Last Few Days in NZed and back in MA

Finals were terrible. Especially when they were worth 70% of the final grade.  In between studying for these finals I was able to have a wee bit of fun.  Amy and I went on the hunt for the Pineapple track, which she was previously unable to find. We found it and climbed up to oversee Dunedin, it was a beautiful and clear day so we got a great view of the city.  Later that week we had a goodbye party for Amy who was the first person to leave us.  After saying good-bye to Amy on the 17th, Jane came to say a final goodbye to all the Arcadianz and buy us all a hot chocolate.  So it was a little bit of an emotional day with all the farewells and I still had to study for my last 2 finals! I got together with classmates to  do some last minute cramming and finally they were over! And to celebrate the end of finals I packed. Packing was extremely depressing because I did not want to leave my flat or the amazing country, but I did not have a choice because my visa was running out.  After packing and going out to dinner with Alexis, we all met up at Cat and Colyer's flat for some fun, music and storytelling about all of our adventures.  Then all of a sudden it was June 20th and it was time to leave our flats.  We had to be out of our flats at 10am, though our flight out of Dunedin was not until 5:10pm. So we had some time to kill before the shuttle picked us up at 3:30pm.  Our flight ended up being delayed 2 and 1/2 hours, which strained our time to make the connecting flight in Auckland to go back to the USA. They ended up having to hold the flight in Auckland for the 20 of us that needed to be on that flight.  The flight did not seem as long this time, maybe I was just more entertained sitting next to Nikki, Alexis, and Nia, or was it that I watched more movies, or slept longer than 2 hours.  Once landing in LAX we went through customs somewhat easily and had a 6 hour layover before the "night" flight (night for america, day for me) back to Boston.  My friend from Arcadia and my flatmate were on the same flight back, so I was not completely bored.  Finally after traveling for about 3 days, or so it felt like it, I was back in MA.  I thought I was going to sleep a little before starting my first day back, but I ended up staying awake and going for a walk to reacquaint myself with the town.  I then met up with my Best Friend Charlotte and went to Panera for lunch.  New Zealand does not have Panera and I really missed it.  After lunch and a little shopping at Target, I got home and took a 6 hour nap, then 3 hours later went to bed.  I guess not sleeping on the planes helped me adjust to the time here better.  Have not felt much jet lag since getting back, but it has not been an easy adjustment back here either. I had a party with my friends last night and it was great seeing everyone and telling them stories from NZ.  It just feels weird being back in the States, but it also feels like I never left and NZ is only a dream.   Hopefully I will start work soon that will help keep my mind off of how much I miss NZ and my friends I made there.

The Last Outing in Dunedin