More Pictures

IFSA Butler (my abroad program) held our Farewell Dinner on Friday, at a restaurant on the water called Latitude 41. I ordered the lamb in red wine sauce, and our coordinators Kara and Cerys gave us t-shirts along with CD's with pictures. I've decided to post a couple extra pictures that didn't make it onto the blog:

Wine Tasting:

Adventure Weekend:



Me lying back in the whare nui, on the marae where my Maori Studies class is held:

A picture of the greenstone Nikki bought for me in Hokitika (I haven't taken it off since I got it):

Swimming in Napier (beautiful day):

Quad Biking:

This will be the last week of classes (I can't believe it!), then I'll be flying up to Auckland to meet my dad to travel around the North Island. I'm so excited for him to visit, not only because it will be nice to see my papa, but also because it will be fun to play host in my new home :-) It also seems I'll be stopping over in Rarotonga (the largest of the Cook Islands) before I go home. I think relaxing on a tropical beach for a few days will be just what the doctor ordered for post-finals stress relief.

What else? I've been surfing with my flatmate Jake. We packed in a van with four German guys on Saturday, and went surfing in Lyall bay even though it was cold and raining; I felt pretty hardcore. I'm getting a much better feel for the whole thing, and I think it will be fun to do it when it's warm in Santa Monica this summer.

Classes have been tough. My best class has been New Zealand lit, which is my highest level course, but is clearly my strong point as an English major. My weakest has definitely been New Zealand Government and Politics, since I was expected to know about New Zealand politics before taking the course; but I've learned a ton, and I suppose that's what is important.

People will start taking off within the next few weeks. I'd rather not think about it at the moment. All things must pass.

P.S. I baked this chocolate chip banana bread from scratch and it was amazing:

Adventure Weekend

I know I've been kind of a slacker about updating this thing... telling you I've been incredibly busy will just sound trite, so I'll spare you the excuses and try to go over what I've been up to.

Last weekend, my program took us on an "Adventure Weekend". We took a ferry down to Picton, where we went swimming with dusky dolphins:



I got a few pictures of them tagging alongside the boat, but the best views were experienced while swimming with them in the water; couldn't capture those on a camera, but they were surreal. The dolphins were incredibly playful. They would swim beneath us, in front of us, around us in circles, or they would pause for a moment before taking off in one direction, expecting us to chase them. They came within a foot of me multiple times, and I touched one (semi)accidentally as I was reaching out in excitement. I think the fascination was mutual, since the dolphins stayed around us for a considerable amount of time before deciding to leave and begin feeding.







That evening we went to Marlborough to go wine tasting at various delicious wineries. We learned that the South Island is best known for Sauvignon Blanc, although each winery had won awards for various other wines. The clouds cleared and we enjoyed a beautiful day relaxing in the vineyards. Aside from the Sauvignon Blanc, some of my favorite wines ended up being the Rieslings and the Merlots. Maybe as my wine palette develops, so will my taste for red wines... as of yet I'm still a fan of the less bitter whites.



That night, our program directors, Cerys and Kara took us out to a nice restaurant in Picton, where I ordered fish covered in chive creme sauce with jasmine rice. The next morning we went kayaking through the sounds:




Then we headed back to our hostel and changed quickly before taking off to catch our ferry back to Wellington. I got back pretty late, and have been busy making travel plans with my dad, reading, writing papers, and trying to tie everything up for the end of the semester. Another experience I enjoyed but didn't update about was my noho marae, which was similar to what I did during orientation; my Maori Studies class was welcomed onto a marae, we enjoyed dinner and slept over in the whare nui (family house), and then listened to (and even played) some Maori instruments... it was really nice, and I'm glad I got to do it a second time, this time with some knowledge about Maori tradition and culture under my belt.

Most of my friends have been booking flights home and started talking about when they're leaving... it has been difficult. I've developed some amazing relationships here, and my sense of self has developed a lot... I wonder how this will transfer when I'm out of my comfortable kiwi bubble?