I'm finally "studying" abroad.

 Yes indeed. After a nice 3 month vacation from school, classes are in full swing at the University of Otago and I am finally back to being a student. I kind of missed it? Although I still feel like I am on vacation simply because everything about this place is beautiful and fun times a million. I don't really have much to update you all on. I have been busy with class and trying to learn where everything is on campus and how it all works. I cannot believe it has been almost 3 weeks since the earthquake. My time here is going so fast already it’s hard to keep track. Speaking of earthquakes…I cannot believe what happened in Japan. I definitely feel for their country having just experienced a similar situation although theirs was much worse than the one in Christchurch. The earth’s tectonic plates need to just chill out for a little bit.

Last Friday night my flatmates and I decided to have a Mexican food night for dinner. The California kids cooked for the others who don't know real Mexican food. Haha. We had enchiladas, salsa, guacamole, nachos…it was delicious! The Mexican food here is scarce and when you do find it...it is awful. So instead of hand washing all our dishes we decided to use our dishwasher. Now before I tell you what happened next, let me just say I have not used a dishwasher in about 3 years because none of the apartments I lived in back in Santa Barbara had one. So give me some slack. But I accidentally used dishwashing liquid instead of detergent. So…twenty minutes later we had a foam party in the kitchen. Oops! And that caused half of the electricity in our kitchen to go out so you could say I made a mess of things. Sorry flatmates! But we all had a good laugh and they told me I was not allowed to use the dishwasher again. My bad…

 Yay food!

Oooppss!

Yesterday (Saturday) my friends and I got up and went to the Otago Farmer’s Market. It was so big! I loved buying all my produce from local growers and being able to know that what I was getting was fresh. We decided to pack our new purchases and head to the beach for a picnic. And as usual…the beach was beautiful! A little cold but we didn’t mind; it is fall here now. It was a good day and we had a lot of fun. I love exploring new places here and since the country is so small, the places we go are never crowded.

Us in front of the train station

Well, that is about it for exciting things to share with you all. Since school has started things are slowing down a bit and my adventures are restricted to just the weekends. How boring? Haha. But next weekend should be interesting! Thursday is St. Patty’s Day and apparently it is HUGE here since the town has an Irish/Scottish heritage. I can’t wait for that. And then on Saturday is a local rugby game that I am hoping to get tickets for. It is the Otago Highlanders verus the Christchurch Crusaders. I am going to cheer for the Crusaders since Christchurch was my original home!

Since I don’t know what else to say and I don’t want to leave you with a short post I am going to share with you a few things I’ve noticed about New Zealand.

1. The produce here is SO GOOD. Everything tastes really, really fresh. The tomatoes are the sweetest I have ever had. Sorry California, New Zealand has you beat.
2. But on that note, the fruit is much smaller. Apples, limes, plums, peaches…they are so tiny! Darn genetically enhanced California produce…
3. Shoes are definitely an option here. People can go into stores, grocery markets, really anywhere without shoes. Gross? Also, mullets and rat tails are a huge fashion. I think they are stuck in 1980? Apparently the rat tail phase is to support New Zealand’s rugby team, the All Blacks, since a lot of the team members have them. Strange…
4. Kiwis LOVE to make fun of American football especially when they compare it to rugby. “Oh you Americans are sissy’s with your pads and helmets”. It’s actually really entertaining.
5. The country is obsessed with rugby and their national team. Everything has gone black to support the All Blacks. If you didn’t already know, the Rugby World Cup is in New Zealand this year in November (so bummed I’m gonna miss it!) They even went so far to postpone the elections and no candidate will advertise during the games for fear of people getting angry at them for missing the game.
6. They do not have Ketchup. It’s called Tomato Sauce and tastes really strange. Also, when you want to order any kind of condiment to go with your meal you have to pay extra. Even McDonald’s is skimpy on their Tomato Sauce packets and only give you one or two when back home they throw 19 packets at you.
7. I love how they use the metric system and their currency. The metric system makes so much more sense. Come on America, switch over! And with their currency, pennies do not exist. I actually had a conversation with a Kiwi and he was asking me the point of pennies and I had no answer for him. Haha. When you buy things here, they are 10 dollars, 5 dollars, etc. None of this silly $9.95, $21.56, etc.
8. But everything is much more expensive than in the US. Thank goodness for the exchange rate. Hopefully it stays in my favor!
9. The weather is so unpredictable here...one minute it is rainy and cold and the next it is sunny and warm. It likes to change about every hour I'd say?

That’s about all I can think for now. Happy reading!