New Zealand Adventures : Adventure Weekend with the Girls

So far my classes are going great! I think Environmental History and Music in Western Culture will be difficult only because I don't have as much interest in them so it is harder to motivate myself to do the readings for those classes. My favorite class so far I think is Sensation and Perception, the way the lecturer teaches it and how we all perceive the world can sometimes be mind-blowing.

Anyway...on to the fun parts of the week that don't involve work. I few of us went to the Bog for trivia night on Monday, and we were simply terrible at it. You would think all those years of watching Jeopardy with my family would pay off, but it hasn't. Tuesday night was our first flat meal, and I was cooking! Those who know me well, know that I can't cook very well and don't like to cook. But I got a recipe from my mom (thank you!) and was able to make a decent casserole. Some of the ingredients are different here is New Zealand so there was a little improvisation, but it still turned out ok. My kiwi host Pri and I watched the new episode of PLL together on Wednesday night, and we are excited for the next one! Thursday night, after doing a little bit of work, my friends and I continued our LOTRs movie. That was a long and fun night and I am so happy that I had Juan and Janessa to walk home with (Thursday is the big party night around campus). Friday was pretty eventful. I started the morning off with attempting to Skype with my friend Debbie all the way over in Copenhagen. It is a 12 hour difference so it is hard to find a decent time to Skype. We talked for about 20 minutes until we realized that we were both too tired and in no condition to be Skyping. Then it was to the rugby game friday night! My friends Sarah and Alexis bought some face paint and hair spray, so we were going all out for this one! So Sarah, Alexis, Colyer and I got ready at my flat and we were decked out in blue and gold to support the highlanders! Unfortunately they lost this game, but it was still a lot of fun anyway! I had another archery lesson after the game ended. And I am improving! I was so close to the bullseye this week, so next week I will for sure!

Now to get on to the events of Girls Weekend. We rented a car for the weekend and named it Pegasus. Saturday morning we met up at my friend Nia's flat at 10:30am to plan our activities before heading to Long Beach to campout in the caves. We ended up going to Tunnel Beach, St. Clair, St. Kilda, and Sandfly bay before heading over to Long Beach. It is amazing what you can do when you have a car to go places and not just a bus and your feet! Because of all the places we went to however, we didn't get to long beach until it was very dark (we stayed at Sandfly bay until sunset because we saw some yellow-eyed penguins!!!) and we had no ideas where the caves were. So we listened to the little voices in our heads to turn around and we ended up having a sleepover in Nia's flat. It was a Blast, and we all bonded and had some girl talk, and yes there was a little drinking but we were all super tired that we didn't stay up too late. We got up around 8am and went off to see the Mole, over in Aramoana. We saw some seals there as well, and some cool birds! Once I got home I too a nap for a couple hours and then did some work to prepare for my lab tomorrow. It was a great weekend full of amazing adventures with the girls. But hopefully next weekend will be spent surfing with dolphins!