Last One To The Car is a Sheep Shagger!

New Zealand is the bomb, in the least 90s use of the word. I love it here. Prepare yourself for a long entry, because there's lots to update and lots to say!

1. My flat. I love them all. We have become an adorable cute flat family, and it's perfect. We eat together every night around 6:30 and alternate who cooks (I'm on Thursdays for now), and everybody is amazing at learning to cook vegetarian-style for me. Evan made lasagna soup the other day (it was supposed to be lasagna, but it was really soupy), and Joe made enchiladas, except in my veg one he put zucchini, carrots, broccoli, onions, spinach, beans, and cheese so it wasn't really so much an enchilada as a heap of veggies rolled in a really soggy tortilla. He's learning though, and it's the thought that counts. We all have really intelligent conversation, which is awesome because I was getting sick of so many, "so, what are you studying?"s and all the other boring drivel. We had a long talk about politics and civil liberties the other day, and today we discussed high-quality cinema. I got ridiculously lucky in having a great relationship with all of my flatties. Plus, Evan came up to me today to tell me that he had broken up with his girlfriend and while that's terrible news to have, I was really impressed that he felt comfortable to bring it up out of nowhere and to ask my advice. Random fact: he ran a marathon this weekend with absolutely no training and came in first for the men! The kid is ridiculous, he acted like it was no big deal too, even though I could barely run three miles let alone twenty-six.

2. My classes. I love my education class, it's a total mix of education and psychology, and it's right up my alley. Lisa, my lecturer, is a mix between Jan Rabinowich (my Hebrew school teacher), Tim's mom, and Barbara Streisand. It's a really weird mix, but it's hilarious and I love her. She's from New York and bashes on America quite frequently, but it's all in a jovial spirit. My film prof is so passionate about the importance of media in portraying minority groups correctly, I love it. Maybe it's just the young college student in me, but I feel like if I sat down and had a conversation about politics with him, we'd be right on the same page. It'll be a really interesting class, and I'm really excited to do the readings too, for once! That always helps classes go better.

3. Dunedin. It keeps getting better, I keep discovering cooler things about it! At first glance, it's a total college town with lots of crazy college kids and parties that are nuts and ridiculous antics, but if you dig deeper, there's tons of really awesome things. The other day, I walked over to the Botanic Gardens with two other guys, and it was crazy cool! The entrance we took is hidden behind this pub, but once you walk in, it's full of gorgeous trees, a rose garden full of really seasonal roses that smell amazing, a lake, tons of ducks, and an aviary part with the most ridiculous birds ever...parrots, macaws, cockatoos, a peacock, and they're bright jungle-colored. Reilley had a full-on conversation with one parrot, it was hilarious. One could eeven whistle part of Singin' in the Rain...does it GET cooler than that? The other day, Evan and I also discovered this jazz place off of one of the main streets, and we scored some really chill jazz the other night. We danced around with the other old people there and I sang along to one of the songs with the wife of the trumpet player. It was so fun! Afterwards, we grabbed a beer with her and the trumpet player and I felt so classy, it was excellent! I never knew this place was in Dunedin, I love it.

4. Christchurch. Overall, it was a great trip, with just a couple of glitches, namely, that the kiwi girl we went with is legit LOCO. Her mood swings are out of control. At one point as we were driving up, she got mad that we were all sleeping in the backseat, which was part of the deal since we left at 4:30 AM, so she pulled over to the side of the road and demanded that we stay awake, and cranked up her music, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't terrible pop and if her crankiness hadn't created a terrible tension in the car. ANYWAYS, Christchurch itself was pretty sweet. We ate brekkie at this cute hippie cafe that reminded me of Portland, and I ate a bagel with pumpkin seeds on it which was amazing. I'm slowly learning the coffee terms here: a short black is an espresso shot, a long black is an espresso shot with hot water added, a flat white is a latte with extra milk, and iced anything will come more like a frappuccino than like ice cubes.

Back to Christchurch. The first day, we rented bikes and rode around the city heading towards the beach which would have been really cool if a) we knew how to get to the beach, b) we hadn't ridden in the opposite direction of the beach for about 45 minutes, c) Dan hadn't popped his tire and made me fix it, d) Dan hadn't popped MY tire while stealing my bike and leaving me laughing in a ditch, e) dan hadn't made me fix that too, and f) the beach, once we finally arrived there after 4 hours of pedaling all over the city, hadn't smelled sulfur. Still, it was fun to get out on a bike again, and I got to see a better part of the city. Three people on our original orientation weekend go to Canterbury in Christchurch, so I slept on Erica's floor. It was fabulous to save money on accommodation and it was great to see her again. I randomly met up with my other friend Dan around the campus which was wickedas because it made me feel like I have connections all over New Zealand, even though those are really the only other people I know that aren't in Dunedin. On Saturday, we drove out to Hamner Springs, another geothermal area, and played in the natural hot springs out there. It was me with Jenn (the crazy kiwi), her friend's brother, and her friend's brother's flatmate. Despite being an odd group of people, both boys turned out to be really cool and we had a great time soaking in all the potassium and whatever other minerals there are.

Sunday we drove out to Mount Cook, but it turned out to be raining the entire time and we had a total crap view of the mountain. After much discussion, some tears and some blood (well, not the blood, but the tears yes...the kiwi claimed she was "stressed," even though we'd been relaxing the whole weekend), we decided to spend a spontaneous night out there since the weather was supposed to be better on Monday. We stayed in an old-person's hostel which was hilarious--we got back at 9 and everybody was asleep with the lights on! It's advertised for "mature guests," but the YHA, a youth hostel, was full, and it was the only place that had space for five. Minus the Dutch woman that had no concept of a whisper, it was a good night's sleep.

We hiked around Mount Cook today, and it totally paid off all the discomfort, the extra money we paid for accommodation and gas, and the two classes I missed. It's the tallest mountain in the Australasia area, and it towers over everything else! We saw the Hooker glacier, climbed up to see a better view of the range, and crossed two wood bridges. All the scenery around here is so unbelievably gorgeous, it's like the Oregon coast times thirty thousand. All my lecturers are all for international students exploring around, so while it'll be a bit extra work for me to catch up, it was totally worth it. On the drive back, we stopped off to see the Moeraki Boulders, these giant perfectly round boulders off the Oamaru coast. They were really cool, except I slipped off one of them and had a wet foot for the rest of the car ride. Despite the slippage, it was a cool stop and a much needed break from being shoved in the middle seat of the backseat of a tiny car between two big guys.

Now I'm off to do some reading, drink some tea, and watch some Flight of the Conchords if I have time. Next weekend's adventures call for either a rugby game or a backpacking trip through Te Anau and the Milford Sound depending on the weather. Sweetas, bro.