Final Farewells

The Monday after we returned from the Kepler track I had my last Neurophysiology lecture and lab. It was a fun lab on the senses of taste, hearing, and the vestibular system.  Later that night Arcadia had the Farewell dinner for everyone.  The dinner was at an amazing Italian restaurant, that I wish I could go to again but it is fairly expensive.  At the dinner the winners of the photo competition were announced.  Guess who one the best picture for the people category and overall best pictures, that's right! This lady, right here currently in the corner of the library.  For winning, there were some prizes.  I received a nifty certificate and a laminated copy of my picture as well as a business card holder with a kiwi on it.  For winning the overall competition I got a sweatshirt! The sweatshirt says Sweet As (a very common saying here) and I will be wearing it all the time when I come home.  At the end of the dinner we also got "goodie bags" with a postcard from 'Mama' Jane and Dee (the student staff member) and an Arcadianz shirt.  So many new souvenirs for me to bring back! Do I have room for it all in my suitcase? - NOPE!

My Winning Photo! - taken at Moeraki Boulders

Tuesday in Dunedin a rare occurrence happened, it snowed! In Dunedin it gets fairly cold in the winter, but because of the low elevation there is little snow.  It was strange to wake up to snow falling at the end of May, but I love snow so I had fun.  It was funny to see how little prepared people are for snow as students were slipping and sliding on the sidewalks in their converse sneakers.  My friend also said that the university was trying to clear a pathway with a snowblower.  Throughout the day is changed from snow to rain to snow to hail! Yes there was a hail storm in the afternoon that brought back to memories of the one I experienced in Mexico on my mission trip. That night some friends and I braced the slushy streets and went to the Baaa Bar for trivia.  It was funk but as always we didn't do too great because of our lack of New Zealand pop-culture knowledge.

Friday was my last day of classes here in New Zealand, I was actually a little sad because 1. I did not want to deal with finals and 2. reality hits that you really do not have much time left.  However to celebrate the end of classes we had a movie night, that turned out to be another girls' night.  We ordered some dominos and made some banoffee pie and then watched Gladiator and Sydney White, and a little bit of Hercules.  Saturday, the first day of June I started to study for my finals.   Then that night there was a rugby game, that I did not go to, but I helped my friends get ready to go and met up with them after the game. my friend Cat found some abandoned Highlanders flags, so I now have one to decorate my room with next year! A couple of my friends just celebrated their birthdays, so we went out to an Indian Restaurant on the 7th, I couldn't go out with them after because I had a final the next day, but the food was delicious.

That is pretty much all that has happened in the last couple weeks. I have done a lot of studying and have finished 2 of my finals, so only 2 more to go, but they are not until the 18th and 19th.

A New Zealand Birthday

Since my last post I have had a paper and 3 tests to complete. It was rough, especially because I had 2 of the tests on the same day (Thursday the 23rd), but I made it.  After a week of studying and tests it was time to celebrate my birthday with some awesome flatmates and friends on Thursday night. There were 15 of us total at dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant that was BYO (meaning you can bring your own wine bottle there for a small cost) and the food was very good and actually spicy! New Zealanders are not big on spice usually.  After a fantastic dinner we went back to my flat for some music and games.  It was a lot of fun having so many of my friends over to celebrate my 21st!   The next day (my actual birthday) I went to lunch with Cat and then went shopping for our tramping weekend.  This was going to be another Girl Weekend out to the Kepler track with Cat, Amy, Alexis and Sarah.  We left Dunedin around 4:30pm and stayed overnight in a backpackers in Te Anau, though we had a little trouble finding it once we arrived in the town.  Then Saturday morning we were off to tramp up the mountain and stay overnight at Luxmore hut, but not before we all bought matching hats for tramp.  The hike was a lot more difficult than the Heaphy - so much steeper.  Once out of the tree line, the wind was strong and cold that it knocked me sideways and off the track a couple of times.  I made it though, and the views were more than worth the pain I put my body through. In the "hut," which was more a vacation home (without a stove or electricity), we sat my the fireplace and made some dinner of couscous and veggies. After dinner it was time for a well deserved message line.  When we exhausted we all went up to the bunkroom and cuddled up in out sleeping backs and had some girl talk.  It was pretty cold so the five of us were all up on the top bunk (usually 4 would be up there).  Trying to sleep even after a day of hard tramping was not easy when the wind was howling and causing the hut to shake.  Then in the morning, we found out the forecast was calling for Snow! And as we were having breakfast that cold Sunday morning it started to fall.  As Amy is from Texas, she rarely sees snow and was ecstatic.  It turned out to be extremely fun hiking in the snow, for a little while, as it turned to rain as we descended the mountain.  Thankfully the rain on this tramp did not cause any 'exciting' river crossings.  The drive home was filled with the singing of Disney and Country songs and then stopping for a little chinese food.  This was such an amazing weekend and birthday.

Thursday Night BDay party

Rainbow in Te Anau before starting the track

Matching hats!

On the Kepler after getting out of the tree line

Snow in the morning

Finally some good Weather

After a weekend out on the town, there was a complex dinner on Monday put on by the uniflats office. You have to love free dinner.  It was nice to talk to people who live so close and that I hardly ever see.  After having a delicious and huge meal some of us went over to a neighbor's flat to play a couple games of Mafia.  Tuesday was my friend Cat's birthday so after class we got together for lunch and a little shopping.  Later that day Cat's flatmates, a couple of other friends and I went to a nice dinner.  Then it was nothing but classes and working until friday, where instead of camping (too cold and a unit rainy) we went to try and see some of the glow worms around Dunedin.  We were not successful, but we had a fun night-time troll though the woods. The car the we rented for the weekend (that I was not driving) was named Trixie, she was a very trusting car.  We got a VERY early start with Trixie on Saturday, heading out of Dunedin at 6:30am to spend a day in the Catlins.  The weather on saturday was amazing, even after it rained everyday that week before.  The first stop along the was was Cathedral Caves, we got there right at low tide so we were able to explore.  The cave was amazing.  After the caves we headed down to Curio Bay and walked along the beach and climbed the rocks.  The wind was pretty strong, so the waves were enormous and crashing all over the rocks - many good pictures were taken.  After climbing for a while on the rocks we went to a little store at the car park and got a thick shake (aka. an American milkshake).  After Curio Bay we decided to drive down to slope point, one of the southern-most points of New Zealand's South Island.  It felt strange being closer to the South Pole than to the Equator.  After Slope Point we headed to Purakanui Falls, even though I've been there before the falls were better this time because of all the recent rain.  After the falls we stopped at nugget point on our way back to Dunedin.  We got to Nugget Point just in time for an amazing sunset.  We got back to Dunedin in time for a late dinner. I didn't have much food so I made rice and peas with some apricot chili sauce.  Then I headed over to a friends flat for a little get together, because Haylie came down for a quick visit from Christchurch.  Some people went into town after a while, but as we were walking there I decided I was too tired and turned home for some good sleep.

Cat's Birthday Dinner

Cathedral Caves

This Was out car Trixie

The Southern most point of New Zealand

Nugget Point

The most amazing sunset.

Sunday was not too eventful, but there was an Kiwi Kai (kiwi cooking/sampling) put on by Arcadia (yay to more free food!).  There were delicious treats such as Anzac and Afghan biscuits (cookies), cheese rolls, asparagus rolls, and tea waiting for us.  The main part of the Kiwi Kai was making Pavlova. We each got our own individual pavlova to decorate. So good and I cannot wait to make pavlova back home in the States because it is super easy to make.

Our individual Pavlovas topped with kiwifruit, raspberries, and grapes

It may be a while until my next post because there are a lot of tests coming up and I won't be doing anything too interesting!