How in the world do you cook pumpkin?

This past week has been pretty standard with class and homework and lots of just hanging out with friends.  I have started to become really close to a few people and I love the relationships that I am forming here!  One of these awesome friends named Audrey loves baking and NZ eats lot of pumpkin.  So we decided to combine the two and create some yummy pumpkin cookies.  Now before I arrived here, pumpkins were only good for jack-o-lanterns, roasting the seeds, and the occasional pre-packaged pumpkin pie.  But pumpkin is huge here!  So we bought a fourth of a pumpkin at the farmer’s market and decided to go for it.  Of course, we had to do a little preliminary internet research since we didn’t know how to get a physical pumpkin into any form to put in cookies, but they turned out delicious and were super easy to make so I’m sure they will be popping out of our ovens quite frequently!  That was probably a little boring, but we have all been raving about them all week. 

We also had our complex flat dinner this past week so that was nice to socialize and it was my night to cook so I lucked out with a free meal from uniflats.  Thursday night we went to town for the night with a big group and afterwards I had a warm snuggling session with Erin, complimented by chai tea and NZ cookies at 3:30am.  Friday was a relaxing day and I went to bed early because Saturday we decided to get up and watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics live at 8am.  Getting up was difficult, but I’m glad I watched them live and it was so exciting to cheer for 2 teams in the country parade!  Afterwards, Anna, Kelly, Erin, Emma, Rachel, and I hiked Mt. Cargill, part of the extinct shield volcano right outside of Dunedin.  It was a steep hike up, taking a little less than 2 hours, but totally worth it! Nerdy Warning: As a biology major, I was also excited to watch the vegetation change from giant and almost majestic looking trees to shrubbery and fern growth near the top.  Erin and I also climbed a few trees on the hike up and we even found a nature-made swing (I did wake up with bruises on my hips from it though).  Once we reached the summit, the 360 degree panoramic view left us all speechless.  It was a perfectly clear day and the view of the Otago peninsula, the harbor, and the endless mountains that span the country was amazing.  Sorry, I am literally running out of words to describe this country.  Coming down was a little muddy and rough on the knees, but we all made it back into town super happy.  That night we watched the Olympics and went into town with some of Erin and Rachel’s flatmates.  And on Sunday I attempted to do some work, but I was so exhausted from the weekend, that most of it waited until today. 

So now I am just hanging out at the flat, watching the Olympics with the flatmates.  Unfortunately, the time difference is not the most convenient from England, meaning we get the random events at prime time here (we are watching the horse events now).  But it’s still fun nonetheless! Go New Zealand and America J

Do You Still Feel Small When You Stand Beside the Ocean

Wow, it has been one very busy, but amazing week!  Last Saturday, Sophie, Erin, Rachel, Audrey, and I went to the Farmer’s market again and bought some fruit because it is super delicious and cheap!  I purchased 4 apples for only a dollar, which is only about 80 cents in US dollars.  I even embarrassed myself when I asked the lady again how much I owed her because I thought I had heard her wrong.  I also tried the infamous bacon buddy for lunch there, which is basically an unhealthy sandwich full of bacon, onions, and mustard.  But I enjoyed it nonetheless.  The rest of the day was rainy (unfortunately we finally got our taste of typical New Zealand weather), so I just hung around the flat all day, but it cleared up that night so Erin, Laura, Lorenzo, and I headed to town for the evening.  We went dancing at a club called Urban, where Erin somehow managed to lose her phone battery, but not the back of her phone.  It’s still a mystery to all of us!  But it was a fun night and we will have hilarious memories from it! 

Then the next day, we got up early (a bit too early after our previous late night) and caught a bus to Tunnel Beach.  From where the bus dropped us off, it was a 45 minute hike down to the beach.  Now I thought that St. Clair’s beach was beautiful, but when we reached Tunnel, I felt like I had just stepped into another world!  Pictures cannot even capture it.  This is also where the title of this blog post stems from.  Out of nowhere, I start singing “I hope you dance” with Rachel on the cliffs looking out into the ocean because the line “Do you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean” popped in my head.  I was mesmerized by the sight and definitely felt small watching the roaring ocean hit the rocky beach.  The name Tunnel Beach comes from the creation of an actual tunnel in the rock formed by the forces of the ocean, and you can walk through it during low tide.  Unfortunately, we did not look up the tide schedule before we headed out, so we were unable to cross under the rock tunnel, but it’s so close, I’m sure we will go back!

On Monday I went to brunch at a famous Dunedin pancake house called Capers with Lorenzo.  I chose to try the apricot pancakes filled with fruit and yogurt, which was delicious (and free because he had a two for one voucher)!  Tuesday was another relaxing day, spending time working on homework and watching TV with the flatmates that evening.  On Wednesday night, my flat went to pint night at the uni bar, called Refuel.  Yes, there is an actual bar on campus catered directly towards the students.  Crazy!  But I tried my first Speight’s, which is a local Dunedin brewed beer and it was quite good!  Thursday and Friday were non-eventful as well, but I did finally watch the first Lord of the Rings movie.  So nobody can give me a hard time for never watching it anymore!!! But I really did enjoy the whole thing (much more than Erin can say considering she fell asleep within the first half hour)!   I also had my first fish and chips dinner, a local favorite, supplemented with Hokey Pokey ice cream, another NZ creation!

And finally, my first weekend trip to the CATLINS!!!  It was planned a little last minute, but turned out to be one amazingly fun, hilarious, and memorable weekend!  We set out in our rental car early Saturday morning with Wynton (Dad) driving, Marvin (mom) in the front, and Erin, Rachel, and I (the kids) packed in the back annoying the “parents” to death singing Taylor Swift and a million other songs in the backseat!  Marvin and Wynton are both from Germany and are so great and together we all made a perfect little family!  The drive was about an hour and a half to our first few stops in the northern Catlins, Kaka and Nugget Point.  Kaka was basically just a really pretty beach, but Nugget was unique.  There is a lighthouse that you hike up to and a viewing of rocks that protrude from the sea and appear to be “nuggets.”  We also spotted our first sea lions from afar!

Our next stop was a bay (that I can’t remember the name of) where we decided to take the slightly treacherous hike down to the ocean.  Rachel and I made it to the bottom safely (thanks to our hiking boots).  But Erin was a little slower coming down, and decided to stop and wave at us while not looking where she was going and took her first fall of the day, a hilarious spectacle for Rachel and I as we watched her disappear behind the bushes.  Once everybody was down, we hung out on the beach for a while snapping pictures of the gorgeous bay and trying out our penguin calls to see if we could spot any.  But without any luck, we headed back to the car and drove towards Cannibal Bay.  Here, Erin takes her second fall as sand collapses beneath her while she tries to jump over a small stream.  We also climb over the rocky coast and venture a little too far, causing our feet to get wet when we can’t scamper away from a larger than expected wave quick enough!  Wynton was the only one that stayed completely dry, laughing at us the whole time.  We also encountered our first sea lion up-close!  We were walking near the brush along the beach, when Rachel spots it hiding in the grass to her right.  She screamed and grabbed onto me, I (having not even seen it yet), screamed and grabbed onto Wynton, who then ran away.  Great reaction to be only a few feet away from this creature right!?!  Good thing they are fairly friendly. 

Our next stop was Purakanui Falls, a short hike from the road.  During the hike we came across a dead, but still standing, hollow tree and had the bright idea to see how many people could fit in it.  Well, we determined the magic number was three as Erin, Marvin, and I squeezed inside!  But the three-tiered falls were beautiful and a great end to Saturday’s outdoor adventures.  So we grabbed dinner at a local café in the town of Owaka (there were only 2 dining options in the town of 1200) and checked into our backpackers (NZ equivalent to a hostel).  And to our surprise, they had individual electric blankets…what a luxury!  After settling in, we headed to the local pub and Wynton bought us each a mug of Speight’s and we sat on some couches relaxing after a busy day.  The pub was quite funny though as the older locals finished their meal and became more rowdy throughout the evening, evening asking us to stay when we got up to leave at 10pm. 

The next day, we grabbed breakfast at the same place we ate dinner and hit the road.  It was about an hour’s drive to the southern part of the Catlins where we stopped at Jack’s blowhole.  Although, it does not actually blow, the gorge was spectacular and the views from the hike were incredible.  We then headed to Curio Bay where we hung out for most of the afternoon.  We climbed all over the rocks and up and down the cliffs.  Marvin even got a little swim in, when an unexpected wave crashed on him as he was scampering to a far rock.  Poor guy, but it was hilarious!  We also stopped by a petrified forest in the evening on the coast and spotted...wait for it…our first PENGUINS!!!  They were so cute and fun to watch and a great end to the perfect first weekend away from Dunedin.  Afterwards, we all piled back into the car and slept with heads on each other’s shoulders most of the way home (Erin was such a trooper driving back)!  It was a wonderful weekend and it was great to spend time with friends…but now I probably should go spend time with my books and stop my procrastination!    

Back to the Books

…Well sort of! This week is the infamous re-o week at uni (the university), which means it’s a week of re-orientation after the holiday break for students to catch up and go a little crazy.  So, from a Kiwi perspective, re-o week is the time to have any last hoorahs before buckling down and hitting the books.  And for some, it means not even going to some of their first classes!  Now me being the conscientious person and student that I am, I decided not to adopt this interesting habit and even had a friendly Kiwi named Lorenzo show me where my classes were located the day before they began.  However, I didn’t get by without him giving me a hard time for being a goodie two-shoes throughout the “tour.” J  But in my defense, it’s a large university and I have never been here!  But don’t worry, I did participate in many of the festivities!

So classes officially started for me on Tuesday!  I had all three classes and they were great and it seems like they will be pretty interesting.  My visual arts teacher is a little loopy and eccentric, but it will make for some entertaining lectures at least!  I made my grandma’s chili for the first time that night for my flat after spending an hour in the grocery store searching for the correct ingredients.  But even after a couple of NZ substitutions, it still turned out great!  I was so proud of myself for making a legitimate meal all by myself!  Then that night, my flat and a couple other friends went to a paint party! Lots and lots of paint everywhere! And we have some awesome pictures to prove it!  We still have paint remnants all around the flat from when we came back that night.  I also got to know some more people and hung out with a pretty cool guy named Werner (he really wanted to become famous in the US through my blog so I had to mention him)!

Wednesday was clubs day at uni so I signed up for the tramping club and Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF)! I am super excited for both and I am happy to find a stable service during the week since I will hopefully be tramping a lot on the weekends!  The first OCF international dinner was Thursday night and it was great to meet more people from all around the world!  I have also checked out the gym on campus and it is brand new and really nice.  Rachel and I have been going often with the goal of running up Baldwin Street without stopping by the end of the semester.  Hopefully if I make that goal public to all of you I can be held more accountable!  We will see.  At its steepest point there is a 19 degree gradient!

And today was a little rainy, but that did not stop Kiri, Werner, Liam, Rachel, Erin, and I from going to the yearly Jaffa festival.  The main event at the festival is the chocolate Jaffa race where 50,000 Jaffas role down Baldwin Street and the person who bought the winning Jaffa receives a prize.  It was interesting, and possibly a little anticlimactic, but good fun hanging out with new friends and when else am I going to watch chocolate candies roll down a hill?  And right now, we just finished eating the most delicious meal that Bob (aka the best cook ever), who lives in our flat complex, cooked for us!  Sausage, potatoes, and carrots! Dad, it was borderline better than yours, so don’t worry, I will bring back the recipe J Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 P.S. My camera broke...so there will fewer pictures for a while.

It's Only Different, Not Wrong

So as I have begun exploring and diving into New Zealand culture these past few days, I find myself and other international friends saying phrases like, “That’s wrong” or “It’s not supposed to be that way.”  New Zealanders drive on the left side of the road, the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car, the grocery store is set up in new ways with different kinds of meat, flats lack central heating, and the exact same foods seem to taste different.  These are just a few of the differences that I have encountered as I try to embrace the new changes and immerse myself into the culture, rather than singling out the differences.   Opening my mind to new things is a huge part of this experience and that means understanding there are differences, but nobody is wrong.  That was just something I have been thinking about these last few days, but now onto my recent adventures!

Since my last post, I have officially met all of my flatmates.  And there are actually 3 Kiwi hosts: Sophie, Kiri, and Nathan.  Nathan actually just got back from a year at UNC so we have had lots to talk about and found common ground in our hatred of DOOK! And there is another new guy named Liam from Massachusetts.  But I truly believe that I have the best flatmates ever! We are all different, but a great new family here in NZ!

On Wednesday we officially started our orientation, which basically consisted of lots of people talking about the university and was a little boring, but afterwards, we continued our exploration of town and the botanical gardens and did some needed shopping.  And then we had a small 4^th of July celebration at a friend’s flat!

The next day, I signed up for classes and completed course approval.  Signing up for classes is very different here.  I’m used to everything being online and knowing beforehand what time classes begin to pre-arrange your schedule, but here, everything is all in person with pen and paper.  So basically I had to walk to different department and advisers taking a total of 2 hours.  But it was nice to talk to the Kiwis and they were all interested in where I was from.  However, even once I completed the initial approval, I didn’t officially know if the timetable worked until the next day.  But thankfully it did and I am registered for 3 classes: Urban Geography, Intro to Visual Culture, and God and Ethics in the Modern World.  I think they should all be pretty interesting! 

After course approval, Sophie drove me to the top of Signal hill where you can look down on the ocean, the peninsula, and the city! It was beautiful!  We watched the sun set from there and it was awesome! Then on Friday we took a train ride through the Taieri River Gorge which was lots of fun meeting people on the train and seeing the mountains!  And there was a barbeque for the international students afterwards. 

And finally this weekend, which has been lots of fun! We went to the farmer’s market on Saturday and I tried lots of delicious jams and produce.  And my breakfast there was a chocolate delight crepe! Apparently they are the best things there…and I agree! After that, some friends and I walked up the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street, nestled right inside of Dunedin.  And man, it was steep! And today, we took a bus to St. Clair’s beach and hiked a short, but steep path (with a semi-vertical rock slab to climb) around the coast! It was the best view yet!

And now my flat is headed out to grab a movie and have a good night snuggling on the warm couch (probably with our hot water bottles that we sleep with at night…my new best friend!).  Classes start tomorrow! It won’t feel like vacation for much longer!

Beauty

I’m finally here in NEW ZEALAND!!!!   I arrived here about mid-morning yesterday after an interesting morning in the Auckland airport.  Our flight from San Francisco was delayed due to fog, which ended up putting us in Auckland about a half hour before our plane to Dunedin left.  So we rushed off the plane into customs and picked up our luggage to personally transfer it to the next flight in compliance with customs policy.  Unfortunately that took longer than expected, but once we had all of our pieces, we scurried over to the counter to check them back in.  However, we were too late to check luggage at the normal counter and were directed to take them over to the domestic airport, a good ten minute walk at best.  At this point our flight was leaving in 7 minutes.  So we grabbed our luggage and realizing we missed the shuttle to the other part of the airport, we started to run.  Now, imagine me trying to run with 2 50-pound old school suitcases (the kind with only 2 wheels), my purse, and a giant backpack.  Luckily it was cold outside, because we all worked up a sweat!  It was a mess! But we did make some friends on our run who were also headed to the University of Otago! Once we got to the other airport, we realized we had to check in again because our tickets lacked a gate number and I was sure we had missed the flight.  But thankfully this flight had been delayed due to fog as well and we were able to board just in time!

The final flight was almost surreal.  I have seen pictures and heard how beautiful the country is, but flying over the mountains covered in snow was amazing and I knew that I had chosen the perfect country to study abroad in! We landed with a light snow falling, the sun shining, and excitement that could barely be contained.  The country landscape was everything I imagined and more!  I cannot wait for all the adventures that are already in the early stages of planning!  After taking a taxi to my flat, I was welcomed by Margaux, one of my flatmates from France and later met Sophie, my Kiwi host.  They are amazing and super sweet!  I unpacked while jumping around and putting on as many layers as possible.  I don’t mind the winter weather, but inside the flat is just about as cold as outside because there is no central heating!  Definitely a change from the US.  I also walked around town and the university and then went downtown last night to celebrate my arrival! I already love it here and can’t wait to continue exploring town today with some friends from the airport!   

                                                                                                         

I Can't Believe this is Happening

Well, that phrase has been spoken more times than I can even remember in the last couple of days.  But seriously, part of me still can’t even wrap my mind around the fact that I just left North Carolina to go live in New Zealand for six months!!!  My study abroad trip that I have dreamed about probably since I first understood what study abroad even meant is finally here and I could not be more excited!!!   I left Charlotte this morning with butterflies in my stomach, a smile on my face, two great friends by my side, and a heart open and ready for new experiences and adventures.  So let those adventures begin!

For those of you who do not know all the details of my trip, I will be living in Dunedin (on the south island), literally on the other side of the world.  I will be living in an international flat with other students from around the world.  I also have 2 kiwi hosts in the flat to show me the ropes.  As far as classes go, I plan to take 3 general education courses, but I will not officially sign up until I am there.  The weather is also going to be a huge change, as it is the middle of winter there with temperatures around 30 degrees.  Luckily I don’t mind cold weather (the product of being raised in the mountains).  With that said, you could say I had some difficulty packing and ended up with 2 suitcases both weighing 52 pounds (the lady who checked me in was super nice and ignored my extra 4 pounds) and a giant backpack.  I’m sure I over-packed, but it’s six months!

So after a great last night in America with my family, I said goodbye this morning and landed in San Francisco earlier this morning (I had an extra-long morning with the time change).  After we arrived, Erin, Rachel, and I went out into the city to do some exploring during out 12 hour layover.  We took the train downtown, walked around, ate lunch, and then took a bus ride to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The bridge was spectacular, and I only saw portions of it at one time because it was super foggy!  After taking a very windy stroll across the bridge, we hopped on the bus to head back to the airport, but of course, we already had our first mishap and took the wrong bus.  But the driver was super nice and helpful and set us on the right path after riding that bus to its last stop.  We also met some really nice people who had been to New Zealand on pretty much every train or bus we took! Small world!  So now we are sitting in the airport terminal and getting ready to board our flight.  Next stop: New Zealand!!!  I still can’t believe this is happening J Love you all! 

(sorry this post is late, I wrote it earlier and then had some technical difficulties)