Mt. Ruapehu ski fields, Turoa

Ohhh.. I'm excited to write this one... wanna know why? There's a new uploader and its gonna make adding my pictures and making cool fonts like this and stuff so so so much easier ;) 


But, that's not what you want to hear at all now is it? Hehe.. well ok. Snowboarding was AWESOME and I doubt that any of you would be expecting a different answer coming from me. Well the trip to Mt. Ruapehu (about 3 hours from Hamilton) was rather unexciting but the scenery was pretty awesome... lots, and lots of sheep. And no, I'm sorry I do not have a picture of any sheep yet. I really want my first picture of them to be something epic... so I'm still waiting for the right moment. However, I did snap a picture at a scenic overlook on our way to the mountain:

Look at that sky. It's so beautiful :) I'm not sure what river we are looking at here...but that's not really important anyway. We ended up having a pretty massive group of people that either planned the trip with us, decided to come along once we got there, or we met at the backpackers which was really really cool. We arrived around 5pm and then invited a fellow backpacker to the bar (conveniently next door) and ended up sitting there waiting for others to show up until around 11:30p.m. This is no joke... or should not be taken lightly... sitting in a bar for that long is a badddd idea. But we did have some good laughs. This bar had a very northern feel to it which I appreciated.. the inside was all wood and they had a fireplace and wooden stools and table tops. They also had a wall covered with country flags... at some point during the time we were there Verena notices one that she doesn't know the country for. So, feeling a little stupid and thinking she's the only one that doesn't know she asks me and then around our table of 10 people if anyone knows. No one does. Confused and staring for probably another 10 minutes...completely stumped... we go up to the bar and ask the staff what it is. They ALSO have no idea. 

Thinking you know what it is? 
Well..
I bet that you don't. 
Even Doctor Professor Reuter might not have the answer to this one
 ;)


Answer: Tonga. 
What the hell man? We had the whole staff of the bar..even the OWNER trying to figure out what it was. They were on the computer googling it and everything. Haha, it was pretty ridiculous. A little while later I notice the owner staring at the flags with a clipboard... What is he up to? WRITING DOWN all the countries of the flags on their wall. Apparently we were the first to ever ask.... and they never want to feel that stupid again.


Saturday-- We woke up bright and early and were on the road to the mountain by 8:30 a.m. -- we decided to try skiing/boarding at Turoa which turned out to be a good choice I think.  

Above the clouds!

View looking out from the mountain.

No snow anywhere but behind us! crazy, huh?

If you look close you can see a rainbow under the clouds :)

Got out on the slopes around 10:30 a.m. and hollllyyyy molllyyyy were there a lot of people, especially on the lower mountain. Luckily, being the brilliant person that I am, I opted for the full mountain pass and the upper mountain had fewer people (kind of) but also more skilled people so it was less of a death trap. 

Me, Katie, and Nora 

Only about half of our group went skiing/snowboarding that day. The others stayed behind and hung around in the snow and in the cafe' for the day...which I think is crazy of them! The snow at the beginning of the day was a little upsetting, super hard and icy which had me worried that we'd chosen a bad time to go. On the contrary (it feels awesome to say that), as the day went on and the weather warmed up the snow turned into perfect goodness at the top...and actually pretty slushy at the bottom. That tells ya how nice out it was! I had to take off some of my layers...it felt like spring skiing, which was incredible. Want me to shut up already and show some more pictures? ...I think I can do that. 

Headed to the upper mountain with Nora

View up on the Upper Mountain lift

(View from the top)

Check out the clouds/abrupt end to the snow

Well, now maybe I have curbed the need to go snowboarding for awhile (HA!). Hey, you never know. One thing that was a little tough was the rental snowboard. I don't think I ever realized that I've NEVER used one before until I has this one in my hands. First snowboard I ever rode was my own. It was a little tough getting used to the rental plus the fact that rental bindings are p.o.s. and the edges are always jagged. But, you can't win em' all... at least I had my own boots, so that kind of helped. Anddd, once I got used to the snow and the board it was smooth sailing. 

Sunday we went to Whakapapa (pronounced fa-ka-pa-pa, no joke) village and looked around. It's just another ski resort much like the one I have pictures of. Then, it was time to say goodbye to Verena :( and head back home. I have some lingering pictures that should be accounted for before I end this though...

Verena and I @ the backpackers! 

Sunset @ the bar

Bar hours-- which we loved ;)

Mountains on the way home from skiing

Ahh, it feels so good to write these. Hopefully, they will help me to remember all the places that I've gone once I get back home-- to make another scrapbook (??!)-- and it's nice to share them with you. Or at least, feel like I'm sharing them with someone....whether I actually am or not. 

Can't force you to read! But I hope you all do!

Love,

-BriDownUnder

A little sad...

I'm not going to write much at the moment because I have class very soon... but I just found out that one of my closest friends here in Hamilton is leaving on Monday :(

I knew that she was leaving soon...because she's in NZ to backpack around the country but it wasn't supposed to be until the end of September. I'm really happy for her..because this is what she came here to do and she should get out there and do it.

But it would be a lie if I said that I wasn't really sad right now....

:( It will be tough to see her go. Who knew you could get so close to someone in two and a half weeks? Crazy.

This sucks...

MERINO!

Went shopping earlier and bought this really comfortable shirt...

Just went to check it out again and realized that it is Merino Wool ;)

Heck yes! It was such a steal...

If you aren't aware. Merino Wool is straight from NZ and is rather expensive in other parts of the world because the strand from kiwi sheep is the softest.

What's up. I'm rolling in style now...

I would like to thank my fellow friends for making this all possible:

Peace, Love, & Goodnight

-BriDownUnder

In need of a magic 8 ball..

I want to drop one of my classes so that I don't have to worry about school as much while I'm here. If I drop one of them, I will still have 3 classes and 50 points which is the recommended workload here. I don't know how the credits will transfer to UMD though so thats annoying.. ughhh. What to do?

On a better, way more positive note...just found out that we booked rooms at a Backpacker in Mt. Ruapehu. AKA....This:

HOLLLLERRRRR.

Looks like we're going shreddin' for the weekend :D

Can't waaaaiiiiiitttttt!!

Trip to Rotorua

For a weekend adventure we went to the city of Rotorua which is about an hour from Hamilton and more inland. The city has 17 lakes and is known for its geothermal activity. The area is active and thermal pools are form from the holes in earth's crust. It's weird -- and kinda gross-- that the city smells like rotten eggs. Seriously, I am not joking about this. The reason?? Hydrogen Sulfide is released from the geothermal activity and leaves the WHOLE city smelling like sulfur. It wasn't too bad though-- fine to visit...but to live? Probably not.

One of the thermal pools

(only for viewing--they were blocked off)

BLACK swans + Lake Rotorua

We had lunch at a small cafe' on the lake which was really nice and delicious :). Then, it was time for the real adventure. We were dead set on going to a mud pool...but after checking out the spas we were unable to find one that either had mud pools or was open. I'm kind of glad that this was the case though because we ended up going to a thermal spring that was out in the forest rather than spending our money at some stupid spa. I wish i had pictures of it... We weren't allowed to take pictures because it's not widely known and they want to keep it that way. It's in the same area as Kerosene Creek and this is a picture...which is almost exactly like where we were.

Minus the waterfall because this picture is farther up the stream. It was really awesome though to be surrounded by the forests (i love them here because they have so many different types of trees and plants, they look incredible). Also, it was next to a stream so when you started to get to hot you just moved more towards the stream and you could cool off without ever having to get out :) ahhhh, it was so great. Besides my mishap with my toe... I was cruisin' a little ways down the stream to cool off and somehow got this tiny sharp rock stuck in my toe. IN MY TOE. This is not a joke..nora had to pull it out for me. Ow, oh my gosh it hurt so bad. Damn little bugger. So now my toe is all band-aided up and its right on the tip of my toe so wearing shoes is a pain in the arse. That's the price you pay for adventure--right?

Wanna know something crazy? OF COURSE YOU DO. In the thermal pools you are not, I repeat ARE NOT supposed to put your head under the water. Why? Because apparently you can get a form of meningitis-- Amoebic Meningitis. This form can apparently kill a person really quickly and it enters through your ears and/or mouth and then reaches the brain. Crazy? I think yes. It's just one of those things that has a small chance of happening but just to be safe you always keep your head above water. Remember that if you ever find yourself in a thermal pool :) Just a little friendly advice from yours truly.

-BriDownUnder

So Behind...

What is my problem? I have been leaving out so much that I have done recently. SO! Before I tell my tales of going to Rotorua yesterday I must talk about Raglan and school events! Excuse me while I enhance my blogs information :)

RAGLAN

On our drive..

It was a great trip! I think that the tide is really low in the winter? I don't know how those type of earthly things work but the water was really far back on the beach, which you can see in some of the pics. It was a nice little city though...I think in summer it is going to be crazy there! It's known as a surf town...so you know where I will be ;).

That night we also did something really fun. Since it is re-Oweek at school (for B semester) our school puts on a bunch of events that you can go to. We got free tickets to the hypnotist that was performing that night and went there. HAHAHAHA. It was so great. One of my friends actually went up there and got hypnotized and it was hilarious. I've seen a hypnotist before but this time was much more entertaining I think. He had them do really embarrassing things like pretend to be victoria secret models and strut your stuff. We were in a lecture room so they all went down the aisles and posed. It was a really good time.

Our school also sponsored some events at the bars in town so wednesday night we went to the Fluro party in town. Black lights, glow sticks, and all that jazz-- it was a lot of fun. I also met some new kiwi's so that's pretty exciting!

Other than that I have finished my first week of school with mild success...I think it's going to be a rather easy semester which is good-- obviously my main interest in New Zealand is not to be studying all the time. Alright, I feel caught up--

-BriDownUnder

Put On Your Dancin' Shoes...

We're goin' out tonight.

Things I Wear That Are Unfashionable

Flair destroyed jeans. Once a staple to my wardrobe.

Generic School/Sports Team T-shirts.

New Windbreaker I bought. In Blue.

Trainers (Tennis Shoes).

NO ONE WEARS ANY OF THIS HERE.

Why must we be fashionable 24/7?

With the heels and skinny jeans and cute scarves.

Don't they ever feel a little lazy?

And I hope this isn't them being lazy because otherwise...I'm screwed.

Sooo Scheduled.

I love my roommate to death but seriously she is the most scheduled person I have ever met. More on this later...because if I am not ready in 20 minutes she will probably bite my head off. :)

Whew...finding time to write seems to be getting harder and harder to do. But ALAS, I have some time to spare between classes so I thought.. "why not!". I am almost done with my first week of classes and I would say that it has been quite a success. Minus the part where I had to buy textbooks because that is just a downer every.single.year. They also have "course readers" here which I think is a brilliant idea. You buy them from Campus Copy and they have all of your classes readings in them. Good alternative to buying textbooks, right? Right. Except for the fact that usually you have to buy a course reader AND books which I personally do not understand at all. Oh wellll.

All right, so to keep you all informed on my roommate situation I must update this post-- Now its no big secret that I am not a scheduled person BUT I do enjoy getting places on time (in most cases) and making flexible plans. My roommate takes this to a whole new level that I cannot even explain. If we are running even two minutes late she has to call the person we are meeting with just to let them know. Reversely, if we are waiting for a friend to come pick us up or something and THEY are more than two minutes late she starts to get really angry and irritated. I wish that I could say that the two minute thing is an exaggeration...but its not. Literally two minutes. Holy.Wow. I don't even know what I'm going to do if she doesn't loosen up a bit. Also, she's very keen on talking about herself in 85% of conversations which is starting to annoy myself and the girls I'm close with as well.

A lot of the conversation also revolves around things her and her "older boyfriend" do together because they are so mature and blahblahblah. O.k, thats cute that she is so into her boyfriend but it has gotten a little excessive. She's positive that he's the one and all of this stuff and they've been together for 3 months..and now shes spending 5 in New Zealand? That's a little tough for me to comprehend but then again most of her ideas and morals in life are.

I mean, I suppose if she just relies on the ability to cheat to keep her and her partners together then it totally makes sense. Oh, did I forget to mention that she almost lives her relationships on the basis of cheating? I'm not even saying that as in..she's cheated before. I'm saying her brain works in the sense that "80% of people cheat in relationships so why not just embrace that idea" basically...she sees sex and love as two completely different things that do not need to be intertwined or connected in any way. So, she loves her boyfriend but if for some reason something happens with another person its not because she doesn't love her boyfriend..its just because she was attracted to this person in a non-romantic way.

So, her and all of her boyfriends have some sort of an understanding that goes like this "if either of us cheat, thats fine, but we won't tell each other because I care about you too much to hurt you." I guess its good that they have some sort of an understanding? But my view has ALWAYS been that if you care about someone enough to be in a relationship with them then you also care about them enough to NOT be with anyone else. This conversation we had still haunts me to this day and it happened at least 4 days ago. Your thoughts? I'm not sure if my ranting even made sense...thats how frazzled the topic makes me feel.

All right, I'm worn out from writing that. I have more to add later about recent adventures but apparently I'm just making posts in sections. Might as well keep it up and leave you wanting more...right? :)

-BriDownUnder

The Naked and Famous

New band I just stumbled across that I think is worth a listen.. straight out of Auckland, NZ :)

First day of school--

I feel like I'm in kindergarten about to experience my first day of school ever.. --I'm excited to see what my teachers are like and all of that! Hopefully chat up some cute kiwi boys today if everything goes right ;). Just kidding, thats probably asking too much in my psychology classes but hopefully I will meet some cool new people! I had a great weekend...filled with adventure (of course).

Eclipse was great :) Verena and I both went all oogly Edward and then Jacob's muscles. Then all of us went to Hood Street Local to have a drink which was nice. Saturday was pretty packed, we went shopping in the morning and then to the Hamilton Gardens in the afternoon followed by dinner with the girls and then to the city to go clubbing at Agenda. Woofta! The gardens were alright...Denise was pretty amazed by them because she hasn't been to something like that before but I think it would be much more impressive in the summer- For obvious reasons. But there were flowers and stuff which was pretty cool to see in the "dead of winter". Pictures! --

Doesn't quite look like the winter we're used to, does it? It almost feels like it though. Brrr. It get's really cold at night and then during the day it will stay in the mid 30s or 40s. So, that was kind of the main event for the weekend. Agenda was an O.K. experience considering I've never really been one to enjoy going to the clubs. It was pretty cool though because the dance floor was small so I didn't feel forced into dancing. There was a lot of room to sit and talk to people...pretty classy lookin' place actually. Definitely going to have to get used to the time people go out around here-- they wait until midnight basically to even leave their flats to head to the bar. I think that means there's time for a nap before we head to the bars from now on, aye? ;)

Monday's I only have two classes so I'm still waiting to go to my first one at the moment-- at 2:10 I have Popular Culture and then from 3:10-5 I have Contemporary Issues & Social Psychology. My popular culture class is the one that I had to add because I didn't have enough points for the semester...which is kind of annoying but I think the class will be all right.

I feel like the blog is lacking personality today...everything just seems so formal today with school starting that I have nothing exciting to say. Maybe I should have waited to write this... ha! Oh well...deal with it.

I'm gonna go listen to some Ben Lee and drinking a tea before class.

Ps. new word for this area of the world that I learned--- Australasia?? Fascinating.

-BriDownUnder

Bowling, Bars, & Some Good Mates

Finally I have added some pictures! Hopefully that will tide a few of your over while I work on getting more up here. As you can see, my house is pretty a-door-able. I also snuck a picture from Denise of the bakery that resides across the street from us. It is so cute :) and in the morning it smells amazingggg :D

Well, I think I have successfully managed to figure out how public transportation works around here. I've rode the bus a couple of times so far. Fact #2: No student bus passes in the heart of Hamilton, New Zealand. Laaaaammmmeeeeee. I never took advantage of the free busing in Duluth and now I am regretting it. A trip on the bus here - no matter how long you are on (as long as its not more than 2 hours) - is three dollars. THREE DOLLARS. gosh..my bike sure is gonna come in handy :)

It's not too tough to bike most places from where my flat is. It is about a 10 minute walk to the campus from my flat and then I can bike to "city centre" (thats where all the cafes, shops, and bars are located) in about 15-20 minutes. There are a few incredible hills that I hope to conquer no problem by the end of this summer. Denise and I encountered two yesterday and WOW...we are out of shape. Ha! There's a picture that I posted earlier of our new bikes...equipped with super sexy helmets (its a law in New Zealand that you have to wear a helmet at all times, pretty smart, eh?) and then we also needed lights for the front and back if we are riding at night. Pretty classy if I do say so myself.

Today was yet another beautiful day. The sky is blue..barely any clouds. And then, you get out of your nice warm bed and are reminded by the sudden goosebumps that it is still the middle of winter :P but I don't think you could ask for much better weather in the winter. Pretty cool.

So, I've been wondering what in the heck goes on in the space next to my flat because I always hear children outside my house early in the morning. I thought it was kind of odd. Well, today I remembered that curtains can be pushed back to see the outside world (I hadn't thought of it on the other overcast days) and opened my window to find a PRESCHOOL. How precious. :) I guess it will serve as something to push me out of bed in the mornings when I cannot get up. Just give me the sound of a kid screaming for 5 minutes and I will be up and ready to go. Haha! It's cute though, they all play at the playground next to my room during the day.

I'm definitely starting to get more used to the way things work around here. My flat is starting to feel more like home as I go along, which is nice. It's Friday here at the moment..so I'm about to enjoy my last weekend before I start school. I found out that the semester here is only 12 weeks though which is SO COOL. :) But yeah, tonight a few of the girls that I have met here, my roommate, and myself are all going to see Eclipse and then we are going to meet up with the guys that we have met to go out to the bars afterward. It should be a good night :)

Last night we all enjoyed a night of bowling which was really, really fun. I like the group of people that I have met so far and we all seem to get along great as a group so that is really exciting to see happening already. Let me introduce the current gang we have going on:

Top left: Verena (Germany, visiting NZ for a year to travel), Nora (Studying @ Waikato from the Netherlands), Denise (my roommate from Germany), Ruth (Studying from the Netherlands), Katie (Nora's roommate, local kiwi)

Bottom Left: Spencer & Keith (both from UMD studying with me) and then Harold (met at backpacker's, from Aussie and traveling NZ)

So, I think I have made a great start on my blog so far! I have more pictures from bowling and stuff but will probably wait to put them up or just add them on facebook. For now that is all I know-- Gotta go get my laundry out of the washer and hang them up (it's gonna take some getting used to) and then we are off to buy some groceries! Cheers!

-BriDownUnder

Our Humble Abode -- It's so "cool"

Across the street from our flat = cute bakery :)

Finally, some time to write!

Hi!

It is the first day in my journey to New Zealand that I have had a spare minute to write some thoughts down! Not much can be said right now because I am going out bowling with some friends in a half hour but I suppose I can write down the basics before I begin to forget!

I am currently curled up in my bed trying to keep warm... fact #1 about NZ: They do not believe in insulation. Therefore, my house is probably just about as cold as it is if I walked out my front door. Hm...something that I will have to get used to. I do like curling up at night though, so I guess we will look at the positives of that situation! They also don't have a central heater in their homes (??) so we are able to buy our own to keep our rooms warm but at the moment I'm feeling rather stingy with my money. So, where does that leave me? Curled up in 3 layers of clothes and a comforter bitching about how cold I am.

Why do I do it? Because I'm a freaking MINNESOTAN, duh. This skin can handle a little cold. It is usually around 55 degrees during the day and at night about 37 or so. I'm still trying to get used to the celsius temperatures... maybe someday I will be able to do it off the top of my head. For now, I rely on my celsius->Farenheit converter on my computer.

I need to get some pictures up of my new house. It's a pretty legit deal I think... the money that I'm spending on rent is a grip less than what I would spend in Duluth, so thats reassuring. I'm living with 6 other people. One of them being a girl that has turned out to be a really close friend in these past few days. My main and most amazing roommate, Denise. She is from Germany and we know how to have a good time. The language barrier is pretty funny sometimes and I'm sure that there will be some great stories to tell about the confusion we experience while talking sometimes. My other 5 roommates have all been living here for some time longer than us. Two girls from India, Richard (hes my favorite so far) from China, Keng is from Thialand and his girlfriend Jasmine all live in the house. Luckily we have two bathrooms and two showers...otherwise Iwould be much more worried! All of them kind of keep to themselves so far so it will be interesting to see how this semester turns out.

Typical day in my house?

-Everyone has their rooms closed and the house is very peaceful and quiet...(other than Denise and myself causing some ruckus every now and then)...and then...MEAL TIME: everyone comes out in herd-like-form and begins to cook and everyone is talking and the house is so lively and smells amazing of their awesome cooking (benihana x LeeAnn Chin x anotherawesomeasiansmell ALL combined. THEN, 30 minutes later...dishes are being cleaned the herd returns to their rooms and all is silent yet again.

Oh but it is all so good so far. Honestly, it has been a little odd being here. I feel really out of my own comfort zone but as the days go on I get more and more comfortable with where I am living. I think it's great to experience something so different. However, I am a little bummed to not be living with any native Kiwi's so that is definitely my main goal for new roommates after this semester. Gain some worldly knowledge and then get cozy with some kiwis? I think- YES.

Well, I really wanted to tell stories of my adventure to get a bike today but there is not much time left for that. Some friends will be here soon to go bowling AND I get to ride in a car... (trust me, it hasn't happened much here).

Until the next time,

-BriDownUnder