Photos of my Travels!
This is the picture out my bathroom window in the morning!
And then there's a picture of the ocean about 5 minute drive to the edge of the peninsula.
And a sunrise picture! I rode my bike here early in the morning to see this. Pictures don't do NZ justice.
A friend at the museum in Christchurch,
and my Canadian friends watching our first rugby game!

Hello Hello!
First of all this is a picture of my home! Palm trees and ocean and snow-capped mountains! I have just finished another week and spent the weekend at my NZ homestay. My host for the weekend is named Margaret. She runs a B & B and has been living in the same house for 75 years! She is a sweet 89 years old and a great cook! They have so much teatime here! I had tea 3 times a day and then breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think one day I had chocolate cake 4 times! It's ok though, because we rarely have dessert at the convent. We went and saw some alpacas and then returned to the waterfall for my 3rd time there. This waterfall is where the yearling seals go and play. We aren't sure why they are there because it's freshwater and they live in the salt water. But anyway, there was a really cute little one who came right up to our feet and sniffed them. This is rare because usually they are scared. That was fun. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is! It was a good weekend. I stayed at Margaret's with another girl named Courtnee from the Convent. We had fun just walking around the top of the peninsula where she lives and taking pictures of the scenery and her gorgeous flower beds. I think I have gone overboard on pictures, but hey... I will try to upload them on here, but it's hard, and time consuming.
I have a free week this week before Samoa because I am not taking the elective Literature course that is offered this week. I will need to catch up on some reading for other courses. It's rainy this week too. should be fun...since I am supposed to bike back in half an hour and my bike is currently getting wet out in the rain. hmm. Oh, Grandma if you are reading this, our professors for this week are Rich and Polly Stevic (or however there names are spelled). Rich is coming to Samoa with us. I didn't realize they knew you, or who they were. But I told them my name and they told me the connection. I miss you guys!
Alright I have to go now. I will give you an update after Samoa!

classes

So I just finished my first week of class. It was a really good class! The way classes work is we have one course for two weeks. This one is called sustainable community development. We have finished half of the class and we will do the other half after we get back from Samoa. Mick Duncan is our professor for that class and if you haven’t heard of hum m you should look him up online. He’s a great speaker with lots of stories that really made the class interesting. During the week the professor lives at the Old Convent with us and he is around pretty much all the time. It’s definitely a different experience eating lunch and dinner with your prof after class. We have class in the mornings from 9-12 and then again at night from 7-9. So we have all afternoon to do the readings and other homework. It’s a pretty crazy schedule, but nothing like real college. Sorry for those of you in real school, who can’t do their homework with 24 of your classmates in the same house with the most gorgeous view out every window and a personal chef. Not to mention instead of getting colder, it’s getting warmer here! I was sitting out in the sun today and it was amazing and warm! It’s still cold indoors, however. We’re having a swing dance session tonight! And line dancing on Thursday. This is reading week, by the way. That means we are all doing the course readings prior to our classes so that there is less to do during the week of class and the profs can just expect us to have read most of the material. I mean hey, we are actually taking a 4 credit class in two weeks, it’s gonna be intense. Later today I met head over to a lavender farm and eat lavender/honey ice cream! Yummy! Be jealous.

As of September 15th. that's NZ time for you.

I am such a horrible Blog-writer! Sorry it has taken my so long to finally get a post up. If you want to hear my excuses they are: I forgot my password, I am super busy, and I keep running out of internet time before I get to my blog. But I do want to keep you somewhat updated on the amazingness that is my trip to NZ. I had written an earlier blog but I never posted it because, as I said, I forgot the password. So, I just posted that now and this one.
I spent this last 3 day weekend in Christchurch! It was really fun. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel in center-city. Still find it strange to see guys in the bathroom when you get up in the morning. Coedness…interesting. We went to art galleries and markets and a botanical garden and experienced the night life. We even met some locals! Good times had by all! Oh! And we went to a Rugby game! Two big rivals in the south island. It was amazing, we followed up our live game with the All-Blacks game at a sports bar. They lost to South Africa, sorry for them. It created quite the uproar. We started classes yesterday… But I wasn’t in the best of health. I seem to have eaten something in Christchurch and ended up with food poisoning the night we got back. It was yucky, that’s all you need to know. But I am feeling much better today and our first week of the Environmental Sustainability course is gonna be good. OH there are so many things to tell you! The people here are great. I never knew living with 30 people in one house could be so fun. I experienced some Samoan culture already and we are preparing for our trip in 2 weeks! I can’t wait to be warm again. I haven’t eaten too many strange things, although we did have a kiwi iconic foods night here at the convent. The drinks like, L&P, ginger beer, and kiwi juice are probably the strangest, but they aren’t bad. Things seem a lot sweeter here. I miss you guys! Please pray for the health of everyone here, it’s no fun being sick in New Zealand.

Sorry it's so late! I'm Here!

I’m here! It’s so beyond beautiful. After 25 hours+ of travel 24 students and 5 faculty drove through hills and towns to a peninsula surrounded by snow-capped mountains, rolling hills and a pebble beach that is Kaikoura. The Old Convent is our home for the next 3 and ½ months…with a little excursion to Samoa! It’s an olf convent turned B&B which is currently being leased by Creation Care Study Program. Our rooms still have the names of the nuns who lived there. I live in St. Blandina’s past residence with 2 roommates. Sarah from California, and Stacie from Canada. They are both great. We ate Fish and Chips on the beach our first night with everyone. It was cold, but yummy. Did I mention I can see my breath in the morning…inside my room! Yea. It’s that cold. Lot’s of layers. Lots and lots. There is not much central heating in New Zealand apparently. It’s gorgeous though. I wake up and one look out my bathroom window and I see the pink cherry blossoms on the tree in the backyard, with the snow capped mountains in the background and a pink morning sky. I’m not complaining. OH, and if you look to the other side of the house, it’s the ocean. Yep. I know. Be Jealous. We eat great here! Jess, our cook, is amazing. Tons of veggies and fresh foods. I went on a hike the other day and we learned about the trees here and it was so green and pretty. I guess I wasn’t really expecting the plants to be that different. But they are. It’s so cool. Ok. I can’t tell you everything because there’s too much to tell, but I’m also biking to town, and church and anywhere that I want to go that isn’t with the whole group. So dad and Daniel, be proud. We have one more week of orientation and then we will be planning trips for the weekend. More details on life to come.