, in fact. So we didn’t see as much as I had hoped, but still all the important bits. We even had a belated birthday dinner with Laura, Nicole and Jessica. Although the food was good, the atmosphere was deafening, and literally no conversation could be had if you didn’t feel like screaming your head off at someone else so they could hear you. Oh well, better luck next time. I got lots of exercise over those few days as one of the largest hills I have encountered in Wellington separated my house from their hotel. Mom and Dad started to climb it one day to come see me, but Dad decided to avoid what he felt was the eminent heart attack and head back down to take the cable car. 

On Monday, we headed to the Interislander Ferry to get to Picton at the top of the South Island. The weather was not exactly ideal, and the crossing was a little rough at the beginning, but luckily we had inadvertently picked the most secure spot in the ferry and we were bobbing around less than everyone else. After a nap, I woke up to find the waters much calmer as we approached Picton. After disembarking and grabbing our luggage, we headed to the rental car place. Our rental car is, you might say, less than ideal. It’s about fifteen years old, has about 200,000 kilometers on it, and sounds like it’s fighting you every time you hit an incline. Exciting.

After a scenic drive to Nelson in the dark, we located our hotel in Monaco shortly afterwards and were directed to our cottage. I had two beds and a bathroom all to myself…as I told Mom at the time, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bathroom of my own before. It was a little overwhelming, but somehow I managed. The next day we headed out to Abel Tasman National Park, where I’ve been trying to get to since I arrived in Wellington. It did not disappoint. We were able to walk right along the coastline and see both the beach and the bush. After stopping for some lunch in a shady spot, we did a short bushwalk and then headed back along the coast to the car. After arriving back in Monaco, we took a walk into town and got some produce, groceries, and fish n chips takeaway for dinner. Yum! Except then we had to race back to the hotel in order to eat while it was hot…on the way, the sun was setting so I tried to get a few pictures on the run.

The next day (Wednesday for those keeping track) we headed into the town of Nelson. While we were waiting for the art gallery to open, we walked through the gardens and saw some more ducks. There are lots of ducks in New Zealand, at least in the parts where I have visited. They are fun to watch, especially when they are quacking or showering. After a brief wander through the art gallery and a stop at the cathedral for some pictures for Jessica, we were on the road to Hokitika. We arrived several hours later at our beachfront chalet…fancy! It’s not quite right on the water, but a short walk away. We went for a rather lengthy walk on the beach and ended up on the other side of town. Stopping to get dinner, we then headed to the grocery store to get some breakfast for the next day and trekked home in the dark. We all had electric blankets in our beds, but we didn’t discover the heater for the room until the next morning…whoops. While the night started out fine, albeit a little chilly, turns out the people staying next door have kids who rival elephants and hyenas simultaneously. Impressive, but it meant little sleep for us. So far tonight they have not returned…fingers crossed that the kids are tired out and actually sleep at night? 

Today (Thursday) we traveled back up the coast a little but to Punakaiki, where there are pancake rocks and blowholes. We got there right at high tide which was perfect, since the waves were crashing against the rocks and causing the blowholes to blow water everywhere. The drive there and back was also one of the more scenic ones so far (which is saying something), as we were right along the coastline for a while. After looking at the many jade outlets in Hokitika, we came back for a brief respite and I grabbed some more sunset pictures on the beach before we headed out for Indian food. For my first true experience with it (when we were kids, we just ate piles of Naan), I was pleasantly surprised. As long as I stick with the mild spice, then I should be good. Even Dad’s medium dish was too spicy for my liking. Yes, I am a weakling. Now we’re back in our chalet, resting up for tomorrow’s drive to the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. We had originally planned to drive over the mountains towards the east coast to Fairlie before heading down to Wanaka, but with our whiny rental car and bad weather heading this way, we’re going to skip the mountains and drive further down the coast. Also, tomorrow is Good Friday—although this may not mean much to most people back at home, in New Zealand it means everything is closed. This includes restaurants (even the Chinese ones) and the grocery stores. Luckily, we stocked up today (along with the rest of Hokitika…the parking lot was packed every time we drove past it). Tomorrow we shall dine like kings on ginger beer, spaghetti and leftover Indian. Yum.

21 Goals By 21

Hi everyone! So I am doing a special blog post for today as it is my 21^st birthday!! Woohoo! The inspiration for my blog came from an ad on the side of my Facebook page that said “21 Things You Want to Do Before You’re 21.” Of course, I came up with a list of my twenty-one items only a week before my birthday, so I didn’t have a lot of time to complete everything. I also picked some items that I had previously accomplished, but still felt that they were worthy enough to be included. Unfortunately I did not have time to complete everything on my list before today, but I think that it is important that I have set plans to complete them in the near future. As much as this started out as a funny and lighthearted idea, I found that it caused me to be introspective and really think about all that I have accomplished and all that I want to accomplish. Overall, it was refreshing and insightful. I would recommend that you try it out yourself sometime, just to see what happens. So, without further ado, my twenty-one things:

 

1) Smile every day: During a rough time a while back, I discovered an inspiring line in a Simon & Garfunkel song while driving along: “All I have to do today is smile.” I think that it fits me perfectly…not only do I need to learn to take a second away from all of my crazy activity and just chill out, but I also need to have a positive attitude. We’ve all had those days when things just pile up and life seems so ridiculous and unfair. But if you smile, it will make everything a little bit better :)

 

2) Travel the world: I’m working on it! From a young age, my family has been traveling. Although now sometimes I get to pick where I go, and even sit in the front seat of the car if I’m lucky, they are the ones that instilled this love of traveling in me. They let me know that it is possible, that it isn’t too tricky, and that even if things don’t go exactly as planned, you’ll still treasure the memories of the mishaps.

3) Learn to play an instrument: This one would have been impossible to do in a week and is still hard to do in a lifetime. Even though I’ve been playing the flute for something like twelve years (this is a lot to a twenty one year old!), there’s still a lot to learn. But that’s part of the fun, right? Music has always been huge to me…my mom recently told me that she views my flute as my “kind of third arm.” I can’t think of a better explanation. It has led me to have great experiences and meet great people. Here’s to more of both!

4) Read a whole book in a weekend: I saw a phrase somewhere that read “Before I had friends, I had books.” Truer words could not have been spoken about me. I was a bit of a loner in elementary school, usually with one close friend, and I spent a lot of time at recess reading while leaning against the red brick of the school. Most of my favorite books are the ones that I discovered at a young age, and Roald Dahl will always be a big favorite of mine. Again, it’s thanks to my family that I discovered my first and great love of books. Thanks to Mom for only letting me take out six or seven books at a time at the library, and making sure that I (usually) didn’t manage to lose them in my room somewhere.

5) Try something new: A bit vague, I know, but it’s the thought that counts. Pushing outside of the comfort zone has never been a talent of mine, although I don’t think it is for anyone. For now, I’m going to go with moving to a new country for five months counts as something new :)

 

6) Laugh so hard I cry: It has happened many times, thanks to the plethora of totally awesome friends I have. I find that I’m laughing more here than I was at home, mostly because I was too busy being productive all the time to find the time. But really, what feels better than that burn in your abs that lasts until the next day because you spent the whole night before laughing to the point of ridiculosity?

7) Go tramping with friends: If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that I barely survived our tramping experience on the Alpine Crossing. However, it brought an amazing feeling of accomplishment, some laughs, and a solid night’s sleep. Can’t go wrong there.

8) Fall in love: It’s happened to the best of us, although not always for the best. But every time you fall out of love, you learn how to do better next time: either don’t be so stupid and mess it up, or don’t be so stupid and fall in love with someone who will violate the first condition. It’s great when it’s good (and it’s never been better) but if something goes wrong, simply refer to items #9 and #17.

9) Eat gelato: Although gelato is preferable, lemon in particular, ice cream or sorbet is also acceptable in a pinch. Notice that I have nothing on this list that refers to eating a healthy diet or exercising regularly. This is not because they’re not important, but really, gelato tastes better than carrots. And it’s my birthday. I will be fulfilling this requirement for the millionth time this evening.

10) Be independent: Somewhat similar to some other items on my list, but important in its own right. Although I feel like I have grown more independent since leaving home to go to UMBC, and even more so since I arrived in New Zealand, there is still room to improve. Since a relatively young age, being able to support myself and my endeavors has been important to me. Although I still have a little way to go before being completely self-sustaining, I take solace in the fact that I do as much as I can to stand on my own two feet.

11) Read for fun every day: This is something that I have been able to do since coming to New Zealand. I love it so much, and I’m not willing to give it up when I return home. Although maybe every day is a little ambitious, a page or two before bed could still be possible. Having something small to look forward to in even the busiest of days should help the worst parts seem not quite as bad.

12) Have a Disney singalong with my friends: I have to say that some of my favorite singalongs to date involve me, my car, my siblings, and Disney. Listening to David belt out both parts of “A Whole New World” is a pretty unique experience, let me tell you. And how can you get anything other than good memories from Disney music?!

13) Write about everyone I love and why I love them: I am so lucky that it’s not even funny. There are an unreal amount of people who give me support and love every step of the way. How crazy to imagine a world without even just one of them in my life. So it’s time to tell them what they mean to me and show them how they have shaped my experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and actions. Although this task will not be accomplished in a day (no way!), I’m going to begin work on it very soon. Hopefully it will bring a smile to someone’s face to see how much I love that they love me.

14) Write a blog: Hey, look at that! Mission accomplished (for real). I’m really enjoying this blog, and from what I understand, a lot of you guys are too. I guess you wouldn’t be reading this otherwise. So thanks to all of you for actually making this a legitimate blog and not just a lonely gal writing her life story on the internet.

15) Have the most embarrassing photo tagged of you on Facebook: It was tough to pick which one was the most embarrassing…I do a lot of funny things when a camera is pointed at me. But I think this one is the winner: 

That’s right, it isn’t even technically a picture of me. But can you see why it might be slightly embarrassing? Along with myself tagged in this, “fail” is also tagged and the caption reads “Oh shit!!!! Open all the doors!!!!” This sad event occurred a few years back at my friend Erin’s house. I was attempting to make some popcorn, but kept pressing the “Add 30 Seconds” button without really paying attention while talking to her and her mom. Suddenly, this disaster occurred. I guess it was pure luck that Erin happened to be holding her camera at the time. There are a series of pictures following this of me hiding outside in the garage to avoid the wrath of all those in the house who now smelled extremely burnt popcorn. Eventually, Mrs. Sears had to buy a new microwave thanks to my shenanigans because everything came out smelling and sometimes tasting like burnt popcorn. Needless to say, I no longer have microwave rights at the Sears’s residence.

16) See beauty that leaves me breathless: Not all difficult when I’m in a country as beautiful as New Zealand. Seriously, my walk to school is probably more scenic than all of Howard County combined. But it’s not only scenery that is beautiful-- people are too. I’m not talking about the movie stars that have personal trainers, but the really great people that I know. The better a person you are, the more beautiful you become in my eyes. On the same token, if you do something that I feel is wrong or bad, I can see you grow uglier as we continue talking. Strange, but true. And it’s great because I see beauty every day, whether I’m walking down the street overlooking Wellington Harbor or walking around campus at UMBC or even walking past the bathroom at home if Anna has left the door open (please don’t kill me…it’s my birthday!!)

17) Buy more shoes: It’s a girl thing. I bought a pair just a few days ago in the spirit of this goal!

18) Believe in myself: Kind of hard to define at times. I feel like I am generally confident in the person I am, and I believe that I am the good sort of person. But every once in a while, someone comes along and decides to tell you that it isn’t true. It’s the worst when it’s coming from a person who you trust and love. But I’ve learned that no matter who says what, I should believe in my choices, decisions, and actions. If I don’t, then who will?

19) Kiss someone at midnight on New Years: New Years has been a bit of a “blah” holiday in recent years. Although I’m always with my friends or family, when the ball is dropping, suddenly you become very alone. I didn’t know if I was going to make this one happen by 21, but someone came to my rescue for New Years 2011. Hooray :)

20) Birdwatch in my yard: I successfully accomplished this task while thinking of what to put on this list and daydreaming. It’s really easy to do here in Wellington, where our yard is right across the street from the Botanic Gardens and I can hear the parrots sometimes in addition to the birds, but it might prove to be a little more difficult once I get back home. In Ellicott City, I could squirrel watch and at UMBC I could people watch…maybe that will count!

21) Finish my essays before my 21st birthday so I can go out and celebrate!

The last is pretty self-explanatory. And since I’ve managed to successfully complete it, I’m out of here! Thanks for reading and have a fabulous April 13^th!

Brief Update

Just a quick note to inform everyone that I'm going to do a substantial update on Wednesday, hopefully upon the completion of the paper by which I am currently consumed. This past week I ate more pizza, missed out on gelato, lived off of spaghetti (turns out a single box can last a single person quite a while!), came in fourth at quiz night (yes, there were more than four teams), and planned out some possible June traveling. This upcoming week will include writing papers, partying, finding my way to the airport after a night of partying, eating, and at the end of the week, resting! Our two week break begins after the end of classes this upcoming Friday. I'm extremely excited, and I have fortuitously just really gotten hooked on reading The Lord of the Rings, which will keep me occupied in the car as we wind our way around the South Island. Can't wait!! Check back Wednesday for my birthday update!

What's a Tim Tam Slam?

Another week gone…not much to report for this one, unfortunately. It’s getting to be that time of year right before the midterm break where professors really love to make you work for your time off…three papers and a midterm to go before I make it! Actually, only two papers, but one is due the day I get back (why?!?!), so better to get that one out of the way or at least started beforehand. I’m missing the earlier days of traveling on weekends and reading all night. But I’ll be back to that the last two weeks of April while my parents and I traverse the south island!! That’s what really pushing me to get all of my work done right now. Less than two weeks to go until they get here!

Although schoolwork was heavier this week, we still made time for our usual fun activities: Pizza Monday, Gelato/Crepe Wednesday, and a new addition, Tim Tam Friday. Tim Tams are definitely the number one food item that I will miss after heading home! In keeping with my traveler spirit, Tim Tam Friday led to trying something new—a Tim Tam Slam. To perform this act, you bite off opposing corners of a Tim Tam, insert one end into a cup of milk, suck the milk up through the Tim Tam as if it was a straw, and then unceremoniously shove the entire Tim Tam in your mouth. All I can say is that there is a two and a half minute video on Nicole’s Facebook showing how I have yet to figure out this complex ritual. Nevertheless, there was much laughter to be had (as always), and we had a fantastic night. On Saturday, we had planned to go to the home rugby game…until at two in the afternoon, we realized that “home” sometimes means “in Napier, four hours away.” Whoops. Disappointed that we had been cheated out of a game, we decided to go out to dinner instead. Many of us have been bemoaning the lack of Mexican food (mostly Chipotle/Qdoba), so we headed off to the Flying Burrito Brothers. Although I wouldn’t say that it was quite what we were expecting, we still had a good time and left full and satisfied. While waiting at the bar for a table to open up, we took advantage of their margarita special, a grapefruit and cranberry concoction. Yum.

And now here it is, another Sunday. I have been trying somewhat fruitlessly to get some research done for my sociology paper…apparently, the school library’s website is not quite functional. My frustration was lessened since I got to talk to my whole family (even David was home!) and Alex on Skype. And I had spaghetti for dinner. Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to make me happy!

This last week, my homesickness hit its peak so far. I almost felt like I was going through a post break-up situation, when you do anything and everything in an attempt to distract you from whoever you’re thinking of with no real luck. Instead of thinking about an ex, I found myself wishing more than anything to be at home with my friends and family, back in my normal “at home” routine. Apparently it is a pretty normal phase to go through at around the length of time I’ve been away from home. Luckily, I can feel it loosening its hold on me as I get more invested in my school routine. Although I will be ready to come home in July, I’m not quite ready to give up everything and everybody here quite yet. This should not, however, discourage anyone to come visit me. I can even provide you with accommodation underneath my bed, since you probably wouldn’t fit on my limited floor space. How can you turn down that kind of offer?? Start booking your flights today! :)