Yep so I've basically given up writing here, as I'm sure you've guessed. To be honest I'm focusing more on living and enjoying my last month-and-a-week here instead of worrying about blogging about it... which sounds reasonable to me! Anyway since I last wrote we have gone to the west coast as well as Wellington last weekend. On the coast we went to an abandoned coal mine for an incredible tour, and I had my first stay in a hostel on the beach (I can totally see myself traveling around in hostels with my friends!). We went down the Truman Track to what I have to say is the most incredible beach I have ever been to, and drove down to the "Pancake Rocks" which were interesting as well. The coast could very well be the most beautiful place I have ever been, I have to say. It was breathtaking - I can't even describe it! Last weekend we went up to Wellington for 2 nights and one day, which was awesome as well! We caught a late ferry, which was 3 hours crossing Cook Strait in the dark. And let me tell you, you can actually feel those waves. But all good, didn't get too sick, and it was actually very fun. We checked into our motel-apartment unit right downtown, and then the next morning got up bright and early and walked down to the shops. Basically we shopped all morning in awesome vintage shops etc. We went to the most AMAZING kebab place for lunch - it was SO yummy! And they gave us free chips to go with it - I had a lamb kebab and if I could eat that every day I would. In the afternoon we went to Te Papa, which was very fun and interesting, and then went to Alicja's cousin's house for a delicious curry dinner. The next morning we were up at 6:30 to catch an early 8 AM ferry, but we got to see the sunrise. We were on a really nice ferry, and they play movies while you cross (it was National Treasure 2). I went outside and saw a little seal playing in the surf, and later we all saw a HUGE pod of dolphins! It was incredible. I kept thinking of the last day I saw my mom - we were on the beach in the morning and saw a dolphin in the waves, and mom said it was good luck. It was beautiful. So yes it was a wonderful trip overall, and I'm very thankful I got to experience all of that.
This weekend is my AFS camp, which should be fun - it marks one month until I leave (this Friday). That's a bit of a damper on the weekend, but I'm excited to see everyone again. The week after that is international week at school, so I get to do a presentation on the U.S. and my life in MT for anyone who wants to listen. This thursday is NCEA day so no school for me! I keep trying to remember to send postcards to everyone, and I feel bad that I haven't yet, but I will try to get on that soon before I end up running out of time!
That's all for now! Probably won't get around to posting for another month... But oh well, at least I'm enjoying life, right??
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
May 21, 2011
Well, I haven't written for awhile. Nothing much going on here, I'm back at MGC which has been good. I have a lot of catch up work to do, but it gives me something to focus on. This weekend and next will be pretty low key, but things start to pick up after that! We have a 5 day weekend over the Queen's Birthday, and we might go to the west coast over that break. Then we're headed to Wellington for a weekend, I have my AFS camp, we have an international trip to Wellington, and then I go home a few weeks later. Its hard to believe I've already been here for 4 months!
With regards to school, I don't so much feel like things have changed as the way I look at them has. I really do feel like I do fine on my own, and I have decided to be happy and enjoy my last 2 months. Its funny though, how one comment, one person saying hi, one nice deed can completely make your day. Or make it worse, one or the other! I've been feeling pretty tired, but aside from that decent. I rode in the Tasman cycling races on Wednesday, which was a great experience.
Also we went to the Picton marae with the international girls, which was a blast! I didn't really sleep much but it was a fun overnight trip. I've been reading a lot, doing homework, and we have a netball game this afternoon. Things are ok. So yeah, thats about it! Just normal life here!
With regards to school, I don't so much feel like things have changed as the way I look at them has. I really do feel like I do fine on my own, and I have decided to be happy and enjoy my last 2 months. Its funny though, how one comment, one person saying hi, one nice deed can completely make your day. Or make it worse, one or the other! I've been feeling pretty tired, but aside from that decent. I rode in the Tasman cycling races on Wednesday, which was a great experience.
Also we went to the Picton marae with the international girls, which was a blast! I didn't really sleep much but it was a fun overnight trip. I've been reading a lot, doing homework, and we have a netball game this afternoon. Things are ok. So yeah, thats about it! Just normal life here!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
School and school holidays
Well, I think last time I wrote we were about to leave for the Otago Rail Trail. That was an extremely fun trip, and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. For much of the trail I felt like I could have been in England or Scotland, and for the rest I felt like I was about to stumble upon a few hobbits or some orks. It was incredible. It was also awesome to get to spend some more quality time with my host family - I really enjoyed that a lot. Biking during the day, staying in the only B&B in the tiny towns along the track each night, eating, laughing... it was awesome. I would reccomend it to anyone who finds themselves down in the Central Otago area.
When we got back, I found a package from my family waiting for me full of easter treats! That was very exciting, it made my day! We were all quite tired so we got a good nights sleep that night, and then the next day I boarded a bus at 1 and headed off to Nelson to stay with my support coordinator Lisa's family at a bach on Jackett Island. That trip was incredible as well, I had so much fun up there. We basically hung out, ate chocolate, went to the beach/ocean, ate chips, played cards, ate more of both, and had a great time. I really appreciate being able to go up there, and was thankful to have been invited! On the way back to Nelson on Easter we went over near Golden Bay for a bit to look at the "cow mummy," literally a cow that died and the skin simply became petrified. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen, but at the same time it was pretty awesome!
The rest of the break passed without much of note happening, I hung out a lot and just relaxed, which was quite nice. The only other big thing happening for me is that I am switching schools this term, because MGC wasnt working out on various levels. Tomorrow is my first day at Queen Charlotte College, and I'm excited but also really nervous. Fingers crossed that it goes well!
When we got back, I found a package from my family waiting for me full of easter treats! That was very exciting, it made my day! We were all quite tired so we got a good nights sleep that night, and then the next day I boarded a bus at 1 and headed off to Nelson to stay with my support coordinator Lisa's family at a bach on Jackett Island. That trip was incredible as well, I had so much fun up there. We basically hung out, ate chocolate, went to the beach/ocean, ate chips, played cards, ate more of both, and had a great time. I really appreciate being able to go up there, and was thankful to have been invited! On the way back to Nelson on Easter we went over near Golden Bay for a bit to look at the "cow mummy," literally a cow that died and the skin simply became petrified. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen, but at the same time it was pretty awesome!
The rest of the break passed without much of note happening, I hung out a lot and just relaxed, which was quite nice. The only other big thing happening for me is that I am switching schools this term, because MGC wasnt working out on various levels. Tomorrow is my first day at Queen Charlotte College, and I'm excited but also really nervous. Fingers crossed that it goes well!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Pie a la Mode
Tonight I made the most American thing I could think of in the food category that doesn't exist here - fresh apple pie! It actually came out really well, I was quite proud of it! Sonia and I made dinner tonight which was really fun and delicious, so between that and dessert I am quite full. All good fun though, I love apple pie so much. Tonight we are packing to leave on our Otago Rail Trail trip tomorrow, so we will be gone for 5 days biking through central Otago. Should be lots of fun. Other than that nothing too newsworthy... today was pink shirt mufti day so we all wore pink and brought $2 to support anti-bullying. That sentence seems like a bit of a contradiction but it doesn't make sense if you say it was to not support bullying... Anyway yes I think I wore pink for the first time today, at least the first time in a few years. Not really my color, you know. So yep enjoying NZ, looking forward to the holidays!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
AFS Camp
April already, wow time sure goes by quickly! Last weekend I had my AFS camp, which was why I was away from the internet and facebook and my blog for a few days. We drove down on Friday (I spent Thursday night at my support coordinator Lisa's house) for 6 hours and when we finally got there we got to meet everybody for the first time. It was akward at first but also very interesting. The rest of the weekend was spent getting to know people, playing cards, staying up late and having all sorts of fun (with a bunch of orientation thrown in there, but that wasn't the enjoyable part!). It was an awesome weekend, I had SO much fun and it really made me realize why I chose to come with AFS. It was such a community and everyone got along so well, and we all had that common tie that brought us together. It was an amazing experience. I barely slept all weekend, seeing as we went to bed at 2:30 the first night, got up at 7:00, then went to bed at 4:00 the next night and got up at 8:00, so I was pretty trashed on Monday, but it was well worth it. It was almost like a giant sleepover, except with people you had only known for a day and felt like you had known much longer. To be honest there was so much that happened that I can't really write it all down for fear of leaving something out, but if you look at any photos anyone took you get a pretty good idea of what we did all weekend. I think it is safe to say everybody was feeling pretty sad as we left and realized we had to go to school the next day and couldnt stay at camp forever. This week... happened. I think I will leave it at that. Tonight though was my parent-teacher interviews and all my teachers said they loved having me in class, which was great to hear! It was also mufti day to raise money for Japan. One more day and then the weekend - then in a week we have school holidays! We are leaving a week from tomorrow to go on the Otago Rail Trail, which will be fun. Then I might spend a week at a batch up near Nelson, which I am also excited for. So yeah, had an incredible weekend, and I am looking forward to break!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
A Day in the Life
M'kay so it has once again been far to long since I have updated my blog. But not too much has been going on, so I guess thats ok they probably would have been boring posts anyway. Last weekend Kasia, Yurie (our 2-week Japaneese student) and I hung out on Saturday and watched Sound of Music. Awesome movie. I love that movie so much. And then Sunday Yurie, Alicja and I went for a walk in the Withers in the rain, and went to the Chocolate Factory and to a little village-thing near the wineries. Overall a low-key but fun weekend. Earlier this week I was feeling awfully homesick, I have to admit. I'm not really sure why, but I literally thought about home every waking moment. I found myself missing the silliest things. Driving to Home Depot with my dad. The Leaf and Bean. Walking into Mom's office after school. Our silly good-night rituals at home. Simple things that I have found make a huge difference. It was a tough couple of days. Yesterday afternoon I went to cycling though, which helped. Today was much better - I played squash with Lara after school and had a decent day of classes, other than ending with physics which always sucks. I think it also helps that I am super excited for the weekend. Which brings me to part 2: This weekend, I have my AFS camp!! Woo! Everyone from the South Island is going, which will be awesome. Tomorrow after school I am getting dropped off in Nelson for the night, and Friday morning we leave to drive down near Christchurch. I hope it is a fun weekend, and I have the feeling it will be! On Friday I have officially been here for 9 weeks. Term one ends in two weeks and then we leave for our Otago Rail Trail trip. Unfortunately I have to wrap up now because my new favorite TV show is almost on - "Packed to the Rafters," an awesome Aussie show about a close-knit family with 3 older kids and a new baby, and their relationships, troubles, etc.
Friday, March 18, 2011
blank
Sooo yeah we didn't go to Wellington. I was basically feeling miserable all evening yesterday and I would have had a yucky trip. So we've rescheduled in May. Now I get another day to do nothing! At least I should be feeling better by Monday. Its kind of crazy how quickly everything becomes routine - to be honest I keep forgetting I'm actually in New Zealand! We have another exchange student from Japan coming to stay for 2 weeks on Monday, so that should be fun. Nothing else of extreme importance going on that I can think of.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sick
Bleh. I have a cold. I have been home sick all day today. Which basically means that instead of going to school I spent all day in bed reading, apart from a brief journey to the kitchen for lunch. I read the entire first book of the Hunger Games for the second time. As well as caught up on all my emailing and facebooking - actually probably enough for multiple days. Sooo yeah nothing too exciting on this end... I'm all congested and have a sore throat. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, though, because we're supposed to catch the ferry to Wellington at 6 PM! And I really really want to go, so I'm laying low today to give myself the best chance of getting better quick. Hmm what else can I write about... I woke up last night and though, oh ok its morning, I better get up and get dressed. I figured I had to be right because it looked light out. Then I looked at my phone and it said 11:45, so of course the only reasonable explanation was that my satellite-regulated cellphone stopped working. As well as my iPod clock. I didn't actually believe it was only an hour after I went to sleep until I went to get a drink and no one else was up. Weirdest feeling ever, I must say. Yep so that was the highlight of my day. Unless you count the fact that the Hunger Games books might just be the best books I've ever read. Or up there, at the very least. I get to skype my family on Sunday again, since they're home from NYC! Yay! Yep, and there you have it: my completely ordinary life in NZ. And not in a bad way :) Other than being sick, I could do without that.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Oops...
Wow so its been awhile since I updated... Well I suppose that's because little of note has happened - I go to school, come home from school, nothing too different from the usual life of a teenager. Although I did join the cycling team last week, and I got to go to Kaikoura this Saturday. We got to see seals and look at tidepools, which was really fun! Plus I got fish and chips again. New favorite food, I swear. Other than that... Obviously everybody has heard about the earthquake in Japan and all the tsunamis. It was pretty intense because there are a lot of connections between Japan and the kids here, so on facebook girls were asking if anyone had heard from various people who were previous exchange students from Japan. Its so sad how that all happened, my heart goes out to all the people suffering. Just goes to show that we really have no control over mother nature.
Next weekend we're off to Wellington for a few days, so I probably wont be able to update then either. Until later, then!
Next weekend we're off to Wellington for a few days, so I probably wont be able to update then either. Until later, then!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Yeah they speak english, but are the US and NZ the same? I think not...
Everyone always asks me what is different between New Zealand and the United States. So how different could two first-world western countries be? Quite a bit different, as it turns out! I suppose this is more a comparison of NZ and Montana, but here are some things that I've noticed in the month I have been here:
1. The language - yeah its english, but I can assure you it is spoken quite differently down here! Both in terms of accent and sayings, Kiwis have their own (awesome) variety. Some of my favorites: Sweet as, flash, hard out, chunder, etc.
2. School - obviously the next biggie: I go to an all girls' school here, so that has been a HUGE ajustment
3. Uniforms - yeah, I wear a uniform to school.
4. Money - way cooler looking down here - colorful, with cool clear parts!
5. Wildlife - when you go walking you don't have to worry about bears, wolves, mountain lions, snakes, spiders, or virtually anything else that would want to hurt you.
6. Airport customs - you don't even have to take your shoes or sweatshirt off!
7. Driving - its on "the wrong side of the road!"
Ok, now just a list of different things - hopefully they're pretty self explanatory!
- they don't refrigerate their eggs
- people can get away with saying more on tv without getting fired
- eat more fish
- we have "interval" or "morning tea" - basically what would be recess in the States
- dinner is called "tea"
- you HAVE to wear sunscreen when you go out, due to the hole in the ozone located directly above NZ
- butter is used on sandwiches instead of mayo
- marmite... I have yet to try it, but a lot of people love it!
- a shopping cart is not a shopping cart. It is a trolly.
- AMAZING FISH AND CHIPS
- incredibly windy roads. You have not been carsick until you have driven the road from Blenheim to Nelson.
- Rugby
- Track cycling
- Greenery - more leafy trees and amazing gardens
- So many different kinds of "biscuts" and "lollies" (candy) that I can't list them all!
- creamier ice cream
- Hoky poky ice cream (amazing)
- incredible beaches
- more kids here leave high school before graduation
- NCEA examinations - instead of a GPA there are national exams that are graded on a not achieved, achieved, merit, and excellence scale
- Blenheim has no stop lights and very few stop signs
- slower internet
- much nicer McDonalds buildings
- tomato sauce = ketchup
- netball
...and so much more! Basically, there are a lot of underlying things that make NZ different from Montana. It has been fun experiencing everything here, and this list definitely does not include everything.
In other news, school is good, my feature article in media studies is on the way Americans are viewed in NZ - its been interesting to research for it. To some extent it hasn't set in that I'm in New Zealand, to be honest! Its hard to fathom that I am halfway around the globe from my home at this very moment. Crazy...
1. The language - yeah its english, but I can assure you it is spoken quite differently down here! Both in terms of accent and sayings, Kiwis have their own (awesome) variety. Some of my favorites: Sweet as, flash, hard out, chunder, etc.
2. School - obviously the next biggie: I go to an all girls' school here, so that has been a HUGE ajustment
3. Uniforms - yeah, I wear a uniform to school.
4. Money - way cooler looking down here - colorful, with cool clear parts!
5. Wildlife - when you go walking you don't have to worry about bears, wolves, mountain lions, snakes, spiders, or virtually anything else that would want to hurt you.
6. Airport customs - you don't even have to take your shoes or sweatshirt off!
7. Driving - its on "the wrong side of the road!"
Ok, now just a list of different things - hopefully they're pretty self explanatory!
- they don't refrigerate their eggs
- people can get away with saying more on tv without getting fired
- eat more fish
- we have "interval" or "morning tea" - basically what would be recess in the States
- dinner is called "tea"
- you HAVE to wear sunscreen when you go out, due to the hole in the ozone located directly above NZ
- butter is used on sandwiches instead of mayo
- marmite... I have yet to try it, but a lot of people love it!
- a shopping cart is not a shopping cart. It is a trolly.
- AMAZING FISH AND CHIPS
- incredibly windy roads. You have not been carsick until you have driven the road from Blenheim to Nelson.
- Rugby
- Track cycling
- Greenery - more leafy trees and amazing gardens
- So many different kinds of "biscuts" and "lollies" (candy) that I can't list them all!
- creamier ice cream
- Hoky poky ice cream (amazing)
- incredible beaches
- more kids here leave high school before graduation
- NCEA examinations - instead of a GPA there are national exams that are graded on a not achieved, achieved, merit, and excellence scale
- Blenheim has no stop lights and very few stop signs
- slower internet
- much nicer McDonalds buildings
- tomato sauce = ketchup
- netball
...and so much more! Basically, there are a lot of underlying things that make NZ different from Montana. It has been fun experiencing everything here, and this list definitely does not include everything.
In other news, school is good, my feature article in media studies is on the way Americans are viewed in NZ - its been interesting to research for it. To some extent it hasn't set in that I'm in New Zealand, to be honest! Its hard to fathom that I am halfway around the globe from my home at this very moment. Crazy...
Monday, February 21, 2011
Natural Disasters and all that Jazz
Well as you may have heard, Christchurch was rocked by another huge earthquake today. 6.3 on the Richter scale, and although it wasn't as bad as the 7.something quake in September it was ranked as a level 3 emergency (the worst it can get) because of the number of lives lost. At only 5 km below the surface, lots of buildings were damaged and as I write this the death toll is climbing. My heart goes out to those who have lost someone in the quake or who have lost their home and posessions. It was interesting to be here for one of the largest natural disasters that NZ has had in a long time, it vaguely reminded me of whatching the news on 9/11 in the morning when they were replaying the videos of the attack. Its pretty intense.
In other news, I had an uneventful school day and got to come home early due to a teachers' union meeting. Soooo... yep I wasn't going to post today but I felt it was necessary to acknowledge the hardship those in Christchurch are facing. It sure makes me glad to be where I am, safe and sound.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
February 20, 2011
So it's been awhile since I've posted... I have officially determined that I am not the type of person who is good at routinely doing things like posting on a blog or writing in a journal. So, I will work on it, but I will probably go to a one-post-a-week strategy and just update on what's going on every weekend (if I can). Anyway, here's what happened this week in Blenheim:
I had an uneventful week at school, classes are ramping up but nothing else of note happened that I can remember.
Friday night my host family and I went out to see the move "A Better World," a danish film about pacifism vs. violence. Very thought provoking, very well filmed, I would definitely reccomend it to anyone. Warning: NOT a "pick me up" sort of movie. If you are in a bad mood it won't cheer you up. But it is worth seeing. Also: it is subtitled.
Saturday was a nice lazy day, I woke up, made some toast, read the paper and helped Kasia do the crosswords (ok saying I helped is a bit of an overstatement... I listened and attempted to come up with things while she and my host mom figured them out). Then Kasia and I went for a nice walk, and finished up the day by making dinner. We made delicious pesto, bacon, and tomato pasta. Then we had hokey pokey ice cream for dessert while watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Hokey pokey ice cream is the best ice cream I've ever had, its as simple as that.
Today, I woke up and made toast again, but then went to work on my Media Studies feature article outline - which I am starting to freak out about a little bit, not going to lie. I'll turn out ok though, I still have a week or two to perfect it. After that I skyped Dad (Cayley and Mom were skiing). We had a nice lunch of yummy meat-stick-things and some delicious smoked trout, amidst a heated political discussion. This afternoon we drove over to Picton and Kasia and I got to ride in my host dad's Porsche on the way over!! So much fun!! Picton is a nice little town, we went into some shops and looked at some cool souvenier things, but then went down by the water. We walked down over the "coat hanger bridge" and to the marina where all the nice yachts are, and we saw what must have been the biggest privately-owned boat I have ever seen. It was 120ft long (or something like that) and had a HUGE mast. Anyway we looked at the boats for a bit, then walked back and went for a swim which was wonderful. For dinner we got fish and chips. I am in LOVE with NZ fish and chips. They are the best I've ever eaten. Served in newspaper and all warm and crunchy... mmmm yummy. So we ate all our delicious fish but then the sand flies started biting so we packed up rather quickly.
After a quick drive home and a short stop in the grocery store, we came home, showered, and ended up watching "10 things I hate about you" with Heath Ledger in it. Overall an excellent day! Sometime soon I'll write about all the differences between the US and NZ, when I have time and actually get around to it. But I have a busy day tomorrow (school) so I'll sign off and get to bed. Hope everything is well back in the States, xoxo.
I had an uneventful week at school, classes are ramping up but nothing else of note happened that I can remember.
Friday night my host family and I went out to see the move "A Better World," a danish film about pacifism vs. violence. Very thought provoking, very well filmed, I would definitely reccomend it to anyone. Warning: NOT a "pick me up" sort of movie. If you are in a bad mood it won't cheer you up. But it is worth seeing. Also: it is subtitled.
Saturday was a nice lazy day, I woke up, made some toast, read the paper and helped Kasia do the crosswords (ok saying I helped is a bit of an overstatement... I listened and attempted to come up with things while she and my host mom figured them out). Then Kasia and I went for a nice walk, and finished up the day by making dinner. We made delicious pesto, bacon, and tomato pasta. Then we had hokey pokey ice cream for dessert while watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Hokey pokey ice cream is the best ice cream I've ever had, its as simple as that.
Today, I woke up and made toast again, but then went to work on my Media Studies feature article outline - which I am starting to freak out about a little bit, not going to lie. I'll turn out ok though, I still have a week or two to perfect it. After that I skyped Dad (Cayley and Mom were skiing). We had a nice lunch of yummy meat-stick-things and some delicious smoked trout, amidst a heated political discussion. This afternoon we drove over to Picton and Kasia and I got to ride in my host dad's Porsche on the way over!! So much fun!! Picton is a nice little town, we went into some shops and looked at some cool souvenier things, but then went down by the water. We walked down over the "coat hanger bridge" and to the marina where all the nice yachts are, and we saw what must have been the biggest privately-owned boat I have ever seen. It was 120ft long (or something like that) and had a HUGE mast. Anyway we looked at the boats for a bit, then walked back and went for a swim which was wonderful. For dinner we got fish and chips. I am in LOVE with NZ fish and chips. They are the best I've ever eaten. Served in newspaper and all warm and crunchy... mmmm yummy. So we ate all our delicious fish but then the sand flies started biting so we packed up rather quickly.
After a quick drive home and a short stop in the grocery store, we came home, showered, and ended up watching "10 things I hate about you" with Heath Ledger in it. Overall an excellent day! Sometime soon I'll write about all the differences between the US and NZ, when I have time and actually get around to it. But I have a busy day tomorrow (school) so I'll sign off and get to bed. Hope everything is well back in the States, xoxo.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day
"Hello blog, 'tis been awhile now. But I thought I should catch up. TODAY HAS BEEN A GOOD DAY. I had physics. Mr. Swan is special. He sits in class and watches the video by himself and I learn a lot. Physics is fun. I had a deep and meaningful physics talk with my host father. Um.
Well, my host sister returned today from a far, far away land. Called um um aaaaah JAPAN! Um, she came with lollies. That were yummy and winnie the pooh themed chopsticks. Oooh and Sonia's friend, Alice, has returned also today from Florida. She is happy. Also today I had an apricot and an apple in my lunch box. Um, it rained. Um uuuuuh, Sonia is cool. It was ery hot yesterday and it was even 36 degrees. Which is a bit hotter than Bozeman :) It was so hot I went for a swim which was novel. I like the orange choc chip icecream that sonia rolled into a cone. it tastes like orange :) So yeah, NZ is pretty rad and I feel happy here in this beautiful town.
Ex-Oh-Ex-Oh..... Gossip Girl"
Ok so now that you've heard my life according to Sonia, here's my take:
Actually, she basically covered everything. Despite a mild obsession with Physics, I think most of what I've done was taken care of. I DID have 2 pieces of fruit today, which was novel. Epic win! Yes I am good at typing Sonia. Except I just messed up. Woo hoo. Apparently the Packers won the superbowl, as I was informed by about 100 facebook posts about the game. Cool. Didn't even know the game was on. Just goes to show what a good American I am. Basically my life has actually been quite uneventful. I... went to school... and.... came home from school... and yeah.
Actually we went to Nelson this weekend for an AFS orientation, and went to the International Kai (food) festival there. Which was yummy and novel. I had hangi (food cooked underground) watched a haka, and had a real fruit ice cream. Plus I got to try orange chocolate chip ice cream, especially for dad. You were right, its awesome! I have yet to try jelly tip though, and my expectations are high because Sonia loves it. I watched Phantom of the Opera for the first time too, and we wanted to see the end so we didn't get to bed until 1:30 - it was too hot to sleep anyways, especially when Gerard Butler came onscreen :) ha. haha. I think I'm forgetting something, but until I think of it we'll leave it at that! Oh, and it is raining today. Bye! :)
Well, my host sister returned today from a far, far away land. Called um um aaaaah JAPAN! Um, she came with lollies. That were yummy and winnie the pooh themed chopsticks. Oooh and Sonia's friend, Alice, has returned also today from Florida. She is happy. Also today I had an apricot and an apple in my lunch box. Um, it rained. Um uuuuuh, Sonia is cool. It was ery hot yesterday and it was even 36 degrees. Which is a bit hotter than Bozeman :) It was so hot I went for a swim which was novel. I like the orange choc chip icecream that sonia rolled into a cone. it tastes like orange :) So yeah, NZ is pretty rad and I feel happy here in this beautiful town.
Ex-Oh-Ex-Oh..... Gossip Girl"
Ok so now that you've heard my life according to Sonia, here's my take:
Actually, she basically covered everything. Despite a mild obsession with Physics, I think most of what I've done was taken care of. I DID have 2 pieces of fruit today, which was novel. Epic win! Yes I am good at typing Sonia. Except I just messed up. Woo hoo. Apparently the Packers won the superbowl, as I was informed by about 100 facebook posts about the game. Cool. Didn't even know the game was on. Just goes to show what a good American I am. Basically my life has actually been quite uneventful. I... went to school... and.... came home from school... and yeah.
Actually we went to Nelson this weekend for an AFS orientation, and went to the International Kai (food) festival there. Which was yummy and novel. I had hangi (food cooked underground) watched a haka, and had a real fruit ice cream. Plus I got to try orange chocolate chip ice cream, especially for dad. You were right, its awesome! I have yet to try jelly tip though, and my expectations are high because Sonia loves it. I watched Phantom of the Opera for the first time too, and we wanted to see the end so we didn't get to bed until 1:30 - it was too hot to sleep anyways, especially when Gerard Butler came onscreen :) ha. haha. I think I'm forgetting something, but until I think of it we'll leave it at that! Oh, and it is raining today. Bye! :)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
First Day of School!
As the title implies, today was my first real day of school at Marlborough Girls' College. After donning the required uniform that I have previously described, Sonia and I walked to school - which is about a mile or two away. There were tons of girls there, but we went and met up with Sonia's friends, all of whom were very nice and incredibly welcoming. The first thing we had to do when school started was go to the gym for a meeting, where we were then sorted into our form classes (essentilly advisory class in the US). My form teacher seems nice, while he made me introduce myself to the class he also made an effort to make me welcome, which was greatly appreciated. Basically all we did all morning was sit in our form classes and not really do anything. We had interval (recess), more form class, and then lunch. We (me and Sonia and her friends, who were nice enough to invite me along) went off campus to a nice park with a little creek and ate lunch there, which was nice because it was about 90 degrees out and very humid. After lunch we had a house meeting, then more form class, then school pictures.
That essentially concludes the school day from what I remember, so we walked back home and changed out of our hot, sticky uniforms. I discovered that, as expected, my new shoes gave me blisters - funny thing is though I got them on the bottom of my feet as well. Oh well, they will callous over and all will be well again. When we got home we spent some time cooling off and just relaxing. Basically all we (Sonia and I) did later was draw cool pictures and have a good time lauging at them. Tomorrow we start real classes for the first time, so that should be another adventure... And thus concludes another day of my exchange to the land of the Kiwis!
That essentially concludes the school day from what I remember, so we walked back home and changed out of our hot, sticky uniforms. I discovered that, as expected, my new shoes gave me blisters - funny thing is though I got them on the bottom of my feet as well. Oh well, they will callous over and all will be well again. When we got home we spent some time cooling off and just relaxing. Basically all we (Sonia and I) did later was draw cool pictures and have a good time lauging at them. Tomorrow we start real classes for the first time, so that should be another adventure... And thus concludes another day of my exchange to the land of the Kiwis!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
School and all types of fun
This morning was the meeting for the new students at Marlborough Girls College, my soon to be school for 6 months. I got to wake up bright and early at 8 and put on my uniform, which consists of a blue and plaid skirt, a white blouse, and white socks under black strapped shoes. Its pretty hot. In all seriousness though its quite nice to know what you're going to wear to school and not have to worry about being judged by your clothes. Anyways, my host sister (Sonia) and I walked over to the school and met with the other new students who came - 4 of us in all. We went to the school's welcome meeting (much of which was is Maori) and then had a tour of the school and got our schedules etc. Everyone was really nice so far. Then Sonia was nice enough to show me where my classes are, so hopefully I don't get TOO lost tomorrow...
After we got home we went downtown to buy "stationary," or school supplies. There are all these cool pre-made notebooks that they use down here for homework and classwork that have certain sizes and paper inside, which I thought were pretty cool. I realize typing that that it basically sounds exactly like our notebooks in the US, but they were all made by the same company and they looked more scholarly I guess you could say.
Later we went to the theater and saw "The hopes and dreams of Gazza Snell," a Kiwi film about a man in Auckland who wants his son to race go-carts but then his youngest son gets hurt (is in a coma!) and theres all this self realization and cool metaphors. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I found it enjoyable. Tonight we spent time covering our new school books, but then became sidetracked by trashy tabloid magazines and the faces all too ready for someone to draw on them (including Angelina Jolie and Taylor Swift). Basically I thought it was a good use of time.
The first real day of school is tomorrow, and I'm excited but also really nervous because I've never been a new student before. Hopefully all goes well, wish me luck!
After we got home we went downtown to buy "stationary," or school supplies. There are all these cool pre-made notebooks that they use down here for homework and classwork that have certain sizes and paper inside, which I thought were pretty cool. I realize typing that that it basically sounds exactly like our notebooks in the US, but they were all made by the same company and they looked more scholarly I guess you could say.
Later we went to the theater and saw "The hopes and dreams of Gazza Snell," a Kiwi film about a man in Auckland who wants his son to race go-carts but then his youngest son gets hurt (is in a coma!) and theres all this self realization and cool metaphors. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I found it enjoyable. Tonight we spent time covering our new school books, but then became sidetracked by trashy tabloid magazines and the faces all too ready for someone to draw on them (including Angelina Jolie and Taylor Swift). Basically I thought it was a good use of time.
The first real day of school is tomorrow, and I'm excited but also really nervous because I've never been a new student before. Hopefully all goes well, wish me luck!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Lazy Sunday
I went to the beach today with my host mom and sister. It was really nice, the water was actually fairly tolerable and the wind died down when we got there. Pictures to come soon. After we got back some of my host family's friends came over for dinner and I had a good time talking to them etc. I would post something longer but I'm really tired right now and I have to get up earlier tomorrow to go register for classes. More to come later, though, don't worry.
Friday, January 28, 2011
From LA to Blenheim
Hi all,
Well I'll start off by saying I really should have started this blog before I left, but due to the fact that I am a procrastinator I never got to it. That said, this is where I will share all my upcoming adventures in New Zealand.
So far, all I've really done is sit in a plane, which was fun and all but 13 hours is a LONG flight. The orientation in LA was cool because I got to meet all the other AFS kids going to New Zealand and everyone came from different states and different backgrounds - it was almost like an exchange within our own country. The 8 of us spent a few hours at LAX before we flew out, where we met Ke$ha and saw Will Smith's son (I forgot his name...). The flight was long but at the end Emily and I asked the flight attendants if we could sit in the crew seats to look out the window as we landed, to which they responded that the seats were not approved for landing but until the seatbelt sign came on we could. They then proceded to provide an awesome commentary as we flew over Auckland - three of the flight attendants were from New Zealand one from Australia (yes, there were 4 of them that came back to talk to eachother/us) - a good start to the trip.
We then split up after Auckland, all of us going to different places. I took two connecting flights from Auckland to Wellington and Wellington to Blenheim (the latter of which was a very small, bumpy flight), and finally landed in the Blenheim airport where I met my host parents and later my host sister. Blenheim, as we drove through it, is very beautiful and green, and there are a lot of vineyards. I have my own room currently. I tried on a uniform yesterday and we are ordering one of my own on Monday! School starts Wednesday - I am really excited but also very nervous because I've never been a new student before. It should be fun...
Missing everyone a lot but I'm excited for the next few months I'll spend here.
XOXO maggie
Well I'll start off by saying I really should have started this blog before I left, but due to the fact that I am a procrastinator I never got to it. That said, this is where I will share all my upcoming adventures in New Zealand.
So far, all I've really done is sit in a plane, which was fun and all but 13 hours is a LONG flight. The orientation in LA was cool because I got to meet all the other AFS kids going to New Zealand and everyone came from different states and different backgrounds - it was almost like an exchange within our own country. The 8 of us spent a few hours at LAX before we flew out, where we met Ke$ha and saw Will Smith's son (I forgot his name...). The flight was long but at the end Emily and I asked the flight attendants if we could sit in the crew seats to look out the window as we landed, to which they responded that the seats were not approved for landing but until the seatbelt sign came on we could. They then proceded to provide an awesome commentary as we flew over Auckland - three of the flight attendants were from New Zealand one from Australia (yes, there were 4 of them that came back to talk to eachother/us) - a good start to the trip.
We then split up after Auckland, all of us going to different places. I took two connecting flights from Auckland to Wellington and Wellington to Blenheim (the latter of which was a very small, bumpy flight), and finally landed in the Blenheim airport where I met my host parents and later my host sister. Blenheim, as we drove through it, is very beautiful and green, and there are a lot of vineyards. I have my own room currently. I tried on a uniform yesterday and we are ordering one of my own on Monday! School starts Wednesday - I am really excited but also very nervous because I've never been a new student before. It should be fun...
Missing everyone a lot but I'm excited for the next few months I'll spend here.
XOXO maggie
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