HFamily: A Tribute

We've all suffered loss in our lives, one way or the other. We've all felt the pain, the fear, and the sadness that loss brings upon us. However, it's different when God takes one of us away too early or too young. How could such tragedy happen to a person so young, to a person who has not experienced all of what life has to offer? 

Could it be the purity of their spirits, the sanctity of their souls?

We've suffered a tragic loss. I emphasize "we" because my High School, Harborfields, has this miraculous ability to come together through a time of loss, sadness, despair, and all of those feelings associated with the loss of life. One of the members of our HFamily passed away, Jacob. Some of us may only remember him, some of us may have interacted with him, and some of us may have loved him unconditionally; regardless of our relationship with him, everyone is suffering his loss. He was known for his contagious smile, his ability to make people laugh, how he lit up every room he walked in, and most importantly, how kind and genuine he was as a person. He's positively impacted all of the people whose lives he has walked into. He exemplifies the pure goodness that people are capable of. 

Take time out of your day to pray for Jacob, his loved ones, and all of the others you have lost in your life.

Cause You Had A Bad Day...

Yes, everyone, I had a bad day today. 

Last night, I barely slept a wink and I had a huge presentation this morning. 

I woke up this morning and had THREE very large cups of coffee to wake up and meet with my 'oh so pleasant' group.

We met at St. David Cafe. 

The kiwi girl, who was 15 minutes late, for our 8:30am meeting came fully dressed and made up. 

You get that a lot here.

After our meeting, I went home to change into something other than my pajamas. Went to class. Gave a baller introduction to our project. 

Kiwi girl took 12 out of the 20 allotted minutes for her part of the presentation. 

Had to speed through my part. Skipped the American boys part. Jumped to the conclusion. 

My professor hated it, he asked us really hard questions, that only I knew. 

Thank You, Wesleyan, for providing me with a phenomenal education. 

The only bright side to my day was venting to Jen (yeah Jen, I gave you a shout out) and the awesome Skype date I had. 

x Keep on Smiling x

Stayin' Classy: Savory Sipping and Naughty Nibbling

I decided that it would be awesome to have a Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Party to keep it classy one night. Everyone had delicious (not 6$ bottles) of wine, some awesome cheese from the Farmer's Market and delicious chocolate.

Everyone dressed their best, lookin' fine. Although this party had every intention of being class, after everyone started 'sipping' on the wine and trying to find out what wine worked best with what cheese and what chocolate, all hope was lost of classiness.

Sipping turned into gulping and gulping turned into chugging; and chugging always turns into fun.  Everyone shed their coat of inhibitions and shit got weird. What more could you ask for?

x Staying Classy x

Thank You, New Zealand

...for having chocolate named after the most rancid of animals.

Hitchin' All Over the World

Lake Wanaka Harbor 

Need a Hand?

Snow Park

Snow Park Cabin

Cardrona Mountain

Burton Open: Semi Finals

Winna!

Queenstown Candy: NomNomNom

I had such a lovely weekend to Queenstown and Wanaka. Alex and I bought a sweet GrabOne deal to Snow Park, New Zealand in Wanaka. It was only 20$ per night and all of our friends were staying in the same hostile. We had some lunch in a small, but delicious, restaurant. After, we caught our bus to the mountain and finally arrived at around 5pm. By that time, we relaxed in the lounge, had a few beers and winded up playing Jenga. After a few minutes of our really intense game, two other boys decided to join us. After our game, we had another delicious meal. We went back up to our room to get ready for some more drinking and sneaking into the hot tubs in the apartments on the hill above us. We made mimosas but the orange juice we used had pulp in it; the final product was not visually appealing.

We made an attempt to sneak into those hot tubs, but lucky us, all the apartments were filled and most of those people were out and about, around their apartments. Epic Failure.

The morning after, we heard some bad news about the weather hitting Dunedin, so we decided to cut our trip short, and leave directly after the Burton Open on Cardrona Mountain. We were ready by 9am, with coffee in hand! We stood at the top of the mountain, hoping, I mean really HOPING we could hitch down the mountain. A nice worker offered to take us half way down the mountain and waited with us until we found a ride down the other half of the mountain. We eventually found a ride but, 'tis a story that I can only tell you when you're older.

Those people <mentioned above> brought us to the road that led us to Cardrona. Eventually, we found a family (a dad and his two beautiful kids, who I happened to have wonderful conversations with on the ride up), that took us all the way up to the top - so long as we watched his kids for 10 minutes. We didn't have any time to ski or board because we had to catch a 4pm bus in Queenstown to bring us back to Dunedin. Again, we got more coffee and attempted to make our way up to the mountain where the half pipe was. This is when I first realized we were divas.

Both of us had jeans, Uggs, and obnoxious (neon green and bright orange) shells on <-- talk about looking like Americans. We had to take the bunny trail lift up (in our Uggs, without a board or skis) and somehow trek up a mountain without any sort of traction. After slipping and sliding up this mountain, only slipping once or twice (maybe more), we made it up and found seats to watch the semi-finals. That was short-lived though because we had to leave by 12:30 to have ample time to hitch to Queenstown.

What a life. When it was time to go, we had to now figure out a way to get down this small mountain. A bunch of beautiful boarders were watching at our attempts and eventually told us to sit on our bags and slide down the hill. The only thought that was going through my head was "Bitch, are you crazy? I'm not sitting, let alone, sliding on my Marc Jacobs" <-- ultimate diva. I was so stubborn, I just sat down on the snow and slid down the hill like a small child.

After this obstacle, we waited for forever to find a ride down the hill and (possibly to Queenstown). This old, Australian man offered to take us all the way to Queenstown (thank the lord). Alex sat up front with him, having a heated political debate while I was in the back off in la la land. What else is new?

We Arrived in Queenstown! We only had a few hours there but managed to run into Sierra and Alisha, buy a lot of things from the gift stores, and have a sweet lunch. Although we had so many issues, and quite the experiences hitch-hiking all over the world, I was so happy we decided to leave early. Our friend who had the same return schedule as us didn't get home until wednesday evening (we got home late saturday night) because of the snow!

x Feeling Lucky x

OMG, Somebody just hit Somebody!

This could be the story of how a great friendship began. It all started through, what we would consider today as, online dating. Yes, Alex and I met via Facebook, on our Otago International Student's Group. I posted a few months ago about how I wanted to go to the USA v Canada Hockey Game at Dunedin Ice Stadium. She was the only one who wanted to go with me out of all of the people in the student group. Yes again, we bonded over a mutual love for hockey. To this day, I'm not sure if it was a bond over the love of the game or the love of the players.

Eventually, Alex and I met the night of the hockey game with ample time to pre-game for the rowdiness sure to come. When we got to the stadium (at least 20 minutes early), the line was almost a half of a mile long! That's when I knew that the game was going to be crazy. At first, we had trouble finding seats in the arena, but eventually we found seats next to a boy and his father who allowed us to sit with them. The seats were a lucky grab, they were right above the commentators and where the players walked out of the locker rooms. I think we were the only ones in the stadium who knew anything about hockey, idiot fans.

I think we were the only American fans there, and it was certainly made known. We were rooting for the American team like it was our day job (considering they lost the first two games in the series against Canada). Eventually, the American team started winning (and I whole-heartedly believe that it was because of our cheering). During the game, we got called out by the commentators 3 times, led a "USA" chant and got to meet one of the players, and take pictures during the game. He invited us out to hang out with them at RA Bar, yeah, that happened.

Later that night, we went to RA Bar to celebrate and boast about the American team winning. We got to meet tons of the players and take pictures with them, have them buy us drinks. It was more fun than I could have asked for. We probably could have taken a few of them home, or wait...?

x Number One Fan x

Chocolate: The Sweet Goods of the Gods

The Sweet Stuff
There is nothing more unique than chocolate. When you hear the word "chocolate", you associate it with other words and feelings like "love", "comfort", "enjoyment", and likely "guilty pleasure". No other food can really compare. For example, when you hear the word "cod" or "shrimp", you don't associate the same words or feelings with those foods. You would be more likely to hear an oversized, bearded man squealing excitedly about his catch from the middle of the ocean. Clearly, Chocolate isn't like other foods. It always evokes a smile, happiness, and other feelings of joy. It is universally loved by all people across the world; by the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the small and the large, the Republican and The Democratic, the atheist and the holy roller. As lyricist and baller, Jay-Z, once said (about chocolate), "Now give it to me, give me that funk, that sweet, that nasty, that gushy stuff". At least we hope that's what he was talking about. 


The Enemy or Best Friend?

Our relationship with chocolate is complicated; it can be eaten as a comfort food, a celebratory food, even for just plain cravings. For a sad portion of people, chocolate is a relentless enemy! It's this unremitting temptation, like the urge to push personal injury attorneys and

 For a sad few, chocolate is the "enemy." It's a relentless temptation, like the urge to push telemarketers  and saleswomen into oncoming traffic. Chocolate can be a trap, trap you in its deliciousness. It can result in feelings of guilt, remorse, and self-loathing.  It can result in compulsive actions. Sometimes it can result in thighs the size of national monuments, commonly known as 'thunder thighs'.

Chocolate is like a drug. Let's be real, the only real difference between chocolate and a drug is that one doesn't need to call a twitchy, suspicious guy nicknamed "skittles" to get a chocolate fix, because unlike illicit drugs, chocolate is everywhere—like Pop Singers and Political Campaigns.

Cadbury, Cadbury, Cadbury!
And by everywhere, I mean everywhere. My friends and I decided to go to the Cadbury Chocolate Festival (CCF). The CCF is a week long, chocolate-lovers dream come true. Early in the week, Conor, Brett and I went to Speight's Brewery for a Beer and Chocolate Taste-Testing Extravaganza.

Our Old Man tour guide was so precious. He gave us a great tour around the brewery but all of us were anticipating the 30-min beer and chocolate tasting at the end. FINALLY, we got to the bar where 6 spectacular beers were set in front of their taps and endless bowls of chocolate in front of that. This beer connoisseur taught us how to carefully taste the beer with their choice of chocolate. All of us happily agreed that these were the best choices, going back up for both more beer and more chocolate. By the end, I acquired an ample pile of chocolate (taking more than I should, each time), and a serious buzz. Overall, the experience was amazing!

My next adventure at the Cadbury Chocolate Festival was located at the mall. Conor, Kelsie, Leo, Lord Voldemort (my previous, crazy flatmate, who I will tell all about in an upcoming post), and I went to the mall to see a chocolate house and obviously, steal as much chocolate as we can. While the house made of chocolate was awesome to walk through, I thought the ending was better. A lovely girl told us to take one piece of chocolate each, I took that as "take two of every color in the bin", she eventually took the basket away from me and we all proceeded to eat tons of chocolate. Success.

My new flatmates and I always have an assortment of Cadbury Chocolate (this post could be considered a Cadbury Commercial). But in all honesty, Cadbury definitely tops Godiva and is in the running for Hershey. I'm currently snacking on a kilo of coconut chocolate, but our other choices in the house are dark chocolate with coffee beans, and peppermint flavored chocolate. Bring on the thunder thighs, baby.

Love Always, 

Your Guilty Pleasure.

What's Up with Politics?

As I already mentioned, politics is one of my passions. When I came to New Zealand, I thought it would really interesting to start comparing New Zealand political culture to American political culture and what was most important to each government.

The New Zealand government is run much differently than our government in the States. New Zealand is a Constitutional Monarchy. Being a member of the British Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning monarch and Head of State. Her representative, Anand Satyanand, is the Governor General of New Zealand. They also have an MMP, a mixed member proportional parliamentary system, which allows political parties to occupy a proportion of seats in Parliament. The party with the most seats holds power. Currently, the National-led party, led by John Key, holds power in New Zealand.

I've always been involved in politics, keeping up with current events and so on. When I went to Wesleyan, I noticed that most people at my school are also involved in politics (whether its supporting some NGO or being involved in a political party club), even on a larger scale, the high school students and even more so, college students, are so involved in American political culture. Our voices have become so strong in politics, whether its at a local, regional, or national level. Since I've been here, I don't find students rallying around a common cause. Even when I talk to some students, the politics is highly influenced by what's happening in America or Britain. It's almost upsetting to see that so many students have nothing to rally around and are content with the social, political and economic foundations of their country. This is just my opinion, maybe I am missing something, or maybe I haven't dug deep enough or talked to enough kiwi's about why they are so 'pleased' or 'unconcerned' with politics in their country.

After the 2008 recession, all hope was lost about the economy recovering until New Zealand was named the host of the Rugby World Cup (2011). Why wouldn't the students rally around something like this? Is the RWC going to be enough to pull the economy out of the recession?

Read About It Here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/26/new-zealand-economy-rugby-cup

While the recession in New Zealand seems to be of a lesser scale then the one taking place in our country, we're going to have to take similar measures to pull ourselves out of it.

What do you think about Obama's Ultimatum to the Republicans about "Buffet Taxing"?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/obama_tax_and_cut_gambit_prRNsmkLmIfXhksWvPW67M

Kia Ora a Tāne (Hello, Boys)

Yes, I know, this may look like soft core on my blog, but I promise, it's not. There's a new phenomenon in New Zealand, Nude Rugby. This may seem like a spoof, or a joke, but people all over the South Island of New Zealand are participating. The Nude Blacks, our local Dunedin team, played first in Early August. One of the players actually offered me a formal position on the team; paid with some press time (Unfortunately, I declined and Yes, they do have TONS of press time and even received interviews that were televised on German TV). Although I had to decline this great offer, I still showed up at kick-off with some friends. Along with Otago Students, some families and their children stopped by and a couple of the construction workers took a quick break to see what all the ruckus was about! At this game, the Nude Blacks were playing the Fiji team in a 'manly?' quest to take the win. During the game, a couple of clothed streakers got hauled off the field, tons of tackling and dirty talk was going on. Eventually,, the Nude Blacks won! All the nudity seemed to make everyone want to get naked, so at that point, all of my friends and I decided to enjoy some Rob Roy's ice cream.
You can take a look at the Nude Blacks and their record on their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/118708011495793/

x love yourself x

The Bigger the Better?

Wesleyan is a a very small school, with a student body of about 2800. When I came to Otago, I had no idea what to expect. The student body here is almost 30,000! I'm used to having close, personal relationships with each one of my professors. The first few classes of the semester had an overwhelming number of people in the classes, at least 150 students in each class. That is the size of our largest lecture hall at Wesleyan. However, throughout the semester (since no professor takes attendance), the classes began to dwindle as soon as the students felt it was okay to come and go as they please. After that, I felt more comfortable speaking in class and getting to know my professors. The one amazing aspect about going to Otago is, that the classes are so easy! My course load is perfect for an international student. My philosophy, for when I came here, was not to work too hard (that's for Wesleyan, of course!), and luckily, I don't have too!

Peace, Love, Otago

A Trip to the Beach and the Peninsula

Our flat decided to take a trip to the beach and the Otago Peninsula. At this point, these were the first two sights I had seen since I had arrived in Dunedin. We left around noon, hoping the sun would shine through the very cloudy day, but it never happened! After visiting the perfectly blue Pacific Ocean, we stopped at Sandfly Bay. The weather cleared up (although the wind was almost unbearable) and we were able to see a seal or two all the way at the bottom of the cliff!

Week One in Dunedin

I'm trying to blog as quickly as I can about my first two and a half months in Dunedin. My first week in Dunedin was memorable, so to speak. I was living out of my suitcases because I was too jet lagged to unpack. Since I flew in on a Friday night, the first weekend was sprung upon me really quickly.

Saturday nights in Dunedin usually consist of a casual stroll to Monkey Bar, which is nothing short of a trashy night club, yet always provides an awesome DJ and an open dance floor. At around 1 or 2am, the group usually breaks apart; one going home and the other going to the Octagon. The Octagon is highly unpredictable, you can either stop to get some Jesus Sausage on the way to party at Alibi or Pop, or meet some really drunk kiwis to take pictures with. Either way, the most memorable parts of the weekends are trekking around Dunedin with your flatmates experiencing the true kiwi lifestyle.

My Very First Post

I was inspired by my many friends abroad to create a blog. Although I've already started the second half of the semester, I plan to catch you up on my experiences, from the beginning. I've had such amazing experiences so far. Maybe starting this blog was a blessing in disguise; I've had my 'ups and downs' while being here, but blogging about it later in time will allow me to reflect back on these experiences and fully appreciate the time I've spent here so far, and the rest of the time I have here.