Dear Diary

I am kidding...this is not my diary, I just was having a difficult time coming up with a title for this blog post! Anyway...

I have noticed that you cannot go 5 kilometers without setting your eyes on a rugby field here.  New Zealand’s national team, the All Blacks, is represented with upmost prestige and honor.  They played Fiji at the new 200 million dollar stadium in Dunedin, built specifically for the Rugby World Cup this fall (their spring), on Friday.  I didn’t get the pleasure of attending the game, but me and two of my flat mates went to a restaurant to watch it instead. We ordered dessert, and I tried kiwi pavlova.  Pavlova is New Zealand’s national dessert.  It reminded me of cotton candy because it just melts in your mouth aka VERY GOOD! It’s a meringue cake, typically topped with berries.  Mine had a side of kiwi flavored ice cream which added a perfect touch of tropical!  My first food review!! J

Not my picture...but what pavlova looks like. So good!

 Even though the game was totally dominated by the All Blacks, it was certainly fun to catch on to one of NZ’s favorite pastimes.  It is crazy how rarely the trainer has to come out onto the field considering how aggressive they are!! (Side note: BK and JP, you wouldn’t have to remind them to be aggressive, be be aggressive haha!) It will be fun to watch the actual World Cup versus Australia (the archenemy)! On a partially similar note, I am not ruling out a pick up rugby game if I ever get the opportunity…

Before the game, I hiked to Flagstaff Mountain, which is directly west of the city. It started out quite sunny, and by the time we reached the top it clouded over and the air turned crisp.  The scenery was not as drastic as Mount Cargill, but I believe if the clouds were absent, it would have opened up a whole new world!  Nevertheless, it is always worth my time to get out of the flat and explore!  We hiked up the Pineapple Track to get to the summit, and the beginning of it was so jungle-like, I swore I was in Brazil or something!  Hence the name Pineapple, I am assuming?!  Toward the latter end, there was this huge, steep ridge and seriously the incline would NOT stop.  My pace drastically declined to a snail’s pace by the end of the hill.  Pain is beauty though, as my pain brought me to more beauty in the natural world! 

This trees reminded me of California.

Jungle!

On the way up!

LOVED LOVED the frosted tips!

Looking onward...

Me and my awkward posing...currently in training to become slightly  more modelesque!

The marker at the top.

I think I have seen the city from all angles now!

On our way back, we got sidetracked by the cutest sheep I have ever seen!  They are so fluffy this time of year, and the little ones are at a melt-my-heart level of cuteness.  Which is…making me consider getting a pet sheep.  I think my dad won’t mind one bit!! J

This little thing posed for me! :)

Even though they speak English here, there are definitely some differences.  First off, the accent.  It is slightly British with a touch of Australian.  Whenever I am speaking to a Kiwi, I mentally pick up the accent and then when I start talking back…it turns into a mess of things.  I sound like a complete idiot because I say some words with their accent and then I say some words paying homage to Minnesooooota (which I get teased for relentlessly by other Americans).  I don’t purposefully sound like them…it just slips off my tongue because mentally, I remember the pronunciation of how they state the vowels and then it just doesn’t switch off until they ask me…”So, where are you from?”.  Then of course, I realize how foolish I presented myself after I answer “the United States”.  I probably come across as a wannabe actress!  Which of course, underneath it all, I am just DYING to be!!! Practice makes perfect! ;)

Update on school is not anything that I would consider breaking news…but just some highlights this week:  I am taking a Maori language class and it is by far my favorite class here.  BUT, I embarrass myself daily in this class.  We go through words by flashcards as a class, so I think that I am sounding everything out okay.  Then we get to the end of the class, and my teacher has us pronounce a word before we leave.  I wait my turn in line praying that I get an easy word so I don’t mess up.  I get an easy one, and of course I mess it up!! I immediately get frustrated and my face gets red and my teacher feels bad for me so she gives me another one and helps me pronounce it…which irks me more because I know I can do it by myself!  Next time, I swear I will get it!!  I am really glad that I am taking this class though, it is definitely my favorite!  Otherwise, I am analyzing tourism on different scales, finding ‘truth’ in media (yay!), and discovering the Pacific Islands!  In one of these classes (guess which one), I made my to-do list for while I am here. 

Sorry for the lengthy post.  I hope everyone back home is enjoying the humidity and warmth…it is currently snowing here and there is about an inch on outside my door!

My reality:

Minnesota in contrast to NZ

Okay, really going to go now!  Have a fantastic, heart-warming, fun, exponentially epic, and smiley week! :)

Weekend Bliss

Oh, the places you can go with two feet!  This weekend, I partook in my very first tramping excursion in New Zealand.  My friend Brady and I hiked Mount Cargill, which is located northeastern of the city centre of Dunedin.  We walked to the base of the trail, which is about 2.5 miles from my flat.  It was interesting to see a different side of the town, which is less commercialized and has touches of farmland and rolling green hills.  First, we had to hike through a gulley, then it turned into the steep incline that I missed so much.  It was such a relief not to have to be on the lookout for wildlife, as this area doesn’t really contain many predators on land.  There are quite a few birds though, and their cheerful songs kept me going…not really but in other words I wasn’t that annoyed by the chirping.  The summit was so chilly and the winds were so strong that you couldn’t stand still and enjoy the view for very long.  So we quickly snapped some photos and praised the scenery, and headed back down.  We took a different route back and it ended up coming out to this road that was about 3 miles from the place we went up the trail.  It was kind of a good accident, as we took a little countryside stroll through sheep farms, cattle land, and old buildings.  I kind of wanted to hitchhike for my first time, but figured I better save that for later when there is a little bit bigger group…mom don’t worry I still have some common sense left! J We made it back in 5.5 hours, with 13 miles of walking/tramping complete!  All in all, it was beautiful, fulfilling, and tiring.  Too bad my little sisters aren’t around to massage my feet!

My current favorite picture...

No camera can capture what the naked eye sees...

We met up with my neighbor and his friend near the top!

The Otago Peninsula

On our way back through the country part of Dunedin

These yellow flowers are prevalent here

Today, I took advantage of the day of rest and slept in.  Then I looked outside my window and was a bit disgusted with myself for wasting a BEA-U-TIFUL morning!  There was not a cloud in the sky all day and the temperature reached above 50, which is warm considering it is winter here.  So to make up for it, I got a group of people together via Facebook for a casual stroll up Signal Hill.  You would think with 7 people, we could have easily found our way to the trailhead, but that was not the case.  So thank the kind people of Dunedin for explaining to us a couple times how to get there! We ended up walking up a very steep road to get there, and then taking the trail back down.  It was definitely worth all the trouble.

The view from the top of Signal Hill

Fun people I met up with to hike!

I started school last Wednesday, and it is going just dandy!  All of my lecturers are enthusiastic and so much more fun than US professors.  My Maori lecturer said to “shout things at him whenever”.  I am not so excited to buy the books for the classes though…they are even more expensive here.  Life in my flat community is fun, and I have met a lot of cool people! We are going to start cooking dinners for each other about 4 nights a week, to ensure a healthy lifestyle without our mother’s home cooking!  In fact, I made the first dinner tonight and to be honest I was quite nervous.  Not to be partial or anything, but I thought it tasted pretty dang good!!

The meal I made--I needed to take a picture because I don't think anyone will believe that I made it! ;)

The first week has proved to be successful and I cannot wait to experience more of Dunedin and beyond!  Happy Sunday to all in the states…and to my family: We should have another joke night on skype soon J  Miss you! Kia Ora (the equivalent of Aloha here in NZ)!

New Beginnings and Such

Even though I am miles away from home, it still hasn't hit me that I am.  It feels like I am on vacation! The initial goodbye to my family and friends was hard, but once I took off from LA, I wasn't nervous at all.  I feel like I am meant to be doing this right now. I made it to my home safely, with hardly any problems.  Although, I almost forgot my sleeping bag at one security checkpoint...after thoroughly embarrassing myself at that same location.  I bet security was glad to see me back!! The plane rides from Auckland to Dunedin were just as I pictured it to be...huge green hills next to the ocean!  I also saw a couple of mountain ranges, freshly topped with snow.  The people are so gracious here, and I first saw that with the flight attendants; I have never met such open and friendly people.

I arrived in Dunedin to snow (!!!!), although it didn't stay.  It is quite chilly here, but nothing compared to a Minnesota winter!  My flat does have heating, although we only put in on before we go to bed because electricity is so expensive here.  I met all my "flatties" (roommates) and we attempted to have our first dinner together last night...but jet lag hit me and I fell asleep on the couch.  I felt so bad, as my Kiwi host made a delicious pasta with chicken and mushrooms.

As soon as I find a plug adapter, I will post some pictures of my plane ride and of the view I have from my driveway!