the last three weeks

So once again I am here apologizing for taking so long to write another blog post and because it has been over a month this one is probably going to be pretty long. So this time three weeks ago I was in a marine ecology class, taught by a professor from Westmont who was absolutely wonderful. We spent a ton of time out at the tide pools, which was really fun. We also had the opportunity to see sperm whales and blue penguins that were also amazing. That Sunday we had a community night that I planned, along with Kerry and Gina two girls who are in my small group. We had a murder mystery dinner that was so fun. We made up characters for each of the students and told them to have alliances and fights with certain characters. They received this information through invitations so everything was a secret to the others. It was pretty great. That week was also Stacy’s birthday. She is a Japanese student from Hawaii so naturally we had a party revolved around making sushi! It was great; we were split into teams and made rolls that were judged based on taste, appearance, and Staciness and my group one which was pretty cool.

On Saturday afternoon four friends and I: Jaci, Travis, Max, and Josh left for spring break. We spent 13 hours traveling to Te Anau, we arrived at the rental house at 1:30 am. The next day we slept in and went to check out the town and find out about some day hikes. We spent four nights in Te Anau, in Monday we hiked 22 miles on the Kepler track needless to say my feet are still swollen, but it was so worth it and absolutely beautiful. Tuesday we did the Key Stone Summit track which took about three hours, at the top we were surrounded by mountains I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings it was so beautiful. We had lunch at the top and then headed down. Once we got to the car we headed for Milford Sound we took a ton of pictures there, got eaten alive by sand flies. Then we headed back three hours to Te Anau making short stops along the way. Wednesday we left and headed to Queenstown, which turned out to be one of the coolest cities. On Thursday we made our way out for the Routeburn Track we planned on hiking to eight-hour days. But the day in was all up hill and at the top of the mountain we were in 100 kilometer winds and pouring rain, so we stayed the night in the emergency shelter. We could see our breath inside at about 5 o’clock so we played rummy in our sleeping bags and slept huddled together. The next morning we got up and did a sunrise hike to the summit. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We saw glacial lakes, pink skies, and freshly snow covered mountains. After the sun rose we headed back down the way we came doing the hike that took us 6 hours up hill in 3 ½ on the way down. That night we went to the Fergburger, which was such a great reward. We all spent Sunday night at the convent sharing stories with each other about our spring break adventures.

I am not taking the environmental literature class that is going on this week. So Jaci, Travis, and I were going to go up north but there was a change of plans, which worked out for the best, because I was so dead after last week. This week I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping prepare meals for those in class. Jaci and I are making a recipe book as our betterment project so we’ve been typing out recipes. I’ve also been crocheting and playing a lot of ping pong. Overall this week has been great! Now I am beginning to prepare for terrestrial ecology, which starts on Sunday. We are going to be heading to the west coast for this class, and it
will involve a lot of hiking and for part of it we will be living in a Maori village.
In these past few weeks I have had a blast but I am definitely starting to get a little homesick. I can’t wait to see you all and be able to explain these stories in person and along with pictures.