Time Travel is Confusing

So I'm just confused...I'm sitting in LAX on Saturday June 20th at 8:21 pm...however I keep on thinking its Sunday! 

Fun story though, I landed in LA at the very same time I left my flat in Wellington: 2:30pm. Does that mean I was in two places at once? Or was it just instant time travel? It didn't really feel that instant lol

The flight was pretty low key though. I am so used to traveling in the US and needing to get to the terminal way before my flight I left a little early. My flight was at 5:30 so I booked a airport shuttle for 2:30 thinking that the shuttle would pick up other people on the way and I would need a little extra time. WELL I was the only one in the shuttle and there was NO traffic in the city, so I was at the airport a little before 3. I was checking in for an international flight and had two extra bags, so I thought I would need the extra time. The Air New Zealand lady was very nice and checked my bags all the way through to Boston so I wouldn't have to deal with them in Auckland. But it turns out that NZ doesn't really worry too much about terrorist attacks and security never takes very long, so I just waited around the airport for about 2 hours. Not too bad though, I did write that last blog post and did some reading. Since I was only flying up to Auckland the first leg of my journey was considered domestic; in which case you do not need to take out your liquid containers, which the security lady condacendly told me that I don't need t take out my liquids for a domestic flight (how was I supposed to know???). The short hop up to Auckland was not bad at all-- only an hour up and down not too tough on the ears and no screaming babies. I landed at 6:30 and had another 3 hours to kill in the airport. So I called the flat one last time to use up the credit I had left on my cell. Then at 7:30 the All Blacks vs. France Rugby game started up and I watched that until I was called for boarding. As the plane was boarding, the flight attendants were giving us updates on the All Blacks game, which I thought was funny...the All Blacks did end up winning (very exciting!!) and the whole plane clapped lol. We took off on time and all in all the flight was not bad. It was 12 hours flat, and I was able to get heaps of sleep, which was nice. I watched two movies and read some of my book. The only down side was that my feet swelled up to be about 4 times their normal size. Of course I didn't notice it as it was happening, though I did notice that my feet were feeling hotter than normal. As I stood up they felt kinda tight, but I didn't think too much of it. I was wearing pants so I didn't see the swelling until I lifted up my pants at one point and saw my huge cankles that had developed. I'm working at keeping them elevated and they are pretty much gone, hopefully the last leg of the trip doesn't affect them any. 

Once in LAX life wasn't took exciting. Though it did take me forever to get through customs and then get my boarding pass. My bags of course were the last off the plane, so I was waiting around forever stressing that my bags didn't make it all the way and were stuck in Auckland. I had checked 2 extra bags, a duffel and a brown box with all my books in it. I waited at the carousel until all the bags were taken off it and it stopped...my box never came off the plane!! So I found someone who looked official and asked what I should do and he asked if it was a brown box. I said why yes, do you know where it is? and he pointed to a random space on the floor on the opposite side of the carousel from where I was and said that boxes NEVER go on the carousel! (again how was I supposed to know!?) well then I got through customs in about 2 minutes..I at least thought they were going to xray my bags or something, but no I just walked up to the man handed him my piece of paper he stamped it and said go on through. SO really I was just a worker for the airlines moving my bags....why couldn't they have done that?? They were marked all the way to Boston!?!?!?! I would have understood if they wanted to xray them to come into the country like they do in NZ but no...so really POINTLESS

So then I found my way to the United airlines (sadly the international terminal has NO directory of the airport, so I had NO idea where to go. But thankfully I discovered the inter-terminal bus and the nice bus driver took me to where I needed to go. Here began my two hour endeavor to get my boarding pass (it was probably only an hour...but it felt like two!!) I first walked in looking for a human because I didn't believe my itnerary information had the right stuff to do an e-check in because I didn't do an online check in since I was in the air. I managed to find the area with the humans and tried to walk into line to talk to one of them....my first mistake. The human guarding the entrance to the que told me that I WOULD be able to check in at the kiosks becuase I had printed out information (but he wouldn't look at what I had printed, he just told me to go there). So I stood in line for a kiosk for about 45 minutes got up to the kiosk where it balked at my refrence number (like I thought it would). So back I go to the que guarder....where he asked why I was back again and I said that it didn't like my info. He then directed me to the ticketing counter where I waited in another 45 minute line. Once I got up to the woman, she proceeded to tell me that I was at the wrong counter. Now being very frustrated I told her my story and she had said she had noticed me wandering and that she wanted to be able to help me but that the system at the computer she was sitting at only did ticketing, she couldn't check anyone in (which again made no sense to me...) but she did walked me back up to the talking head and yelled at him for being so annoying to me and pointed me to the correct line where I had to wait for another 45 minutes!! I was however in the right place (third times the charm) and got my boarding pass. Then I hung out in Bradley for a while where I got some food and washed up in the bathroom and chilled on the internet. Then it was over to security at 8 and now I'm writing this post waiting in the terminal.

So for now I am just chilling in the terminal...I'm pretty much done with traveling, I just want to be home!

Bitter Sweet Endings

I have come to the end [full stop]

Truly I didn’t think I would ever get here. When I wrote my first post back in February waiting to leave, I never really expected this day to come. I had expected that time would go on and that I would at one point return to Massachusetts en route to Marion, but it felt so far away…a distant memory that I would never have. But here I am sitting in the Wellington Airport waiting to go through security and board my flight up to Auckland to leave the land of the long white cloud.

It’s a hard thing to leave—Aotearoa. Once you come to this isolated island in the end of the world you never really leave it, you just become displaced from it. Like many real New Zealanders before me, I leave knowing that New Zealand has truly affected me and that I never will really leave it, because to leave it would be to lose it’s affect and influence, and I don’t think I ever will.  New Zealand, the experiences, and the people I have met here, and the memories will always be with me…no matter how far away I am.

It’s a funny thing to think that this experience I have been thinking so much about for the past three years is over, that college is almost over! (Well not really…but still the end is way closer that I am comfortable with) But it’s also funny to think that my decision to come here almost felt nonchalant and yet it has had just a huge affect on me. When I was deciding on where to study abroad, nothing else really came to mind. It was like NZ was calling to me. There was no really decision to make, I was going to study in NZ it was just finding the right program. I don’t really even remember when I first thought about studying on the other side of the world, I just always was.

There is so much that I have learned about and fallen in love with in this country, it’s hard to think that I won’t just be coming back and returning to 32 U Clifton Tce. That mice and drafts are a thing of the past. If you had asked me a month ago if I would find leaving this hard I don’t think I would have believed you. I have become attached and I don’t really want to leave. Though, don’t get me wrong, sleeping in my water bed 48 hours from now will be very nice (mice and draft free…even heated!), but it seems strange that Sophie and Brendan won’t be home waiting for me with a pot of coffee steeping in the press.

I have become connected. I have started to make a life for myself here. Studying abroad is a cruel trick—just as you feel settled and comfortable in your new surroundings, its time to leave and you have to pack up and walk away from the life that you have become so comfortable in. Just last week a tourist asked me for directions and it was the first time that I felt comfortable enough to give them directions and not just say “sorry I’m a tourist too!”

I have met people here who I consider true friends and who I will miss desperately. It’s strange, it feels like I am at camp all over again, saying good bye to my international friends who I had become so close with over the past few weeks and who I felt I would never see again…except multiply a few weeks by a few months and that is how hard I am finding it to leave. Although I do know I will see my NZ friends at some other point in my life…it might not be back on this enchanting island, but it will be somewhere. As I sit here in the airport terminal almost two hours after I left my flat for the last time, AND I AM STILL CRYING!!! Good god I am such a girl sometimes….lets hope the Advil I just took will shake this stress headache that I am getting before we take off.

More to come from either Auckland or LAX…

Study Break

So I have my last final at 9am on Thursday and then I will come back and tell you all about my extremely fast week and how I am spending my last days in New Zealand....but thought I would leave you with this YouTube link of a comerical I am studying for my MarComms class.

Enjoy!

~Marjorie 

Wairarapa Roadie

Back from wine country...Will talk more about it when i have a little more time (maybe my tuesday night...) but for now here are some pictures...

Typical NZ Wine Country: Vines and COWS!!

Best Flatmates EVER!!

Some of our wine...I ended up taking home two...So did Brendan and Soph got 1

Pretty NZ Wine....Perfect Weather!!!

YUMM!! and other things

So tonight I decided to step out of my cooking comfort zone and try a meat that I normally don't have, but that is SUPER cheep over here on the other side of the world--sheep! I mean lamb lol

My flatmate first gave me the idea about cooking the new meat. I usually stay away because it's not my favorite back home, but then again I don't really eat it heaps so I am actually finding a taste for it over here since it is so plentiful...and also super cheep. What I bought..only $7 bucks worth of meat, and I still have enough for another meal tomorrow!

I found a good recipe on Epicurious (where else? lol) which was Lamb, rosemary, and artichokes. It ended up being super easy and cooked fast so I will definitely have to remember that one! Ended up being DELICIOUS and somehow my first time cooking it was PERFECT...it ended up being a perfect medium rare :-) I was proud. 

So proud I took some pictures to show you guys! :-) 

White Plate...I'm turning into my father....

Perfect if I do say so Myself :-)

I do have to say the only bad part about this meal was the red wine. The wine is DELICIOUS! however my whole house only gets to be about 10C at its warmest at night, so the wine WAS TOO COLD! :-( 

In other news, I took a tour of Parlament yesterday and watched some of the proceedings after class, since we were already down there. It was all super interesting. I found it funny how informal it all seemed to me. There would be a question posed by a PM (parlament member) to the speaker; but then the person who was going to answer it would stand up immediatly, normally the speaker wouldn't even be able to introduce the person. Also any other PM can pose a supplement question to the initial question (which seem like they can be fairly far off topic but still vaguely connected). Really the questions just turned into lots of yelling at each other, it seemed like a playground argument at some points...but then again how mature are politicians really? I also went on a tour of the government buildings, which left much to be wanted...the tour guide was not amazing. But it was still nice to see inside the buildings. They are all really different, but really amazing architecture. The oldest building is the parliament library, which is the last of the original government building, the original parliament building burnt down in 1905 (I think). Then there is the parliament building, which is a gorgeous georgian building, but half way through the building project the government ran out of money, so never finished the building by leaving off its left wing. So now the left wing of the government buildings is the building known as the beehive (but no bees thank god lol). It is mostly offices and function spaces. 

I am also in the process of planning a weekend winery tour with the flatmates, at least one...I am going to try and coerce the other one lol. So that will be saturday. I think we won't do an organized tour, but tomorrow I was going to go down to a wine store down the street and ask what local wineries they would recommend (since the 2nd primary location for wineries is about 30 minutes outside the city). I am also looking into a 1/2 day adventure north to see some of the world outside of Wellington. so tonight is the study night..better get to it then!

Pictures of parliament here.

Cheers!

~Marjorie 

Questions in the End

Only 19 more days in this intriguing country on the other side of the world... and I don't know how I really feel about it. I can't really say I won't be sad to go...I will, I have started to finally settle in and now I have to go. It's strange to think that I have been here for 4 months, if someone asked I might say I have only been here a few short weeks, because that is all I feel like has passed. Though I do remember the pains of getting here and settling in and getting used to my lectures and the funny ways people talk and write here. And just as I am seeming to get used to everything, I need to leave again. There is still so much I haven't seen and done here...I never did go Zorbing or see any of the North Island. I didn't get to surf off of 90 mile beach, or take the costal railway, or take a tour of wine country. Things that I came here hoping to do, things I couldn't wait to get to when I was on the planes over here. 

And now my time is finally gone...there is no more. I haven't even seen Wellington Zoo! (though I hope to go and see it next weekend...or maybe even on thursday morning...who knows! lol) All I really have time for is finishing up classes and actually studying for finals so that I can get the credits I need back home..so this trip wasn't a total waste lol. 

I came to New Zealand hoping to find a new side of me...to figure out things that perplexed me when I was home. To start a new "life" for a few short months being a "different" person, trying new things and being EVEN more outgoing than I already was, to not question but just to do. And I did, for a little while at least. I explored the South Island on a whim and talked to people I would have never started a conversation with in the states. But then I got comfortable...I slowed down and realized that I was still in school and focused. Not a bad thing, but back to my normal self. I stopped thinking of things I wanted to see and do, and slept in! These things are not bad, but it means I didn't see and do as much as I had hoped, and that saddens me. I wished I had stuck to my original plan of doing something every weekend. But things got away, and classes actually assigned work, and I actually had responsibilities and people didn't want to do the things I had planned on, and I didn't try and do them myself. 

And now with only 19 more days in this wonderful country I wish I had. Though I realize that I probably wouldn't be passing my classes lol which is probably the reason why I settled back into my normal self..and I think its a pretty good one. Of course there were other reasons why I wasn't able to do and see the places I would have like to seen...things got in the way, people were busy or unenthusiastic. So I changed my mind, I did other things, I relaxed...and I think that was helpful too. And necessary. I always get so wrapped up in the stress at school. I thrive on it, I push through because of it...but am I really enjoying myself? I think so, just not in the same way. I have talked about how I have developed the "no worries" attitude of the kiwis. And I think that has changed me for the better as well. I hope that I can hang onto it in the fast paced world of the states and Vermont (yes even VT is a faster pace than Wellington NZ!). 

My final newsletter from Butler came the other day, and in it were some ways to start thinking about the experience and how to start to make the transition home again. One of the suggestions they give is to figure out now what your answer to the "how was NZ" question. To reflect on the experience and see what it has really meant to you. Has it changed an outlook, or inspired something new?

I don't really have an answer to that question yet. Maybe in the coming days I will figure something out. The experience was rewarding, I realized that I am very happy to be going to school in the states for one lol. And I am still glad that I came, but has it changed an outlook or inspired something new? I'm not sure yet. Has it even been the time of my life? I wrote in my journal today that I'm not quite sure if it has or not. Everyone back home has said that it must be or that it obviously has been...but has this been the time of my life? Is the time of my life regretting things that I have not done? I sure hope not. I have made some great friends who I hope to stay in touch with, and have some new memories....but will I look back on this time and say, "yes, that was the time of my life." I'm just not sure. And I sort of feel guilty about this. Should I have worked harder to make it the time of my life? Should I have made sure I did all the things I came here wanting to do? Or was it the right thing to have no worries and just see where the tide takes me? 

All questions to think about in the end.... 

~Marjorie 

What's going on in my life?

Not a whole lot...

This week weather wise has been up and down. It was coldish in the beginning of the week, getting increasingly nicer as the week went on. On Thursday the rain finally let up (after 3 straight weeks of it) and Friday was beautiful! I didn't even need a jumper! I had the last of my work due on Thursday, it was an oral presentation in my Social Marketing class. It went pretty well, the class only had about 70 kids in it, I thought there were more! It's actually really hard to know how many kids are in lectures since no one really ever goes to class here. Both of my marketing lecturers came up to me within the last two weeks and thanked me for showing up!! They both said that they noticed that I had come to every lecture and thanked me for it...if only that is how it was in the states! Lecturers "understand" that college kids have lives and can't always come to class (really can some of my professors at UVM have that kind of attitude? lol). Most kids don't come because the whole lecture is posted online and, since anyone today can become a teacher by inappropriately using powerpoint, it is very easy to publish your lecture to the internet. I still feel that coming to class gives you a leg up in the class, though many of my kiwi classmates would tend to disagree with me. They too think its strange that I show up to class and FEEL BAD about skipping. The kiwi way of life. 

I have realised I haven't said much about my classes either. Well for the most part they have screwed up my spelling even more! I am a HORRIBLE speller, that is a fact...but for some reason I have picked up the English spelling rules VERY quickly and find myself having to remember what the American spelling is!! I am going to be totally confused when I have to write a paper back in the states....can someone just remind me to switch word's language from New Zealand english back to American english?? or my business professors will hate me lol. I have learned that I do not like the New Zealand education system. I am a liberal arts girl all the way!! No one over here has any diversity, they all take the classes they need to graduate (which is almost entirely classes within their major) and don't really explore any other options. I was talking to one of my group members in my social marketing class about her major. She is a double journalism/ marketing major. I said that was an interesting mix and asked what she was thinking to do with it (since she will be "graduating" in November). She said that she hates marketing, and was just taking it as something to fall back on since journalism is a very hard job market to break into. That just totally surprised me. I mean if you have come this far in your schooling, you should at least find something you like! I mean I know there are heaps of kids back home in majors that they also don't like and are just doing it for the money they can make after school...but they confuse me too! I could never even think of doing something in school that you didn't like! why do it? you're paying enough money to go, well not as much here, but still, you're paying, why not actually enjoy it? I have a hard enough time going to my math classes (it's not maths...no matter how much my flatmates try to convince me otherwise!) So yeah, kiwis are too focused! The system needs to put some fun back into education, let kids take the stupid classes and find something they enjoy, especially if its not their major!

 I also HATE how english is taught here and I feel horrible; this is the first ever english class that I hate despised. I have enjoyed most of the books we have read, I have even enjoyed some of the lecturers...but I cannot stand the tutorials and the majority of the lectures. They assume everyone is a mind reader and that you should pick up on certain aspects of the book to analysis, even if they have never mentioned it before! Also, for tutorials, class participation means NOTHING...all they count is attendance...so OF COURSE no one talks, or even prepares. It's painful sitting in on EVERY one of my tutorials becuase it's like pulling teeth, I fee bad for the tutors, well really only my comms mark. tutor, he was the only competent one. The other two either didn't care at all about the tutorial and just allowed us to work on our projects (social mark) or wasn't ever prepared himself and never had any topics ready to discuss and just hoped we would come up with something on our own (English) its painful. 

So when I do come back it will not be to study...maybe as a Butler employee...but that is another story . . . 

Cheers!

~Marjorie

Three Things I Miss Most about Winter at Home

1. Double Paned Windows
   
2. Central Heating
   
3. INSULATION!!! 
   

It is amazing to me that a country, which still gets fairly cold (and WINDY) in the winter, has sufficed without these three things that most of the world takes for granite...

I came here thinking that winter wouldn't be too bad...that I would be totally able to survive if the average winter temperatures were only in the low to mid 40's. Yes, wind would be a factor...but I still didn't expect gale force winds on a daily basis (there have been warning the past 2 weeks of wind gusts of up over 100 kmh!!). But none the less, I am used to a VT winter and NZ winter could come no where close to what we deal with in Feb and March in VT!! 

This is still mostly true.....

Now I have not been so cold I am shivering always...most of the school building ACTUALLY have central heating, but since no one knows how to use this modern wonder, it is always too hot and I end up ALMOST falling asleep in most of my classes...I don't know how the lecturers deal with it! But anyways, NOT ONE flat in Everton Hall (the uni houseing I live in) has a.) INSULATION!! b.) central heating or c.) double paned windows!! 

So when living in a drafty old house with mice, 40 degrees is mighty cold...especially when it is colder inside the house than it is outside, which can happen most days it get sunny out, but that hasn't happened in a week or so now. I mean at least it keeps the rain and wind (kinda) out. I have taken to sleeping with my sleeping bag unzipped as my third blanket, which has been working out quite well. It also works wonderful as a nice blanket to snuggle under while watching tv. 

Now you are probably wondering HOW we heat our houses if these things are not present in our houses...right? Well, we use wonderful and efficient (not at all) modern wonders of electric heaters! BUT only when we absolutely MUST because our electricity bill skyrocketed (word of my flatmates, not mine) this month to NZ$150 higher than the month previous. (DUH!!) So I have taken to wearing at least three layers of clothing around my house ALWAYS, which I still feel should not be necessary INSIDE your house. 

To prove my point even more, I offer an example of a commercial trying to convince New Zealand residence about the necessity of insulation (why do they need to be convinced in the first place?!!?!?!?) 

So while all of you reading this blog are in the comforts of your own home, probably with the A/C or even Central air going, think of me FREEZING MY BUTT OFF on the other side of the world! :-)

Cheers,

~Marjorie

Time to Destress...

Well at least for a little while....

Every one of my papers had an essay due last week, either Thursday or Friday  so obviously I was SWAMPED with work....because do I plan ahead and get the easy paper out of the way first so that I can spend my time working on the other two bigger and huger paper?!?!? Nope, I decide that since it's an easy paper then it can be written the night before it's due!! I'm blaming it on the New Zealand attitude...I normally am not this bad with procrastinating my work in vermont, normally I am FREEKEN out because I am such a perfectionist.....but here I find myself saying "no worries it will get done" and it did, so i guess there were no worries everything was in on time...AND i still got to yoga on Friday :-) lol 

There isn't really a lot to talk about....I only have two more weeks of classes though....when did that happen?!?!? I feel like I am finally just starting to settle in lol. The last two weeks have been pretty low key, but next Friday is Butler's fairwell dinner :-( I can't believe I have been here four months!!! Where did all the time go??? there is still so much I haven't seen!! 

But I find myself very torn, I want to stay and experience more of this wonderful country....but I am also still in classes and in the gross winter weather of welly, while all of my friends back home are done with classes for the year and are enjoying summer and it would be nice to be back home getting ready for tabor with some time to kill....not planning on how to get over jet lag in a day so that I can get to camp only a few days late.....ugg

but I have my plane ticket and am starting to figure out what I can send home early so that I don't have to worry about trying to fit all this new stuff in my suitcase lol I've decided its not that I am excited to leave NZ, but that I am excited for the next thing to happen, and that just happens to be back home.

So now i have a few weeks down time to relax a little, do some early studying, and get ready for finals which are all less than a month away!! (AAAHHHH) 

Hobbits, Rain, and being totally let down

SO, since it is now Tuesday night for me and I feel bad about not keeping my word, (but still Monday for you all so I guess I am) I thought I would keep my word and tell all about my trip to Wellywood. We caught the movie tours bus at 10am and were off to an area about 45 minutes outside of Wellington. On the ride there we were briefed with all the movies that Weta productions has helped out with, and surprisingly Contact was one of them in the early days. I guess some of the film was shot in location in NZ so Weta helped out, they didn't say how, probably something to do with props. We went around to a bunch of sites where the Lord of the Rings was shot. Now this tour might have been more fun if I was a fan of the movies (or if I had even seen the movies before). But I'm not and I haven't so the tour was kind of a let down. That, and since it was POURING in upper and lower Hutt valley (where we were north of the city), so standing in location in the rain (which for many of the scenes was the conditions they were shot in) was not as much fun as it could have been. Also, when shooting on location in NZ its the law that you must return the location to EXACTLY how it was before shooting the scene. So not only were we standing in the rain in the location the scene was shot, at the location there was NO evidence that there was ever a movie shot there. To the tour's credit, the guide did bring his lap top around with him, so that when we were standing in the location we watched the scene that was shot there, and the guide pointed out the trees and bushes that had cameos in the movie. But we all made the most of it and were all happy to actually be doing something on our Sunday instead of sitting at home doing our work and whatnot. And when we got into Wellington to see the parts on Mt. Victoria where they shot, it wasn't raining (the city didn't get ANY rain the entire day), so that made the last leg of the tour more enjoyable. 

Another fun aspect of the tour wasn't the tour guides doing at all, it was one of our group members. One of the kids in the program has broken her leg, and so has been told to stay in a wheelchair until the cast is off. So throughout this whole tour (and on Mt. Vic) we were negotiating the paths with a wheel chair, there were some fun moments on Mt. Vic where we almost lost her due to a slippery hill, or root. Thank God we had some strong boys who could help her out and push her up the steep hills and carry the chair over roots and whatnot. 

Most of the group was let down though, because we were told that it was a tour of Weta productions and Wellywood. If it had been explained that it was a Rings tour, then I think we would have all had lower expectations. But the majority of the group believed that we would be getting a tour of the studios and places where actual work happened. A more behind the scenes tour. For obvious reasons this probably is not a tour that exists, especially since Peter Jackson doesn't want the locals to know where he is (security purposes), so all the studios and what not are located in unmarked warehouses. So Sunday was not as much fun as I had initially thought, oh well guess i will just have to look forward to another production studio tour (maybe?). The name of the tour was really misleading anyways. Ok well I should get back to my work! all three of my papers have essays due next week, so I am trying to get those all done. it will be nice to have a little break after may 22nd, but then it will be off to studying for finals. One last big push until classes are over I guess. Not too much more time to travel (sadly), but we will see what I can come up with. 

Cheers for now!

~Marjorie 

and the winner is....

Me! Remember a few posts back I put up a picture I submitted to the photo contest?? Well it won. I was actually surprised that that specific picture won, because I also submitted the picture that is my banner for this blog (the picture of the lake) and thought for sure that one was better and more of an "iconic kiwi image," but the judges decided on the pictures of the Remarkables. I also SHOULD have won in another category, which was just "iconic pictures," because my sail picture

received one more vote than the winner, but since I had already won one section, they "wanted to share the winnings around." Go here to see all the pictures submitted in the 3 categories.  

Other than that not a lot has been going on this week. Lots of work and rain. It has been absolutely POURING here all week. I have been very glad that I asked Mum to send my gum boots because they have been getting heaps of use this week. Totally have paid for their cost to ship them to me :-) lol Today in Yoga it was raining so hard the instructor had to yell over it so we could hear him!! However I did go out and brave the weather for a few hours with one of my flatmates. I have had my eye on a pair of shoes since March, and today Sophie totally peer preasured me into buying them. They were just put on sale so OF COURSE it was a good deal....and with the exchage rate it was even better! lol So I got them....they are amazing....I love them......and I don't know how I ever lived without them. Ok I'm done obsessing, even though I have been wearing them all over the flat since I got back to break them in...duh! My other flatmates (boys) think I'm nuts, but how can you NOT love these shoes?

Gorgeous right?????

Well, on Sunday, my program is taking me on a tour of Weta works, which is Peter Jackson's production company here in Wellington. It is affectionately known as Wellywood to the locals. I am super excited and can't wait to tell all yous guys (sorry is the Bostonian in me) about it!! I have decided that it's the next best thing to getting a private tour of Skywalker Ranch....but since THAT hasn't happened yet, I guess I can settle for this lol. And who knows, I might even get lost in the wardrobe.......

More to come on Sunday/Monday

~Marjorie

Pictures! and the swine flu

yay for procrastinating work and posting pictures instead!! 

Link to more Autumn break pictures from the South Island

Link to more pictures from around the house and the Wellington Area

Ok I thought I would leave you with one last take on the wonderful swine flu that has got this tiny little country in an uproar. But I mean when you have only half the population of New York City as your entire country, a few people getting sick and potentially dying from a flu gets you a little worried. Now I might have stole this from a well known blogger whom I love and read religously....however, I would like to point out that this was shown to me by another blogger friend BEFORE it appeared in said well known bloggers blog. Enjoy!!

Power struggles, where I live, and what you all have been asking for

So I realized that I have taken the pictures but never posted of where I live. How silly of me! Here are a few shots, more to come on Picasa.

My Room:

In other news, I have yet to get a total grasp on NZ power. I still believe that when I plug something into the wall it should automatically turn on. And yet that is not always the case! Unlike the wonderful AC power in the states, NZ power is a little stronger and therefore need more safety precautions around it. Each outlet has a switch that turns the outlet on or off. This little fact confused the HELL out of me when I first moved in, becuase NOTHING would turn on. Well my roommates just laughed at me and mumbled stupid American, before explaining to me how to work the power. Well, you would think that I would understand this concept after four months of living with it. But NO I have not learned. Yesterday I was baffled for at least five minutes as to why my hairdryer wouldn't turn on. I was almost going to go out and buy a new one because it MUST HAVE died on me. Didn't I feel silly when I realized the outlet had just been accidentally switch off. Also, do you know how many times I have tried to boil water for 20 minutes, cursing the stove, only to realize that someone turned the outlet to the stove off. Same with the toaster. At least in the states we UNPLUG the toaster...nope here it's SOOOO much easier, just flip a switch! Well this weekend I cooked some coffee cake, and wondered for thrity minutes why the oven wasn't coming up to temperature. Then I realized it wasn't plugged in. Oh won't I be glad to come home where power is so much simpler. Just plug in and go!

But life upside down is going pretty well. I am learning that I should be very grateful I am doing the majority of my studies in the states. I don't think I could survive with this learning style much longer than a semester. It is all lecture no discussion. Which I assumed when I was coming here. HOWEVER they do TRY to have discussions in the tutorials that every paper I am taking scheduled. But no one here understands how to lead a discussion group, so really the tutorials are pretty useless. And for someone who is use to completely discussion based classes (thank you beaver) it is VERY painful to sit through. I will be looking forward to coming home for next semester...but not for leaving NZ. If I could stay here and just not go to school it would be AMAZING!!! Alas, I am too much of a perfectionist and therefore cannot just blow off all of my studies. Too bad! lol

And finally what you have been asking for: the link to my first installment of my pictures from break. These are the Australia pictures. South Island will hopefully be coming soon. But give me a break, uploading 100+ pictures takes a LONG time! lol

Autumn Break...week 2

So I have been a horrible blogger and have been avoiding my duties to update everyone on my second week of break, as well as putting up pictures. I apologies, hopefully it will never happen again. First I want to congratulate all my readers who deserve a congratulations (which is really all of you since you are awesome and have been reading my blog! lol). But I have been getting heaps of news from back home about people graduating and finally getting recognition for awesome work and so on.......so YAY to all of you!!!! I am soooooo happy for you! 

ok so anywho...back to my life upside-down. So I only had a one night lay over at my flat, and by 8am on Sunday I was already gone again. When I got to the ferry, the terminal was COMPLETELY empty and the workers behind the counter were all like, are you trying to make the 8:25 ferry? and almost in a panic. It was 8:15 and I said, yes I was. Well, they all were like FREEKEN out because the last moment to check you bags (for a ferry....I still don't understand that) was 8:15. But the group I was meeting was NO WHERE to be seen, so I had no idea about how I was going to find my boarding pass. Well, the man who was checking my luggage asked my name so he could look up my boarding pass and as I said my name another woman walked over and handed me a boarding pass. Thank God my friends knew enough to leave my boarding pass with someone behind the counter. Well, I wasn't too worried about making the ferry when I left the flat at 8, but when I got there I basically sprinted up the gang way, and at the top the man told me I was the last person to board the ferry. So I made it and found my friends so all was all right, but wow did the people at the ferry terminal freak me out. My friends asked why I didn't answer my cell phone, and I realized I had turned it off because I had left my charger somewhere in Australia and was trying to conserve the battery. It was funny when I turned it back on though, I have never heard a cell phone beep so much lol! 

When we got to Picton, it was about 12pm. We picked up the car from the terminal, and were on our way by 1:30pm. I took the first shift (which turned out to be the only shift) since I was the only person who had driven on the other side of the road before. We drove down the west coast to Frans Joseph, which is the location for one of the three tropical glaciers in the world. It was a nine hour drive down the coast on very windy roads. We did stop at a few spots, but no one seemed anxious to take over the wheel, so I just kept on driving. It didn't matter much to me, my co-pilot was awesome and I got to choose the music, so I was set. We stopped at a very nice beach at sunset and also got over to the pancake rocks at Punakaiki by dusk, but it got dark fast, so we didn't get any good pictures of them. But they were still cool to see. After dark, I was very glad I was the one driving, becuase we hit a few places where there were heaps of traffic cones and reflectors and whatnot, we drove through them fine, but there was one section of the road where it was one lane around a few curves in the mountain. I beeped my horn a few times to let any cars that there might be on the other side that I was already driving through, because there was no way that I was going to start backing up the road if any cars started coming at me! At one point down this stretch of road I looked over to see why the other lane was not drivable and saw that there was no lane, only a few parts of the white line were visible. It looked like something out of Jurassic park or something, since the other side of the road was completely gone!!! I just kept on driving and was happy everyone in the back was asleep. The next day during our hike, our guide asked if anyone had driven down from the north and I said yes at night! The rest of the group was surprised to find out that the road had been washed out by a big storm they had had a few weeks ago. But we got into Frans Joseph safely at about 9:45pm, but realized when we got there no one had written down the name of the hotel!!!!!! So we pulled into a hotel that sounded like the right name and asked if they had our reservation. They didn't, but the man felt bad for us, so let us use their internet to find the name of the hotel we were really staying at. It wasn't too hard to find the confirmation e-mail, so by 10:30pm we had found the hotel and were settling into our new digs. 

The next day was the big day in Frans Joseph. We had signed up for an all day hike on the glacier, so we were up and ready by 8:15 and managed to be on the bus by 9 to the glacier. The hike was amazing. It took about an hour and a half to get to the ice face, but once we were there we had 6 hours of ice time! Our guide was really nice, but it was hard to take pictures since we were moving most of the time, and I only had my big camera. So I only took a few pictures. But it was an amazing experience. The glacier was sooooo cool, but not really temperature wise. As soon as you stopped moving you realized how cold it was, but as you were walking it wasn't cold at all. At lunch, I filled my water bottle up with some glacial water (which stayed cold for the rest of the day....by 10pm it was still refreshing!) and throughout the trip ate glacial ice....which it totally fine since the glacier is completely fresh water. But we saw HUGE cracks and crevasses. Initially, I had wished my parents had been there because it was just so amazing, but after a few views of some big cracks I was glad they weren't with me because I don't think mom would have been able to deal with the height lol. After lunch our guide got really excited because they had found a newly formed cave, so during lunch he was off putting in ice screws and ropes so that we could go down and see it. I thought I would be dying by the end of the hike, but living in Wellington had prepared me for the all day hike, and I ended up not even being sore! I was surprised. Totally worth it, and I would definitely recommend doing a glacial walk if anyone ever makes it to the West coast of the south island in NZ. Both Frans Joseph and Fox are two of the three tropical glaciers, which means that the ice is surrounded by a temperate rainforest. The only other place you can find this type of glacier is in Chile (I think). 

So that night, we took it easy and went into town for some dinner. After dark, we took a walk down to some forest trails to see glow worms. They were pretty cool, and all over the trees, when I first looked up I thought they were stars, but then I realized they were the glow worms lol. 

The next day was our last full day on the west coast so we drove to Fox glacier, where we met up with a few other friends from our program. We had breakfast with them, and then went off to do some of our own hiking. We walked around Fox glacier for a while but didn't go up on it. Most of those path ways had also been washed out by the storm, so we only hung around for an hour or so. Though we did find a cool suspension bridge, and took some pictures on it too! We also walked around Lake Mathasen, a short drive away, and I think I discovered where the creators of Myst got inspiration for the Channelwood age. (Ok I am showing my dorkyness now lol) Check out the pictures....I couldn't believe how similar they looked. There was one point, where we walked out to a small island in the lake and I thought I was actually in Channelwood (well not really....but it looked an awful lot like it!). Afterwards, we went back and grabbed some lunch and just relaxed for a few hours. At sunset, we took a walk up to a cave to see more glow worms, but didn't get very far in because the cave had a creek flowing through it and no one wanted to get their shoes wet. We had an early evening since we needed to get up early so that we could take the scenic route to Christchurch the next day. 

We had decided that we didn't just want to retrace our steps and drive north to get to Christchurch, so we left at 7:15am and drove south down to Wanka to see the lake, and then back up to see Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo before getting to Christchurch by 6pm. It was a really nice all day drive and even though I had already seen most of it from my last trip, it was really beautiful to see again. Especially since it was the area where most of the New Zealand wineries are and the vineyards were GORGEOUS and all the leaves were turning since it is autumn here. It was a really pretty drive. Thankfully, I did not drive the whole time, I just took the last leg, since I was the only one confident enough to drive in the "city." We checked in to our hostel, and then met up with one of our kiwi friends who lives in Christchurch. He took us all out to dinner (and felt really cool showing 5 girls around the city). The one guy in our group was also happy to finally have another guy around....I think he was getting a little tired of all of us. lol After dinner we were all pretty tired after a long day of driving and by 10:30pm we were all out!

It was awesome to have more time in Christchurch. The city is really cool. The next day we walked around the botanical gardens and the old college in the northern part of the city. I also got to go punting down the Avon...thankfully the water is VERY shallow, so the pole never got stuck lol. We even scraped bottom at one point. But it was a nice time around the city. That night three of us went up to Ko Tane, which is a touristy Maori marae in Christchurch. One of the girls that was with us wasn't part of our program, and so hadn't seen anything about traditional Maori powhiris and such. So a few of us went up there to see that. Ko Tane is also part of a wildlife sanctuary, so after the Powhiri we went over to the wildlife part of the area and saw kiwis up close and personal. Unlike the last time I saw kiwis in Christchurch, these were not behind glass. They were behind a fence, but the fence wasn't even as high as my knees. You don't have to worry about them getting out though, since they are a flightless bird lol.  At one point, one of the kiwis poked my foot through the chicken wire when it was looking for worms by the fence. It is illegal to touch a kiwi, but not if they touch you, so I felt very lucky. You can't take pictures of them though, because not only will the flash scare them, it is also bad for their eyes since they are nocturnal. In the sanctuary we also got to see other indigenous birds and animals to NZ. I was really happy I went. Afterwards, we met up with the rest of our friends and had an awesome time painting the town red. 

The next day, the group had found this ropes corse about a half hour out of the city, so we went and spent most of our day there. It was a lot of fun, but after the 4th course (they were rated 1-6 in difficulty and height) I was getting tired, and the ropes were getting just a little to high for me. A few members got finished with 5 but then decided that it was also getting to much for them, so we all decided to leave after that. Back in Christchurch, we went to the best Mexican restaurant I have found so far in NZ, however it wasn't as good as On the Border, so you can tell the calibre of mexican food I have found up until then! The chips weren't even bottomless.....I was still disappointed. But the food was actually good, so it wasn't all bad. I have just decided that NZ is too far away from Mexico to actually get good mexican food....so I will just have to wait to get back stateside for good mexican food. Oh how I miss Moes and/or New World!! (strange note...New World is the name for the super markets here, if only I could get a decent flat wrap there lol) I had a lazy evening, since after dinner the group went on a haunted house tour. Thankfully, another girl in the group doesn't like them either. So we hung out together around the room. 

Our last day on the South Island was mostly driving again. We were able to sleep in a little, and were on the road by 9am for our 5 hour drive to Picton again. I did the whole drive, which wasn't too bad. The only problem now is that since I did so much driving this week, I am now TOTALLY used to driving on the left side of the road. When I went to go see Wolverine this week (which parts were shot in NZ just FYI) and they drove on the right side, IT LOOKED WRONG TO ME!!!! OH NO so it will be interesting when I get home. Hopefully, its like riding a bike and I won't try and jump in the passenger's side when I want to drive the jeep lol. We stoped in Kikura for about an hour for lunch and such. It was a little cloudy though so after lunch we all got back in the car and got up to Picton around 4. Our ferry was at 6 and we didn't need to give the car in until 5, so we walked around Picton for a while, a few of us even got in a game of mini golf. By 5:30 we had given the car in and were on the ferry back home. We got in at about 9:30 and I was home by 10pm. And then at 3 or 4am I was woken up by the mouse eating my Tam tams that I had forgotten were in my room from when I got back from Australia. But that is another story. 

It was an awesome trip and I am glad I went, I am just sad that I won't be able to see ANY of the North Island. Oh well! I guess I will just have to come back at some point to see the rest of it! lol 

Cheers!

~Marjorie

Tales in a Sunburnt Country

Ok so I kinda stole the title of this post from a Bill Bryson book, but it is totally true! My week in Australia was absolutely amazing!! I went by myself, but when I was in Melbourne I stayed with a friend of my dad's. I decided I wanted to grab an early flight so as to have as much time as possible in Melbourne; however what I forgot to think about was that going to Australia is an International flight EVEN from New Zealand. I have no idea why I didn't realize it was an international flight, I guess I just figured it was one of the only places close so it wasn't that bad of a flight. So when I booked the 6:00am flight I did not figure in that I needed to arrive at the airport 2 hours early, which meant that I needed to be at the airport at 4:00am (ewwwww). So when my alarm went off at 2:45am I was NOT happy....but I got to the airport a few minutes before 4. However, the desks opened up 90 minutes before their first flight, so I still had to stand around to wait. I took out a book and stood in front of one of the counters to wait. But two pages later when I looked up, ANOTHER line had formed a few places down, so I had to move to the end of THAT line....only a little annoying!!! But then the desks opened and it was off to the races...or that is what I thought. When I got up to the desk, the girl took my passport and scanned it, and then scanned it again, and then again, typed something into her computer looked up at me, looked at the computer again, and then I asked what was wrong. She said that it didn't seem like I had a visa to travel. I just said I was going on holiday for a week and was coming back to NZ to finish my studies. She explained that I still needed a visa, and right then I thought my trip was over before it even began! But then she explained, all I needed to do was go over to customer service and buy one. It was easy enough, just some dosh and then I could be issued my boarding pass. But that was not the only thing the airport needed my dosh for...there is also a travel tax in New Zealand if you plan to return. so $80 bucks later and the NZ government decided that it was OK for me to leave the country!

The flight was fine, a quick 4 hour flight. Nothing too eventful and I landed ahead of time at 7:45am local time. It took me what seemed like forever to get through customs, but once the Australian government decided that it was fine to let me into their country, it was out the door and looking for Nora. It was easy enough to find her with her awesome sign welcoming me to Melbourne with my name in BIG letters....embarrassing but effective! lol We grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin for me since the breakfast on the plane was not great. Then we were on our way to Daylesford which was a little less then a two hour drive away from the airport. Daylesford is a quaint little town, farther inland in Victoria than Melbourne which is known for its bath houses and curing water. We explored the town center and walked around the small lake before going back to the straw batch (yes I stayed in a straw house, but it didn't blow down!) for lunch. After lunch, Nora surprised me with a appointment at a local bath house for a massage!! It was AMAZING!! THe bath house was really cool, in that area of Victoria there is natural mineral water spring, which is why there are so many bath houses in the area. In the eary 20th c. many people traveled to the area to "take the water" because people thought it had medicinal qualities. After that it was a lazy evening around the house and by 10pm jet lag hit me and I was off to bed.

The next morning we had another lazy morning before we got in the car and drove up to Melbourne. Nora took me around the city for the day and it felt like there was no more city to be seen by the time we were done at 4pm. Nora first took me by the river Yarra (which I couldn't decided why it was called a Riverara since we were no where close to a spanish speaking country...I then realized that I misheard the name), which reminded me SOOO much of the Charles. After a nice walk by the water we went up to the arts center of Melbourne, Federation Square. We wandered around the museum and saw some famous painting by local artists as well as some really interesting furniture. We had lunch in the very trendy lane ways. They were really cool, and I recommend to go and walk around them if you ever find yourself in Melbourne. They are all smaller lanes found behind the larger major city. What they were originally built for was sewage reasons--when bathrooms still needed to be emptied, the lane ways were there for the trucks to come down behind the stores and to empty the toilets. Now, with the wonderful invention of sewer systems, they are returaunts trendy smaller streets with millions of resturaunts and small shops. The city also made graffiti legal in these lane ways, now dubbed street art, so the walls are very interesting and you can always find something new because people are always painting over something else. 

After lunch, I squeezed some shopping in....but it was only window shopping...I somehow managed to buy NOTHING!!! I was so proud of myself :-D Then we saw a few more sites...parliament and the greens, where all of the trees have possum guards. Then we went back down by the river and grabbed a little snack and sat by the river before getting back into the car up to Nora's house in the patch, a suburb of Melbourne about an hour outside the city up in the hills. It was a gorgeous spot. It's called the patch because that area of the hills had a large population of mountain ash trees. These trees are known to grow very tall with very few branches, so they were great for boat masts. So the area of the patch is the patch of mountain where most of the mountain ash trees were felled. When we got back to her house, I met Tony Nora's husband, who was making dinner. Another lazy night before I hit the sack around 11. 

The next day was fun, Nora took me out to breakfast a little further up in the hills before taking me into the city to meet up with one of her son's friends. Talk about Australian hospitality! Nora had originally thought that Tony would be able to take me around Melbourne on Wednesday before I needed to grab my flight at 8:30pm. Well Tony had to go on a last minute business trip to Canberra and Sydney. So they called up on of her son's friends and asked if he could take me around the city on Wednesday.  He was a very gracious host, and I got to see another part of the city I didn't get to see the day before. We walked around the Uni and saw the student area of Melbourne. Then we went to one of his favorite bars for some late lunch and some down time for a couple of hours before I needed to grab my flight to Sydney. 

Melbourne was an awesome time and I can't thank my hosts enough for their wonderful hospitality. That is one of the things I will miss when I go back to the states. Everyone here is so laid back and SUPER nice and always willing to help...all very rare back in the states. 

My plane to Sydney was delayed 45 minutes, and I landed in Sydney closer to 10:30. When I arrived at my hotel, I had to ring the doorbell to get let in. Then as I was walking in the girl behind the desk said, "good evening Marjorie" which kinda creaped me out, but she quickly explained that I was the last guest to check in for the evening, so that is how she knew it was me. I did splurge a little on my hotel and I was soooo glad I did. The hotel was pretty central in the city, and the room was really nice, though I didn't spend much time in it! However, when I finally got to sleep at 12:30 (there was a little bit of stress with my UVM course registration....my parents forgot to do it, but it all worked out in the end so no worries!) it seemed like no time at all when my alarm was going off again...or what I thought was my alarm. However, when I finally realized what was happening I realized that it was not my alarm but the hotel's fire alarm. It was 4:45am!! Well I got up and put on some cloths and evacuated the building like the nice man over the intercom asked me to do. By 5:15am we were let back into our rooms where I proceeded to turn off my alarm and go back to sleep. I woke up at 10am, grabbed some breakfast from the hotel and it was off to exploring Sydney. I spent most of my day in Days bay at the Wildlife conservation park and the aquarium. I got my picture taken with a koala and got to pet and feed a kangaroo at the wildlife park, and saw lots of other indigenous animals to Aussie (pronounced Osiee as I was taught).....but not platypus :-( Then I went over to the Aquaium...which was SOO crowded since it was Easter holiday and all the primary and secondary schools were out. After I had enough exploration of Days bay, I jumped on the monorail, since I was getting tired of walking, over to China town. Walked around the shops over there (again I didn't buy a thing!) I did end up finding a jewelry shop later in the day, which gave me an AMAZING deal on an opal, I got it down from $200 to AUS$120 which was only US$90....my first try at bartering...so I was proud of myself lol. But one of the places Nora told me I MUST see was the Chinese Gardens. I did and they were so nice. It was really interesting for me since I just took an Asian art history course last year and learned all about the symbolism behind different aspects of a Chinese garden, so I ended up wandering around and taking pictures there for about two hours. After that Tony gave me a call since he was in Sydney for business and we met up back at Days Bay. Initially, I thought we were just going to grab a drink since he had said that he had a client he was going to take out for dinner, but an hour or so after meeting him he told me that his dinner thing had fallen through and that he wanted to take me out to dinner. We went to this great thaicloser to our hotel (he was staying in the same place I was) where we ended up eating 1000 year old eggs!! They were very spicy and kind of blue, but I thought they were restaurant  good. Tony thought they were a little spicy....which they were my lips were burning by the end of it. But hey! how many people can say they have had 1000 year old eggs. Dinner was awesome and it was so nice of Tony to meet up with me! 

Friday was my last day in Sydney, and in the morning was the high light of my trip. I had a backstage tour of the Sydney opera house, which was absolutely amazing. We had to be there by 6:45am, so it was another early morning for me, but TOTALLY worth it. There were only 5 people on my tour (of which I was the youngest by at least 40 years) and our guide was super nice. I ended up asking enough technical questions, he ended up guessing that I must work in the theatre, to which I said that I was minoring in theatre back at school and that I did lights and stage management and so he ended up tailoring the tour for me so that I could see other parts of the theaters that people would not normally see! We got to see all of the booths and he explained all about the stage manager's booth (which was back stage in the wings...how nice!). We also got to stand on EVERY stage in the opera house, but I couldn't take many pictures inside because they had a ton of show up at the moment and the sets were copy written, so no pictures allowed. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and afterwards they gave us breakfast in the green room. All in all a great time, I was so happy that I did it...it was SOOO COOL! lol

I was done by about 10:00 and so hoped a ferry over to Manly beach...another must see on Nora's list of sights in Sydney. I spent most of the day over there, just walking around the town and exploring the beaches. I walked all the way down to shelly beach and out to the point where I took a few pictures of some surfers...I was so sad I didn't bring a bathing suit because it was wonderful weather the whole time I was in Australia, but sadly I could only dip my feet in. At 3:30 I hopped the ferry back to Sydney and took the long way back to my hotel. I walked down from the opera house through the Botanical gardens at dusk which was BEAUTIFUL until I got lost in the palm grove. You see it was about 5:00 and I needed to find the toilets....which happened to be in the palm grove. I thought nothing of the walk through the nice gardens until, for what ever reason, I decided to look up, when I realized that I was walking under about a bazillion fruit bats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that discovery I proceeded to SPRINT to the lou and then SPRINT back out again. However the sprinting back out did not go as well as I had hoped and I got lost since I was so freaked out about the bats. I, thank god, was not the only one afraid of bats, and bonded with another lady trying to find her way out as well. Thankfully the bats only reside in that area of the gardens, something about the trees I guess. So once I was out the rest of my walk was very relaxing. I did take a few pictures of these bats in the trees, once I was a safe distance away...but it is hard to see the sheer number of bats that there actually were. So you are just going to have to trust me....there were A LOT!!! The other fun fact....is that since it was dusk....THEY WERE WAKING UP!!!! Non were flying yet, thank god!!!, but they were stretching and starting to squeak, and OHMYGOD are they HUGE!! But once I was out I walked down past St. Mary's cathedral (the patron saint of Sydney) and then back through Hyde park. Once I got back down to the city center I wandered around the Queen Victoria building for a little while and then decided that I was hungry and tired for a long day's walk, so I went back to the hotel and had some dinner there. 

The next day was a travel day, flew out of Sydney at 10am (so I was at the airport by 8am...not as bad as the flight there lol) where I flew to Auckland where I had a 4 hour layover before getti deja ng into Welly again at 8:30. It was weird going through customs again in Auckland, I had major vou from when I first arrived in NZ back in Feb. However it was nice that this time I was only getting off a 5 hr flight, not a 13 hr flight! lol The layover was fine, but I did have to transfer my bags from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, which I didn't realize was a hike to get to. 2o minutes later I got to the domestic terminal where all I wanted to do was get rid of this heavy bag that I had just lugged the whole way over, but again the desks were closed until 6:15. So I grabbed some food and read my book. 

I got back into Wellington without any problems and grabbed a cab back to my flat! Then I had a night layover here where I unpacked and repacked and ate some dinner before going to bed to grab my 8:30 ferry down to the south island!

'phew that took a while.....when you don't keep up with your travel blog daily I guess the posts get kinda long.....LIKE USUAL! If you have gotten to this point....thank you! I would have understood if you just blew it off half way through. But I am so glad I went and experienced more of life down under the whole trip was heaps and heaps of fun!! Photos and tales of the South Island trip to come later!

Cheers,

~Marjorie 

Kia Ora after 2 weeks!

Yay! I am still alive...though I might need a vacation from my vacation lol. My break was amazing...I went to Australia for the 1st week and the south island again for the 2nd and it was all heaps and heaps of fun!! More to come on the last 2 week some time this week...but first things first...I need to catch up on some school work. Just thought I would check in and say Hi after a 2 week absence......and also say that I was woken up last night after a long day of driving and traveling by the mouse IN MY ROOM!!!! so I guess not a lot has changed around the flat since I have been gone.....guess I will have to sneak a normal non-humane trap past my vegetarian roommate.....her trap has been FAILING for the last 3 weeks!!!! so yeah fun stuff to come back to!! pictures and more to come soon!! 

Cheers,

~Marjorie

Easter Sunday in Aotearoa

What kind of christian would I be if didn't go to church on Easter? For my first Easter away from home, I found it a little strange going to church on my own, but I was very happy I went and now I can say I have used the New Zealand prayer book lol. I found a very small church that is about 15 minute walk up the hill from my house, St. Michael's. The congregation is very small, but they are the only church in Wellington that caters to University students, with an extra 7pm service on normal Sundays. 

But it was a very nice Easter morning and for the autumn weather we have been having, it actually felt quite spring like...it was probably warmer than it normally is back home! I still found it weird celebrating Easter in autumn, but thats what you get for living on the other side of the world.

The service was a very nice mix of high and low church. There were bells and smells (smells just for Easter), but everything followed the kiwi way and was very informal and relaxed. Throughout the service the Rev. was speaking into the mic, asking the ushers to bring up things throughout the service (I found this very strange lol). He said things like "Can we get some more flowers up here at the front" (we flowered the cross during the peace...it was very nice, everyone was given a flower when they first arrived, and during the peace you went up to the alter and put the flower in some where on a cross covered in chicken wire), he also asked for more wine during communion, no crazy hand gestures or skirts necessary!

The service itself was very familiar to me; it seemed like a normal Episcopalian service, just with the order scrambled. Glory and the creeds followed by the peace, and then the readings with the sermon, followed by the offertory and communion, then the announcements were given from behind the alter, the closing prayer and dismissal. Most of what was said throughout the service was also the same, but with a few words changed here and there. The only other thing that I found very strange was that the hymnal had NO music...so it was very hard to follow along, you had to pay closer attention to the choir. The hymnal really just looked like a book of poems with each verse as its own stanza. But once you got the tune from the first verse not having the music wasn't too bad...I just missed it. 

I really enjoyed the sermon. It was given by a member of the congregation, who seemed to give sermons on a regular basis from his introduction. He made some very interesting connections between the reasons for the gospels' detailed account of Easter morn, and why the authors might not have gone into much discussion about what it all meant. The details support the actual occurrence of the resurrection...showing it actually did happen, allowing us to figure out the importance of it all for ourselves. He also talked about why Mary believes Jesus is the gardener at first. That the tomb and surrounding area has become the new garden of eden and Jesus is it's gardener. All very interesting. 

I stayed at coffee hour for a little while. The people were all very welcoming and nice. Compared to what I have become accustomed to, it was a VERY small congregation, with record attendance of 90 people. But I did meet a few interesting kids my age and they told me about the 7pm service. So depending what I am doing after break I might just have to go and see what it is all about when I get back from Autumn Break. 

At coffee hour, a little girl asked me a very interesting question. She must have been all of six, and I had noticed she had been watching me while we were all in the narthex having tea (but they still call it coffee hour...I don't understand, ANYWAY). So finally the little girl came up to me and said, "are you a movie star?" Of course I, along with the few people  I was talking to laughed a little and I asked why she thought this. And she told me that I looked so nice and sounded exactly like all the other movie stars so I must be in movies! (In her ADORABLE New Zealand accent of course) Well I understood her logic: since Hollywood movies are very popular and most actors in these movies have American accents, all Americans are thereby movie stars....it makes perfect sense! I of course enjoyed the complement and told her I was not a movie star, but was very flattered that she thought I could be.

Ok well enough about church, I need to go and pack for my trip for Austrlia. I have to be ready to catch a cab tomorrow at 3:45 AM.......YUCK! I will be going to bed early tonight!

More to come on the trip later,

Cheers!

~Marjorie

Travel Plans

SO.... I thought I would fill all of you in on my globe trotting plans for my whirlwind two week tour of the Antipodes. But before I get into all of that....I have realized I have not taken the time to tell all yous guys about last weekend:

It was a fun adventure weekend....but a little more stressful than I expected. Why was it so stressful you ask? Well after we caught the 6pm ferry over to Picton, Rebecca briefed the group about the plan for the next 2 days. She explained to us that since there was only 1 of her and 2 groups, my group needed a team leader to make sure everyone is where they need to be on time....well since my nickname is Mom (really I dont know how I got that one...) everyone looked directly at me, so I was dubbed Team leader. The first day it wasn't too bad....we were the first group to go "swimming" with the dolphins. It was really nice actually, we got up early and were to the peer by 9 and on the boat by 9:30. We got a really nice tour of Marlborough Sound....but sadly in the 4 hours we were on the boat found no dolphins that we could get in the water with. We did find a good size pods of Hector Dolphins though! That was really cool because they are the smallest species of dolphin and are only found in NZ. But they are VERY endangered, there are only about 7,000 still found in the wild....so it is really rare to find a pod....so it was sweet as to see 'em But we couldn't go in the water to swim with them because they are so endangered. We did get in the water tho....we went swimming with seals-- really cool! but not as cool as dolphins :-( 

Then we got dropped off at the Resort via boat at Portage. We got HEAPS of free time with "adventure" stuff to do....I went hiking with a few friends for 3 hours....really nice views, but sadly no pictures because my battery died :-( stupid for not packing the charger...i totally thought i had too.....whatever. The next day was when it got stressful. So we didn't have to go anywhere until 10:20, and bfast was at 8...so we got a little extra "adventure time" at the resort. PS we were staying in the backbackers lodge attached to the resort...so don't get too jealous lol So I had to make sure that everyone got their stuff  at the right place at the right time...which was very hard...kinda like herding cats. I also was responsible for cleaning up the kitchen, and by the time I knew that I was responsible, there was no one around to help....but I got it done. It actually wasn't too bad, but once we got back to Picton I had to pick up the food and pay for it and such and make sure ppl didnt' eat too much, and we didn't have enough, so I had to go back and get more......it was just a little bit more responsibility then I was expecting to have and hadn't really prepared for it, but it wasn't anything different from camp......the kids were just older and I had a little less authority...but all in all it wasn't a bad trip. Got to know a few of the kids from Massey....they are all really cool and one girl goes to UVM and we know bunches of the same ppl, so that was cool. I got ZERO work done on the ferry ride back, but I did get a tour of the bridge which was sweet as (NZ slang for all you people who are getting confused lol) But i got all the work done so don't worry lol

AS OF TODAY!! I am officially going on autumn break. Bought all of the plane tickets today for Australia and everything for week two has already been purchased as well!! yay, since on Friday I wasn't so sure I was going on break at all lol I had no one to go with and no plans figured out since I was soooooo busy the week before. So heres a little Iternerary for the next 2 weeks!

Monday April 13th: Depart for Melbourne at 6am (yes feel my pain lol) but I land by 8am, so its nice I get the whole day.... I am staying in Melbourne with one of Dad's work friends who has been very gracious and offered to put me up and tour me around the city and the surrounding area....SUPER NICE and I am REALLY excited to meet everybody and see the city from a local's perspective lol I'm sure we will still hit up all the touristy places too!

Tuesday: paint the town red and have heaps and heaps of fun in Melbourne

Wednesday 15th: Depart for Sydney at 8pm...also nice that I get most of the day on Wednesday to see a little bit more of melbourne before I have to jet over to Sydney

Thursday: Paint Sydney red and have heaps of fun, adventures TBA

Friday: 7am backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House!!!!!!!!! I am SUPER excited about this....Dad found it and I bought the tickets immediately. They will feed me breakfast in the green room and then we get a behind the scenes tour of all the workings of the opera house...CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!

Saturday 18th: 10am flight back to Wellington, with a short stop over in Auckland, arrive in Wellington by 10pm...what can I say....it was cheep lol sleep in Wellington for the night and repack lol

Sunday 19th: ferry over to the South Island. Dive down to Hans Josef Glacier via West Coast. I get first shift since I am the only experienced left side driver....

Sunday: Hans Joseph Glacier

Monday: Fox Glacier and Mt. Cook

Tuesday: Tramping around

Wednesday: drive up to Christchurch and explore more!! 

Thursday: more exploration of Christchurch

Friday: Christchurch con't.

Saturday 25th: Drive back up to Picton via East coast...stopping in Kaikoura for lunch and see beach a little before getting to Picton by 6 to board the ferry and come back to Wellington!!  

So I am SUPER excited....it should be heaps and heaps of fun!!! Lots of pictures to come!

Because Blogging is so much more fun...

It's 12:22am and I can't go to sleep. I have been working on a paper for 301 since I got back to my flat at 4pm....I have just finished. I should be working on the paper for 316 that is due Friday....but blogging is just so much more fun!

Life....well school work caught up with me in a major way this week. I have been having a lovely time in NZ so far: seeing the sights, experiencing the culture, and procrastinating all of my work like a professional. I tricked myself into thinking that I was keeping up with my work by reading some of the assigned chapters, and doing "research" for my two papers....but really, I was procrastinating like a fiend. Well, the realization hit on Sunday, when it was obvious that I was going to have to get my act together to finish a two papers by the end of the week. Another exciting twist is thrown into my life: I also have two papers due on Monday...an english take home exam (shouldn't be too difficult *she says confidently* it's only a close reading of a poem with a max of 1500 words) and a proposal for my second assignment in 301 (which I just realized I had to do today *YAY!!* and haven't really done much thinking on). But the fun twist...I am going on a Bulter event this weekend, and I can't miss it. I have been looking forward to the adventure weekend since I found out about the Butler program last fall, so I can't really back out now that would be awful!!! I will be taking my laptop with me (we are staying at a resort...so it will be fine), and I will make sure I work on my assignments for at least the three and a half hour ferry ride to and from the South Island....I also am convincing myself now that I will do some work at night.....but lets see if that really happens! lol

some other fun news.....we have mice. Yes, I will say/type it again...... we. have. mice.....IN OUR FLAT!!!! *insert lots of girly screaming and ewww-ing here* They were discovered in a pizza box, which was waiting to be recycled last night/this morning (1:30am). Since it was slightly past midnight, and the date was now 4/1, and my flattie who told me seems like he would be one for practicle jokes, I was a little hesitant to believe him at first. But dropping have been discovered, so in my horror, it was not an April Fools joke....(btw Happy Birthday Phil!) I have never really found a liking for mice...unlike one of my other flatties who wants to find a humane mouse trap. Better than the other trap option that was posed: fly paper that the mouse gets stuck on and then death by drowning...boys....

I don't care how we trap them....I just want them either dead so they can't torment me anymore......or so far away that they will never find this flat ever again (Australia would be preferable). I think it is all the years at the cottage, which created this fear of mice. Every year when we would open the cottage for the summer, I was petrified that one of the dead mice found would come back to life as soon as I got close to it, or that as I was moving things around in the attic (aka the 2nd floor and our bedrooms) that a whole fleet of mice (pack?.....whatever A LOT of mice) would come running out from behind something. Really, I just blame my over-active imagination for my hatred of mice. Just as another note, I have come to hate bats even more than mice, since I have realized that they are really just flying rodents....and what could be worse?!?!?! Thank God I haven't discovered any bats flying around the hills of Kelburn, Wellington.....do bats live in cities?

Don't worry too much about me being stressed, I have found plenty of time to give myself a little down time away from work (aka procrastinate like a champ). Yesterday, one of my roommates, one of her friends, and I went to a Salsa class. It was the 2nd class in the 3 class crash course for beginners series, but I wasnt too far behind since I have take a class or two before. It was HEAPS and heaps of fun and I am soooooooooo glad I went. I am totally going back next week, and then I want to ' see if I can take more classes when I get back from break. The teacher was really good, which is always important. She had asked a few guys who are intermediate students at the school to come to the class and help out, since I guess the guy to girl ratio the first week wasn't very good. Like most partner dance classes, we rotated partners every couple of sequences, and at the end I ended up with a really good intermediate guy. He was really nice, and actually was heaps of help in explaining how to follow....funny I know. But, in any dance class I have taken, I knew the most about dance and could pick it up faster, and so I ended up leading at times, but my biggest problem is actually anticipation of the steps. In a class, the teacher creates a short piece of choreography to follow so that you can understand the steps and motions....so, I anticipated.....BAD!!! with "real" dancing (as I have found out once or twice) I can't anticipate any steps, so I normally muck up my footwork and end up looking like a fool lol but now I know!! (I'm sure you all really care about this.....) Next week, the salsa program is renting out a local club for two nights and inviting the whole program to come and dance....so I am going to try and go, if only to just see some awesome dancing!

Even with all my work, I am really excited for this weekend. We are going down to the South Island for the weekend, where we will swim with dolphins, and explore the surrounding towns and bush. We leave Friday, at 5:15pm, arriving at our lodging by 9:25pm, at 10 we have a breifing (I KNOW!!! I have zero idea about what it will be on....hopefully it won't be too long, the schedule says that it is only a half hour long....so I hope its not too boring lol). The next day we have a full day of exploring the town of Portage and dolphin swimming. Sunday morning we are giving a little more time to explore Portage before its back on the ferry by 2:00, arriving back in Wellington by 5pm. See plenty of time to do my work! lol

ok it's now 1am and I am finally tired!! g'nite!

uggg I am my mother's daughter

So my flattie (roommate) totally called me out this morning. I was in the middle of my morning routine, making breakfast before class, minding my own business. I have cearal in the morning, and I was taking ever thing to the table...put the bowl of ceral down, poured the milk in it, and walked the milk carton BACK TO THE FRIDGE!!!!!! I didn't even notice what I was doing, when all of the sudden my roommate was like "what ARE you doing????? why don't you just eat?" I didn't even have a response....all I said was that my mother doesn't allow milk cartons on the table. WELL....roommate starts laughing hysterically saying she has never ever heard of that and told me next time to just leave it on the table, and I just stand next to the fridge not believing what I actually had done. OH DEAR! 

Will I too become a pitcher person????

Now you see it...

So Butler is having a photography contest....so naturally I decided to enter a few pictures. We could choose the subject, but it had so somehow be "New Zealand-esque." Here is an example of one of the pictures I entered that I doctored in Photoshop:

Now you see it...

Now you don't!

I thought it came out really well, you can't even tell the lamp post was once there. I dropped the photos off today to enter, and Cara (the judge) seemed to like them....so fingers crossed :-)

Cheers!

Well now that you know

everything that has been going on in my life in NZ thus far, it's time for some normal posts (in length....topics probably slightly less than normal lol). The past few days it has been offically "cold" in New Zealand. I will agree, that the past few days have not been shorts and T-shirt weather, but in no way is it truly COLD (or even FREEZING, which is what my flatmate from Australia keeps on telling me it is). 

To me its just like any other rainy summer's day. It's probably low 60's or mid 50's (It's 15 in C. I can never really remember the Celcius conversion and have given up on trying to do it in my head...most of you know my math skills and lack of them lol). People back up in Vermont would be wearing shorts and flip flops (or jandals as they are called here...short for Japaneese Sandles non PC culture here lol). I will admit, I did put on a sweater and long pants today, but it is still strange to see people walking around in Parkers (parkas...I can never remember which is right....down jackets lol) and wool pea coats. Last night my flatmate was wearing gloves... AROUND THE HOUSE!! I thought that was a little extreme. If this is as cold as it gets here I will be happy, however, I believe we have a little bit more cooling off before "winter" comes. 

One thing about living in a temperate climate like NZ, they don't really understand the concept of insulation. The houses here are very drafty. It's like living in the ol' wooden tent-- its always colder inside the house than it is outside. There have been a few times that I have walked outside wearing pants and gone right back in to put shorts on because it was so much warmer outside than in! So I am not looking forward

Another concept that New Zealanders haven't quite grasped yet is window screens.  When I first got here and noticed that none of the windows had screens in them, I thought yes! no bugs. Boy was I ever wrong! They have plenty of bugs, mosquitoes being one of them!! And yet, not one window has a screen on it to keep the bugs OUT! I have mentioned this one or twice to my Kiwi friends, and they don't even have a clue as to what I am talking about. Why would we need those? Isn't that a funny idea, wire mesh in windows so bugs don't fly in...

All in all, life in NZ is a lot slower than back home. Everyone here is much more relaxed. Even in classes; In English, I asked one of the lecturers how we were to know what was compulsory to read for each lecture since it was not clearly outlined in the syllabus and she looked at me like I had two heads!  "Oh, just read over a few of the poems in the class reader that look like they go with the lecture topic for the day", she said to me. 

I thought I would be ready for this...I believe I am pretty laid back person; most of the time I go with the flow, unless I am managing the flow, then I tend to stress out a little if the flow is not going right, but MOST of the time I am pretty relaxed.I mean I go to school in Burlington, VT, that has to give me some points right? And yet, I do stress over the fact that to get a coffee in the morning (before class) I have to wait at least 10 minutes when I'm the first in line!! 

 Now I know from experience (well not actual making experience, just more waiting in line at Starbucks experience) that it does not take a whole 10 minutes to make a vanilla mocha, but of course the barista (Josh, he actually is a really nice guy) needs to find out how my weekend was and what class I'm on my way to, and he also needs to tell me about the goings on in his life. So the time from when I put in my order to the point where he actually hands over the cup is a decent amount of time-- time that I might not have planned for on the first day of class and arrive a minute or two late for my first lecture (whoops). The coffee is really good over here though.

So I am adapting: I do the reading for English after the lecture, and I leave a few minutes earlier if I want a coffee before class, and I try to drag my heals when I walk because people are always commenting on how fast I walk. I don't mind it really though, it is actually quite nice to have to force myself to slow down. Who knows, maybe I will learn to care less about the little things that always get me going...wouldn't that be nice!