Mount Cook = So GOOD

Just had a REALLY REALLY REALLY GREAT weekend.

On Thursday, the general plan was to take a roadtrip to Mt. Cook National Park. (Simple yet flexible.) So eight of us (Tim, Paul, Liz, Jenny, Alan, Mike, Mackenzie, and me) piled into Serena (the Van) with our backpacks and sleeping bags (and Paul's guitar), turned on some pretty sweet tunes, and took the highway northward toward Mt. Cook.

The trip was only took about 4 hours, so we arrived at Mt. Cook National Park around 6ish, pulled off the main road, and found ourselves a nice camping spot in the middle of all the mountains (and right next to some cows). So we set up camp, played some frisbee, and made rice and beans for dinner... and around this time, it began official that bringing the guitar was The Best Decision Ever because Paul, Tim, and Alan can all play really well.

By the way... watching the sun go down and watching the stars come out + good friends + great music + lying down under a really bright moon = better than what you see in the movies

It ended up so that every night we watched the sunset and every morning we watched the sunrise.

The next day (Friday), we decided to hike the Sealy Tarns Track up to Mueller Hut, which is right below the summit of Mount Ollivier and which faces the west side of Mount Cook. Saying that "it had a great view" does not give our hike-to-the-top any justice. Ahhh!! IT WAS SO GOOD!! I was super high in the sky, with mountains and glaciers and clouds and lakes and the sun, and I was with great people and we were gonna hang out, climb to the peak for sunset, and then sleep on top of a mountain. So legitimately victorious.

Sidenote slash Geography/History lesson:

-both Mount Ollivier and Mount Cook are a part of the Southern Alps (the larger mountain range that extends all along the west coast of the South Island); Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand.

- Mount Ollivier reaches 1933m (6340 ft) and is part of a smaller mountain range called the Sealy Range.

- Mount Ollivier was the first peak Sir Edmund Hillary ever climbed.

- Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Cook (3754m/12316 ft) to train for Mount Everest.

- Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to summit Mount Everest; Sir Edmund Hillary was also from New Zealand.

Extra sidenote: Liz hadn't gotten her sleeping bag yet. And since on Thursday night, she got really really cold... I told her that we could share. Up on Mount Ollivier, Tent #2 = Alan in his sleeping bag and then Liz and I in my sleeping bag. Yes, we fit. Yes, we were relatively comfortable. No, we could not move. It was like we were stuck together, except that we were in a sleeping bag and according to Alan, we looked like a mermaid. So we decided to call it "the mermaids' embrace." It got pretty ridiculous after that.

Also, sometimes I would hear thunder outside. But no, it wasn't thunder, it was just the glacier cracking on the next ridge over. Yeah, I know... Whaat??!

So Friday morning... wake up on Mount Ollivier for the sunrise. Mountain tops and sunrises = a great combination. Man, sunshine is just a really great thing.

After the sunrise and some breakfast, we packed everything up, refilled our water bottles, and headed down the mountain. Going down went by really fast... got back to Serena in 2 hours and then just sat our tired bodies down in the parking lot and ate most of the food that we had stored in the van. That was really quite nice.

After lunch, we headed back to the Vistors' Centre to figure out the next move. We decided that a lake would be nice.

Ended up on Lake Pukaki, which was formed by glacial runoff. NICE.

Swimming the in glacial runoff = So So Nice!

Sunset over lake = B-E-A-utiful. The clouds were so good... that sunset is definitely one of my favorites so far.

More guitar time.

So bedtime came around and it was a really calm night so (since the van was full) I decided to sleep outside with the guys. Lake, stars, moon, warm night.... Why not, right? We set up our sleeping bags pretty close to the lake so that we could listen to the waves wash up and then we all fell asleep.

And Then Midnight Came Around... and it began SUPER WINDY. Like our shoes were being blown away and the wind would pick up our sleeping bags and lift our legs off the ground. After an hour or so of this, we decided to head back to the tents. So I sleepily stumbled back to tents with the guys and fell back asleep. AND THEN... only a couple hours later... I woke up to everyone stumbling around again, flipping out about some cool sunrise. So I peek out of the tent and OMG THE SUNRISE WAS AMAZING!!! So I grab my shoes and follow everyone up to the top of the hill and IT WAS LIKE THE SKY WAS ON FIRE. Omg. So rad.

After the sunrise, we had the best/my favorite oatmeal breakfast! It was mixed with apples and nuts YumYumYum. After breakfast, we packed up, played some frisbee, piled into Serena, turned on Men In Black by Will Smith (I guess it's like our official getaway song), and headed back to Dunedin.

Really really really great weekend.

Took the longest shower ever yesterday, got some groceries, and slept really well last night.

Today (Monday) is for running more errands and getting ready for my first day of school tomorrow. Sweet Life.

By The Way, New Zealand Has No Ozone Layer

So right now it's super early Wednesday morning and I am sitting on my bed, eating breakfast (pretzels) because I couldn't sleep. I don't really know why. Oh well.

Okay, so I've realized that when I posted something last Friday, it showed up as Thursday. I guess because it was still Thursday in most places. Go figure.

So about the last couple days...

On Friday, I successfully bought some power at the post office! Score. Also, since the Highlanders (Otago's rugby team) were playing in at Carisbrook Stadium in Dunedin, everyone went to go watch the game. Even though the Highlanders lost in the second half, it was all a good time and Pat from Rhode Island (this guy from our AustraLearn program) ended up winning a free television (Super Awesome).

So we walked an hour to get to the game and an hour to get back... kinda long, but I like walking and I thought it was nice just hanging out with everyone... but basically, I was really hungry on the way back because I didn't have time to make dinner before the game. And since it was late and mostly everything was closed, I got a Big Mac from McDonalds. So Random, but I had never had one before. Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad but I probably will never do that again just because it's McDonalds...

Saturday was pretty relaxed. Just went running in the morning for a bit, found a farmers' market (definitely going back next Saturday), and then...

WE WENT TO THE BEACH!! In case you were wondering, the Pacific Ocean is just as lovely in Dunedin as it is in California. And I Am So Incredibly Glad I chose to do studyabroad in a city with a coastline :) :) :) Swam in the ocean, went on a walk, lounged around, played some frisbee, and got yummy ice cream (NZ has this special ice cream flavor called "Hokey Pokey." All I know is that it involves toffee and it is delicious!!).

On Sunday, Liz, Mackenzie, Tim, Jenny, and I hiked for five hours. Seriously though, we left the flats at 1pm and got back at 6pm. I was So Tired, but it was SO GOOD. We went up this trail/track that is called the Pineapple Track... because back-in-the-day this guide would lead hiking groups up the trail, and when they reached the top, they would stop and rest and the guide would provide canned pineapples for them... and as a result, there used to be loads of pineapple cans just lying around and so this track/trail is forever known as "the Pineapple Track." A lot of uphill, great view of the city/peninsula/inland areas (we were at the highest point in Dunedin, SWEETNESS), found a nice dude to give us a ride a little ways into town... The whole day was seriously a lot of fun. However, because there's a "sweet as" hole in the ozone layer above NZ, last Sunday was the first time I've ever been sunburnt in February. WHOA. But it's all good because I was only a little burned in the collarbone/upper chest area; plus I woke up the next morning and it had turned into a nice tan. cool beans.

Monday!!

Monday was super exciting because Tim and Paul bought a van. YEAH, A VAN. So we drove around and went to St. Kilda Beach for sunsets, celebrations, and a picnic... which basically was a feast of random goodness... chips and salsa; bread, deli meat, and cheese; juice, chocolate and fruit; and cookies and apple pie!!! The beach/ocean was beautiful, the sky was amazing, Good Times With Good People.

Yesterday/Tuesday was also a very wonderful day. Paul, Liz, Jenny, Tim, Mackenzie, Mike, Ashlyn, Ashlyn's flatmate, and I basically just drove around in the van, listened to good music, and went to really cool places in Dunedin and on the Otago peninsula and enjoyed the day and took lots of pictures. We first went to the very tip of the Otago peninsula and wandered around Pilots Beach and the cliffs by Taiaroa Head Lighthouse. Next, we went to Allans Beach on the south side of the peninsula... it was the best time ever!!! Okay, you remember those HUGE HUGE swells that you see in Zuma around July/August?? Yeah, that was Allans Beach today... SO MUCH FUN/SO HAPPY :) :) :) :) After that, we left the peninsula and drove almost to the edge of Dunedin to this place called Tunnel Beach. Tunnel Beach = cliffs, arches, headlands, and a hand-carved tunnel that lead to a secluded/sheltered beach at the base of the cliffs (took loads of pictures). AHH-MAZING PLACE.

Yup, that's pretty much it. Haven't slept. I've got a three hour meeting with all the international students today and then a train ride to someplace cool... Cheers.

"Kia Ora" means Hi

So now that I've got a solid internet connection THIS IS WHAT'S UP:

New Zealand is pretty awesome and the last week has been pretty nuts but basically...

1) Group flights are a great idea. Whoever thought of that gets a gold star.

2) Last Thursday, I successfully arrived in Auckland at 4:30am (that was so unimaginably early) with all my AustraLearn people who were going to Otago. (AustraLearn is the name of my study abroad program.) We had a short and sweet Welcome-to-New-Zealand session with our program leaders and then we got to explore the city. Auckland was super cool because its right on the water and there are sailboats everywhere and its right on top of a volcanic field... whoa... so we got a nice view of volcanic craters, cones, etc. As far as cities go (it's New Zealand's largest city), Auckland is beautiful.

3) The next day we went to Rotorua (like "row-two-rue-ah") for the rest of our Culture and Adventure Program (aka Orientation) and we played touch rugby and then we spilt into groups to learn the Haka (the Maori battle ritual that the All Blacks perform before every game) AND THEN we got all dressed up in traditional Maori (... apparently you are supposed to forget the "o" and roll the "r" like “mah-rree”) dress and had a Haka battle which was basically us looking super fierce with face paint and our eyes bugging out and chanting and yelling like we were going to battle. IT WAS AWESOME.

4) I guess Kiwis are known for being adrenaline junkies and so they get pretty extreme pretty often and since I’m in NZ for the time being, it seemed like a good idea to try and fit in... which is why last Saturday, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE (because we do so much of this in the States) I rolled down a hill in a giant plastic ball filled with water. I am seriously not kidding. They call it Zorbing. It was awesome/hilarious. Also went whitewater rafting in the KaitunaRiver down a 20ft waterfall. No big deal.

5) Sunday was community day. We helped run a local bike race because February was Bike Wise Month all over New Zealand. Met some Kiwis and rode with little kids so they wouldn't get lost on the mountain. It was all pretty good even though I was honestly half-asleep the whole morning. Skipped running with Paul and Mackenzie, found Gray (yes, that's his real name) for some frisbee time, and ended up playing a big game of Ultimate with a bunch of people. Basically, it was a really good time and since Tim just bought a frisbee here (my little frisbee is too small for Ultimate, shucks) hopefully we'll play again soon yay!

6) Monday was the coolest day ever. Why? Well, because I went on a CAVING ADVENTURE. And when I say ADVENTURE, I mean like two and a half hours UNDERGROUND, repelling/abseiling down four WATERFALLS, the largest of which was no less than 90 feet... yeah, No Way!! It was nuts/It was awesome. Basically, there was nine of us Otago-AustraLearn kids and our two Kiwi guides. After we made it about 200 feet underground, we were all together crawling in knee-deep water, rock climbing, army-crawling through super tight spaces, checking out the glow worms... all of this wearing wetsuits, helmets, and gumboots/galoshes (yeah, literally class 5 climbing, scaling a 20 foot wall, wearing RUBBER BOOTS). That Day = SO COOL!!! the coolest.

Random observation: I feel like Kiwis/Kiwi guides have this idea of "learn as you go" and that "everyone will be totally fine." Like for instance, for rafting in Rotorua and caving in Waitomo, there were no safety instructions, it was all just basically "Hold on" and "Wear a helmet" and that's all. I mean, we learned the basics of repelling for our caving adventure but that was it. And after that, you are pretty much expected to be able to do anything, which was cool because we did. I don't know, I guess it was just refreshing/interesting.

Also, everyone is really friendly and saying Kia Ora everywhere (like "key-or-rah"). All Kiwis say Kia Ora even though it's a Maori word... it's like the basic Hi/What up/Hey man/Yo... but I think it's more common on the North Island because more Maori live there.

ALSO, instead of saying Dude/Man/Mate... EVERYONE says "Bro" except because of their accents it sounds like "Brew" like Leo DeCap in Blood Diamond. This is extremely funny to me.

7) Tuesday, we flew to DUNEDIN!!! So yeah, that's where I am right now, in my flat on the computer because yesterday I finally figured out how to work my internet YAY!! So Tuesday, I met two of my flatmates (Danielle from Rotorua/Auckland area and Lukas from Vermont originally and who goes to UPS in Washington state)... Flatmate #3 is Muhammad (sp?) and he's been here since last fall because he is in NZ for a year and but I haven't met him yet because he's in France right now. Got some groceries and basic stuff like towels, a laundry bag, etc. Last night was really fun because we all pitched in and went to Liz's flat and helped Tim make tacos for everyone. After that we went to the park and just tossed around a rugby ball and frisbee AND THEN we went to the Fish n Chips (= a combination of fried food, hamburgers, and chinese food) across the street and got deep fried Moro bars (chocolate, caramel, and nougat... not sure what a nougat is except that is delicious) and deep fried bananas OMG SO GOOD!! And Then, Paul, Mackenzie, Tim, Liz, Jenny, two of Liz's neighbors, and I decided that it would be a great idea to hike up to Lookout Point and to look out over the peninsula. So we all got jackets and changed shoes and met up around 11:30pm and started out. We got sidetracked a bit but we eventually made it all the way to the top around 12:45ish and then we hung out up there for a while, just looking out over Otago Harbor, the peninsula and the Pacific, and also the actually city of Dunedin. It was really really cool and I'm super glad we all did it... we were talking about doing that hike sometime during the day sometime in the future so that should be neat.

So even though I got home at 2am, I did in fact manage to wake up at 7:45 this morning to register for classes and get my student ID card, Success!! So as of now, I'm taking...

- Intro to NZ Sociology: Tuesday & Thursday 1:00-1:50pm

- Theories of Social Power: Wednesday & Thursday 10:00-10:50am

- Advanced Sociological Theory: Wednesday 11:00-1:50pm

Since I just added Advanced Sociological Theory today, I have to email my advisor at CU to see if that class will count as a upper-division sociology elective... which would be excellent if it did, but if not, no big deal. Supposedly Advanced Theory is going to be super hard and loads of work but all in all, I think this is a most excellent schedule.

Yesterday, when I was walking across campus back to my flat, I saw a boy riding his bicycle and a older man was SPRINTING after him yelling "Hey! No Bikes!" (because apparently you cannot ride your bike on campus??) Anyway, this boy on his bicycle is wearing headphones and he Cannot Hear Anything That This Old Guy Is Saying... so naturally, he pedals faster and faster because just thinks he's being chased by some crazy old man. Old Man keeps chasing him. He Does Not Give Up. I honestly do not know the end of this story because after a minute or so they went around a building, but I was highly amused and I'd like to think that Old Man won in the end but who knows.

I think that's about it for now... kinda long but I had to makeup for all last week. Now I have to go buy power at the post office because most flats in Dunedin have a pre-paid power system/pay-as-you-go system and we don't want the power to run out this weekend when the post office is closed...

Back to the Future

So I've got one more week until I leave for New Zealand and so far this is what I know:

1. This time difference thing is tricky. This is because New Zealand time is three hours behind California BUT it's also one day ahead... so if it is Tuesday at 6:00pm in California, that means that it is Wednesday at 3:00pm in New Zealand. So basically, it's like I can see into the future WHICH IS AWESOME.

2. My flight departs LAX on Tuesday at 7:30pm and I'll arrive in Auckland on Thursday at 5:25am. This is important. However, I'm not really sure what's happening in-between on that Wednesday...

3. So I looked on the University of Otago website (Dunedin is the city, Otago is region) and formal lectures don't start until March 1st. And then April rolls around and OH LOOK, mid-semester break from April 2nd to April 12th. And then school resumes et cetera UNTIL... Lectures end June 4th. Exams begin June 8th. Exams end June 24th. So really this means that I only have about three months of actual classroom time. WHOA, That Is Neat.

4. I'm going to be living in a four bedroom flat/apartment with a Kiwi girl from Auckland, a French guy, and another American guy. This should fun/interesting.
PS. "Kiwi" = New Zealander... apparently it's a big part of their national identity/huge source of national pride type thing.
PPS. "Kiwi" is also a fruit (duh) and is the national bird of New Zealand.

5. Even though New Zealanders speak English, apparently they use a lot of slang. Again, this should be fun/interesting. Also in case you were curious, I guess in New Zealand the term "walkabout" is used to refer generally to traveling around when you want a break or change in your life and so I thought it would be an appropriate title for my blog plus it makes me feel like I'm going on an adventure - SWEET. (In Australia back in the day, "walkabout" meant going into the Australian outback. I don't really know much about Australia right now except that Australia and New Zealand are like friendly rivals and that Australia was originally a place were Great Britain sent all its prisoners so New Zealand is supposedly better/superior/more awesome... just saying.)

6. By the time I return, I will have been unemployed for SIX MONTHS. It's not like I won't have funds or anything like that... it's more like Hey, I Have Had A Job Since I Was 15 Years Old And Now I'm 21 And I Won't Have One For Six Months. I don't know, it's just weird I guess.

7. Travel plans that I know of = I'll be going up to the North Island during the second weekend in March to do some conservation work at the Hunua Ranges Regional Park. WAY EXCITED... this place contains 20% of all New Zealand's indigenous plant species so I'm guessing it's pretty rad. Yay Nature!!

Coolness, ORGANIZING THE FUTURE!!! Alright, I think that is all for today. This is good... like maybe we should do this again sometime.