Semester break is less than a week away...I can't believe how quickly time is flying here! Last weekend I had to go on a Plant Ecology field trip (who ever heard of weekend long feild trips??) to the Catlins, which is a beautiful region of NZ between Dunedin and Invercargill. We got there Friday night and then Saturday did two plant field projects, Saturday night identified plants, and Sunday did another plant field project and looked at more plants! Botony overload. One cool thing was we saw this really old huge tree...but then we found an abandoned house and walked inside and there was a dead sheep on the living room.
The week has had some beautiful weather too...and Tuesday was my birthday! After 7 straight hours of class, Ann cooked a delicious dinner and then a bunch of my friends came over for the night. It was really fun! Thursday night was some more celebration...it was also my friend Katie's birthday so we went out for a long Italian dinner (it's nice here because most restaurants you can BYOB) and then went out to town. We convieniently ran into our program director at one of the bars who knew the bartender so got us all drinks for free, which was great.
Yesterday I went to see my flatmate Ditte in a play. She was great, but the play was really strange...I felt like I was at one of Roger's plays at Trinity! Then I went to Sand Fly Beach with some friends. It was so beautiful! We had to walk down this really cool hill which had sand that kind of looked ilke a mountain of snow. Not so fun walking back up it though! There were some sea lions on the beach...and I went swimming in the freezing water! Afterwards some of us went out for Indian food and ice cream, and then went to Spencer's at relaxed. We watched American Idol and Project Runway which felt weird! I don't have a TV here so watching TV on rare occasions feels really strange.
This morning Andee, Spencer and I went to this big farmer's market and stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies, and we are about to head to another beach. We have to take advantage of it now because starting tomorrow it is gonna rain until break!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Fiordland
Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile...I got a little bit lazy but I'll try to update more. A couple updates since I last wrote...
-Last weekend I went on a tramping club (what kiwis call hiking club) trip to Fiordland. My group was of about 10 (Andee and Ann included) and we were heading to Livingston Ridge. We spent Friday night under an overpass, and then Saturday morning began our walk. We hiked up this one mountain, and then went up even higher to be on Livingston Ridge. It was hard, but sooo beautiful! We hiked for a couple more hours along the Ridge, so it was just insanely beautiful views the whole thing. Then we had to hike down to the hut we were staying at though, and that was a challenge! It was so steep that we were turned towards the mountain holding on to grass, and sometimes we would slip and slide down a little. We finally got to where we were staying though, after about 9-10 hours of hiking. We made a delicious pasta dinner and then played a few games of Mafia. We had a visitor though...one possum kept coming up to us, and it drove the two boys on our trip a little crazy and they made it their mission to throw things at it and try to scare it away. The next mornign we woke up to frost! Winter is coming too quickly. Then we hiked back to where we started, and headed back to Dunedin.
-Spencer, Hillary, Andrew and I bought a car together! It's pretty normal for international students here to get crappy cars and then sell them at the end of the semester. So...I am now the owner of a 1989 manual station wagon!
I have to run because I am leaving for a weekend long Plant Ecology field trip (awful!) Miss you all!
-Last weekend I went on a tramping club (what kiwis call hiking club) trip to Fiordland. My group was of about 10 (Andee and Ann included) and we were heading to Livingston Ridge. We spent Friday night under an overpass, and then Saturday morning began our walk. We hiked up this one mountain, and then went up even higher to be on Livingston Ridge. It was hard, but sooo beautiful! We hiked for a couple more hours along the Ridge, so it was just insanely beautiful views the whole thing. Then we had to hike down to the hut we were staying at though, and that was a challenge! It was so steep that we were turned towards the mountain holding on to grass, and sometimes we would slip and slide down a little. We finally got to where we were staying though, after about 9-10 hours of hiking. We made a delicious pasta dinner and then played a few games of Mafia. We had a visitor though...one possum kept coming up to us, and it drove the two boys on our trip a little crazy and they made it their mission to throw things at it and try to scare it away. The next mornign we woke up to frost! Winter is coming too quickly. Then we hiked back to where we started, and headed back to Dunedin.
-Spencer, Hillary, Andrew and I bought a car together! It's pretty normal for international students here to get crappy cars and then sell them at the end of the semester. So...I am now the owner of a 1989 manual station wagon!
I have to run because I am leaving for a weekend long Plant Ecology field trip (awful!) Miss you all!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
WIldfoods Festival
Hi!
Sorry to anyone who’s been reading for not updating in awhile! Just a little from the week…
-On Monday I tried going to a yoga and meditation class and decided that is the last one of those I’m ever going to. Meditation is not for me.
-On Tuesday I had my first field lab for my Plant Ecology class. I had been pretty excited for field labs….but this was a completely miserable experience. It was raining, windy, and freezing. My feet and hands were numb for literally the whole four hours. Every lab you work with a partner and do a different project, and I worked with a Kiwi guy named Daniel and our project was about relative abundances of different plant life. So we had to gather life biomass samples…aka pulling out grass and weeds and sorting them which is really hard when you can’t feel your hands! I still have trouble with the Kiwi accent sometimes…pretty much the only words I could understand Daniel say were repetitions of “it’s f***ing freezing” and “plants and s**t.”
-Wednesday evening I went with Spencer and my flat mate Ann to the movie theatre to see the movie The Watchmen…which was really graphic but also awesome.
-Thursday marked the beginning of the weekend for both Sean and Felicia’s birthdays (both friends from my program) so there was a party at Felicia’s house. It was really fun and I met a lot of really nice people…and was completely shocked to see Sean do the NZ 21-year-old birthday ritual called a yardie…which basically drinking this huge container of 7 beers all at once. Don’t worry family…I will NOT be doing that on my birthday.
Friday morning was beautiful….perfect weather for a roadtrip! I set out with my friends Andee, Hillary, and Andrew in a crappy red rental car we termed “the Demon.” I conveniently forgot my license in another purse, so I have yet to try driving on the left side of the road. We were heading to the west coast of New Zealand, an 8 hour drive, for the annual Wildfoods Festival, a really fun festival where everyone eats tons of crazy food and that is just generally hilarious. We stopped along the way to make lunch on the beach, and at a Salvation Army to get some costumes. Hillary and Andee got jean short overalls, I got neon purple elbowpads and kneepads, and Andrew got a pastel jacket and hat. We also got a hilarious 3 dollar 2003 hip-hop CD, which saved us on our drive. Our drive took us through Arthur’s Pass, a series of mountains in the middle of the country. It was easily the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken. We arrived at Greymouth around 8 and checked into our hostle, which was wicked nice and really cool. The decorations and theme were from Africa. We then quickly left to catch sunset at the “pancake rocks”, these really cool rock formations on the ocean. I can’t explain how beautiful it was…and I forgot my camera at the hostle! So I’ll have to steal pictures from my friends. Anyway, we headed out to dinner at an Indian food restaurant (Andrew and I both ordered our dishes “hot” and were literally crying”) and then went back to bed.
Saturday morning we got up pretty early and went for a bike ride (the hostel had free bike and kayak rentals). I went off on my own and explored Greymouth and went to the beach. It was really cool; instead of sand the coast was all rocks. The waves would come towards shore, but also go both ways sideways, and would hit the rocks and then come back and collide into each other. We got back, and while making breakfast met a guy from Colorado named Jessie who was taking a couple of years off before going to college and had been working in New Zealand and hitchhiking around. We invited him to come along with us, and he ended up staying with us the whole day and night. He was really nice and what he was doing was really cool and brave…but there were times when we could tell he was really lonely. When we made dinner late that night, he commented that it was the first sit-down dinner with people he’d had in months, which I can’t even imagine.
Anyway, we headed off to the festival in the Demon. And it was HILARIOUS. The atmosphere was completely crazy, which was fitting for the kind of mood you had to be in to eat what you did. I was a pretty awful vegetarian for the day…all in all we tried grubs, shark, rose wine, testicles, heart…and waffles and corn on the cob. We ran into some of our other friends from Dunedin and just generally hung out for the day. Around 7 we headed back to the hostel, made dinner, and went to bed exhausted.
This morning we woke up and hit the road. We stopped in Arthur’s Pass for a quick 2 hour hike, jumped a fence of a sheep farm and ran around in the fields, and in SPRINGFIELD, NZ for some ice cream. All in all, it was a really fun weekend!
Sorry to anyone who’s been reading for not updating in awhile! Just a little from the week…
-On Monday I tried going to a yoga and meditation class and decided that is the last one of those I’m ever going to. Meditation is not for me.
-On Tuesday I had my first field lab for my Plant Ecology class. I had been pretty excited for field labs….but this was a completely miserable experience. It was raining, windy, and freezing. My feet and hands were numb for literally the whole four hours. Every lab you work with a partner and do a different project, and I worked with a Kiwi guy named Daniel and our project was about relative abundances of different plant life. So we had to gather life biomass samples…aka pulling out grass and weeds and sorting them which is really hard when you can’t feel your hands! I still have trouble with the Kiwi accent sometimes…pretty much the only words I could understand Daniel say were repetitions of “it’s f***ing freezing” and “plants and s**t.”
-Wednesday evening I went with Spencer and my flat mate Ann to the movie theatre to see the movie The Watchmen…which was really graphic but also awesome.
-Thursday marked the beginning of the weekend for both Sean and Felicia’s birthdays (both friends from my program) so there was a party at Felicia’s house. It was really fun and I met a lot of really nice people…and was completely shocked to see Sean do the NZ 21-year-old birthday ritual called a yardie…which basically drinking this huge container of 7 beers all at once. Don’t worry family…I will NOT be doing that on my birthday.
Friday morning was beautiful….perfect weather for a roadtrip! I set out with my friends Andee, Hillary, and Andrew in a crappy red rental car we termed “the Demon.” I conveniently forgot my license in another purse, so I have yet to try driving on the left side of the road. We were heading to the west coast of New Zealand, an 8 hour drive, for the annual Wildfoods Festival, a really fun festival where everyone eats tons of crazy food and that is just generally hilarious. We stopped along the way to make lunch on the beach, and at a Salvation Army to get some costumes. Hillary and Andee got jean short overalls, I got neon purple elbowpads and kneepads, and Andrew got a pastel jacket and hat. We also got a hilarious 3 dollar 2003 hip-hop CD, which saved us on our drive. Our drive took us through Arthur’s Pass, a series of mountains in the middle of the country. It was easily the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken. We arrived at Greymouth around 8 and checked into our hostle, which was wicked nice and really cool. The decorations and theme were from Africa. We then quickly left to catch sunset at the “pancake rocks”, these really cool rock formations on the ocean. I can’t explain how beautiful it was…and I forgot my camera at the hostle! So I’ll have to steal pictures from my friends. Anyway, we headed out to dinner at an Indian food restaurant (Andrew and I both ordered our dishes “hot” and were literally crying”) and then went back to bed.
Saturday morning we got up pretty early and went for a bike ride (the hostel had free bike and kayak rentals). I went off on my own and explored Greymouth and went to the beach. It was really cool; instead of sand the coast was all rocks. The waves would come towards shore, but also go both ways sideways, and would hit the rocks and then come back and collide into each other. We got back, and while making breakfast met a guy from Colorado named Jessie who was taking a couple of years off before going to college and had been working in New Zealand and hitchhiking around. We invited him to come along with us, and he ended up staying with us the whole day and night. He was really nice and what he was doing was really cool and brave…but there were times when we could tell he was really lonely. When we made dinner late that night, he commented that it was the first sit-down dinner with people he’d had in months, which I can’t even imagine.
Anyway, we headed off to the festival in the Demon. And it was HILARIOUS. The atmosphere was completely crazy, which was fitting for the kind of mood you had to be in to eat what you did. I was a pretty awful vegetarian for the day…all in all we tried grubs, shark, rose wine, testicles, heart…and waffles and corn on the cob. We ran into some of our other friends from Dunedin and just generally hung out for the day. Around 7 we headed back to the hostel, made dinner, and went to bed exhausted.
This morning we woke up and hit the road. We stopped in Arthur’s Pass for a quick 2 hour hike, jumped a fence of a sheep farm and ran around in the fields, and in SPRINGFIELD, NZ for some ice cream. All in all, it was a really fun weekend!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Free Fallin
A couple highlights from last week:
-I played tennis with Hillary on this court that is part of a freshman dorm complex right behind my flat. At like 6:30 everyone started disappearing and we wondered if it was to a dining hall. Turns out there is a freshman dining hall right next to the courts that doesn’t swipe cards and has delicious lemon cake…
-I went to the beach on Wednesday after classes. Being on the beach in March on a school day was awesome! And I got to surf again.
On Friday our Arcadia group headed to Queenstown, the “adventure capital of the world.” We were supposed to go luging once we got there, but it was raining so the place was closed due to slippery roads. Kind of a bummer, but we got passes to go back any time within two months for free.
On Saturday we got up bright (actually dark…before sunrise) and early to hike a day of the Routeburn Track. New Zealand has seven or so famous “walks” that are multiple day hikes where you camp out or stay in huts along the way. The track was completely beautiful. First of all, we saw not one but two rainbows! It’s like the country is actually magical. The plant life in the woods was really cool. It was so green with twisted trees and moss everywhere and felt like we were in Lord of the Rings. We eventually summated at a hut at the top of a waterfall, and then part of our group continued on up another mountain to a lake. I can’t describe how beautiful it was. I’ve been loving New Zealand, but the scenery on the day of hiking has been the biggest confirmation that I should be here. It was so incredibly beautiful and surreal and I don’t think there is anywhere in the world like it. All in all, we hiked 26 kilometers that day, about 16 or so miles.
That night I went out with a few of my friends to take our mind off the bungee jump the next day. Highlight of the night was seeing a bunch of women in 80’s outfits doing crazy dorky dance moves around the bar. It turned out to be one of the women’s bacheloret (no idea how to spell that) party. It was like Trin 80’s dance comes to NZ!
I woke up Sunday morning completely terrified. Bungee jump day! First though, our whole group went to do jet boating. It was probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. You’re in this big motor boat going so fast between walls of rock and doing 360s and the driver is insane and you get sooo close to the rocks.
After jet boating, out group split up for bungee jumping. Some didn’t jump, some did the Kawana Bridge, the original commercial bungee jump where you can go into the water, and some did the Nevis, a 450 foot drop known as the most intense jump in the world, with 8 and a half seconds of free fall. For some reason, I chose to do the Nevis. I still don’t know why, because I’m a huge wimp! The bus ride to the site alone is intense. You’re right on the edge of an enormous cliff. Then you get there, and in groups of six are carted on this gondola-like box out to the jump site, which is suspended in the middle of the air between the mountains. I made the mistake of looking down in the cart to the river and rocks far below and got completely terrified. We finally got to the jump site, which was swaying slightly in the wind. The jumpers were heaviest to lightest, so I became more and more terrified as I watched friends jump before me. One of our program leaders, a 30ish rugby player named Shane, jumped and was still shaking from it throughout the rest of the day, which wasn’t comforting! When my name was called, I had to sit in a chair where one of the instructors hooked up the bungee to my harness. I was clearly terrified so he was joking around hooking the bungee to my shoelaces and stuff. I wasn’t amused.
What followed was kind of a blur. I walked to the edge of this mini-diving board thing with the instructor holding onto my harness in the back. I could hear my friends cheering me on and Shane yelling “Don’t look down!” That part was impossible, since you had to look down to shuffle your feet out. At that point, I shook my head and didn’t understand how I was possibly going to willingly jump off that. But, the instructor told me to put my arms out, and told me to jump when he reached 1 and then counted down from 5 and I just did it without thinking.
I thought I would be too terrified to scream…but I was wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that loud in my life. The first 1-2 seconds of the fall were complete terror. The feeling was so unreal I didn’t even know what to compare it to. Once my body moved from horizontal to more vertical though, it became less scary and my screams turned a little more excited. After falling the whole way, you bounced up, and then down and up again, and after that second bounce pulled a red handle next to your knee to release your feet so that you were sitting up. After doing that, I bounced a few more times up and down and starting laughing hysterically. I couldn’t believe I was alive! The most amazing part was hanging from the bungee, sitting there being pulled up, and just surrounded by all of these enormous mountains. I had adrenaline pumping and was totally peaceful at the same time. Bungee jumping was incredible, and as terrifying as it was, I’d definitely do it again! I was so proud of myself for doing it even though I was SO SCARED! It was one of my goals when coming to New Zealand to experience as much as I could, and bungee jumping was definitely an experience.
-I played tennis with Hillary on this court that is part of a freshman dorm complex right behind my flat. At like 6:30 everyone started disappearing and we wondered if it was to a dining hall. Turns out there is a freshman dining hall right next to the courts that doesn’t swipe cards and has delicious lemon cake…
-I went to the beach on Wednesday after classes. Being on the beach in March on a school day was awesome! And I got to surf again.
On Friday our Arcadia group headed to Queenstown, the “adventure capital of the world.” We were supposed to go luging once we got there, but it was raining so the place was closed due to slippery roads. Kind of a bummer, but we got passes to go back any time within two months for free.
On Saturday we got up bright (actually dark…before sunrise) and early to hike a day of the Routeburn Track. New Zealand has seven or so famous “walks” that are multiple day hikes where you camp out or stay in huts along the way. The track was completely beautiful. First of all, we saw not one but two rainbows! It’s like the country is actually magical. The plant life in the woods was really cool. It was so green with twisted trees and moss everywhere and felt like we were in Lord of the Rings. We eventually summated at a hut at the top of a waterfall, and then part of our group continued on up another mountain to a lake. I can’t describe how beautiful it was. I’ve been loving New Zealand, but the scenery on the day of hiking has been the biggest confirmation that I should be here. It was so incredibly beautiful and surreal and I don’t think there is anywhere in the world like it. All in all, we hiked 26 kilometers that day, about 16 or so miles.
That night I went out with a few of my friends to take our mind off the bungee jump the next day. Highlight of the night was seeing a bunch of women in 80’s outfits doing crazy dorky dance moves around the bar. It turned out to be one of the women’s bacheloret (no idea how to spell that) party. It was like Trin 80’s dance comes to NZ!
I woke up Sunday morning completely terrified. Bungee jump day! First though, our whole group went to do jet boating. It was probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. You’re in this big motor boat going so fast between walls of rock and doing 360s and the driver is insane and you get sooo close to the rocks.
After jet boating, out group split up for bungee jumping. Some didn’t jump, some did the Kawana Bridge, the original commercial bungee jump where you can go into the water, and some did the Nevis, a 450 foot drop known as the most intense jump in the world, with 8 and a half seconds of free fall. For some reason, I chose to do the Nevis. I still don’t know why, because I’m a huge wimp! The bus ride to the site alone is intense. You’re right on the edge of an enormous cliff. Then you get there, and in groups of six are carted on this gondola-like box out to the jump site, which is suspended in the middle of the air between the mountains. I made the mistake of looking down in the cart to the river and rocks far below and got completely terrified. We finally got to the jump site, which was swaying slightly in the wind. The jumpers were heaviest to lightest, so I became more and more terrified as I watched friends jump before me. One of our program leaders, a 30ish rugby player named Shane, jumped and was still shaking from it throughout the rest of the day, which wasn’t comforting! When my name was called, I had to sit in a chair where one of the instructors hooked up the bungee to my harness. I was clearly terrified so he was joking around hooking the bungee to my shoelaces and stuff. I wasn’t amused.
What followed was kind of a blur. I walked to the edge of this mini-diving board thing with the instructor holding onto my harness in the back. I could hear my friends cheering me on and Shane yelling “Don’t look down!” That part was impossible, since you had to look down to shuffle your feet out. At that point, I shook my head and didn’t understand how I was possibly going to willingly jump off that. But, the instructor told me to put my arms out, and told me to jump when he reached 1 and then counted down from 5 and I just did it without thinking.
I thought I would be too terrified to scream…but I was wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that loud in my life. The first 1-2 seconds of the fall were complete terror. The feeling was so unreal I didn’t even know what to compare it to. Once my body moved from horizontal to more vertical though, it became less scary and my screams turned a little more excited. After falling the whole way, you bounced up, and then down and up again, and after that second bounce pulled a red handle next to your knee to release your feet so that you were sitting up. After doing that, I bounced a few more times up and down and starting laughing hysterically. I couldn’t believe I was alive! The most amazing part was hanging from the bungee, sitting there being pulled up, and just surrounded by all of these enormous mountains. I had adrenaline pumping and was totally peaceful at the same time. Bungee jumping was incredible, and as terrifying as it was, I’d definitely do it again! I was so proud of myself for doing it even though I was SO SCARED! It was one of my goals when coming to New Zealand to experience as much as I could, and bungee jumping was definitely an experience.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Hiking and stuff
Sunday was kind of a lazy day. I went to swim laps though with my kiwi host Nick. The pool is insane. There is a lappool, a water polo pool, a diving well, a kids pool, channels that move you along, hottubs, and a waterslide! Steve told me that Nick used to be a swimmer but...I'm skeptical. He swam about four laps but was hilarious about it. I taught him how to flip turn and what streamline was.
At night I went to dinner at Andee's flat and had stir fry with her and her Canadian flatmate Janine who introduced me to sweet chili sauce...delicious! Then I went to church with Andrew, and we both fist pumped with pride when a sevenish-year-old boy walked by us with USA flag bandana on. Later a few people from my program got together to watch "Liar Liar" and I went to bed early since Andee and I planned a 6:30 am hike to Mt. Cargill (a mountain within walking distance of campus).
....but at 6:30 Andee texted me saying that her bed was really comfortable. So we ended up going at 4:30 pm! with a bunch of other people from our program. The hike was awesome. Round-trip was about 5 hours. It was really different from hiking (I should say "tramping") in New England. The plant life near the bottom and middle of the mountain was almost like a rain forest! It was really peaceful being out of our crazy college town. There are pretty much no animals in NZ besides birds, but we heard some really bizarre bird calls. And the view from the top was insane! It is sureal how beautiful New Zealand is.
Today I had my first day of classes. I started off with The Body in Asian Religions, which seems like it's going to be really interesting. Andee is in my class as well and texted me, "Our professor is beautiful!" before I got there. He's like thirty and british. Then I had Plant Ecology. That professor is also British, and sounds like those old man british voices that narrate movies you watch in science classes. Then I had Maori Society, which seems like it might be a little bit boring, followed by Plant Ecology lab. I realized how bizarre that professor is (he sang us the instructions on what to do in case of fire), but I'm really excited because we have seven field trips where we'll sample and do intense botany stuff that I have no idea how to do.
After a long day of class...it's time for dinner! Ann is making corn on the cob...so obviously it's gonna be a good one!
At night I went to dinner at Andee's flat and had stir fry with her and her Canadian flatmate Janine who introduced me to sweet chili sauce...delicious! Then I went to church with Andrew, and we both fist pumped with pride when a sevenish-year-old boy walked by us with USA flag bandana on. Later a few people from my program got together to watch "Liar Liar" and I went to bed early since Andee and I planned a 6:30 am hike to Mt. Cargill (a mountain within walking distance of campus).
....but at 6:30 Andee texted me saying that her bed was really comfortable. So we ended up going at 4:30 pm! with a bunch of other people from our program. The hike was awesome. Round-trip was about 5 hours. It was really different from hiking (I should say "tramping") in New England. The plant life near the bottom and middle of the mountain was almost like a rain forest! It was really peaceful being out of our crazy college town. There are pretty much no animals in NZ besides birds, but we heard some really bizarre bird calls. And the view from the top was insane! It is sureal how beautiful New Zealand is.
Today I had my first day of classes. I started off with The Body in Asian Religions, which seems like it's going to be really interesting. Andee is in my class as well and texted me, "Our professor is beautiful!" before I got there. He's like thirty and british. Then I had Plant Ecology. That professor is also British, and sounds like those old man british voices that narrate movies you watch in science classes. Then I had Maori Society, which seems like it might be a little bit boring, followed by Plant Ecology lab. I realized how bizarre that professor is (he sang us the instructions on what to do in case of fire), but I'm really excited because we have seven field trips where we'll sample and do intense botany stuff that I have no idea how to do.
After a long day of class...it's time for dinner! Ann is making corn on the cob...so obviously it's gonna be a good one!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Train Trip and Kayaking
Friday was another beautiful day. In the evening, the international students had a train trip to some gorge I don't remember the name of, but that was absolutely beautiful. And they gave us a free bbq and I had the most delicious veggie burgers ever! Afterwards Ann, Andee, and I were pretty exausted so we got some famous NZ Hokey Pokey ice cream and watched a movie.
Yesteday I went on a trip to a harbor with Kayaking Club. I'm still deciding whether or not I want to join. The gear is really cool! I've only ever done two person kayaks, and one person is a ton more fun. People were flipping left and right though! The guy who was instructing us made us water exit (aka flip ourselves over on purpose!) to make sure we would be able to get out if that happened to us on a real trip. So we had to do that and it was freeeezing afterwards! I don't know if I've ever been as thoroughly cold as I've been in New Zealand. It's much different from being outside in the snow or walking around in the winter. It's like a damp, bone-chilling cold you can't get rid of. And my feet are all cut up from stepping on clams in the harbor after the water exit! In spite of that though, kayaking was still really fun, and I think would be even more fun on real trips down rivers.
Tomorow is our first day of classes but I just realized...I don't have any! On Mondays I'll have genetics but only for the last 6 weeks of classes, and genetics lab but only every other Monday. So tomorrow I'm free!
Yesteday I went on a trip to a harbor with Kayaking Club. I'm still deciding whether or not I want to join. The gear is really cool! I've only ever done two person kayaks, and one person is a ton more fun. People were flipping left and right though! The guy who was instructing us made us water exit (aka flip ourselves over on purpose!) to make sure we would be able to get out if that happened to us on a real trip. So we had to do that and it was freeeezing afterwards! I don't know if I've ever been as thoroughly cold as I've been in New Zealand. It's much different from being outside in the snow or walking around in the winter. It's like a damp, bone-chilling cold you can't get rid of. And my feet are all cut up from stepping on clams in the harbor after the water exit! In spite of that though, kayaking was still really fun, and I think would be even more fun on real trips down rivers.
Tomorow is our first day of classes but I just realized...I don't have any! On Mondays I'll have genetics but only for the last 6 weeks of classes, and genetics lab but only every other Monday. So tomorrow I'm free!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Surf's Up!
Okay. Surfing is officially wicked fun. Or trying to surf that is. We got to St. Clair's beach and it was a beautiful day. I never thought I'd see weather in Dunedin that could actually be considered beach weather! Our group was split up to make lessons more managable, so we had some time to lay on the beach. Then, we geared up in our wetsuits and got foam-top boards so we didn't kill ourselves with fiberglass. The water was crazy! From the coast the waves didn't look that big, but being in the ocean and trying to get out far enough was definitely a challenge. We all were thrown around numerous times. Standing up was wicked hard, and all of the girls in my lesson (myself, Erin, Andee, and Kelsey) were doing a pretty bad job, so during the middle our instructer took us to shore and made us practice more pop-ups and told us to do some push-ups for the next time we surfed!
Being in the water was just so fun. It was freezing though-thank goodness for wetsuits! I was so determined to stand up by the end of the lesson that I probably tried riding more waves and wiped out more times than anyone. But finally right at the end, all four of us got up! It was such an awesome feeling!
After surfing the girls decided to stay on the beach for a little and take advantage of the sunshine. Later, I played tennis with Hillary and Justin from my program. It only my second time playing since October, but it felt great. There was also a big ref chair on the court, so we rotating being the line judge which ended up being pretty funny.
Being in the water was just so fun. It was freezing though-thank goodness for wetsuits! I was so determined to stand up by the end of the lesson that I probably tried riding more waves and wiped out more times than anyone. But finally right at the end, all four of us got up! It was such an awesome feeling!
After surfing the girls decided to stay on the beach for a little and take advantage of the sunshine. Later, I played tennis with Hillary and Justin from my program. It only my second time playing since October, but it felt great. There was also a big ref chair on the court, so we rotating being the line judge which ended up being pretty funny.
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