NEW ZEALAND!!

Ok, so the previous post, I wrote in transition from Australia to New Zealand.  We arrived at the YMCA hostel in Christchurch, New Zealand just before dinner time.  After we settled into our private hostel rooms we proceeded downstairs to the dining area for dinner. The meal was satisfactory and all we had time to do that night was to souvenir shop (for they were the only stores still open) and then do a little homework(?) before hitting the pillow.  I was asleep by 1030.

Friday Morning breakfast was at 8 and we had free time until lunch at 1215.  I had set my alarm, but one of my lovely suite mates decided to turn it off for me.  Needless to say, I did not roll out of bed until 1020.  I was pretty peeved because I was supposed to meet up with a few people and hit a couple of stores.  Instead I got ready and headed out on the town by myself because no one I knew was in sight.  Although as I walked around and window shopped I became someone alleviated; I liked having that alone/ "me" time.  I did not have to wait around on people, I could go where I wanted, I have a very keen sense of direction so I did not have to argue with someone that they were going the wrong way; the list goes on.  Lunch was not nearly filling enough, but it held me through our museum tour and some more "shopping" during free time until dinner.  After dinner was a fun trip to the Maori Wildlife Conservation Center.  We learned a brief overview of the Maori culture and learned a lot about the endangered wildlife there.  But the real treat was the authentically dressed native Maori people who interacted with us in traditional ways (accurate to how they acted with the settlers who came in peace) and shared with us their welcoming, challenging/war, celebration, and grief hakas.  (the type of tribal dances they do)  It was very entertaining, I could have stayed and watched them much longer than the 20minutes.  After the initial contact when we came into their territory, and after our "chief" (Dr. Adams) made peace with their chief, we were pleased to know they all spoke English and were very friendly before seating us down so they could preform for us.  After the maori show and animal tour we were waiting in the little store/cafe for the rest of the group to get back (we were split up into two groups) and I experienced something so amazing.  There are these things here called Magnums; they are ice cream bars.  I had a Caramel Magnum; starting from the center it contained vanilla ice cream, a thin chocolate shell, caramel, and another chocolate covered shell around the outside.  It was one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth.  Which is should have been, as it cost three dollars.

Saturday we all woke up early and headed down to breakfast around eight in the morning. Proceeding breakfast we walked down the road to the Christchuch Cathedral, and we had a guided tour.  After the tour portion we walked the 134 steps up the bell tower.  That was a workout!!  After our tour we filed on to the bus and we were given a city tour on our way to a "punting" place.  (Known to some as a gondola).  We all sat in canoes and a guy pushed us along with a stick.  It was so awesome, and very pretty!  We saw many ducks, but we also saw many many many little ducklings, they were without doubt the most adorable little things.  Once we were finished with our punting we traveled back on to the bus and toured around the city on our way to the REAL "gondola" where we got into a little cab and rode up the mountain side to see an amazing view.  It was FREEZING up there though, and very windy!  The view was still awesome though :)
We ate lunch within the little suburb anywhere we liked.  A fairly large group of us went to this place called Snappers (I believe that was the name).  It served fish and chips, although I bought a bacon cheeseburger.  It was the first burger I had on the entire trip until that day.  It started raining during our lunch so we had to run back to the bus, and we then ventured back to Christchurch for a little free time before dinner.  We tried to shop around a little but most stores were closed already, or about to close.  The one task we became successful at was finding some type of theater production to watch.  Us students that are using our humanities class to count for theater appreciation have to find some kind of theater production outside of class to go watch.  We also have to pay for this ourselves, how wonderful!  But we managed to find an Improve show called "Scared Scriptless"  It was without doubt the most funniest thing I have ever seen.  We all absolutely loved it.  At one point they asked the audience if anyone had traveled lately or if anyone was from overseas.  We all raised our hands, without so much as an acknowledgement and the host called on some chick who stated that she had recently traveled to America.  Where at in America?  DETROIT.  First off WHO in their right ming travels all the way to America to go to Detroit?  But this did enter for a humorous skit the improv team preformed.  It was funny watching how other countries perceived us.  What we got out of it was that America is full of fat people who eat too much, and gang bangers.  (Remember we were talking about Detroit).  To end the night we all returned to our hostels, finished packing, and went to sleep.

I was up by 545 the next morning, in time to make it to breakfast by six.  We were leaving the hostel by 7 and arriving to the airport before 8 to make our flight by 9.  Must we tell them how many items of clothing I had on this time?

two bras.
two tanktops.
three tshirts.
One long sleeved tshirt.
two hooded shirt/sweatshirt.
underwear.
leggings/tights.
three pairs of shorts.
two paris of sweat pants.

I was also holding my jacket with two other smaller jackets inside.

Needless to say I was DETERMINED not to have an overweight charge.  I had to wear a little more in result of buying a couple souvenirs while I was in Christchurch.
Our flight lasted about an hour, most likely less.  I feel as if we were in the air for only half an hour.  Upon arriving we came strait to our new accommodations.  We are staying in one of the most glorious apartments I have ever seen.  It contains a huge kitchen, with TWO dishwashers, granite counters, and all stainless steel appliances, a 13ft wide and it seems like 30ft long living space (continuance of a living area, dining room, and living room; all open), three two person bedrooms, and two full baths, with HEATED tile floors, as well as a laundry area.  Its amazing!!  It is very beautifully furnished and painted with many windows on along the wall facing the mountains.  Thus meaning that we have a view of the mountains.  If we were higher up we would also have a view of the lake, but as we are the trees are somewhat blocking our view.
We had an hour or so to begin settling in before we had lunch at the college and before we went on our grocery shopping adventure.  During this event we had a nice light SNOWfall, which was fun to see, although it did not stick to the ground. In between shopping and our sunday service we had several hours of freetime.  I used this time to take a shower and STRAIGHTEN my hair for the first time on this trip, and to relax some.  We had service in our apartment, as it is one of the most spacious and luxurious apartments out of the bunch.  After service I mostly worked on homework and went to bed.

We only had a half a day of classes on Monday, so I slept in until 1045.  After rolling out of bed and cleaning myself up I worked on homework and ate and relaxed until class.  Class, smlash... we came back for dinner then by 7 we had to head back to watch a movie for humanities.  It was alright, and it allowed us to not have class today!  The movie lasted a little over two hours and for the remaining hours of the night I worked my little fingers to the bone, typing things for my bible research paper.

FINALLY to Today!!  (Tuesday)
I was up and awake by 740, and I hurried to get ready and out the door to make it by class at eight.  Don't worry, I wasn't the only one leaving the apartment for class at this time.  Class was not very long, two of our classes got canceled so we had a short day!  We were done by lunch.  Since then I have skyped my parents, and eaten lunch, and that is about it! :)

Welp, I am FINALLY all caught up on my blog!  Now its time for more homework and catching up on school before we have everyone over (whoever wanted to come) to watch the first Lord of the Rings movie before we go horseback riding throughout the LOTR country!!  (Places where they filmed LOTR here in New Zealand).  Needless to say I am super excited!

Over & Out. <3