No Place Like Home

Made it home after about 23 hours of flight time yesterday. Already being doted upon by the family with fantastic food...man do they know the key to my heart haha. Anyway's I still gotta get my video posted here so there will still be at least one post left!

Semester In Review

Where to start haha. These past five months certainly have been the greatest months of my young life. From Fiji to New Zealand to Tonga to Australia (yes I'm counting I went to Aussie because my flight goes there tomorrow for a layover to LAX :) ), I've been to and seen some absolutely gorgeous places, and met some amazing people that I'll never forget. I did make a video that I hope to post to this blog at a later date, but I'd like the family to watch it with me when I get home first. I'll be sure to post that showing some of the best moments, pictures and videos over my study abroad experience. But for now, lets categorize:

Best Experience: TEAN South Island Excursion - New Zealand's South Island is unlike anything I'd ever seen, unmatched in sheer beauty, excitement and thrill (Queenstown). Bungee Jumping, Canyon Swinging, Glacier Hiking, Jetboating, Mountain Luging, River Boarding, the list goes on and on. From this list I'd say my greatest memory would be the 134m bungy jump or Franz Josef Glacier hike.

Worst Experience: Hands down, not even close - the ferry ride to 'Eua from Tongatapu. I know this might surprise you considering I survived an earthquake and ash cloud but I can't put into words how miserable I was for those 4 hours of hell. The earthquake after all sent me to O'Kain's Bay, Akoroa, and Wellington, so in hindsight I'd say the whole thing worked out pretty well. The ash cloud came out of no where really but again gave me an extra couple days in NZ so I can't complain

School: Yes over the past five months I did manage to do some studying. I actually enjoyed all my classes, from history to introductory English writing, the professors and material were all fun. If I had to quantify it I'd say I spent 8 days writing essays, 12 days studying for exams, 12 days reading textbooks, and really that was it - compared to Drake it was 100% stress free. And for all the work that I didn't put in I still am gonna wind up with a B+ or A- average for all four courses - which is ridiculous!

I'm the last one here in Wellington. Morgan, Megan, Carter and others left for a 3:30am shuttle that I plan on taking tomorrow. I'm probably gonna chill, read or prep for tomorrow's flight all day (that and eat a lot of course).

Finally I'd like to thank TEAN once more, you've been spectacular this entire trip - couldn't have done it without ya! I'd also like to thank my parents for giving me this opportunity to study abroad - couldn't have done it without you guys either! And last but certainly not least thanks to everyone who reads my blog, thinks about me or supports me during this entire experience! I only ask that you don't stop now as I still have 30 hours worth of flight and layover time left before I make it home to the STL!!

Good News

Finally walked up to the Botanical Gardens today. Unfortunately everything isn't in full bloom any more obviously because its winter time here. It still made for a great hike and sight seeing of Wellington and Oriental Bay. On a Qantas note, all flights are going out as scheduled now (knock on wood for the future)! Thank goodness because we all definitely couldn't afford another delay - that's for sure.

This perfectly symmetrical rose garden would
have been much better in the summer time

Hard to Say Goodbye

We were supposed to leave yesterday making the goodbyes much quicker and easier but now we have to stick around and say goodbye to everyone individually across the day haha. 6 more left today and each one was a tear-dropper for the girls (me not so much but it was sad no doubt about it). Now I've got the whole flat to myself

Qantas Update #3

Jetstar is resuming all flights tomorrow except for arriving and departing from Wellington......are you kidding me? It's not enough that the ash cloud was specifically above New Zealand but now specifically above Wellington. At least it's good news that flights are finally starting to leave considering I've still got a couple of days left till my flight on the 29th.

Qantas Update #2

All flights cancelled for tomorrow, June 26th as well flying through Qantas and Jetstar. I'm beginning to wonder if a five day delay isn't enough time....what if nothing changes by the time of the 28th or 29th for all of us?? I don't even want to think about that but of course it's on my mind