Still Alive

And it's already May!! I realized that it's been awhile since my last update on life. So in no particular order, this is what's been rocking my New Zealand world.

First, let's start with MUSIC.

I have decided that music adds a whole other dimension to life... like a Dimension of Awesomeness. (To break it down... So there are many dimensions of life. And many of these many dimensions are quite awesome in themselves. However, add MUSIC, and that changes the game, because music has the ability to absorb, reflect, and enhance/amplify the awesomeness already present in these other dimensions of life.) Anyway, I have gotten so much music in the last couple weeks and man, it's been a super good time. It's all mainly just a great combination of seriously SERIOUSLY GOOD BEATS and good lyrics. So basically, we've got a few new Jams, some Running Music, some Sleepytime Music, some Mash-ups for Epic Paper-Writing Shenanigans, some "Into the Wild" Soundtrack Action, and of course more of The Essential Basics... Incubus, The Shins, and (duh) Third Eye Blind.

And then there's MY SLEEPING BAG.

So don't get me wrong, I am totally into my bed. My bed is wonderful. (I mean, come on... It Has Pillows, and let's just be honest, Pillows RULE.) But MAN, I LOVE MY SLEEPING BAG. You see, while half of the world is enjoying a nice spring-to-summer transition, This Half Of The World is enjoying a nice fall-to-winter transition. And it gets significantly cold in the South Island... as in, it's only April (aka mid-fall) and the nighttime temperature is about 39 degrees Fahrenheit/4 degrees Celsius (with the occasional drop below freezing, Oh Dang). And since my flat doesn't really do the whole "heating" thing... basically, I've been sleeping in my sleeping bag EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Bringing my sleeping bag to New Zealand = Best Idea Ever slash Best Packing Decision Of My Life. Love my sleeping bag, Mountain Hardwear: 20 degrees Fahrenheit/-7 degrees Celsius, SO GOOD.

The AMIGOS slash Traveling Companions.

So the last couple weeks have been pretty swell with the amigos. In general, it's been lots of hanging out, lots of playing badminton and basketball (with the random game of ultimate and/or rugby), and lots of making dinner together (learned how to make enchiladas last night and it was SUHWEET). Overall, just seriously good times with seriously awesome people. Last weekend, some of the Amigos and I (aka Paul, Tim, Kristen, Ashlyn, Mike, Alan, Liz and I) ditched Dunedin for the weekend...

- On Friday, we headed out to the Southland region of the South Island, found and stopped at POSSIBLY THE COOLEST PLAYGROUND EVER (complete with a huge zipline), and later got to go exploring in the Clifden Caves. Gotta say, Caving Was Pretty Rad. Basically, it was just us and our headlamps... naviagating our way through small tunnels and large caverns, climbing around rocks and pools of water, and checking out all the limestone formations and the little glow worms :)

- After the caves, we made some dinner and then decided to go nighthiking into the Kepler track to snag a campsite for the night. Saturday morning, woke up for the sunrise over Lake Te Anau, hiked out of Kepler, and then we began our Green Lake Adventure...

- Sidenote/FunFact: Hiking to Green Lake = Hiking through the World's Largest Landslide (http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/land_stab/greenmore.html WORD)

- So Basically, our hike to Green Lake got a little nuts... meaning that it was AWESOME. We got a late start on the Borland Road Track, so we began hiking around 3:30pm. We start off wandering through the woods and everything's all cool. And then WHOA, things start to get a little muddy. AND THEN, we reach this huge grassy field that looks like nothing BUT is secretly a HUGE MUDDY SWAMPY MARSHLAND. Everyone got pretty muddy and fell/sank into mossy holes of mud and water (Paul and Tim definitely got trapped all the way to their waists = so amusing)... Honestly, this was Way More Fun than it sounds... you basically just had to accepted your ridiculously muddy fate and it was all SUPER GOOD :) Eventually, more forest came our way... until we reached another huge grassy field. However, unlike the first one, this second field of grassy awesomeness was not a huge swamp in disguise so that was pretty sweet. After Grassy Field #2, there was some more forest and more nighthiking until we got to the Green Lake Hut. This was awesome because it was HEATED and had BEDS!!! I was definitely pumped. The next day (Sunday), we woke up to a little rain, but the weather cleared up by the time we left the hut, so we all had a really nice hike along Green Lake and through the woods, fields, and swampy marshes. Back at the van, we changed into whatever dry/less muddy clothes we had and then headed back to Dunedin. That night I went out with some friends for kebabs and ice cream and it was DELICIOUS.

FUTURE PLANS that I am excited about.

The future is always super fuzzy, BUT some parts of the future are getting clearer slash more official slash I Am Officially Going To The All Blacks vs. Wales Game On June 19th 2010. In addition, I am officially seeing my family on Sunday and I get to show them around Dunedin and the South Island for a couple days :) YAY FAMILY!! In terms of way-far-in-the-future plans, when I finally make it back to the Golden State, I am officially buying new running shoes and new jeans... Great Walking has destroyed my Mizunos and My Existence and Good Times in California/Colorado/New Zealand just happens to be manifested in the increasing decimation of my jeans (Kinda a major bummer, but I guess after 2+ years it's to be expected... Shucks). Also, I am officially planning to sleep tonight... I am most seriously tired right now, so I'm pretty excited about this even though I still got a couple hours before bedtime and all.

Currently, it is Thursday. I've finished up my classes for the week. So I got some badminton shenanigans going on later tonight and a weekend of chilling in Dunedin, hanging out friends, some end-of-the-year schoolwork action, and then family time on Sunday YESSSSSS