What a long boring day!!!  Mom and I got to the airport around 10 am and everything went without a glitch for our whole group.  There are 43 of us total- 35 students, 2 professors, 1 RA, 2 husbands, and 3 little kids (I think that adds up to 43…) and it's pretty amazing that I know almost everyone (well, at least recognize them).  It seems like a really good group, everyone is pretty friendly.  Our first plane ride took us to LA and lasted about 5 hours.  I was sitting with Llewellyn, the 6th grader that came with the Griffiths, and she had never flown before.  She did a great job though and acted much more like seasoned veteran than a little girl.  Then we sat and waited, and waited, and waited… and our next plane took almost 13 hours.  It was overnight, but somehow sleeping sitting straight up in a freezing airplane does not make a very restful night…   Finally, we landed in Aukland at some god-awful hour of the morning (5 am local time) and got through customs without a glitch.  One cool thing- they have little dogs walking all through the baggage claim area smelling for food and drugs!  Then we (imagine this!!!) waited some more!!  I actually fell asleep, after the night before, the wooden windowsill looked too flat and comfortable to pass up!  That flight was only about an hour and we travelled over some really beautiful mountains.  We landed in Christchurch, met our hosts and loaded up the bus for our drive to the University.  Now that may not seem to be any remarkable event, but we had luggage smashed into the storage areas of the bus and lining the aisles.  So anyway, we got to Lincoln University around 11 am local time on the 6th of January which is actually 5 pm on January 5th for you guys (not you Kyle and friends- do your own math!!!).  So that makes a total of 31 hours of travelling altogether!!! I don't recommend it…  So we settled into our rooms- we each get single rooms that rival the size of the doubles at UD, especially the Lane/Thompson ones.  We are in little suites of 6 with a common fridge and bathroom and I'm definetly with some cool people!!!  We had lunch at 1230 in the dining hall then took a bus tour of the town of Christchurch.  Its really a beautiful town with an awesome mix of old and new architecture and we are all excited to go back and explore on our own.  We also made a quick stop at a little shopping mall to buy all the stuff that we forgot.  Then we returned to Lincoln and had a little break before our BBQ dinner.  In the evening, pretty much our whole crew left to walk to the local bar, Bob's (that had a name change and is now the Famous Grouse…) despite the fact that we were all so beat and feeling like it was 6 hours later than it actually was.  We ended up spending almost 4 hours there. I only had two drinks and paid for none of them J.  But we had some very interesting conversations with some locals…  Our busdriver was completely drunk and amused us for hours.  Rachel and Lauren and I tried to leave at a reasonable hour but were stopped by Russell, the self named local drunk.  We learned so many things from him and his friends, but only a few of them are repeatable…  It was a very amusing night and we only got back around 1245, so that left us with a solid 7 hours of sleep…

January 7th, 2001

Well, despite the fact that we had been up for the longest day imaginable and only gotten a decent night’s sleep, we woke up at 7 today to get breakfast and catch the bus at 9. We were heading out for a surprise trip and all we knew was that is was a long bus ride and involved a boat… But fortunetly, I had connections (yup, the little girl from the plane, Llewellyn) and she told me that we were going whale watching! So anyway, we boarded the bus (I sat with Rachel and even got the window) and headed north. The land first was pretty flat and full of sheep so I wrote in my journal and listened to music… but then we started getting into some cool mountains and that was just awesome! You wouldn’t believe how gorgeous it is!!! We just stared out the windows the whole time… Our ride was about 3 and a half hours long and the bus driver was a little scary- he must have had some bad gears on the bus cause every time we started climbing the mountains and slowed down, he couldn’t get back in gear so we slowed to a crawl and started in first again, jerking us and grinding and scaring us to death!!! Not to mention the fact that we were climbing mountains and hairpin curves… Some of us got deathly sick, but me and my cast iron stomach made it just fine J! So we finally arrived in Kaikoura and as we drove along the coast (almost more breathtaking than the mountains) we saw seals on the rocks and almost died going through a tiny black tunnel. But we did make it to the town and stopped for an hour for lunch. Me and some girls ate in a tiny café and then we made our way to the center. We sat in the little building and read stories about whales that were made up by little kids before we got to see the dumbest safety movie ever. Then we got on our bus and drove to the boat site (it was a different place altogether than the movie site) where we had a chartered boat for 48 people. We all had comfy seats inside (actually the most comfortable on the whole trip- we all wanted to go home in the boat) while the boat was moving but we were entertained the entire time by the coolest guide!!! He was so funny and even made fun of Lisa with us (she seems to get the brunt of our attacks…). We finally got out to a whale area where we got to see two sperm whales- just like moby dick only not white!!! It was amazing- they were so good. The guide told us they were all men cause the women weren’t stupid enough to be in such cold water J. We also saw a huge pod of 30 pilot whales and they were right beside us- that was really awesome too! The guide also told us about albatross- they mate for life and if one dies, the other will too within a month- how sad is that!!! So anyway, that was about 3 hours and incredibly cool! We finished up and took the bus to a seal colony where one seal almost attacked two of our girls. We got to see a few of them and then I climbed up a big overlook and looked out over the whole area- it was awesome!!! So then back on the bus for a two and a half hour ride to our restaurant for the evening. We had good food only it took them two hours to get it to some of us. The rest of us just sat at our tables and chatted all night- it was a great time- getting to know each other. The girls that I call the Three Musketeers cause they always are together and always where the same clothes ordered drinks- Kahlua and milk and a bit of that cool blue stuff but they only had one sip and didn’t like it so our table stole them when they went outside. We also had two huge sundaes for our two birthday girls. Then we drove the other hour home- I sat with Brian and Claire (the little twins) and Claire fell asleep on me and Brian talked the whole way home- they are so cool!!! We all got home and crashed that night…

January 8th, 2001

Today we had class cancelled so that we could get a welcome to campus. We even got to sleep in- we met at 9!!! Just a quick note before I go on about breakfast- its provided for us in the dining hall and you wouldn’t believe what they feed us!!! There are always poached eggs, bacon, hash browns, spaghetti and meatsauce, plus cereal and fresh fruit and rolls and yogurt! I can’t imagine eating all that for breakfast!!! But I digress from my story… we met at 9 and Errol (our host here) gave us a little tour- we went up on the tallest building on campus (9 whole stories!!!) and got a great view, then did the whole email thing- everyone was so confused and I taught people how to get to pine. Imagine that, me!!! We also stopped at the rec center and guess what we are allowed to wear sports bras in the gym!!! I am ready to transfer! The guy there is from South Africa so he had a really cool accent. Then we all walked into the town of Lincoln (where the bar is) for lunch at the Felix Café. It was really nice and the food was awesome, so I’m sure we will be stopping again. Then we met at 130 for a library tour and Dr. Griffiths warned us that the librarian was psycho so please would we all behave and listen to her long lecture on possibly the smallest library in the world… After that was over, we pretty much lounged around all afternoon. I was going to go to the pool- its outside and always 80 degrees but I already had a pink nose from walking to town (a whole half hour outside!) so I opted not to (no to mention the fact that I hadn’t shaved yet…). After dinner most of our group met to get the town bus into Christchuch, the 2nd largest city in the country but really more of a cool town… We walked around the town and went shopping in all the little gift shops then stopped at a little café called Three Chairs Missing and got alcoholic ice cream. We even asked about the name and were really bummed to hear that there was no story behind it whatsoever. It was in a really quaint part of town so we sat outside and had the longest argument ever on how to figure out the time at home. Then we walked around the park and watched the ducks and listened to a story about a Maori statue that was really long and not very good. Then we meandered back to the bus and had the scariest ride home- I swear the bus driver was going 100 down the little back roads home!!! Rachel and I amused ourselves by playing the “What is his job?” game and gave jobs to everyone else on the bus. We walked back to our rooms and went to bed then (it was midnight again.)

January 9th, 2001

We actually had our first class today if you can believe that. We started out with a meeting for the Honors section at 8 am then we followed that at 830 with our Pastoral Livestock Class. We talked a lot about dairy today and some of the important terms that we should know before embarking on all the farm tours.  Things like… a mob is a group of sheep, a two-tooth is a female ewe that is a year old, a hogget is any sheep before then…stuff like that so that when all the Kiwis talk to us, we have some clue as to what they are saying.  Then we started our Food for Thought class.  We basically are learning about the differences in food production, distribution and consumption in the US and New Zealand.  It seems like it will be pretty interesting anyway.  We are working in groups for a few projects and mine is pretty cool.  Its kind of a bummer that we actually have to do things though…  After class was over, I was so hungry that I made everyone eat right away at the café on campus that is two seconds from out classroom.  We had some really good avocado and chicken sandwiches with huge cookies.  It was a good meal.  Then we met at 1 pm to take a bus to two grocery stores in the area to take a look at what they are like.  We sat in our groups on the way there so I got to get to know Nicole a little bit- it was really cool!!!  We got to our grocery stores and each group sent two people into each one.  They were basically pretty similar to ours at home so it wasn’t too exciting but we got to talk to the manager, David, and we asked him a ton of questions; It was pretty weird and silly to be asking questions in a grocery store but it was kind of interesting.  For example, they don’t have salad bars because they have been deemed unhygienic and aren’t allowed.  Then we all went shopping there for a little bit and got back on the bus.  We drove from there to Sumner beach, about 15 minutes away.  It was a really pretty beach with very fine dark sand that felt really cool.  We all spent about an hour slathering on our sunscreen so we wouldn’t get burned in the hot sun then I laid out for a while- it felt so good except for the sand blowing up my nose.  Then we stood in the water and chatted a while (it was too cold for me to get in).  We didn’t have much time there, so that was pretty much everything that happened aside from a big group picture.  We did have our first almost emergency today though- Rachel and Eric decided that it would be fun to swim out to an island and ended up nearly being swept to sea.  A guy in a kayak even saved Eric while Rachel made her way back eventually.  The lifeguards had noticed and were on their way, so they had to give all their info to them.  They finally got a ride back to us in a cop car and were exhausted the rest of the day.  So anyway, we were only down there about an hour and a half before we left and took the scenic drive home.  We stopped for some incredible views on the way of a lake from a volcano crater.  We made it home before dinner and afterwards, Eric, Lisa, Courtney, Katie and I walked down to the bar for a while.  There was really almost know one there but we had a nice time just chatting for a few hours (till about 10) although none of us drank much of anything (we were all too tired!!!)  But we had a nice time and then walked home and went to bed amidst the craziness of Bill partying and puking with some Kiwis.

January 10th, 2001

This morning we got up and met at 8 for a trip to the Acheron Station of the McFadden family in the high country.  It was about two hours away and way up in the hills.  They had about 5000 sheep plus lambs and they were actually sending them through a dip while we were there.  The basically had a big tank brought in that sprayed the sheep from top and bottom for 5 minutes to keep them from getting fly strike and lice for the year.  They had to herd about 25 of them in at a time and it was pretty humorous cause none of them were interested at all!!!  It was kind a shame because the day was really pretty gross- overcast and drizzly.  We walked up one of hills and looked out over the property.  He had 2000 acres and it stretched farther than we could see, which was pretty cool.  Then we came down and sat in his wood shed (other than the house it was pretty much the only building) and they talked to us for a few hours.  We bring a guide from the university with us, Neil, and he and Mr. McFadden pretty much covered every aspect of their farm.  It’s really incredible, for those of you that are interested, because they raise all these sheep completely on pasture- no extra feed at all.  They leave them alone when they are lambing and most of the year (except when the move them) and don’t vaccinate any of them.  It’s really fascinating so we were actually pretty much all interested.  Then we stopped for lunch and ate some pretty bad sandwiches, but at that point we were so hungry we didn’t taste them at all.  They finished up after lunch and then walked around Isla’s (his wife) garden.  She had the most incredible garden with vegetables and herbs sprawling around the house.  So anyway we left then and were all exhausted (from being cold and wet all day and climbing a mountain) and I slept for a good half hour until Llewellyn jumped on my lap and kept Joy and I busy the rest of the trip.  She wasn’t tired, it turns out, cause she was sleeping during the lecture…  Well, we got back again a little before dinner and I played on the computers a while beforehand.  After dinner Lisa and Jen and I agreed to go the Griffiths’ house to get the laptop so they could work on their part of the project.   That was at 730 and somehow we ended up staying until after 11 just talking with them.  They dished us all the gossip on teachers and we dealt all the student gossip right back.  Then we moved on to stories and we by the end we were all laughing so hard that we were crying at all the crazy sheep stories we have heard as well as Christina stories (trust me she’s a little weird…).  Then the girls gave up and left the laptop there and we went to bed!

January 11th, 2001

We had class again this morning but this time we got to sleep in a little cause the non-Honors section met at 8 and the rest of us had to be there at 830 instead.  I drug myself out of bed at 745 (I have a sore throat so I’ve been a little tired these past few days) and woke up Lisa who was still in bed!  We went to breakfast and then walked over to class, getting there actually on time!!!  It was a pretty interesting because we discussed yesterday’s trip a little bit then touched on more of the industry here.  After class we played on the computer and did the whole email thing before Lisa, Sarah and I went for lunch in the little café again.  After a quick lunch we went back and changed clothing for our afternoon trip to the University Farm.  Our first stop was their Red Deer Unit which they raise for venison and velvet.  We drove the bus into the pasture with the hinds and calves (moms and babies) and watched them check out the bus as he talked about them in New Zealand.  As it turns out, they were and introduced species that completely took over the island since they had no predators.  The government was offering money to anyone that killed them years ago and now they are allowed to be hunted year round.  They did finally decide to capture some of them and put them on farms to capitalize on them and now they raise them all over the island.  The meat is sent to Europe from the cross between the deer and elk.  Then we walked into the stag pasture and he talked about the antlers and how they cut them off during the year to sell to Korea and China because they eat them.  How weird is that?   He told us a lot about the deer’s behavior and it was really pretty cool!  Our next stop was the sheep unit where a really quiet guy talked really long about sheep again.  It was interesting cause they have some homemade breeds here and do some cool research.  He showed us demonstrations with his two dogs; they ran out into the field and brought the mob of 350 sheep to him and kept them there while he talked.  It was awesome!!!  Then we went to the mixed cropping unit where we saw veggies and stuff and learned about their organic production.  Finally we got to go home for dinner; it was a long day and not all of it was too exciting.... But dinner was good and we got ice cream for dessert so that was even better.  After dinner I got ready with Rachel and Courtney and went down to the bar for the evening.  We got there around 8 and everyone else joined us about 845.  In my time at the bar that night I learned all the intricacies of cricket, my new favorite sport because I understand it and no one else does and drank the ugliest shot in the world.  It was a brain… and involved vodka, peach schnapps, Bailey’s Irish cream and raspberry flavor.  It was a fun night even though there was hardly anyone there but our huge crowd.  Rachel, Lauren and I left at 11 and that was pretty much everything for today…

January 12th, 2001

So on Friday morning we got up for class, as usual, and made it through that rather painlessly.  We talked about Deer Production since we had seen it yesterday as well as talking about the pasture and herbage in our first class.  Then, in the other class, we talked about food safety.  It was pretty boring but definitely not the worst that I’ve had; its just hard to go to class when you are here!!!  Class got out at normal time then Sarah and Lisa and I went to the computer lab for a while.  After that we went to lunch here on campus and got some pretty weird sandwiches.  Rachel was supposed to go skydiving so I was going to meet her in town at night, but they made it all the way there only to find out that it was too windy.  So anyway, I spent the afternoon writing postcards, cleaning my room, and doing laundry, as well as plotting our next few weekends.  Then the skydivers came back all bummed and we decided to go into Christchurch on the 3:40 bus.  As we were sitting outside though, we determined that we weren’t quite ready to move, so we pushed back our trip to 4:40 and laid out in the sun for an hour or so.  I can officially say that I have lines now!!!  They may not be very pronounced lines, but they are there!!!  Ok, so then we ran back to our rooms, packed for the night, and left to meet the bus.  We made it (thank goodness) and rode into town with Nicole, Erica, and Karin.  Once we got there, we decided to drop all of our stuff off at the YMCA where we were staying for the night before heading to dinner.  Unfortunately, Rachel had this silly thought in her head that the Y was right beside the dandelions (not real dandelions, but fountains that look like dandelions that you blow) so we took our crew over to the dandelions and found that the Y was nowhere in sight.  So we sent Rachel for directions since she was the one with that bright idea anyway, and we headed off in the completely opposite direction.  We did finally find it without taking too many for wrong turns, and checked in to get our keys.  The three girls had a triple room and Rachel were in the dorms which only meant there were 3 bunk beds and we were staying with two Japanese girls that we didn’t know.  We only paid $10 for the night and it was really a nice room, so we really weren’t complaining.  So we settled our stuff in, picked out a restaurant, and waited for the other three to get all dolled up.  When we were all finally ready, we made our way to Jack Rabbit Slims (yup, a restaurant based on the one from Pulp Fiction).  It was way out in the middle of nowhere and neither Erica (who was holding the map) nor Rachel (who had the directions) was any good at getting us anywhere.  So by the time that we made it there, we were all starving!  The restaurant was really cute, but not nearly as cool as the one in the movie.  They did have a car though, and really cool decorations and music.  We didn’t get to eat in the car, but we got our picture taken there.  Our food was really good- all of us got pasta except Rachel who made the mistake of getting a salad.  The thing about salads here is that they give you all the pieces that you would normally find in a salad separately.  Hers was also on a bed of cabbage instead of lettuce… interesting…  Anyway, we also had a bottle of wine- very high class! and we splurged on dessert- an absolutely huge ice cream sundae.  It was all really good and we waddled away from the restaurant at about 9 and made our way to a club called Ceasar’s to meet more friends from our group.  They didn’t get there until around 10, so we had some time at the club beforehand.  This one guy trailed us up the stairs and attached himself to our sides and kept trying butt in to our conversations.  Then we met a crew of crazy guys that we talked to for a while.  They were all interesting folks, but by the time that the rest of our group got there and hung out for awhile, we were so ready to get out of there!  The one guy was trying to invite Rachel to visit him the next day so he could take her on a private tour of the city, so we figured we should probably move on… So we moved across town to another club called Azure that actually had pretty decent dance floor and music as well as some really nice looking bartenders.  Our whole crew settled down at a table for a while and chatted before a bunch of us went out to dance.  We were really having a fun time together- we danced for quite a while!  That is, until we decided to take a break…  We went back to our table only to find that the crew of guys from the last bar had followed us and were now hovering over our table.  Rachel had no desire to see this guy again so we ran back up onto the dance floor and figured that would work just as well.  We dealt pretty well with the guys that attacked us up there- Erica just threw them across the floor when they got too obnoxious.  After a while though, just as we were thinking that we were going to make it through, Courtney, Michelle, Travis and Drea decided that they were going to leave, so one of us had to return to the table with the stuff.  Since Rachel wasn’t going anywhere near those guys again and the rest of them were still busy dancing, I volunteered…  When I got down to the table, I saw that these guys had moved from hovering around the table to taking up almost the whole thing.  So I sat down with them, intent on making at the very least pleasant conversation only to find that not one of the four was in any condition to make any sort of conversation.  The one was up bouncing around the bar, another (Rachel’s guy) was staring aggressively into his glass and didn’t say a word the whole time I was there, another one was asking consistently where the one that he liked was (that was they only way he knew Karin) and the fourth one was just not able to put words together.  He only made it far enough to mouth words that made no sense.  So here I am, sitting with the strangest bunch of people who are all drunk or stoned or something, trying to bide my time so that everyone else can enjoy themselves.  And this really went pretty well until the boy that had no communication skills anymore decided that he wanted to buy me a drink.  Well, considering that he couldn’t talk for some odd reason, he got his intention across pretty well by climbing over the table to sit beside me and throwing money at his friend (I’m guessing that walking to the bar and ordering himself wasn’t his forte by this point in the evening either).  So now I’m getting a little freaked out but things are all OK… After another eternity, another guy sits down with us and he actually was a normal human being (I have a very broad definition of normal by this point- he was conversational and not scary) and I just talked to him the rest of the time about actual conversational items.  All this time, however, boy-that-cannot-communicate has sandwiched himself up against my other side and starts licking my shoulder.  Yeah, a little weird and definitely not healthy behavior…  So just then Katie comes back to the table and I signal to her that we need to leave and she rounded up the group while I collected our stuff and we bolted out of there…  Rachel and I walked to the Y amazed that we could manage to pick up the ugliest, weirdest guys in all of New Zealand since everyone else that we see is just gorgeous!!!  We went to bed and slept really, really soundly.

January 13th, 2001

We had to check out of our rooms by 10, so we got up and made it down there just in time.  Then I had to go over to the station to meet Lisa, Sarah, and Marian to go the A and P show (a livestock show about an hour away) but I woke up with an even worse sore throat and I couldn’t talk and I didn’t really want to go anyway cause I was worn out so I just met them to tell them I wasn’t going.  Then the five of us went to breakfast at a little café and ordered milkshakes but the thing about milkshakes here is that they are what they say they are… Milk Shakes.  Milk all bubbled up with flavor.  It was disappointing…  But then we went shopping and Rachel and I left the other three and went home.  We got back in the early afternoon and took showers then I laid down in bed (as it is my favorite thing to do) and she tried to go skydiving again.  Later on in the evening we just hung out then went to dinner.  Rachel, Erica and I were almost the only ones there cause we were starving so we had the whole place to ourselves and the cook was trying to keep us all fed and happy- she kept bustling around getting stuff for us.  For dessert we had donuts but they put salt on them instead of sugar and we weren’t sure if they were supposed to be that way or not… so we made a girl that works here taste it and she gagged so that made us feel better.  She told the cook and they made us a new batch fresh from the oven and they were so good!!!  Then we hung out more and just talked for the rest of the night since it was rainy and gross and we were leaving early in the morning.
 
 

January 14th, 2001

Lisa, Sarah, Rachel and I got up at 7 today and got ready for our trek to Arthur’s Pass.  We layered up our clothing and packed our backpacks and went for breakfast.  We met our cab out by the road at 8- he was a really cute old guy and he laughed cause we are so silly and Lisa tried to get into the drivers side (being that the cars are backwards).  Anyway, he drove us to the station where we met 6 more from our group that left at 7 so they could be there way, way too early and miss breakfast.  So we got there around 830 and made the train at 9 with plenty of time to spare.  I got a window seat and got to look out the window at the city as we went past.  As we got further into the country, the scenery was just absolutely beautiful!  There was an outdoor observation deck which we didn’t get up and see since we were right by a window and were lazy, but that meant that everyone else on the train was up and jostling past us.  There was also a cute little German girl who kept waving at us.  But other than that the trip was pretty uneventful.  It took about 2 and a half hours- we arrived in the little itty-bitty town of Arthur’s Pass which basically consisted of a train station, a visitors center, two cafes, and a few houses.  So we went into the visitor’s center and looked around in there.  I talked to one of the park guys (because it’s a park with hiking trails all over the mountains) and asked him to recommend trails to us that we could go on and still be back by the evening train at 430.  He named a few of the really popular, easier ones and we said we wanted to do something a little more strenuous so he suggested going part of the way on one called Scott’s Track.  He told us there were pretty good views even if you don’t go the whole way around (it takes 6-8 hours).  So we decided on that one and started our trek.  We did stop at a café on the way to grab sandwiches for lunch.  Lisa decided that she didn’t feel well at all so she decided to stay down in the town while Rachel, Sarah, Christina, and I started walking.  Poor Christina didn’t do a lot of thought before the hike and had two souvenir bags in her hands as well as a camera bag instead of a backpack like the rest of us, so we shuffled around our stuff to make room since that wouldn’t have made it.  It was a good idea that we did cause the hike ended up being more like rock climbing and steep hiking!  It really was absolutely awesome and the views just kept getting better as we went along, but it was strenuous!!!   We kept plowing uphill and I actually made it up past the tree line where I could see a panorama of the whole area- it was so gorgeous!!!  Unfortunately, that was when we had to turn around so we started our trek back down hill.  Despite the fact that our legs felt like jelly and we were bounding down rocks, we made it down in a pretty short time and still had an hour before the train.  So we got ice cream so that our day wouldn’t be too healthy, and played around till the train came.  That turned out to be longer than we had anticipated since the train didn’t make it until 6 o’clock.  Apparently something went wrong and they had a very long time fixing it.  We all laid out in the sun and waited…  We finally got on the train completely worn out from the day and wanting to sleep!!!  I put on my headphones and was just drifting off when a lady’s bag fell from the overhead compartment onto my head and gave me a heart attack.  Then the really old men in the back of the bus got drunk and sang and shouted the whole way home.  It was just not very fun…  So Rachel and I looked out the window and laughed every time the sheep ran away from the train.  It wasn’t very funny, but we just were imagining how many times they must do that every day.  You’d think they would learn…  We determined that the intelligence of an animal is inversely proportional to how long in their life they run away from trains.  See, horses learn pretty quickly that trains cannot jump the tracks and will not hurt them so they don’t run.  Sheep never learn that.  They always run. They are stupid.  So anyway, we got to the station much later than we were supposed to but our shuttle was waiting for us.  We all piled in (that being the proper term since we were short two seats and had to sit on laps) and went home.  It was sad that we missed dinner so I ate crackers and peanut butter then Erica and Rachel and I decided to order pizza.  We got Pizza Hut and paid a little more than we should have and had to walk outside the university to the main road to pick it up, but we got our pizza and it was good.  We stayed up and chatted for hours, but that was about everything.

January 15th, 2001

Well, we had class today like usual only this time we had a guest speaker.  Neil Gow, one of our hosts here that takes us on trips, spoke to us about agriculture in New Zealand and around the world in general.  It was really interesting but he talked for two hours straight, so that was pretty bad.  That did however shorten our Food class to only 30 minutes so that we could get out on time, so that was at least good!  After class was over, I went back to the dorms to hang out until we decided to go to lunch.  Since we had the afternoon free and had no plans, Sarah, Rachel, Lisa, and I went to lunch at the café in Lincoln.  I had an awesome burrito and a fruit shake that was good too.  Then we shopped in the two shops that are there- the post office store and the produce stand before getting ice cream and heading home.  I stopped in the computer center on the way and got my report finished for class and worked on my diary, then I went back to the dorms.  I spent the rest of the afternoon just reading in my room since I still haven’t been feeling very well and it was too cold to lay out, then went to dinner at 6.  After dinner and a little bit of fun socializing (dinner seems to last for hours), I went back to my room and relaxed some more.  I did get to hear about some skydiving that happened today- they had an awesome time! But other than that I just relaxed- I finished a book and listened to music and tried to go to bed early.  That was easier said than done since I was up coughing, but I think I did fall asleep by 11, so that wasn’t too bad.

January 16th, 2001

Thank goodness we got out of some of our class today!!!  We only had an hour class from 830 to 930 (Food Science) and then we got ready for another big day trip.  We met at 1030 at the bus and headed first the Canterbury Livestock Auction.  It’s a really big auction area that sells animals pretty much every day.  Farmers from all over the area bring the animals they want to get rid of (from lambs to sheep to cows to pigs) and they get sold before the day is done.  It was really impressive- a really nice, roomy building that was also very clean.  There were just millions of sheep there so we milled around and looked at them.  The auctioneers would just climb above the pens are sell the whole pen for a price/sheep.  A lot of this goes on because the high country farmers sell their old ewes that can’t make it any more on the mountains to the farmers on the plains so that they can get a year or two more out of them before market.  It’s a really neat process.  Anyway, we also saw the cow and pig sections too- there were even baby piglets which are really cute and a big ugly boar.  While we were there, we saw one pig trying to rape another one- she was screaming so loud!!!  He didn’t have too good of aim and ended up about a foot too high on her back!  He didn’t seem to worried- he just put his little corkscrew penis away (don’t ask me why but that’s what they look like) and she went back to sniffing around, even though she was all slimy…  So that was our excitement for the morning (well, actually Mr. Pig’s excitement) and we soon boarded back up and headed over to the Antarctic Centre.  Almost every expedition to Antarctica leaves from Christchurch because it is so far south, so that’s where they have the museum (right across the street from the send-off point).  We went in and got lunch- of course it was the same old thing- sandwiches with every vegetable imaginable on them.  After lunch we went into a little classroom and learned all about Antarctica and the expeditions from our awesome tour guide, Jan.  She told us that it is the coldest, driest, windiest continent in the world and the lowest temperature recorded was something insane like –127 degrees Fahrenheit.  At that temperature, you would die within 20 seconds if you were dressed normally- your blood would turn to jelly and your lungs would freeze and shatter.  Nice huh?  John got to try on all the gear that you would wear outside so that this wouldn’t happen and we were all in hysterics.  She also told us all about the animals in the Antarctic- the 4 types of penguins, the whales, etc and that the Emperor Penguins daddies have to keep the egg warm and protect the babies by sitting them on their feet.  After she finished talking, we had some time to explore the museum and look at things at our own pace.  They had some great rooms set up- one had really snow and wind and we got to go in and play.  It was very cold and made me feel really bad for all you guys at home!!!  After the museum, we all went outside and got a ride on the Hagglund, the vehicle that they use in Antarctica.  To show us all that it can do, we went up hills (it can drive at a 45 degree angle to the ground), over gullys (it can cross 3 meter holes) around hills and into water (it swims too!!!).  It was a really incredible ride and tons of fun- we were all tossed all over the place!  Then we spent some time in the gift shop before heading over across the street to the United States Antarctica Centre which is the headquarters for all of our operations and the stopping point for two of the three United States stations.  We spoke with two guys that work there, one of whom has spent 8 summers in Antarctica and two winters as well (those that stay for winter are stuck there for at least 6 months when no one can get to them.  It was really awesome to get to talk to someone like that and to have them welcome us so openly!  They were honestly so excited to have us there!!!  After that we were all dead tired though (obviously- it was almost 5 pm!) and we headed back just in time for dinner which is definitely one of our favorite times of the day!  After that we just hung around and I went to bed kind of early to try to get rid of my cold/sore throat, especially since we had such a big day tomorrow.

January 17th, 2001

I really got to sleep in today- the bus left at 930 and we didn’t have to go to class before that!!!  I accidentally overslept a little but made it to the bus on time.  For this day trip, we were heading to two farms that neighbored each other.  Our first stop was at a sheep farm that of course had bunches of sheep.  It was on the flat lands, so it gets pretty dry there.  We got there when there were shearers working on shearing all the lambs, so that was awesome to see them in action.  There were 4 shearers set up with two girls sweeping the wool and separating the daggy wool (the dirty stuff).  They were each doing a sheep in about a minute- it was amazing how fast they went and how they just kind of threw the sheep around.  We watched that for a while then went outside and watched a guy using his sheepdogs.  He used the heading dog to collect a mob of sheep (like the ones we had seen before- they don’t bark at all) then used his other dog, Peg, to herd the sheep into the wool shed.  She runs around and barks at the sheep and then runs up their backs and barks in the front sheep’s faces to keep them moving.   It was completely awesome!!!  After that we went back to his house and sat in the yard while he explained the operation to us.  He was pretty different in that he produces all of his lambs for a contract and knows exactly how much he will get before he sells them.  He was obviously one of the most successful farmers that we have seen- they were really making a lot of money off their operation and really weren’t having to put a terrible amount into it.  After talking with him, we bussed over to the lake that he built (yes, built) on some of the driest land in New Zealand so his family can waterski.  It’s the only man-made lake that is regulation size in the country.  It of course doubles as an irrigation pool, but its real purpose is so he and his adorable son can waterski.  They demonstrated some slalom skiing for us but Hamish couldn’t jump since he had just gotten pins taken out of his knee from an accident.  They now even sponsor a lot of the big national championships on their lake- it was amazing!  So anyway, we ate lunch there and then went over to the next farm.  This farm had a piggery and a dairy herd.  We started looking at the pigs and saw lots of piglets and then pigs in all stages of growth.  It was kind of cool but dirty and smelly…  After that we talked to him in his yard about all that he does.  Neil, our guide, keeps them talking for hours, so we are always there forever.  They also talked about their dairy herds.  They dry them off in the winter and just put them out to pasture so that they don’t have to milk at all for 3 months out of each year!  We also found out that BST is illegal here in New Zealand (the growth hormone) and a few other interesting things.  Then we walked over to see the dairy herd in action.  After that, we boarded back on the bus and headed back home for dinner.  Again, in the evening we just hung out- it was a long day and we were all burnt anyway from being in the sun all day.

January 18th, 2001

Thursday morning we had class again and our last class left out over 15 minutes late- we were all so mad!!!  Then 9 of us left to head into Christchurch to go to the Canterbury Brewery for a tour.  The bus left us off in the square and we walked a good 20 minutes to get there, but it was definitely worth it!  The tour started out in a museum that just talked about the history of beer and how it came to New Zealand.  My favorite little fact was about the Vikings- they used to drink beer out of human skulls and the word “bridal” comes from “bride-ale” where the new brides would get the profits from all the beer drunk at her wedding.  So anyway, we then learned about the process of beer making and then got a tour of their brewery.  It was so cool to see all of it in action- there was a lot of beer!!!  At the end of the tour, we got a “sample” of their brew- a pint of Canterbury Draft and sat around chatting for a while.  After that was all over, we walked back into town and went shopping at a lot of the little art galleries around town.  They have a lot of places where the artisans are working right in front of you and have their stuff for sale.  We talked to some of the potters and had a really nice time.  I was definitely thinking of buying some wool stuff but haven’t yet.  It was just cool to see the ladies right there!!!  Then we walked up to get the next bus and I realized that I had forgotten some of my purchases in a camera store.  So I had to run back to get them and thus missed the bus home.  So I ended up waiting around in the city for over an hour till the 540 bus came.  It finally did and I was really concerned because it was supposed to get in at 620- precisely the time that our bus was supposed to leave for our Maori cultural dinner.  And you never know how the buses here would run…  I crossed my fingers, not having much choice, and due to the insanity of my bus driver, made it home with about 5 minutes to spare.  I ran right over to our bus and got on- I wasn’t even the last one!  I was a little upset that I didn’t have time to change or shower, but considering my stupidity, I dealt with it!  The dinner was about a half hour away and we got there around 7.  They first explained a little about the culture then we got to see the food pit- they bury the fire and cook all their food underground.  Then we went in and got to eat- the food was all pretty good but very smoky.  It was a fun dinner though- we spent half the meal gossiping about the people on the trip- its amazing how much we have learned about each other by living so close together!  Then they gave us a tour of the complex and explained the use of all the buildings and the carvings.  We all had to choose a chief for the rest of the evening and everyone voted for me until our host said it couldn’t be a girl L.  So they finally decided on some old Mafia-man that didn’t speak English.  Finally, they brought us into another building where they hosted a concert for us and used our chief to demonstrate all their ceremonies.  They were all dressed in traditional garb and started by singing some really awesome songs.  Then they invited some girls up to use their little white balls on strings that they whirl through the air and I gave that a try.  It was a lot harder than it looked, and we all know how much coordination I have!!!  Then they had a few guys go up to do some dances- they all had to take their shirts off and prance around and stick their tongues out- it was so funny to see John and Travis fooling around!  Our chief was also so funny and not nearly as scary when he was flapping his arms around.  Then they finished with some more songs- some traditional stuff and other contemporary Maori stuff too before we got pictures with them and left.  It was a really entertaining night and we all had a blast, even those that hated all the food and went hungry!  We didn’t get back until later though- it was almost 1030 and that was definitely bedtime for me!

January 19th, 2001

We had really designed today as a relaxing day- the majority of the group was leaving early in the afternoon to go to Hanmer Springs (hot springs about 2 hours from campus) for the weekend and the rest of us were looking forward to a quiet weekend.  After they all left and we had made our reservations for our final weekend, we headed to the pool to lie out for a while and enjoy the fact that we had sunny weather.  We stayed there until about 300 then we decided to play tennis.  Well, I decided to play tennis because I was starving since we skipped lunch and needed to do something to keep my mind off of it.  So we went over to the recreation centre and hired four tennis rackets and two balls.  There was one net open on the tennis courts and we played the most pitiful game of doubles that I have ever seen.  Rachel and I weren’t doing too bad, especially considering Sarah and Lauren’s attempts.  After the other two gave up, we continued for another half of an hour and definitely did much better.  Then as we were walking our rackets and stuff back to the recreation centre, we passed 4 Kiwi that work at the University and they invited us to play Tough Rugby with them.  Of course, they didn’t really explain the game really well, but we did our best to catch on and ended up having a really good time although by the end of the game, we were all dying.  We sat and chatted with them for a while and then went to dinner, sweaty and still in our bathing suits.  After dinner we all went back to the room for a shower- it felt so good!!!- and then we went to the computer lab and from there to the bar.  We really had a great time- it was just a few of us girls and we chatted and played pool and talked to a few guys.  The one was this old guy that came over to us and spent a while bullshitting with us.  He was really funny and made fun of our guide from the University and complained about the boys in town since they weren’t talking to us.  He claimed that in his day, things would have been different- if a group of beautiful American girls came into town, they would have all been there with us to show us around.  It was really funny!  We did get to talk to Russ, the local drunk, for a while but we left pretty early so that we could get home and get a good night sleep for our big day tomorrow!

(still to come!!! A horse named Mac, the longest meal ever, and how to have every single muscle in your body aching!!!)
 

January 20th, 2001

We got up early again this morning (around 7) and went to breakfast before we caught our shuttle to the stables.  Our group of 8 met the shuttle (an old, rather uncomfortable van) and drove up to Howarden, about an hour and a few minutes away.  The stables were out in pretty much the middle of nowhere and run by a family that also had 3000 sheep, 100 cattle, and a bunch of deer.  They had around 60 horses and the majority of these were Clydesdale/ Thoroughbred crosses that they had bred on their own farm.  They had two Thoroughbred stallions and a few draft males as breeding stock.  The horses were all really big and surefooted, but still had some of the spunk from the Thoroughbred side, so they were all really cool!  They were all saddled up when we got there so we put on helmets and signed away our life before getting matched up to our horses.  I got to ride Mac, one of the few that wasn’t bred on the farm, and while he was somewhat of a bully, he generally behaved pretty well and at least listened to me.  We had quite a mix of people, a few girls that had never ridden before, a few with some experience, and a few that were really good and we all got matched up pretty well with horses.  They gave everyone a basic idea of what to do and we started out walking along a track with a beautiful view.  We went back behind the mountain that we started in front of and continued on alongside a river.  Our guide was a Swiss girl named Yvonne and she was really nice and knew the horses really well.  As we went, we passed some of his sheep and saw his dogs herding them into another pasture.  A little later on, we got into some more rugged land with lots of hills and shrubs.  At one point it was really funny because we could hear all these sheep baaing all over the place but we couldn’t see any of them cause the ground was completely covered in thick shrubs.  We rode from about 10 until 130 then stopped for lunch by the river and tied our horses to a bunch of trees.  We had lunch in our saddlebags and it was all homemade- quiche and dessert.  We sat there and relaxed for a while and enjoyed the weather and the scenery before saddling back up again.  On the way back, we took a different path and ended up going over the mountains that we were behind.  This proved slightly more interesting that we had originally thought as the hills pretty much went straight up and for a while, we weren’t even going on a track at all.  Everyone was a little nervous but it was really exciting!!!  We were climbing places that I wouldn’t have even trusted myself to walk without falling!!!  A few of the girls referred to this part of the trip as “suicide horsebackriding” but it was really lots of fun.  Even Llewellyn was having a good time and admitted that her pony wouldn’t have made it.  It took us a good 3 hours (and a little more) to get home.  When we neared the very end, we came across a sheep field with some sheep that had to be in a group to be culled because they were pathetic and some of them were knocking on death’s door.  It was a little eerie to see all these really sick, deformed sheep and we were all glad to get past that part of the trip.  We got back around 530 and got invited in to use the bathroom and to have some tea.  They also had little pancakes for us with jam on them and we ended up eating a million of them.  Our shuttle driver was ready and waiting for us so after we ate and paid for everything, we boarded back up and headed home.  On the way, Llewellyn kept up from sleeping as she always does when we are exhausted.  To keep her occupied, I asked how she was doing with the project I gave her on the plane.  I told her that by the end of the trip, she had to know everyone and three facts about them.  She was able to go around the whole van and name us all and even came up with some hilarious facts.  We were all laughing so hard, but I was amazed at how perceptive she had been.  Anyway, because we had missed dinner, we had the driver drop us off in Lincoln so we could get dinner and we split between the café and the Chinese take-out.  Lauren, Sarah, Jen, and I went to the café and were told there was going to be quite a wait for food, but we were so exhausted that we didn’t want to move again so we just chatted and read magazines for about an hour.  Our food was really good though- I had a pizza with chicken and a ton of other stuff and we were all happy and full.  The walk back to school was a little straining considering the difficulty we were all having just walking… but we made it!!!  I got all the way back to room before realizing that I had lost my key (well, dropped it somewhere on the horse trek I’m sure) and I had to call Tristan to bring me the spare.  While I waited, I stood around talking with Susan (our supposed RA on the trip) so at least I wasn’t lonely.  As soon as he got there though, I went directly up and went to bed.

January 21st, 2001

Since Jen and I were the only two to decide that kayaking at 9:30 this morning was a bad idea, we got to sleep in and rest up from yesterday.  We did meet at 10:15 to get the bus into Christchurch so that we could meet Erica for breakfast (she spent the night in the YMCA again) and then head out to the beach for the day.  Unfortunately, it was pretty gross of a day- very cloudy and pretty chilly (for here anyway) and you never really know if its going to get better or worse.  So we searched the town for a restaurant that was open (everything is closed on Sunday) and then finally found a Starbucks where we got coffee and muffins and sat for about 2 hours.  She was just as exhausted as we were since they had spent the day at Arthur’s Pass on Saturday and then spent the night out at a bunch of clubs, and we finally decided to just come back home and lay around.  So we caught the 1:20 bus back to school, checked our email, and went back outside to find that it had indeed cleared up a lot and it was sunny and hot.  So since we had all of our swimsuits on, we just stripped down and lay out in the sun on one of the fields on campus.  After about an hour, we moved into the pool so that we could lie out and swim too.  It was so wonderful and relaxing- we chatted and listened to music and even got tan lines!!!  As we were lounging at the pool, Jen and I realized that we had agreed to meet the group in town to eat dinner and to go to some of the Busker’s shows and were whining about having to leave again.  Just as we were saying that, Rachel pranced into the pool and told us that they had all come back for showers first, so I ran over to the dorm and told them we weren’t going anywhere, and then returned to the pool and laid around some more.  As it turned out, they all decided that it wasn’t worth it to go anywhere either and were really glad they had run into us first.  After shower and dinner, we talked to everyone that had been away all weekend and determined that although they had had fun, our weekend had been much better!!!

January 22nd, 2001

To come shortly… a plastic-wrapped creature… more wine that you can imagine… and the perfect wedding… as well as one more dangerous game of tennis