Weekends like this...

Will make me miss New Zealand so much!

This weekend with my mind free of uni., was so simple and soooo much fun. It was spent with lots of laughs and many great people.
Friday: I was so relieved to be done with lectures and homework, Terra and I headed to town and got some lunch at burger fuel, the did some window/real shopping. Drank the most brilliant hot chocolate I have ever tasted and then headed to the movies with some girls. We went to see Boy, which is a Kiwi movie about a Maori boy. It was pretty good. When we got home we drank some Craggy Range Riesling and it was very yummy and we headed into town to go to a show. After some wanderings we finally found said "show" in a run down flat on top of a shoe store. Hung out there for a bit and in every way it reminded me of Chico. Then we headed out for some drinks. The night ended with a Jester's pie and Trevor scaring the living daylights out of me.

Saturday: We dyed Terra's hair in the morning. She actually trusted me with her hair and dye. EEEEPS! Everything went well though, a little darker than planned though. Next on the agenda was a Tui Brewery tour with Margo, Terra, Trevor and Nicky. However, we got to the brewery too late and so we didn't get to go on the tour but we did have a beer sampler. Then we jammed back in the car to get some pizza. Not sure I have ever eaten so much and laughed about nothing before. After that we went and hung out with some newish French friends. We went to their Flat and just hung out and talked and then headed to High Flyers for some dancing. Got home around 3:30 AM and therefore slept in super late the next morning.

Sunday (today): After sleeping heaps, I met up with Gemma, Cyril (sp?) and Terra. We went back to Cyril and had brunch. After that we loaded back up into the car and headed to Woodville to experience some yummy mummy cheesecake. The cheesecake was decent, but I have definitely had better. It was still a fun adventure though. Then we headed up to wind farm because Gemma had never seen it. On the way back home we got some kebabs and Terra and I headed back to my hostel to watch a movie and now I think I will just be cozy in my bed for a while and ignore the fact I must start studying tomorrow.

The weekend doesn't sound like the most thrilling thing ever but it was just completely carefree and fun. Things just fell into place. Good memories were made, and it is sad to think that my time making memories in NZ is coming to an end, but at the same time it will be nice to get back home and make some new memories with friends and family. It is just weird to think that all these people I have spent the last 4 months with I may never see again.

I think getting ready to leave NZ has taught me the true meaning of bittersweet. Some days I am dying to get home and get back to "my" life and other times I never want to leave.
OK well I think this has gotten mushy enough so here is a pic to lighten the mood...Karaoke to Spice Girls "Wannabe"...
Love Jane

WARNING: This may be a spoiler if...you plan on watching the saddest movie ever invented

So today is the day I finished ALL of my assignments for the semester...my last one came in at 25 pages (ewww). Since today is the 27th it also means that Katie will be here in just two weeks.
Overall, even though I worked my butt off finishing 2 assignments it was still a great day and I even got to spend some time hanging out and not doing homework.
I started today off with going to class and then headed out on my meat's field trip to the abattoir (fancy word for meat plant/slaughter plant and/or meat works). I have already seen the biggest lamb plant west of the Mississippi (yes, totally just sang the song in my head so I could spell that). So there were no real surprises about the gore etc. However, just one quick thought about the employees there. I think they could easily become serial killers...spend all day literally inside a beef carcass wrapped in blood and guts...thinking it could make you crazy real quick. Not that I am making fun of the people who work there, in fact I am thankful for them because I like my burgers and such!
Then I got home and worked my little behind off on my dairy project. I didn't even eat while I was working--BIG MISTAKE, I then became so hungry I had to rush home and cook noodles as fast as I could before I wasted away.
After I had nourished myself, I diddled around a little bit. Then got back to the finishing touches on my meat assignment. Ran to the library in the freezing cold printed it and ran back to Miro...all in enough time to join Margo and Trevor in watching the saddest movie ever invented. Like so sad it should be illegal.
So we bundled up in Margo's room (not sure I have mentioned it but it is like the Antarctic here) and watched the movie Hachiko. It is about a dog who is goes to the train station everyday to pick up his owner and then ...(don't read if you want to watch the movie)...the owner dies and the dog waits at the train station for 10 years for his owner to come back. So you think eventually the dog will learn to love somebody else, like the wife or grand kid but NO, it ends with the dog dying. Now if that is not just the saddest thing in the whole wide world--you need to get a heart? or you could join those meat plant workers and start your serial business? There was definitely not a dry eye in the room at the end. Margo didn't tear up to much, me well I was me and got pretty teary eyed and I think the boy in the room (he will remain anonymous) needed an absorbent depends diaper to soak up all of his tears.
Now I am off to dream land...and tomorrow, and the next day and the next day the thought of school is not even going to cross my mind. Love Jane
P.S. I always try and make my blogs look better and more interesting by posting pics but I just dont think me and blogspot get along that well I can never do it...so sorry you will just have to deal with pages of words...I know, but picture books are so much better than novels.
ok I know I just went on that rant about blogger not letting me put pics up but then I tried one more time and here you go...I know this pic has nothing to do with anything I wrote, but I just found it on Myspace and thought it was very funny! Jake is so into those tights

Love, but not the mushy kind!

So tomorrow I have to give this presentation in my class. It is like a no big deal kind of presentation. It can only help your grade so if you do a horrible job it just won't count. That is why I have no idea why I am so nervous about it. I have given much bigger and harder presentations and not been this nervous...maybe it is the whole foreign country thing...so wish me luck. In the mean time enjoy some of my thoughts (procrastination at its finest).

Now I will compose a list of random things I LOVE- or at least really like! I am going to leave out all the mush like I love my family, friends, the boy and Maggie and Lucy (because that is all just assumed).

1. I love good water pressure...not like needles puncturing your skin, or being under a rock slide kind of pressure, but just decent good pressure. You feel so much cleaner, nothing will compare to the shower I grew up with (mom and dad you are forbidden to ever remove that shower head)...but I am so pleased they FIXED our showers in Miro (my hall). I love taking showers now.
2. For my dairy class we have partners for all of our assignments and I love that my partner and I have the same work ethic...hard work, stressing out and laughing lots--pretty much sums it up.
3. My new reddish/burgundy heels I bought for just 30 bucks, can't wait to wear them out.
4. Kat comes in 20 days and I know I will LOVE being in NZ with her...I will especially love seeing and possibly swimming with wild dolphins with her.
5. I definietly heart skype...like how is it possible that it is free. I think I talk to people at home more here than I do when I am living in the same state as them.
6. I love pump water bottles! They have sports caps and it is just the best when you get one that has the good kind of sport top. I can't explain what good means, but it is just better than the bad ones.
7. I love the picture next to my bed of me on xmas day when we just got max. I am holding him down so tightly trying to get him to do what I wanted...he was stubborn from day one. Love that dude.
8. I really like, not love becasue I don't love anything about the dinning hall, when the desserts there involve chocolate.
9. I really love when I don't look at the bus timetable and just go to the bus stop in hopes of there actually being a bus there, and there actually is a bus there.
10. I really love that I have become a crazy swan lady...oh not sure I have told you yet about my swans (Bonnie and Clyde). They are 2 black swans that live on campus and they have a nest and eggs and I have become oddly obsessed with watching them and checking on the progress of there eggs. It is like a crazy cat lady, but worse I am the swan lady. I think they are used to me and expect me to come make my visits. This whole swan issue could be a whole other blog and I really must get back to practicing my presentation
11. However, my last thing I love is Bonnie and Clyde. I just don't like that I named Bonnie, bonnie very cliche, but I really liked the name Clyde.


Bye love you Jane

Happy Mother's day to the most wonderful mom of all!!!! Love you Jane

Underground in the Down Under

So I am completely exhausted from the awesomeness of today and possibly delirious, so I can not promise what I write will be coherent or even mildly entertaining but I will try my hardest because today was probably one of my FAVORITE days in the NZ yet.

Today was the day I went CAVING!!! We went to the Piripiri (sp?) road end caves. It was just a 40 minute drive out there. The whole time I am driving out there I am thinking what the heck am I getting myself into? Tempted to back out I decided NO I am definietly going underground and that was that. Next thing I know, I find myself hanging by rope and harness off a bridge and I am lowering myself into a crack in Good Old Mother Earth's crust. We probably repelled about 10 to 15 meters. Little did I know that at that point the repelling part was the least of my worries. I actually thought it was really fun and would 100% do it again. In fact I would do everything I did today again. So I get down and unhook my harness, and am left standing in a big room (cave) there are some ferns and a stream and it looks like a nice little place. I think to myself "oh this is caving I can completely do this." I then see a rope leading up to a hole in the side of a rock wall and am told we are standing in a canyon NOT a cave and the cave we will be exploring is the hole in the side of the wall. What I am not a gecko, no sticky feet here, so exactly how am I supposed to get to that hole in the side of the wall. With much effort and alot of deep breathes I am able to use the rope to climb to the hole in said wall. My hands were so tired I felt like I had just skiied a whole set. I sit at the cave entrance and wait for Terra. She gets to the top and we are greeted with a huge hole in the ground filled with water. That is where we learned that by getting wet while caving is an understatement. We were in chest high water at some points. (which just made it that much cooler)


Next we wade through some water, get stuck at this very tight crack, but make it through all on our own. Some people were ahead of us and the trip leaders were at the bottom helping get more people up. So it wasn't like we were completely on our own or anything. Finally, some skilled cavers catch up with us. We keep on heading further and further in walking through water, laughing hysterically (waders though would have made it funnier), climbing over rocks and occassionally turning our head torches off to see some glow worms. The rest of the trip was pretty awesome and involved lots of climbing and me thinking there is no WAY I can do this, and then coming to the realisation of "oh hey, I just did that!" There were times where the only thing holding you up was the fact you were wedged between 2 rocks and having to shimmy across to get through, some of these if you became "unwedged" you could have fallen like 2 meters. I definitely have the bruises and scrapes to prove my work though haha! We had to use some ropes to climb in and out and off and onto ledges and cracks. There was lots of team work like Terra supporting the weight of my whole body (aka butt) with her face to help me climb out and me pulling the "beached whale" out of some cracks. There was also this big mud pit that was the softest mud ever and we had some fun playing in it. ie: mud facials and mud artwork on Russel's white coveralls.


Now for the leaving of the cave...we had to go out the way we came in, I was dreading this becasue of my slight panic attack / inability to get up the wall to enter the cave and now that my arms are tired I have to climb down a rock wall? So we head out and I am in the lead there is one point that is a very tight sqeeze for probably 3 meterish. Oh on a side note while in the cave I had seen some pretty big spiders but from a distance and heard rumours of there being wetas in there. (I bravely chose to ignore all this) Ok so during this tight sqeeze your face is probaby no more than 6 inches away from the rock and to my surprise my face met one GIGANTIC spider. I let out the loudest scream and instant panic takes over my body. On the way in I must have not noticed the gigantic quantities of spiders that reside in this part of the cave becasue I was still experiencing shock from just being in a cave. I began looking everywhere and all I could see was spiders and then I saw a weta and I absoulutely lost it! I am embarassed to actually be writing this. I do not know what I was thinking in this time of panic, but I sat down in the middle of the path/stream and bear hugged Terra's leg and refused to let go. My heart was going about a mile and minute and I don't think I was breathing. However, I eventually realised we were almost at the cave opening, so from that point on it was eye on the prize time; we are getting the heck out of here. Nobody else even flinched about the BUGS! While waiting for some people to descend down, my panic over the bugs doubled due to my fear of descending back down into the canyon. We were waiting in this little room covered in spiders!!!! I just had to get out and was soon half way down the rock wall, where it was spider and weta free and could finally feel my heart rate adjust back to that of a normal human being.


Just some side notes:

1. Wetas and spiders alone are bad, but when put in a cave they are even worse.
2. I completely surprised myself in my abilites today. Normally do not consider myself brave in rock climbing type situations...but I loved every minute of it.
3. The hardest and scariest (well except the spiders) was the entering and exiting of the cave.
4. I really did feel like spider man (I can scale walls) and a fragglerock! --just wish there were big harry giants at the top of the cave.
5. I would definetly go caving again...because: physically challenging, good time with friends (lots of laughs, get to use your mind...figure out how to get around obstacles, and everything (except cave bugs) was awesome.
6. Glow worms are really cool...did not give them enough credit above.

I am not reading this because I am going to bed...so hope it makes sense. Love you Jane

Your journey to NZ and my Journey to the center of the Earth!

So I have been rather lazy, these last few days...but lazy in a good way, not like lazy in a bad way. lol I have really enjoyed myself and have gotten lots of sleep and re-adjusted to my Palmy schedule...that was tough to do after all my time on holiday! I think there is something ridiculous like 46 more days left here and my Kat comes soooooooo soon! Excited to come home, but at the same time not excited. Here is my dilemma:
I want to see everybody back home!
I don't want to leave NZ!
solution: EVERYBODY I know back home needs to get together and figure out a way to get here (as in NZ)
Then I do not have to leave NZ but I get to see all of my lovely friends and family.
Some cheap ways you could get to NZ...
1. well we know quite a few people with boats (Dad, Ed, Steve) you could all just cram in there...and set sail.
2. Another fun one, re-enact balloon boy's antics, but this time for real. Just get a bunch of balloons tie them together and off you go.
3. Just do it the old fashion way...book a ticket!
4. Maybe you could make a tunnel, gather all the shovels in the neighborhood and start digging. I am sure there are already some pre dug holes in my backyard, from the days of Chelsea and me trying to dig to China.
You know holes are kind of like Caves...which brings me to my next topic!

This weekend I am going caving or Spulunking...whichever you prefer, but the point is I will be abseiling (repelling) off a bridge and into a cave.

Exact quote from the trip leader: "There are two caves we'll be exploring, one of which is in a canyon we can abseil into off of a bridge.
You can expect to get very dirty and muddy, and you will definitely get wet. There will be crawling, climbing, and squeezing through tight spaces. These are not walk-through caves!" So excited but then again so nervous, I mean a cave is rather creepy and rather small...hope I don't get claustrophobic...and lets not even think about the chances of bats or other creepy crawlies! At least I have my brand new and very fashionable striped long underwear to get me through this ordeal. I will also get to dawn a helmet and my trusty head torch! Now I am off to work on another glorious dairy assignment!
p.s. Kat comes ridiculously soon (can you tell I am excited)

Life is all about finding simple pleasures...

Like a peanut butter, nutella wrap...all warm and gooey.

It will get me through this day of homework, and the sun is shining.
Love Jane

A Domestic Dazzler and a Professional Procrastinator

The Last few days, I have not been able to break free from my vacation state of mind. I know if that is my main concern life must be rough haha! I have this absoulutely ginorm meats project due on monday and I just can't find the motivation to start. Therefore, I am procrastinating on all things uni related (or professionally), but I have not just been lazing my days away, I took all this extra time to work on my domestic side, because chores just seem that much better than observing the change in colour of red meat over a 72 hour period of time. Who really thinks up these assignments? Oh well my meat is in the fridge and ready for observation.

The list of Chores I have completed:
room dusted
room vacuumed
re-organized wardrobe
cleaned out my food locker
cleaned out my fridge
FOUND a place to live next semester
In general re organinzing my life..."zenifying" it!
I am also writing this blog, therefore that means I am once again procrastinating on my meat assignment.

The score board looks like this:
Jane' room= win Jane's meat assignment=FAIL!!

This weekend I could have gone on a day tramp, but instead I am going to get up close in personal with my meats assignment and take a slight detour at the ABC party I am going to tomorrow.
Love you, Jane

I was working on it just a mere second ago, but writing a blog sounded heaps better than calculating the muscularity indexes of lamb carcasses.

So the parents have come and gone, and our currently somewhere in a big metal bird flying over the pacific ocean. It was such a nice time, I loved having them here and wish they did not have to leave. While they were here, they made sure to spoil me rotten, not sure I deserve everything I got to do. We started out up in Auckland (Waheke island) then made our way through Rotorua and Lake Taupo, down to Palmy and a quick side trip to Hawkes bay and we ended our journey in Queenstown. Queenstown greeted us with some very wet weather, but we still had a great time.
My parents trip marked my half way point and has got me thinking a lot about my return. I only have 54 more days here and then what do I do when I come home? I know I go and finish my last semester at Chico, but after that it is a big wide open world. How will I survive I spent the last 16 years of my life sheltered by the security of going to school and then in just 7 months I will be kicked out of that shelter and presented with the real world. None of this would be scary if I knew exactly what I was going to do...but you know I do not even really have a inkling of what I am going to do after I graduate. Stay in chico? Move far away? Where to work? Will anyone even hire me? I like to just keep thinking oh graduation is so far away, no need to worry about it. However, Ladies and Gentlemen graduation is just right around the corner. I feel like everybody else has a plan for graduation and I am the only one in the world just floating out here with no life jacket or plan. However, I will let myself think they are all just as scared as me, and just pretend to know what their future's hold. This at least helps ease my mind if nothing else. haha!
Well I have been completely neglecting the gym lately, so I think it is about time to give it some love.
One quick side note: I am far from being a runner...running for me usually involves much pain and agony. However, I always want to be the person who could just run for miles on end...but you know after years of wishing, not sure why it just hasn't happened. I thought when you wish upon a star, actually meant something lol? So I think becasue I am so stressed about life after Palmy I should really put some effort into becoming one of those people who can just run and run. Will see how this goes? I think I will start out very small as to not discourage myself.
Love Jane

To OZ and Back!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! I went to Australia for my fall break, and it was such an amazing experience. We were in Cairns, Australia for 10 days. We flew out of Wellington so we also spent the the night their and got to walk around the city for a bit.


Caution: this blog may be long and boring, but I am going to try and write at least a little about each day, so for those of you interested you know what I did, but I also want to have it for my own record.

Saturday, April 3rd: We left on the naked bus for Wellington, because our flight left super early the next morning. When we got to Wellington we tried taking a taxi to our hostel on Tory St. They let us know it would be very expensive and that Tory St. was in a different town. I thought how can that be our hostel is called WELLYwood, welly being short for Wellington, how could the hostel not be in Wellington. Eventually after debating with the heavily accented taxi driver we sorted out that the hostel was on Troy st. NOT Tory st. which made a big difference. We got to the hostel and wandered around the city and decided to go to bed early becasue we had a very early morning 3:45am. The time also changed that night.

Sunday, April 4th: We struggled to sleep all night becasue we were stressed about the time change and not getting up on time and then we stayed in the noisest hostel in all of the land. Really people must you body slam doors at 2 Am? However, we got up and made it to the airport and all the way to Cairns with no issues. Once we arrived in Cairns it was pouring rain. I tried to remain optimistic, but inside I was panicked, the beach in the rain does not add up to a good holiday. We went and got our free diner at the woolshed where we met some girls from Sweden and Germany and it was decided we would hire a car together and go on a little raod trip during the week. After traveling all day we were exhausted and went to bed.

Monday, April 5th: Monday was a day of exploring. We started out at the mud slide cafe for some french toast with bacon accompanied by fresh squeezed tropical fruit juices. Next we were off to explore all of Cairns. We went to all the little shops and also got some groceries. We also met with the Swedish and German girls and planned our trip. We would hire a car for the night and head up to Cape Tribulation. Terra and I then had the most delicious sorbet creation. It was raspberry sorbet in sparkling mineral water with raspberry syrup with a hint of lime so delicious. While we were eating it began to pour rain and we found ourselves with out umbrellas. The result was two girls soaking wet with make up streaked faces and looked similar to a drowned rat (see pics on facebook, bloger does not do pics well for me).

Tuesday, April 6th: The day of the Cairns wildlife dome. We heard it was like a little mini zoo in the city, but mostly we heard you got to hold a real, live koala bear. Therefore, we didn't care what it was and had our eyes set on the prize, the Koala. It was just a short walk from our hostel and surprisingly we found the wildlife dome atop of a casino. We got to the dome and saw lots of bird (Katie would have loved it). It kind of freaked me out a bit though, the birds were not is cages but free to dive bomb you or poop on you at will. I think I prefer the caged kind of bird. haha! We then got to hold Harvey the Koala bear. He was 10 years old and the cutest thing ever. He was so well behaved! The keeper just hands him over and he just clings on and gives you that look like I know I am cute! It was completely awesome! The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I am sure we had some gelato because that was a daily sometimes twice daily ritual. Oh ya almost forgot, that night we found out the road to Cape tribulation was flooded. I was so disappointed, but we quickly changed our plans and decided we would go see the tablelands, and waterfalls and then head as far north as we could.


Wednesday, April 7th: We woke up in the morning and headed to the car rental place. Where I rented my FIRST EVER CAR. I felt so grown up. We all packed into our little Toyota Corolla and I drove first, very nervously might I add. However, throughout the trip Terra and I made it through all the driving wonderfully. We started out at Josephine falls. It was just a short drive and then a quick walk through the rain forest. The river was running to quickly due to the recent rain, so no swimming, but it was still beautiful! However, this was my first encounter with Australian spiders. We were walking back and out of no where a huge like almost the size of my fist spider falls from a tree onto the ground. I immediately hit whoever is in my way run a few meters down the path, while three of the other girls inspect it. I could not help myself, but my heart was racing, I was fighting back tears and could hear that wooshing noise in my ears like I might pass out. I have never seen a spider that BIG and so unexpectedly. I literally ran back to the car, where I made Terra inspect me for other creepy crawlies and embarrassingly had a bit of a break down, hopefully I hid it well. lol We continued our drive and saw other cool waterfalls and rain foresty things. We also got to see wild cockatoos! Then we headed to Mila Mila Falls where we actually got to go swimming in a rain forest waterfall, it was so envigorating! We kind of snuck in with a tour group which helped us climb up behind the fall, So I got to see the backside of a real waterfall!!! (for all you disneylanders). Then we actually swam under the waterfall, which was a bit panicky, like you could not breathe but totally worth it. That night we stayed at the Port Douglas Backpackers which was a really cool hostel. We made some diner and did some swimming.

Thursday, April 8th: Started out with breakfast at the hostel, which included all types of breads accompanied by a generous proportion of nutella, I was in heaven. We then headed out to 4 mile beach. I could have laid on that beach all day, but I didn't even get to swim at it, everyone else was eager to head out. (still bitter about that). We then headed to Mossman gorge where we took a nice scenic stroll through the forest and finally came to a spot where we could swim, but rather than swim we just kind of splashed around in the water and enjoyed the river. After that we headed out to the Daintree River/rainforest. On the way there we stopped and saw some pretty outlooks with amazing views. Once we got to the river we found a crocodile boat tour and booked our tickets. I was going to get too see a real crocodile-->like one that lives in the wild, I was so excited. However, the boat trip was pretty and I got to see some cool cows (they run the cows right up to the river and into the rain forest) but NOT a single croc. On average 4 full grown cows are lost to crocodiles each year. :( After that we headed to Elis beach, where we could swim inside the stinger nets. It is stinger season in OZ, so you can only swim at beaches with stinger nets. The water was amazing and warm. After that we headed to Elis beach, where it got kind of stormy, so we enjoyed some hot chocolate and sat and watched the waves. Next on the list were the crystal cascades in Cairns. The crystal cascades were by far the most awesome "rainforesty" experience. The sun was setting and it was very misty out. I felt like I was a real rain forest explorer, when you looked up to the sky it was like a tree roof and the trees just never ended. There was also another gigantic spider, but I refused to look at...didn't want another panic attack. lol We returned the car and headed back to caravella's (the hostel)

Friday, April 9th: Today was the day, Terra and I were supposed to go tubing, but surprise, surprise, the river was flooded. They said to keep checking back though and we could maybe go Saturday or Monday. We decided on Monday. Friday was pretty low key. Slept in, hung out at the hostel and then we went to the lagoon (a big swimming pool) in the center of Cairns and just sun bathed and swam. That night we went out to Gilligan's with the other girls and danced away.

Saturday, April 10th: We hung out and went to an outlet mall (DFO). We were told DFO was huge and amazing...I guess those who thought that don't know how to shop. haha! No it was ok just nothing amazing. We headed back to Cairns and listened to some music and watched the sunset at the lagoon. Went to bed early because tomorrow was snorkeling!

Sunday, April 11th: Great Barrier Reef day!!!! So we head out and get checked in and are ushered onto the boat. We pick a nice spot up on the sun deck. I had been thinking about also going scuba diving and had decided I would do it. However, I made the mistake of being honest on my medical declaration form. I marked that I had asthma. In reality I have asthma only when I am sick and do not even know the last time I used an inhaler. I was denied scuba diving though :( but snorkeling was still awesome :). We went to 2 different snorkel sights, one included a private little island. oolala! As I said earlier it was stinger season and therefore we got to wear these really awesome smurf suits. Yes they were bright blue and skin tight, did wonders at hiding all of my bodies lumps and bumps. jk! See facebook for some pretty snazzy pictures. On the way home I lounged on these nets the boat had and snoozed on and off it was so wonderful.

Monday, April 12th: Tubing day or NOT...the river had gone down, but then the companies car broke down and could not take people tubing. So last minute change of plans and Terra and I were off on a white water rafting experience. The rafting company picked us up at 2:00 and the company was called foaming fury (just thought it was a funny name). We drove up to the river and got geared up, in some highly fashionable, crocs, life vest and yellow helmets. The trip was fun and one of the boats got stuck and everybody fell out the boat was stuck for like 30 minutes and people had to swim down the river and craziness was everywhere. One girl got hurt, but I think she just wanted attention because it only hurt when it was convenient for her. oh almost forgot...during this whole dramatic incident Terra and I saved a Chinese man. I think next time I go rafting I would want some bigger rapids like more class 3. It is now my dream to also be a river guide. Think I could do it?

Tuesday/Wednesday, April 13th/14th: Good bye Cairns=the day of dread. Waking up on tuesday, I was not happy 24 hours of traveling: 2 buses, 2 plans, a taxi and a night in the wellington airport...sound fun to you? Well I guess it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, but we will just leave it at that haha! Gotta love being an airport bum!

Sorry for the length and if anybody actually reads this whole thing hope it make sense...Love Jane


P.S. my parents will be here in 19ish hours!

A Whole New World!

Just to let you know I am out of my bad/weird mood funk, it was like I woke up this morning and everything was grand again! How could it not be look at the places I get to go (picture above). Now I just need to get through this dairy assignment which I think I might pull my hair out over, do some work on my meats assignment, book a bus ticket and a night in a hostel and a get hair cut, then I get to board my plane for Aussie land!!! Love Jane

Brain Battle

This weekend has been quite the oddity! I decided early on last week I needed this weekend for some much needed work and me time, to get my life back in working order...well that makes it sounds like my life was out of order, but no it had just been a little scattered considering all my recent and awesome activites I had been doing. So I was very at peace with that decision to just stay home and do tons of work and keep the possibility of going out one night an option. However, my indecisiveness and inability to not care about other people's opinions soon got me thinking, what I am in NZ and am planning to stay home and be a lame-o (and yes that is a word becasue this is my blog and I say so). Then other times this weekend I was like I am so happy to just be sitting here with no plans. For the whole weekend, the 2 parts of my brain had this on going battle with eachother, stay home, relax and catch up on work vs the go out and experience life part. This caused quite the rucus within my brain and I ended up not accomplishing much, but a hurt brain. I did finish some homework, so that is good and I did go out and have a ton of fun on Saturday, yet somehow my weekend just felt odd and forced and not the perfect "me" weekend I was hoping for.

Well I will stop this strange sulking and lets focus on some positive, I just have to stay busy this week, so that next Sunday I can board a plane to Australia and hang out on the great barrier reef for 10 whole days and then when I get back from that my mom and dad come to the land of the KIWI!!! I am just so excited for my life after sunday I can hardly stand it, need to remember I need to do all this work now so I can be completely stress free for AUS and for Mom and Dad trip. Well I think I will just give up for now on trying to scrounge together some effort to put into my meats assignment and I will watch some 19 kids and counting!!!!! Just am weirdly and strangely obsessed with that show!!!! Love Jane

Dr. Dissection herself!

I know right...Jane touch meat...not in my lifetime or anyone elses for that matter! But ladies and gentlemen I actually did IT, I dissected a leg of lamb for my meats class!!! For the record I do cook meat, I just try not to touch it...in the meat department tongs are my best friend.
So far I have had to dissect a rat and a lamb repro tract, the rat I absoulutely did not touch and the repro tract I kind of touched (because that was really cool and was not a rat), but the leg of lamb I went for it.--did not even wear gloves...ok so most of you are thinking, well ya you touched meat I do that on like a daily basis, but for me this is a HUGE step!

I am getting so excited, this weekend I am staying home and doing nothing but homework so that I can be ready for AUSTRALIA in 9ish days and my parents to come in 22 days!!! WooHOO!!!
ok well I think my stomach will surely digest itself if I do not get something to eat, so I am off for pizza. Love Jane

Tongariro Crossing

The wind is holding us up!

Eating lunch

The whole group up at the top!

Here are some photos for a start...it let me upload 3 and now won't let me upload anymore... Love Jane

Lord of the Rings...

So this weekend was, probably one of the best of my whole life...(my dramatic side) but it was absoulutely amazing. I hiked the Tongariro crossing all 18.5 kilometers or 11.5 miles. For those Lord of the Rings fans, the Tongariro crossing is synonymous for Mount Doom from the actual movies. Now that I did this hike I guess I better actually watch the movies. I hiked with the Alpine club and we were supposed to dress up like Lord of the Rings characters, but since I have never seen the movies I passed on wearing a costume, but 2 people actually did dress up as Hobbits. (before this weekend I thought a hobbit was just one character, but I was proven wrong.


Now I probably should not have gone on this adventure because of the amount of homework I had due on Monday, but it was completely worth being up until the wee hours of the morning on Monday to get the work done.

So here was the plan, the group was leaving Friday night and staying in the Alpine club's (MUAC) hut. We would get up early on Saturday and head out for the tramp, come back Sunday to the hut and stay the night and then leave Sunday to come back to Palmerston.

I was rather worried about this tramp, becasue of how hard I found the Sunrise hut tramp, but the Tongariro is in like the world's top 10 tramps and I figured I would just have to endure, but I did more than endure and ended up actually loving it.

So we got off to a late start on Saturday and didn't actually get to the trail head until 10:00am. It was a group of 7 of us (2 guys: Sam and David, 5 girls: Terra, Rebecca, Capri, Rachael and me). The trail starts off very easy as it meanders through an old lava flow with lots of streams and waterfalls and you can see the fog shrouded mountains (mt doom) in the background. Start thinking to myself this is going to be a piece of cake. Then we get to it. I was told from some others that at one part we will have to go up stairs, like and hour and a half worth of stairs...this worried me. So after our stroll through the lava fields we get to the stairs and a feeling of dread hits me, but I think I can do this! Then change of plans! Hold on I didn't sign up for this...the group decides to go up the old trail, which by the way is not really a trail but the side of a mountain, that lovingly goes by the name, Devil's staircase. I instantly think well I could just wait at the car, I did have a driving lesson maybe I could even make it back to the hut...However, I decide to tough it out and even think I hid my nerves pretty well. We start up the rocky, volcanic mountain and I am actually enjoying myself and feeling way tougher than my fellow stair goers, feel like a real Kiwi! Determined to get to the top I just keep going up and up. Then all of the sudden I hear a loud bang and am rathered shocked, what was that and then I hear an are you alright? What just happened? Then it hit me that loud sound was me slamming my head into a rock! After my shock wore off, it did kind of throbe and was a little cut up, but I just laughed it off (it was rather embarrassing) and finally got to the top, where we beat all the stair goers by at least a half an hour. At the top we ate some lunch and continued to venture accross the mars like landscape. It literally looked like a different planet in some areas.
Ok and I definitely lied when I said sunrise hut was the windiest place, because the Tongariro is. We had another ridge we had to go up and when we get about half way up, it starts getting windy and Sam goes around to all the new people and makes everyone get out gloves, hat and wind proof jackets. Then he goes and ties everyone pack strapes and stings on their jackets down and I am thinking what is going on. They tell us stay away from the edges and stay low to the ground. We start heading up the next mountain/hill and that is where I found my new windiest place ever. You could lean into the wind like 45 degrees almost and not fall over. At the top we found a girl, clinging to a trail sign for dear life and our leader, Capri helped her get her jacket on so she could be warm waiting for the rest of her group. At the top you could see one of the volcanic crater, called red crater. The whole crater was a rusty red color and there were geothermal vents around us...some of them you couldn't see yet, but you could start to smell them...yummy! From the very top you could see the Emerald Lakes which was a group of three lakes that looked like they were the color of a blue highlighter. Never seen water that color before. Then through the wind we got to rock/sand surf down the side of this mountain. For those of you who don't know sand surfing is running, jumping, sliding, and falling down a sandy hill, LOTS of fun. At this point I felt I was on top of the world. I was running and frolicking with the view of the lakes in the background when I tripped over a rock and twisted my leg and came tumbling down. I felt the most intense and sharp pain, and inside went into panic mode of oh my gosh I will never get off this mountain...I took some deep breathes, did some stretching and was up and moving again in no time, but definitely pulled a muscle in my calf, could feel it the rest of the tramp and it still hurts. However, I did not let that get in the way of enjoying the rest of the trip. The way down we passed several more lakes and had some incredible views. The trail ended in what looked like a jungle and Terra got the worst case of sausage fingers I have ever seen, she could barely move her fingers. Somebody met us at the end and we drove back to the hut and had some diner, chatted a bit and went to bed.

What a great weekend, So glad I went instead of staying home and doing Homework!!!! Love Jane

P.S. I keep trying to post pics on here but for some reason it won't let me...maybe my pics are too big? any suggestions?

The Adventures of Pee boy and a wonderful first tramp~

So I feel like so much has happened since I last blogged...Wanted to blog about this first story as soon as it happened, but you guessed it my meats assignment got in the way and I couldn't so here it goes...
Thursday night...I had finished my project and was having a hard time falling asleep becasue I was excited to finally be done, but finally I drifted into slumber. This story involves my neighbor, who will remain anonymous (not like any of you would know him anyways). For the purpose of this story he will be called pee boy. (yes, pee as in urine) Pee boy I beleive to be your "typical" frat boy back home AKA heaps of drinking large quantities of alcohol. So it is approximately 1am and pee boy comes stumbling home making quite the rucous and wakes me up. I just ignore it and fall back to sleep. This is when the "real" story comes into play. I wake back up around 3:45 AM and hear someone trying to open my door. I just think oh drunk someone confused, thinks my room is theirs and my plan is just to ignore it. However, I role over to go back to bed and I can hear a very loud breathing noise coming from my door. My sleep stupored mind says to me..."what the heck is going on?". Finally, all the noise has stopped, I think finally I can get some sleep, but first I must use the toilet. Side note: I normally do not turn my light on to go to the bathroom. Thank God on this particular night I did turn the light on. I get up and walk to my door and I see a wet spot coming from under my door. "hmmm that is strange". I open my door to see an even bigger wet spot in front of my door and some liquid dripping off my door. Directly in front of said wet spot is pee boy passed out in front of my door. I quickly deduce that pee boy thought my room was the bathroom, meaning he was trying to open my door, when the attempts were unsuccessful he used my door as the toilet. So ladies and gentleman on Thursday night my door was urinated on! I immediately freak out. What am I supposed to do, there is actual human pee in my room (gag me now) and a passed out boy in the hall. I check to make sure pee boy is breathing and decide to leave him there hoping that my RA's will find him. I finally am able to go to sleep. First, thing in the morning I wake pee boy up and hand him some cleaner. The confused look on his face, led me to believe he did not remember the pee episode. I then explained and sent him to work cleaning up his accident. He used about half a bottle of cleaner, so I think I am probably safe. Think he felt bad and was way embarrassed, I think he deserves a little embarrassment as his punishment. Hopefully that taught him a lesson. Oh how I love living in the dorms...NOT! Well it is done and over, but I still can't look at my door with out imagining the pee being there!

This weekend was also my first tramp with the Alpine Club!!!!!!! I was so excited and nervous at the sametime for this. I am so proud I actually did it and it was absoulutely amazing. So the plan was to leave Saturday morning around 10:40. There were 5 of us going including me. So Saturday I woke up and my plan was to just hang out and get ready (pack) for the tramp. However, time escaped me and I realized I was running so late. So I rushed all around and thank god I had made a list of what to pack the night before. I threw it all in my pack, made some sandwhiches and attached my sleeping bad to my pack and was out the door. Running about 10 minutes late. The late part ended up not being a big deal though. I was originally going to have to drive and luckily JingJing had given me some driving lessons the night before (this should be a blog all on its own). However, much to my relief an Aussie girl was also going on the tramp and since they drive on the left side of the road in Aussie she volunteered to drive. So we all jammed in the tiny car with all of our gear and got some petrol and ice cream on the way out of Palmy. We got lost a few times on the way, but eventually we made it. To get to the car park for the trail you have to drive through lots of farmland and pastures with cows and sheep. This is not what you would consider a good road, thankfully with much abuse the little weighted down car actually made it. We had some lunch at the bottom and then we were off. It was the most beautiful picturesque place. Most of the trail was in like a rain foresty type place, shady and covered in moss. It started out wonderful, just you could definitely feel the weight of your pack. Then I kind of started hoping for some flat ground to walk on...about 30 mins in I realized, for the next 3 hours I will be walking up hill. For those Daley ranchers most of the incline was like the steep cement hill you first have to walk up. Inside I kind of started to panic, I was for sure the least fit person their. I thought I might cry haha! but that would be more embarassing than just giving up. I endured through it all, granted at the pace of a turtle, but eventually made it to the top!!!!!!!! It was all worth it, guess maybe like child birth you forget about the pain hehe! At the top it was pretty cold, but we bundled up and had some hot tea and quickly warmed up. Then we hiked maybe another 20 min up to this ridge, where it was so windy you had to crawl on your hand and knees to keep from being blown away. It was so amazing up there and you could see for miles. We went back to the hut and ate some diner. We had really good nachos that JingJing had brought. Then we met some friends and played phase 10 with them. No electricity in the hut, just added to the experience so we used our head lamps. I got tired early and around 11 we finally went to bed.
The next morning we woke early to to the sunrise, gorgeous. Then we had some breakfast and hiked up to another ridge about an hour and that was completely worth it. We sat at the top and enjoyed the wiew. Then we walked back to the hut and basked in the sun for awhile, had left over nachos for lunch then headed back down. I am definitely better at going down hill then up and for most of the time was actually in the lead. The trip up I was far from the lead :) but in the end it didn't matter. About the last 15 minutes my feet were killing me and it took all I could to get to the car.

I LOVED my first tramping trip!!!!!! and want to go again, need to hit the gym though. I don't want to be back at uni doing homework though, think I could have lived in my magical little sunrise hut world forever.
Sorry this is long and I don't feel like reading what I wrote, so I hope you can decipher it. teehee! Love Jane

At Last!

Finally I am done with that awful, horrible, miserable, yucky, completely worthless meats assignment!!!!!!!!!!! Well I actually printed it off about a half hour ago. Now lets hope my next assignment thats due is not so horrible. But just wait and see next sunday night before my repro assignment is due I will be cursing that class also. Just kind of the way things work haha! I guess you could call it the circle of college classes. Hate the class when an assigment is due, and love it once you have turned it in!
Well tomorrows goals, do laundry, get some tramping gear (have yet to get a sleeping bag). Tomorrow I must tackle the troll of a sleeping bag salesman. I tried to buy a sleeping bag today, but the woman was not nice and definitely NOT helpful and so I didn't buy one. Well I am going to read a bit and then get some sleep. love Jane

Beef...it's not for diner!

Ok so those of you who also are on facebook, know for the last week or so I have been complaining about my meats class to no end. To be fair: I will say this once the teacher is this really cute old man, who is very nice and such and there is the possibility I did procrastinate. When I finally turn this project in...my hatred of this class should cease.

However, I still just think this assignment is completely unfair. It is the possibly one of the worst things I have ever had to do. Well except possibly one of Celina's take home finals. It is due on Friday. For those of you thinking that is a few days...think again I am in NZ and therefore a day ahead of you. I just don't get ANY of the stuff I am actually supposed to be doing. It says make a graph of growth rates (like 8 different graphs). Finished with the graphs, but now you must analyze these graphs and say if they agree with the standard set. Hello, what are these "set" standards? Am I just completely missing something here guys? This assignment is not just composed of the graph part, but has 3 more sections of impossibilities I must make my way through. It is now 10:15 here and as you should no, my brain does not work much past that point, so I guess tomorrow will be busy. ewww!

I think the main thing that gets me about this whole class and assignment is I really do not even like meat, sure I eat it and enjoy it most of the time, but honestly I don't care about the animal's muscle to bone to fat ratio which I am now eating. Give me a live animal to play with or a piece of meat to eat and I don't really care to know what happens in between. They may sound bad considering I am an animal science/ ag. major, but I am just being honest here.
(sorry if that got a bit graphic) lol!

OK lets change the subject... I have said I have gone on adventures since being in New Zealand, but none of them like real Indiana Jones adventure status. This weekend I am getting as close to Indiana Jones as I think I will ever get. I am going on an overnight tramp (hike), complete with pack and all. We are cheating a bit, we are staying in huts not in tents. But these huts are NO Ritz Carlton. I even have to bring my own toilet paper... won't go any further with this one.
This is supposed to be a beginner tramp and very easy. I am really excited and wish it was already this weekend...then I would also already be done with meats assignment. Tomorrow I have to go get some gear for my tramp like a sleeping bag. Well I should go to bed, I want (no need, don't really want to) get up early and work on my meats assignment. Love Jane

Freshers!

So as I think I have told you I joined the Alpine club, an outdoorsy club. Yesterday was Freshers, which was a day to go out and "play" with the club and do some of the activities that they are keen on. There was a BBQ, a rock climbing wall, slack lining, kayaking, a slip and slide and a horizontal bungee.
The day started at 9 in the morning, but you could show up whenever, Terra and I kind of got a late start and got there right around lunch time. I would say perfect timing, except that the sausages were pretty much inedible for Jane standards. While getting ready for freshers. I experienced my first New Zealand weather experience. Terra walked over to my flat wearing a sweat shirt. When she walked in she was so hot and was like I am not bringing this jacket. I finish getting ready and we walk out. As soon as we get outside it is pouring rain. I run upstairs and grab my handy dandy rain jacket. By the time we walk the short distance back to Terra's house we are soaked from head to toe and my shoes were literally soggy with water. Terra runs inside with much haste, changes and throws on her rain coat. We look very prepared to go hang out with a bunch of outdoorsy types. We start out wearing our hoods. (Terra will kill me for writing this). However, it stops raining so we remove our hoods. We walk a little bit further, I look up at Terra and to my great surprise she has underwear in her hood. I almost fell to the ground laughing so hard and tears were flowing from my eyes.
I finally got to freshers and had a great time, for the most part the sun shined the rest of the day. I did the rock wall twice and can definitely feel it in my shoulders this morning. I also attempted the slack line multiple times, but I swear that thing is impossible. For those of you who don't know what a slack line is: it is where a rope thing is stretched between 2 trees or poles and you tight rope walk on it. You can just look it up on google or youtube. On are way home we stopped and got some supplies for diner. We made fettuchine Alfredo with broccoli and zucchini. I have never been into zucchini much, but it tasted so good last night.
Today I need to do a TON of homework so I better get my butt in gear. Love Jane

So almost a whole week has passed, since I was in the most beautiful little beach town of Paekakariki. I have now been in NZ for 3 whole weeks. All of my time here has been wonderful, but yesterday I definetly caught a case of the homesickness bug. All day I just felt blah and sad, but due to much cheering up from friends and family, I think I am back on track.
A glance of my week:
Monday
I was so tired from my beach trip, so I napped alot and lazed around all day. I also went to my first Alpine club meeting that night. The Alpine club is an outdoor club here at Massey, they have been around for 80+ years. They do everything from beginner to expert stuff ranging but not limited to rock climbing, tramping (hiking), caving, slack lining, skiing, climbing glaciers etc. This weekend we have like a BBQ thing to get to know everyone and we will be able to Kayak and rock climb at it.
Tuesday
The day of the rat. On Tuesday I was forced to dissect the reproductive tract of a male rat. I think I had a mild panic attack before walking into the lab room. On a side note, you have to wear lab coats here, I felt very professional. To much delight I was only greeted with 3 dead rats, meaning there were only 3 rats for the WHOLE class. So I didn't touch a single rat and just observed. Observing from that distance did prove itself difficult however because the reproductive tract of a rat is very small.
Wednesday
Oh, I had to think about what I did on wed for a minute. I worked out alot! In the morning I went to a body pump class. It kicked my butt, lots of squats and lunges. Terra also wanted to try the body balance class, so she talked me into going with her later that day. My muscles were already sore, so I mainly I just pretended do most of the yoga positions haha. I also would not reccommend doing yoga on a full stomach. literally thought I would throw up by the end of the class.
Thursday
Started out good, went to lectures. However, on my way home from lecture I got terribly sad. Most of my day was spent on Skype with my Mom and sister and they helped make me happier. Later that night Terra and I went and got pizza at the Brewer's apprentice followed by some thick shakes. We then went and saw the new Alice in Wonderland, which unless you are some type of drug addict I would not recommend seeing. Very Very bizarre. When I got home from the movie I went to bed.
Friday
I went to all my lectures, which were all so boring. I think all the lecturers collaborated today in making the most boring classes of all time. When I got home from class I made myself the most delicious lunch. I had a pita wrap thing. It had chicken, lettuce, rice, garlic hummus and balsamic vinaigrette in it, followed by a tim tam cookie. Very satisfying. Not sure what tonight holds for me. Hope I figure out something fun out to do.
Love Jane

Oh no big deal...Just survived a Tsunami!

So this weekend I was lucky enough to go on a trip to the little beach town of Paekakariki. The plan was to leave early, like 5:25 AM on Saturday morning and return late on Sunday night. Sunday night the bus did not leave until 9:30 PM.

So we will start at the beginning:
Saturday Morning:
I barely get any rest on Friday night, because I am so afraid I will sleep in too late. So I get out of bed brush my teeth, grab my stuff and head out to the main bus stop on campus. It is called the MAIN bus stop for reason, aren't all the buses supposed to go there? Apparently not. I am waiting and waiting and I finally get a call from the other girls that they just realized the bus stops at a bus stop way down at the entrance to campus. I grab all my stuff and book it down there, now it is only 5:30 in the morning so it is dark and rather spooky, but finally I make it to the group and they inform me that we have MISSED the bus. What are you kidding me? The naked bus has a no refund policy, so we think about what to do. We decide the tickets were cheap enough so we each book a new ticket for the noon bus, head back home and get some sleep. During this whole ordeal, most of the girls were not very happy, but me on the other hand could not help but laugh, you no how I laugh in inappropriate situations ie: moving, this was definetly one of those situations. So 11:00 roles around and we decide to head to the bus, because I am definetly not missing this one. The bus picks us up and an hour and a half later we stop in Paekikariki.
Next we must make it to our hostel, I have never stayed in a hostel and am thinking all sorts of scary and creepy things about what I am about to encounter. But to my surprise I walked up this beautiful path into a wonderful garden and finally approach 2 homes that were the hostel. I thought to myself ok when can I move in, I was greeted by 2 dogs and some cats and fell even more in love.
After we got things settled into the hostel, we walked (not even a 2 min walk) to the beach and hung out for the rest of the afternoon, splashing in the water, playing frisbee and I attempted to throw around a rugby ball. Not much success however. That night we ate fish and chips, which apparently were to die for. I even had a bite and managed to keep it down. My goal is to eat fish and chips by the time I leave this country. We headed back to the hostel where we got to watch some "macho men" try and set up there huge "macho" tent. 3 boys and they really need a tent the size of my dorm room??? haha! After the tent was set we drank some wine and looked out over the ocean, some card games were played.

That is when it happened....
This guy I was talking to who was staying at the hostel, who was originally from London, got a text from his mom saying there was a Tsunami warning. Jane's mind--->"What I am too young to die". We looked it up on the Internet and it wasn't much of threat and was headed for the opposite side of the island. whew! Escaped that one, but in the end there was no damage to New Zealand. After the shock of a tsunami wore off I went to bed, in my little cozy room. My bed had a mosquito net!!! I was very excited about that. I slept so soundly and woke up very refreshed.

How to become a professional beach bum?...
Plan to leave on the bus that does not leave until 9:30 at night. I thought when I woke up...I am never going to survive until that late...what are we going to do? I thought I will buy an earlier bus ticket=meaning 4 tickets would have been bought for this trip haha! In the end I stayed and caught the late bus and I am so glad I did. We laid on the beach all day, watched the ocean, swam, walked around, and read. What a great lazy day in such a beautiful place and I got a pretty awesome tan to go with it. Due to the hole in the ozone layer, conveniently located above NZ I applied an entire bottle of sunscreen and managed to remain unburned...Susan would be so proud of me. Some of the girls did not bring a book, so we went back to 3rd grade and the days of popcorn reading. I was reading a book, and each chapter was a new short story, so each girl would take a turn reading aloud to the group. Something was so cliche about the whole experience, but I think I could do it everyday for the rest of my life.

We got some diner and made it to the bus stop early, I slept the entire way home and pretty much slept walked back to my room.

Today nothing special occurred just classes. Love Jane

Health update!

Just got back from my first New Zealand exercise class (a step class) and I honestly think I might die. First, no air conditioning. Second, lots of hot, sweaty people crammed into a room flailing about. Third, an instructor with a think Kiwi accent equals Jane randomly jumping around on my step all while feeling like I might either die or have a fit of laughter. I am going to go shower now and take a cold one at that. Just hope my legs do not give out and I do not fall and drown. However, I highly doubt someone could drown in a shower with the water pressure of a light mist.

Still haven't packed for this weekend yet. eeek! love Jane

The United States of America, USA, US, the states, America, California, Southern California, San Diego, and finally Escondido!

So if you are like me you have lived your whole life in one town (Escondido, CA). It always worked to say I was from Escondido, in general people knew where that was. Maybe sometimes the San Diego part was needed. Then I moved to Chico, no longer did saying I was from Escondido work, so then San Diego became essential and the Escondido part was optional. People from Southern California still knew where I was talking about. I never really thought about the fact that I lived in the United States. Never did I tell someone "oh I am from the US". It didn't occur to me that my decision to come to New Zealand would now mean I was really from the States. Ok that sounds dumb because I always knew I was from the US, just had kind of taken that info for granted. The first day here and my next door neighbor asked where I was from and I clumsily spit out America, I mean the US and all combinations of what it is called. I felt completely nerdy, how do I not even know what to call my own country, why do we have to have so many names for it. So now in my New Zealand life I must say I am from the States or the US, at times a simple California will do, most people have heard of us! imagine that? Jk Don't really know if anything I just wrote makes any sense, but at least in my head it does. Oh I have met a girl who is from Escondido though, she went to San Pasqual though :(

I DID IT!!! I went to town all by myself. I was on a mission to find some jeans, considering I only really like one of the pairs I brought and am already wearing them out. When your favorite jeans finally rip it is like a part of your heart rips also at least for me. What about you? Well I went to like 6 billion stores and no jeans, but I didn't luck out completely I ended up with a pair of shorts, and a tank top that was like next to nothing (very on sale). Oh I also bought a new fleece to replace my dead or missing fleece, not really sure what happened to it. Just not really sure this fleece will ever live up to my old fleece. OK I will stop I realize I am being a bit dramatic. I also did a first ever for me today in town, I ate at a little restaurant all by myself, I am always irrationally afraid to do that at home. I did it though, actually survived and rather enjoyed myself. I must get back into working out, as the Turkish food, slices and ice creams are catching up with me haha! So tonight I am going to a body step class at our gym. I will let you know how it pans out.

This weekend I am going on another adventure I am going to the beach with a big group of people. We are taking a naked bus there. No that does not mean I or anyone else for that matter will be naked. It is just a cheap bus system in NZ. We are staying in a hostel supposedly right on the beach. The only downside to all of this is that the bus leaves at 5:20 AM. I will definitely be going to bed early tonight. I am a little bit nervous for this trip because I have not spent much time with the people I am going with, but I am sure I will have a good time in the end and be happy I went. Well I should probably go start packing as that could take all night. Love Jane

12 days!

I have now been in New Zealand for 12 days, and am happy with my decision to come here. Those first few days were completely amazing, and now I am just starting to settle into my life here and actually live in this country. The bus is no longer foreign and is now just the way I get from here to there. I know how the dining hall works, where to get a vacuum for my room, and how to ask where the toilet is. Not that I do not still have much learning to do here, still a little iffy about lots of typical New Zealand things. Like their school supplies, I swear it was so difficult buying all my binders etc because it is way different here. No binder has a front pouch in it to stick all your loose papers. I live by the pouches in my binders haha!
Overall I think I am adjusting well though. My only issue I have realized is that at the end of the day when I am laying in bed my mind tends to wander and I get that anxiety, homesickness feeling of what in the world am I doing, but when I wake the feeling has faded am I am thrilled once again to be here once again.

So throughout this week the uni has different events people can attend. The first night I went to a hypnotist show, that was absolutely hilarious. Last night was a bizarre ball. I think all of you know how much I LOVE costumes, so I was excited. I went to find the perfect outfit and failed miserably I became a grump about the whole thing and decided I wouldn't go. Last minute Terra and I found the most perfectly bizarre hodge podge of things to wear and my outfit was complete, and I was ready for the ball. We wore flourescent yellow mens tank tops as dresses with black leggings under them. We each wore a crazy mens tie, a colorful belt, fishnet elbow length gloves, feather earrings (ugliest things ever), glow stick bracelets and did our hair crazy. The night was super fun and I got to Dress up. However, the entire time I was wishing I had my costume box in Chico, becasue my outfit would have been way better. Oh I almost forgot. I did my makeup really cool. I did one eye super smokey and dark and the other white and glittery...pretty bizarre if you ask me. Look for pictures on Facebook.

I think I am getting sick though, or maybe just really bad allergies, because I do not feel all that bad, I am really hoping and praying I do not get sick. That would make me even grumpier than having a bad costume for a party.

Tonight is a comedy show, so I am excited about that.

Well I am starting to drag, so I should go eat, but what to eat? The food on campus is not great and I only have like bread, cheese and cereal here. Sure I will find something. hmmmm...maybe a slice? Oh no I wish I had Turkish food. It is so good
Love Jane

???

OK I forgot to explain why my last post was titled the death of a fleece. During my wind farm trip, somewhere along the way my favorite and only fleece I have here vanished. Very, very sad. Well at least now I get to get a new one, but I do not really want a new one, I want my old one.

The death of a fleece, and the start of classes.

This will be quick, because I am leaving to go to a hypnotist show in a few.
So yesterday, all the international students got to go on a trip to see some New Zealand bush and visit a wind farm. I think Palmy relies mostly if not solely on wind power. It is very windy here. The little walk we did, kept making me think someone should pinch me because I can not get over the natural beauty of this country. What is even more exciting though? at the end of our short trek there was a play ground equipped with a teeter totter!!!! So of course I went on it, American playground lack in comparison, one kid hurts himself and teeter totters are yanked from all playgrounds.
Then we drove the short distance to the wind farm. You can't even imagine how big the wind mills are, well unless you have seen one yourself. The view from the hill was amazing. Then we returned to a church and had diner. Fish and chips my favorite! Well at least the chips were really good. Oh and they do not use ketchup here, they use something called tomato sauce not quite as sweet as ketchup, but still pretty good.

BUT, today I started classes. I had such nerves last night and this morning. Everybody said classes or papers here were so much different and that lecturers would not tell yoy about assigments etc. But too much relief it was just like the first day at Chico. All the teachers went over everything and I thought my classes would be huge. In my meats class there are only like 12 of us. My other 2 papers have 30-40. Well I must run to the hypnotist show.

love Jane

Luck?

So yesterday, my luck could probably have not gotten much worse. I had only gotten like 4 hours of sleep the night before. The day started with my laundry stalking. Then I was starving and I was supposed to go shopping for some new NZ clothes with Terra. That is when my luck turned around:
1. We go to meet the bus, realize there is a different weekend bus schedule and a bus comes in one hour.
2. We go to meet that bus that is supposed to arrive at 2:00 and it shows up 10min late. It gets worse, there is not enough room on the bus. So now we have to wait one more hour to get a bus. All this while I am growing increasingly hungry, never a good sign. I bagan feeling faint, shaky and like I might vom--> a normal occurence in the life of a Jane.
3. The bus finally comes, but then we realize the bus home leaves too early to actually do much clothing shopping, So we settle on that really good turkish restaurant. (and of course that didn't disappoint).
4. Earlier in the week we decided to get the seasons of sex in the city and watch them while we were here. We first checked the uni library, they had all the seasons except season 1. So in town we think ok we will get blockbuster cards and rent season 1, you guessed it? NO season 1. We setteled with season 2, bought a carton of ice cream and decide that is what we will do the rest of the night.
5. Now the emabarrasing part occurs, we tried using 3 different DVD players in several different TV rooms, and none of them would work. We are thinking are NZ DVD players different are we missing something. We began asking every individual who comes into sight if they could assist us. We become crazed with the thought of not getting to watch our Sex in the city. Eventually we beg our RA's to let us into a common room we are not supposed to be in. The DVD goes into the new player and actually work, we think finally after 2 hours of trying. We snuggle in turn the lights of and our ready for our show. However, Carrie Bradshaw begins talking, although she is now speaking French. That was the last straw and I jsut lost it in laughter. Eventually we figured out the lang. settings and got it to english and watched 3 episodes. Then went to bed.
6. My luck continues this morning and I already locked myself out (the second time in a week)

Today I am going to visit a wind farm and the manawatu gorge, I will let you know how it goes.
love Jane

Laundry? Why not Blog!

So my first attempt at laundry here angered me so, so lets hope the 2nd attempt is better. However, the laundry mat here at the hostels is FREE, nothing makes me angrier than paying to wash my clothes and a free mat was a blessing sent from heaven. So last time I did laundry it was later at night and I didn't realize my machine kept becoming unbalanced and was no longer working. Oh how it frustrated me! 4 or so hours later I finally had clean clothes. So this time I am writing this blog in computer lab by the laundry mat so that I can stalk my washer and make sure it keeps on spinning.

Last night I went out with a big group of international students, there was Germany, Norway, Canada and possibly Singapore or something like that. There was also some from iowa, new hampshire and CA! We really had fun, and did not get home until very late or possibly very early depending upon your perspectve. Once we left the last pub, we wanted to get some food. There we joined up with some Kiwi's and they said late night food is always McDonalds. All I wanted was a burrito but so far I have yet to see a single piece of mexican food. So we hit up the micky D's and there is this one completley obnoxious girl there with us. She was being so rude, I wanted to slap her, to sum it up I would say she was experiencing a complete power trip, but we didn't let that ruin our night, we simply laughed at her antics. Terra and I got happy meals complete with a strawberry shortcake stamp toy. We went back to my flat and ate there and then off to bed, to bed I said. Then I woke up had a chat with Jake and my mom, went to the dining hall and now I am sitting here stalking a washing machine.


In my spare time during this spy game in the laundry mat I thought I would compose a list:
Things I love about NZ!
1. It is so green here, like freakishly green, green beyond belief.
2. Turkish food
3. garbage is called rubbish way more sophisticated.
4. Laundry is Free!
5. My dorm room, especially my panda pillow, best $9 ever spent. Love that pillow think I will try and bring it home with me.
6. They have 2 dollar coins. So change actually matters.
7. Accents and all the fun words that come along with it. ie: jandals, togs, etc
8. Hokey pokey ice cream
9. Slices from the bakery
10. The secret garden I found on campus.
11. That somebody finally helped me turn the sound off the key board on my phone. When you would press the buttons it would say it: you would press one it would say 1.
12. Ducks, there are ducks everywhere, like I think I am on the verge of freakishly obsessed with the ducks.
13. blister band aids are cheaper here.
14. My dish I bought to put my rings on.
15. Aimlessly wandering with no plan in mind.
16. Vodka tonics made with out a fresh lime but with lime juice.
17. Everyday talking to someone new, and learning about them.

The thing I don't like, not getting to see all of you, but at least there is skype and its only 4 months.
FYI, since I became a laundry stalker my machine has not stopped spinning once, and in fact my clothes are already in the dryer, so I am going to go watch some tv. Love Jane

Sleeping in!

I have very weird sleep issues to say the least, one of my fears about coming here was that I was not going to be able to sleep, but since my very first night I have slept really good. However, I am not able to sleep in I try and try but either, the ducks outside are quaking or some other bird is making quite the ruckus or I just purely can not sleep. This morning however I decided to grace the world with my presence at 9:00am and it was beautiful.

This morning I have the AgriScience welcome at 11:30. I am excited to see what they have to say and most likely meet some people in my classes.

Oh so exciting, most of you probably saw the pics on Facebook, but my room is now my room. I got all my decoration, pictures etc up and it feels rather homey. Yesterday Terra and I went to the thrift store to try and find some decorations. The thrift store was our choice because I don't want to spend a ton of money on decorations, I am throwing away in 4 months. I got a cute kind of blue paisley saucer for my rings and then this yellow bottle (message in a bottle status) and some fake flowers to put in it. The bottle though was rather dusty so I filled the sink with warm soapy water. Wrong decision! All the yellow coloring started scraping off the bottle. So I stopped scrubbing it patted it dry and now it is more of a marbling of yellow and clear glass. Kind of looks meant to be that way.

Most importantly I got a bicycle yesterday, it is a white mountainish bike nothing to special. I got it through the green bike trust on campus. It is $50 to rent it for the semester. I am horrible at riding bikes and do not have a good track record for bike theft, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Crazy!! you have to wear a helmet here, I am half tempted to go all out and get some knee pads to go with it. This is how the helmet shopping went down yesterday at the K-Mart.

We get to the helmet section, the helmets run from $20 to $40. We do not want to spend a lot of money so we began to discuss the pros and cons of each helmet choice. Including reason that included the fashion of each helmet. After a good fifteen minutes of discussing how each helmet could either aid or harm our fashion sense we laughed and realized how fashionable does any bike helmet look. We ended up buying the cheapest matching blue helmets. Now if your lucky maybe you will get a pic of me in that flashy helmet.

Yesterday I also ate at the best Turkish place, as of now this will be the food I get crazy Jane cravings for. I ordered a small kebab and it was pretty much a foot long. How I wish I was eating that right now.

During the writing of this blog, Jake skyped me so I took a break in writing and talked to him where we got on the subject the metric system. He so lovingly tried for a good 10 minutes to try and explain to me how many pounds were in a kilo and vice a versa. Embarrassingly, still do not think I get it.

Some advice: do not drink sparkling kiwi fruit wine, could barely get through one glass it taste like grass. Well love you all Jane

Here are a few pics, for those who do not have Facebook.

Panda Bears do exist!

Yesterday, I feel I really grew up Terra and I made it to town and box not by Taxi, but you guessed it by taking the bus! Still not sure I am up for a bus adventure of my own yet. Slowly but surely my dorm aka hostel room is becoming more and more homey. I finally got thumb tacks and therefore can hang the pics my sis kat printed out for me. Oh I also purchased a pillow today which I am so happy about because I have been needing another one. Let me tell you about my pillow this is no ordinary pillow this pillow is complete with Panda Bears! I didn't want to buy an expensive pillow because I will only be here for a short period so they had this really cheap pillow at Kmart that is green and has panda bears on it. After choosing it Terra so loveling told me it reminded her of something you would find at a second hand store. ewww! However, I do have a pillow case to cover up the oddly realistic panda bear print. So dad, panda bears really do exist in NZ.
Last night I went to a place called Hell's pizza! It was really pretty good. I got a kind of Hawiianish pizza. To get there pretty much took a leap of faith. We first asked a rather crazy old women where the hells pizza was located. She then obsessed over helping us find it, which then led her to introduce us to her not so crazy daughter, and finally we were able to enjoy some cheesy pizza. Oh have I mentioned they go bare foot here even in the rain. Places they go barefoot: mall, diner, orientation, for a walk around campus and oh much more.
I have my papers (classes) sorted out I believe. I was very excited to find out that I only need to take 3 papers instead of 4 which should hopefully lead to a much more relaxing semester, and 3 or 4 papers is considered full time at Massey. The classes I am taking are animal growth and meat production, reproduction and lactation physiology and dairy production. I am really excited about taking dairy especially after touring there dairies here. I think I should become a new Zealand dairy farmer. gum boots and all?

Ok for now I am off to another adventure, I am going to go see the movie Valentine's tonight with the orientation group. Having a blast! love you Jane

2 ice creams, a pirate and a little Harry Potter!

So yesterday, they scheduled 12 whole hours of orientation. I think that is a little over kill considering the fact orienation started on the 14th and goes until 19th. However, international students are not required to go to all of it, so I will definetly be skipping the repetitive seminars. I think at this point I could give an orientation about Massey. Last night the day ended with a commencement ceremony and diner. (they feed us alot throughout orientation) This was a formal event, at least for the presenters most of the guest were just in regular clothes. A procession of town and university (uni) officials were lead to the front stage shrouded in robes that resembles graduation garb or Harry Potter. They were lead there by the town crier who yes was pretty much dressed like a pirate, I guess you could say she was the mc. Some more people welcomed us to the uni and then the town crier announced diner. The food was decent, but who cares about diner, lets get to the important stuff dessert. We sat at a table that was not quite full. So when they dropped off the ice cream cones at each table there were enough for some people to have 2 :). Not wanting to appear piggish I thought sadly to myself all that ice cream is just going to sit there and melt, but aha! one of the kiwi's grabbed a second and we all laughed and each had our own second. Have I mentioned not a day has gone by without ice cream. The night ended, I was tired so I came home watched a bit of tv, met my neighbor and went to bed.


Just a side note: Want to give a BIG thank you to my family (DAD, mom, and Kat) for allowing me to come down here! Love you guys

Error!

Correction: They do celebrate Valentines day in New Zealand!

Happy Valentines Day!

When I woke up I didn't realize it was my Valentines day until I looked at my email. I am pretty sure they do not celebrate that here!
So I have been here since the 12th. Now I am not going to say all of my moments have been amazing, but for the majority part the amazing outweighs any length of bad.
The trip over:
Well we drove to LA and on our way to the airport we ate at the proud bird, where I had the best chicken carbonara. (wish I could eat it right now) While their my parents got me a surprise going away/v-day necklace. Really love, thanks mom and dad. Then they dropped me off at the airport. I met lots of study abroaders, but they were all going to a different school, but at least I had someone to chat with. I ACTUALLY slept most of the way and the ride to Auckland was pretty uneventful. When I landed in Auckland, I was a mess. The plane was so hot and I felt like a slime ball, to top it off my phone wasn't working. Then I got miserably lost and wanted to just sit down and give up. Eventually I found another lost girl and we found our way together, I was able to change and wash my face and the man at Verizon quickly bcame my hero! Next plane trip to Palmy it was only 50 minutes. very short! I got very excited as we approached and I think I saw about a million and half sheep and cows during our descent. When I landed, I was picked up immediately and taken to Massey. They barely gave us any info and I was dropped off at my room. Complete melt down in Jane fashion then occured and phone calls home were made, but then my new neighbor came over and invited me to go to a beach party that night, and I began thinking ok I can do this.
Everyone in my dorm is 18 and a first time college student. Feel like I am watching my frist semester at Chico all over again, and feel like I am ancient. Could someone please get me a walker? The girls are very nice though. Room is small, but very nice and has a comfortable bed.
The second day:
Made it into town, got groceries and supplies for my dorm room, started to feel like it was actually my room. This girl Terra (goes to UNR) who I met through my friend Teal then there is this whole other story how she is from Grass Valley and kind of knows Jake, well she got here. It was also her bday! We went and ate Turkish food and then decided to go back to town and go out to for the night, which consisted of all types of laughs and akward what are we doing moments.
On a side note:
To all who said NZers were very casual, obviously never lived in a hostel full of 18 year old girls or never went to town at night becasue it is pretty much prom status. So Terra and I have decided we need a shopping trip stat! We definetly stood out like a sore thumb.

Well over and out, I have to get ready for my orientation.
P.S. probably lots of typos, not sure if any of this makes sense, typed very quickly

The Start!

So...Not sure how I feel about writing one these, but people are pretty much on there knees and begging for it, okay well maybe not that extreme, but I guess I will give it a try. FYI I am not promising anything though.
So about a year ago I walked into the study abroad office and said I wanted to go somewhere, one week later I was in a information meeting and now, I am sitting on my couch all packed up and ready to venture off to New Zealand. My flight leaves at 9:15 tonight and gets into Auckland NZ at 7:05 on Friday morning. That is Thursday around 11Am your time. Thats where it gets scary I then have to make it to the domestic terminal in Auckland with all of my bags. Then I board a plane that takes me to Palmerston North, I think people also call it Palmy, but not sure I am "cool" enough for that yet for that! Palmerston North is where I will be living for the next 4ish months.
Now if we could just spend some time discussing the packing situation. For those of you who know me, you know I have EXTREME packing issues. --->Hey lets get away for the night? Okay just let me pack up a weeks worth of clothing and an emergency survival kit. So from the beginning I was stricken with horror at the thought of needed to pack for 4 whole months. With much reassuring from fellow study abroaders I think I have at the very least dampened my need to pack all my worldy possessions to take with me. Can you beleive I only brought 3 pairs of jeans, pretty good if you ask me. Oh and the one quote that keeps me calm throughout this: you can always buy what you forget!
SO for now I am off wish me luck and the ability to stay calm, in any situation! Love you!