Paper Writing Galore

This past weekend was insanely fun and gorgeous. Dan, Ethan, Jill, Jessie, and myself hiked up the mountain next to Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand). My friend Ethan is a geology major at the Univeristy of Otago and he explained all the science stuff behind everything we were seeing as we hiked up the mountain. It was a veyr difficult hike. It was stright up for a few hours with some minor rock climbing and hiking through three feet of snow with our 20 pound pack on our backs. We started early Saturday morning. We camped out on the base of the mountain Friday night so we could get an early start.
Climbing up the mountain, for the first two - three hours everyone was groaning a bit and I think we were all thinking "Are we really doing this?" But then we made it high enough that we hiked out of the fog, so we were on the edge of this cliff on the mountain overlooking a blanket of fog hovering in the mountains. We couldn't see the village below because there was such a thick layer of fog. Gorgeous. Beautiful. I will post pictures as soon as possible.
Hiking up further it just got better and better. We made it to the ridge around 12:30, and it was much easier from there. It was through a few feet of snow, but it wasn't straight up hill so it wasn't too bad. Arriving at the hut, we through our packs down and explored. Our view from the hut...let me tell you about this view. We were in the middle of a huge mountain range...a beautiful straight on shot of Mt. Cook from our window, and glaciers EVERYWHERE. There were also avalanches every few hours. We woke up Sunday morning to one outside our window, actually. It was such an exciting feeling....so be in the mountains, hoping they will protect you for the night, yet knowing that at any minute a large avalanche could sweep you away.
The mountains protected us. We had an amazing sunset while eating our dinner, and spent the remainder of the night playing card games and such. I learned Yuker - does anyone know how to play that? Apparently it is a Michigan thing (mom!). My friend Jessie is from Michigan, and she is the one who taught us how to play.
As for other little things going on around Dunedin...
Thursday night was karaoke night with some Kiwi neighbors of mine. Tonight is Backstage - the open mic downtown every tuesday. This weekend is a kayaking trip around the Doubtful Sound with my orientation group! Next thursday I am hosting a Halloween party at my house because with autumn here I feel as though Halloween should be approaching, but it is not, so I decided to change that! Now it is.
AND! I AM SO AMPED BECAUSE IN TWO MORE WEEKS ITS THE BANFF FILM FESTIVAL!!!! I bought my ticket today! It is the Canadian Banff Film Festival and we all sit in a theatre till like 5 in the morning watching crazy footage of insane sporting like kayaking, sky diving, base jumping, rock climbing, skiing, etc. I AM SO EXCITED!! And. What is even more crazy - the picture on the tickers are from Tasmania. The Totem Poll rock cliffs we went to with our Tasmanian rock climbing friends.
It made me very nostalgic. Jill and I smiled when we saw the picture, but both got very sad.
I do not know why Tasmania affected me so deeply...I just don't know.

I really feel like New Zealand is my home. Dunedin, New Zealand is my home. It is strange to think about. When I first arrived I thought: "This could definitely be my home one day, but it isn't home yet." But now, it is. I have my friends, I know the town very well, I know campus and am really getting involved with Amnsety International - the Human Rights club on campus.
It is a really incredible feeling. I feel my growth this semester is unlike anything else I have ever experience in my life. I am a new person, and changing more and more each day being here. For those of you who don't know, I won't be coming home until the end of August. I do not remember if I posted that in my last blog....I am staying in New Zealand until July 23rd, then I am gonig to Fiji until August 1st, from Aug 1-9 I will be in San Francisco/Palm Springs/Berkeley, then the West Coast trip with my family, then finally back to Boston.
I will be homeless in New Zealand for a month. My plan....or "plan" rather....WWOOF, couch surf, camp around, go to Tacaca (crazy hippie village up north!)...we'll see what happens.
More paper-writing! Kia ora, all.

written by  Kiwi-Travels on May 12, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
from the travel blog: I'm going to live as a New Zealand Kiwi for six months!
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