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.