Friday 9th
Woke up at 5:30 this morning. Excited but sad, how come these feelings so often cling to each other in times of change? We drove in a huge ass van and slept until we came back to the rest stop we had visited when we first arrived in New Zealand. So at Auckland airport we played one final game of zoo with Chauncy before we had to go through security, which was the most lackadaisical checkpoint ever. We didn't have to remove jackets or shoes, or take out liquids, or show our ticket. We just put our bags through the machine, walked through the metal detector, and without a second glance we were waived on. Maybe I'm just too used to American security. We waited for our plane to board while Xtina beasted her way to the free internet before our 2 hour plane ride to Queenstown. Oh my god it is beautiful here with the snow capped mountains on both sides, the shimmering lake below, and green pastures peeking out through the fluffy cumulo-nimbus. There are so many people on this adventure tour. 49 people, and we only have a 49 seater bus that will be driving us for the next 2 weeks. But the hostel we are staying at is amazing, called Nomads Backpackers. It's like a hotel made for us young adults. People just mulling around and drinking at night. We went into town where it was freezing cold, bought some beer at a liquor store where the owner thought my California ID was sketchy. The hostel becomes dry at 9, so Me, Janelle, Finn, Xtina, and an Australian girl with us went to a park to drink on the play structures. Such a cool experience haha, but it was so cold we came back after about half an hour. Ended up just walking around the wharf looking at the lights on the lake.
Saturday 10th
SNOWBOARDING TODAY!!! Finn and I went to Cardrona resort today for snowboarding in July! A bit crowded, and it was only a small resort, but it was still nice to get out and board. Just wish there was more snow... Jumps are pretty sick here. And I will never again take my own boots and board for granted - I hate rental gear. Then we got back to the hostel and I went with the girls to have food in the mall's food court. After some time I can't remember, we had a couple beers in the lounge and then the girls dragged us to World Bar. Joanna and Emily were hot dogging and then we sat in a corner table and people talked to some Australian guys who were kind of wasted. We all had some drinks while Emily got shitfaced and I was interrogated about girls. Note: bar scene is not really for me. Fun, but I don't need all of the male competition for female attention
Sunday 11th
Kinda drunk right now. And holy shit it's kinda hard to write like this. So basically we woke up at like 8:00 this morning to go on our jet boating, but it was too icy on the river so they had to postpone it. Went and shopped with S-Dawg, Finn, and Xtina and had lunch, then met up with Janelle, Joanne, Emily, and Kathryn after. Joanna and Emily were done with their LOTR tour. Then the boys and Janelle, Xtina, and Kathryn went on a hike around the lake to skip rocks and stuff. We hit a playground and found a skate park and an ice rink, then went to a normal park and played with the ice on the frozen pond. Then we met at some tourist area and the boys and Xtina went on our jet boating adventure. It was sweet as, but hella cold and came off with half my face covered in ice. Then we changed, went to World Bar for a crappy dinner, went back to the hostel and played 2 games of kings cup. Oh man, new ways to play old games ;) Then back to World Bar to get more drinks. I smuggled in a 375 ml and 1.25 L of smirnoff and coke cause it was cheaper for Finn and I to get drunk that way, and I'm quite a bit rusty with my sexy skills, so no guys were buying me any drinks... Talked with Janelle while the other girls went dancing, went back to the room to pack although I didn't get much done. I wish I could influence people's minds... (editors note: wtf was I writing here...) peace
ps. Janelle thinks I am more of a starvo than her now. Must prove this correct
Sunday 12th
Woke up around 7ish and packed, then went to watch the world cup final in the movie room. YAY Spain! Totally outplayed the Netherlands. Then 5 hour bus ride to Franz Joseph. We stopped at a supermarket and rest stop and then Ship Creek to take a little hike and take pictures. We saw a pod of dolphins and skipped rocks into the ocean. Beautiful, as always. Then ride to the glacier info meeting, most of which I slept through. Had another meeting on the bus, then we unloaded and went to the hot tubs. Which were broken and only luke-warm. What a disappointment. Then dinner with bread and AMAZING tomato soup, our unofficial sign that we are going to have a good dinner. Then we went back to our room to play cards and listen to music. After the girls left we got ready to go to bed. The boys some how started talking about how guys don't care about changing and sleeping and stuff, and that it feels great to sleep naked, so I took off my boxers when Xtina didn't believe us. She tried to call my bluff, crawled into bed with me, which led to lots of screaming and laughter that the girls next door could hear. Foolish girls.
Tuesday 13th
So today was pretty epic. Woke up, ate a quick breakfast, then over to the Franz-Joseph Glacier tour place to get our hiking equipment. After our bus ride to the park, walked 200 meters to the base of the glacier and hiked up around 10ish. The boys were in the fast group, so we were able to trail blaze the ever-changing ice paths and see the most of the glacier. Mike the tour guide was hella chill and even told this one talkative girl to shut up. Went through this ice tunnel that we had to literally crawl through and then got stuck in a narrow passageway crevasse for 10 minutes while Mike chipped the path wider. But it was gorgeous from atop the glacier. Back to the hostel, hung out, then cooked tacos in the kitchen and fed the local cat some food so he'd like us. I did the ground beef mince duty, and ended up eating 5 huge tacos and the leftovers. The last one took me a good hour to finish, in which time it got quite cold. But determined not to let any of our food go to waste! Janelle and Christina were having an eating competition too, so we're all in the unofficial fatass club. Then shower, pack, and Xtina made us have a "girl talk." So we talked about the usual, sex and love and that stuff, but apparently not in enough detail and bitchery to be satisfactory, so now the girls are all going to make us do it again. Traveling tomorrow for 8+ hours. Great.
Wednesday 14th
Woke up at 6:15 to finish packing, went to breakfast and found out Kathryn only claimed 2 rows of seats cause for some reason she thought we had gotten ours but not saved any for them... whatever. So I ran and got seats and missed breakfast. 2 girls hooked up last night after going out, and one girl's story got more and more epic every time she told it. Definitely believe her... Tried to sleep on the bus but we kept stopping, first at a jade factory and then at some beach to see baby fur seals. Then we ate some hallucinogenic leaves from a native plant, but it only made my mouth numb. But they were disgusting. Terrible music being played on the bus' sound system, and it was hella loud so we couldn't sleep. Bad country and Fing Miley Cyrus remix. Meet the Fockers and Dirty Dancing were good though on the tvs. And so finally in Nelson we got our rooms, explored the town only to find that all the shops were closed at 5:30. Even Starbucks. Se we went walking, had a buffet dinner, went to the supermarket to get beer, and casually drank while we played spoons. We took a video of us healing Emily's blister. Talked to Geoffrey the army guy about his tattoos. Tomorrow we are teaching Janelle how to play beer pong. Sick, eh?
Thursday 15th
Breakfast at 7, got our crappy lunches (the spice cake was good) then left at 7:30 for our hour and a half bus ride to Able-Tasman National Park. We chose to hike first, so I talked to Janelle while she escaped Peter talking about clubbing baby seals. It was such a hungry walk. Finally we stopped for lunch on a beach, listened to a crazy tour guide talk about the Maori/Dutch confrontation in Murderer's Bay, then paired up with Finn in our Kayaks and proceeded to splash and flip up everyone's rudders. Then bus ride back to the hostel for an amazing hot shower. Talked with the girls in their room where we discovered the truth about Joanne's assumptions about me, had a "girl talk" with everyone, then went to one of the best Indian restaurants I've ever been to. OMG it was fabulous. Came back to the hostel and played a couple games of spoons. Went to a bar called Sprig and Fern where they served this amazing fruit cider. S-Dawg, Joanne, Janelle, Emily and I had a talk about elf socks and other important matters until 12, then walked back to pack our stuff. Also discussed how the ISV group that never should have happened turned out to be the best, most supportive, and closest knit group ever. Best decision this year, changing projects.
Friday 16th
Another travel day today. We woke up around 8:15ish so I finished up my packing, went down to breakfast, then joined the group of people stalking the bus driver so we could claim some seats. Finally helped load the bus and sat next to Janelle for the 2 hour ride to save our sanity. Went to Subway for lunch, re-introduced myself to Sarah the Mormon, then we boarded the ferry. Stood on the top deck for a while until we got to Cook Straight, then it got too windy so we retreated inside. Showed people some pictures, saw some whales, then back on top for our arrival to Wellington. Then onto a cramped-ass new bus to take us to our new hostel. It's pretty nice, but one communal bathroom per floor. Went to McDonalds with Joanne, Janelle, and Kathryn, then they went to the supermarked to get beer. The girls talked while they got dressed (the boys pretended to be asleep while they discussed boobs) then down to the game room where I chugged 4 beers before we all were going out. Went to the bathroom for literally 20 seconds and find everyone gone, so walked around with Ryan, found our group, then walked some more until we lost half our group. Went to one bar looking for live music, I left as some of the people were dancing, then back to the room here for a nice quiet night.
Saturday 17th
Today we went to the Te Puiti Museum in Wellington. It was pretty nice, but for all of the hype, I've seen more interesting museums. There was still some pretty interesting stuff about Maori culture and history though. Had the afternoon free so went to the Warehouse store with the girls and Peter to look for swim stuff so the hot pools won't leave our clothes smelling like sulfur. I personally don't care that much about my board shorts I brought, but we have to river raft and zorb afer, so I didn't want to take the chance. No swimsuits for this season, so I just go a pair of $9 shorts that I'll throw away after. Had lunch with Joanna and Kathryn at BK Lounge then wandered around Cuba Street looking into shops. Got my little fuzzy hat and a $2 pair of aviators. Basically sat around for the rest of the afternoon, but then got to go to an ALL BLACKS GAME! It was pretty cool even though I had almost no idea what was going on. I should learn sometime. Scrums are cool, and Emily tried to teach Janelle and I before the game for like 5 minutes. After the game Steven and I walked back with Alex and Julie from SB, then I ran to New World and ate another instant ramen bowl. The girls wanted to go out, but when I went to the bathroom they left without me. Oh well, so I watched Avatar with Joanne in the cool as movie room. Then the rest of them came back and watched with us. Pretty much most of them fell asleep.
Sunday 18th
Whoopee woke up at 6:15 this morning to pack, eat breakfast, then loaded the bus in teh saving seats frenzy. Another 9 hour drive to Rotarua. I slept the first hour and a half, then we stopped somewhere to do gumboot throwing and had lunch. Bus again, and we watched Shutter Island. Hella good movie, I'll have to watch it again. We drove past Mt. Doom. (It is quite easy to walk to Mt. Doom in the winter) Once we got to Rotarua our bus broke down like 5 minutes away from our hostel. But the new place was really sick. We have 4 and 4, and our own bathrooms and showers! Janelle and I have the top "loft" area, and we think there's a bat in the wall or something. Then the best part of the night. We went to a Maori feast. Walked around their place to learn about their culture. Although it was a little showy and felt like a haunted house set up it was a really cool and authentic experience. We got to see the family perform some songs and dances and the poi was pretty cool. I need to pick that up again. Then we FEASTED! Omg it was pretty good food. So by our accounts, I ate 5 lambs, 3 fish, 2 chickens, 5 mussels, and a butt load of potatoes and some sweet potato things that were absolutely delicious. 2 huge plates worth. Ate with Janelle for about an hour, but by the time we finished dinner, dessert was gone. I really wanted some of that pavlova. I kept eating until the end though. Great food + buffet = :]. Back to the hostel and walked around with Janelle for a bit with my bear hat on.
Monday 19th
I might say that today was the most fun on the adventure tour so far. Had breakfast and made a PB&J for lunch to go with my Raspberry pastry thing. Man, I thought I was going to go hungry for lunch. We walked around the geothermal hot pools at Devil's Gate and took pictures on our hour long walk. Then it was our turn to try out the hot springs. We got into the mud bath pool first, but it was a little disappointing. First, there was barely any mud, and second, they separated the boys and the girls! WTF Had to take a freezing cold shower to rinse off before we went to the hot pools to relax. It was fun, but I kind of expected like a mud pit that we would play in. Then we drove to the rafting place. I was in the second group, and Janelle and I wanted to flip over our raft, but it didn't happen. I did get to go in the front, though, and got soaked when we plunged straight into one of the rapids. My balls just retracted into my stomach. But it was hella fun, reminded me of rafting in Europe... Back at the hostel I spent 2 hours in another hot pool with Emily, Janelle, and Vicky just talking. Then we went into town in Rotarua and ate at a really good Thai place but I didn't get very full, and it wasn't that spicy. Went to a supermarket so Christina could get some wine. On our walk back to the hostel I peed on the field as we were walking across it. Iono why that's one of the highlights of the day... Another couple of hours in the hot pool with everyone while they drank but it was too hot, so I went back to shower and pack. Xtina and the others stumbled into our room, and I had to carry her back to her room because she passed out. Too much mineral water for me today. I'm too pruney.
Tuesday 20th
Travel day to Waitomo! Stopped at a kiwi encounter and had a tour to see a couple fo the little birds. They're cute, but no so sociable. But they run so awkwardly! Then went zorbing, and it was a LOT more fun than I thought it would be. Arrived at our crap hostel in the dead town of Waitomo, right behind Curly's. Played some frisbee on a field, then we had pizza for dinner. Mmm full. Went to Curly's that night to meet Chauncy and his new group. They're pretty nice, and some guys from England are cool, but they needed a group bonding session. Haha. Stayed until closing at like 12:30. Oh yeah, we went on a night hike to look for glow worms and talked to Kathy about Twilight phenomena in Taiwan.
Wednesday 21st
Black water rafting today! Woke up late cause we didn't have to do anything in the morning, went to Curly's for lunch, then went caving! Started by getting suited up in wetsuits and stuff. They took us to a practice hill so we could get used to rappelling, then plunged down this 130 foot hole in the ground into pitch black. It was class, and then we went zip lining through a black cave. No lights at all, except for the little glow worms, and I thought I would run into a wall or something. We had to jump into a pool of water in inner tubes, and the water was freezing and my butt smacked the water so it was kinda numb. Then we spent the next half hour paddling around and pulling ourselves around on a rope while looking at the glow worms hanging from the cave ceiling. It was really cool and reminded me of the night sky, although we were pretty freezing and my testicles were hurting quite a bit and it was a little difficult to pay attention to our surroundings. Then we ditched the inner tubes and waded through the caves, down a slide, and swam across a pool, all the while freezing my balls off. But then we crawled through some small holes and got to climb up a couple of small waterfalls. In the first one we had to hide in little pockets in this little lagoon while the water poured out of a hole in the ceiling which we had to crawl around to get up out of the hole. Went to Curley's that night to get burgers for dinner and then spent the night going back and forth between there and the hostel rooms. Stayed up late with Janelle and Emily eating ramen in the kitchen and talking about elf socks. Went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, then ran into Mark, so I hung out with him and Ryan before I went to bed.
Thursday 22nd
Last day, traveled to Auckland in the morning so I took one for the team so we didn't have any personality explosions. Dropped off our stuff in the Hostel and checked out the place. Not the most impressive accommodations, but it's still not bad. Signed up for the Pub Crawl and then went out to shop with our group. I got my other ear pierced, and the girls got a bunch of stuff done. Crazy women. Went to the mall and got t-shirts and sweatshirts customized for the Scroggin Fire House. Hit up the food court, the souvenir shops, and walked around the pier. Went back to Nomads, filled out an evaluation slip, then went to dinner with everyone for the last time. Went to go to the bathroom and came back to the table and everyone was gone WTF. That was like the third time that happened to me this trip! So I walked back with Vicky, Alicia, Christy, and Arianne and went into the raunchiest sex shop I've ever seen. There were scary belt masks for the dominatrix fetishes, and Christy looked at all of the vibrators while we got scared of the dildos that were bigger than a traffic cone. Then went to the pub crawl! First bar was kinda boring, so Emily, Janelle, and I got some Smirnoff and made vodka 7s in their room and carried it in a water bottle. Jager bomb trains in the second bar, finally got drunk enough to go dance with everyone at the 3rd bar, and the 4th bar was hella shady with Goth people everywhere. Sometime during the night Janelle and I went back to the room to re-fill the water bottle and played 2 person kings cup cause we wanted to get me drunk. So good night, with some slightly embarrassing events. Fucking Ryan with his video camera...
Afterword
I started writing this afterword on the airplane, and I'm already starting to get a little nostalgic and sad that I might never see some of these people again. Even though I've only known them for less than 30 days, we've become so close after spending every waking moment together, and I never want to forget the experiences I've had with my new friends. There is Emily, a funny, sassy, outdoorsy girl who genuinely lives for horses, not like other girls who just like them because they're pretty or fun to ride. They are her life, and she is the most dedicated to them out of anyone I know. She switched her major from environmental sciences to environmental policy because she feels that she can make more of a difference in ecological conservation, that along with a prospective internship next year here in New Zealand with DoC. Christina has the honor of being my first black friend, and isn't afraid of brandishing her inquisitiveness in the face of everyone and any one she meets. She is funny, filled with energy, and firmly supportive of her opinions, although not close minded to other people's thoughts. She barraged us with an endless stream of questions (and wood chips to some of us) for the first week because she wanted to know more about our own individual cultures and what shapes our own personalities. She wants to become a great lawyer. Steven is our "fake" vegetarian, extremely focused on living a sustainable life style and has to know where his food comes from. He loves film, and always exposes an interesting new way to looking at things. I have learned a lot from him about being a localvore and through the decisions he has made in life. He bikes to school and work, makes self sacrifices to uphold the lifestyle that he wants to live, and one person I would love to survive in the wilderness with. Janelle is a cute, quiet girl who is actually secretly a bad ass security guard by night and beer vendor at an amusement park by day. She's lots of fun to talk to once we got comfortable around each other, and plays more video games than I do. She can go from an innocent, 16 year old looking girl to a bad ass rock chick with her glasses and jacket. As the Canadian of our group, she was able to give and take the crap about Canada, as well as participating in our talks about America and our strange ways. She's been to New York and Florida more than I've been to Hawaii... Joanne is a very bubbly person, super flirty, and also extremely nice and caring. She's the hot dogger of our group, but always friendly towards everyone and can always make them smile. She doesn't take problems too seriously, and we've shared our fare share of silly stupid jokes about cows drowning in the fields. She was the one who first reached out to everyone because this was her second ISV trip (her first one that she did last year was to South Africa where she worked with cheetah cubs!) and yells in her sleep about who knows what. But she is genuinely one of the nicest people I have met. Finn was the funny one, always joking around, similar type of humor to me, so we got along well. Ridiculously good at soccer and a self-proclaimed leprechaun hunter. The combination of him being good looking, Irish, and a flirt made him a chick magnet for the second half of the trip, but he is also very dedicated, athletic, and inclusive. He isn't stupid like the stereotypical "popular" guy, and didn't leave our group to hang out with the shallow girls that made up his posse. I admire his independence and ability to balance work and play at the same time. Apparently he works in a bar back in Ireland where he can pour the perfect head of Guiness. Kathryn is nice, and always voices her opinions. Always. She did get on a few nerves on the trip, so we all were watching out for each other to make sure no one snapped. A couple people were close though... However, she is a nice girl who has traveled the world. She is eager to learn about new cultures and experience them first hand.
This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I wouldn't change one thing about it. We were the group that wasn't supposed to be, the last minute addition that was never supposed to exist in the first place, but we ended up being the tightest knit group of all the projects, and I would gladly travel with these people again. Maybe it was our isolation and how much we depended on each other that forced our interactions, and probably a lot of it was that the size of our group allowed for such intimacy, but they are all amazing people and during that trip we all grew unpredictably close. I still can't believe how 8 perfect strangers had such compatible personalities (guess I'm too brainwashed by reality TV). I've learned so much from them, and from the trip, too. Much of my new mindset on sustainability I attribute to Chauncy (Steven too). Chauncy is an amazing person, and he was one of our group, not just our project leader. He was so chill and funny and open, ironically immature sometimes, but he also provided the best insights and topics for fun discussions which helped open my eyes to the world and want to learn more about the world, my society, even politics. He is one of those people who can start a conversation, throw in a couple comments here and there, and cause the topic to evolve into this hilariously interpreted but accurate conglomeration of ideas, stereotypes, jokes, and possibilities.
Sunday 18th
Whoopee woke up at 6:15 this morning to pack, eat breakfast, then loaded the bus in teh saving seats frenzy. Another 9 hour drive to Rotarua. I slept the first hour and a half, then we stopped somewhere to do gumboot throwing and had lunch. Bus again, and we watched Shutter Island. Hella good movie, I'll have to watch it again. We drove past Mt. Doom. (It is quite easy to walk to Mt. Doom in the winter) Once we got to Rotarua our bus broke down like 5 minutes away from our hostel. But the new place was really sick. We have 4 and 4, and our own bathrooms and showers! Janelle and I have the top "loft" area, and we think there's a bat in the wall or something. Then the best part of the night. We went to a Maori feast. Walked around their place to learn about their culture. Although it was a little showy and felt like a haunted house set up it was a really cool and authentic experience. We got to see the family perform some songs and dances and the poi was pretty cool. I need to pick that up again. Then we FEASTED! Omg it was pretty good food. So by our accounts, I ate 5 lambs, 3 fish, 2 chickens, 5 mussels, and a butt load of potatoes and some sweet potato things that were absolutely delicious. 2 huge plates worth. Ate with Janelle for about an hour, but by the time we finished dinner, dessert was gone. I really wanted some of that pavlova. I kept eating until the end though. Great food + buffet = :]. Back to the hostel and walked around with Janelle for a bit with my bear hat on.
Monday 19th
I might say that today was the most fun on the adventure tour so far. Had breakfast and made a PB&J for lunch to go with my Raspberry pastry thing. Man, I thought I was going to go hungry for lunch. We walked around the geothermal hot pools at Devil's Gate and took pictures on our hour long walk. Then it was our turn to try out the hot springs. We got into the mud bath pool first, but it was a little disappointing. First, there was barely any mud, and second, they separated the boys and the girls! WTF Had to take a freezing cold shower to rinse off before we went to the hot pools to relax. It was fun, but I kind of expected like a mud pit that we would play in. Then we drove to the rafting place. I was in the second group, and Janelle and I wanted to flip over our raft, but it didn't happen. I did get to go in the front, though, and got soaked when we plunged straight into one of the rapids. My balls just retracted into my stomach. But it was hella fun, reminded me of rafting in Europe... Back at the hostel I spent 2 hours in another hot pool with Emily, Janelle, and Vicky just talking. Then we went into town in Rotarua and ate at a really good Thai place but I didn't get very full, and it wasn't that spicy. Went to a supermarket so Christina could get some wine. On our walk back to the hostel I peed on the field as we were walking across it. Iono why that's one of the highlights of the day... Another couple of hours in the hot pool with everyone while they drank but it was too hot, so I went back to shower and pack. Xtina and the others stumbled into our room, and I had to carry her back to her room because she passed out. Too much mineral water for me today. I'm too pruney.
Tuesday 20th
Travel day to Waitomo! Stopped at a kiwi encounter and had a tour to see a couple fo the little birds. They're cute, but no so sociable. But they run so awkwardly! Then went zorbing, and it was a LOT more fun than I thought it would be. Arrived at our crap hostel in the dead town of Waitomo, right behind Curly's. Played some frisbee on a field, then we had pizza for dinner. Mmm full. Went to Curly's that night to meet Chauncy and his new group. They're pretty nice, and some guys from England are cool, but they needed a group bonding session. Haha. Stayed until closing at like 12:30. Oh yeah, we went on a night hike to look for glow worms and talked to Kathy about Twilight phenomena in Taiwan.
Wednesday 21st
Black water rafting today! Woke up late cause we didn't have to do anything in the morning, went to Curly's for lunch, then went caving! Started by getting suited up in wetsuits and stuff. They took us to a practice hill so we could get used to rappelling, then plunged down this 130 foot hole in the ground into pitch black. It was class, and then we went zip lining through a black cave. No lights at all, except for the little glow worms, and I thought I would run into a wall or something. We had to jump into a pool of water in inner tubes, and the water was freezing and my butt smacked the water so it was kinda numb. Then we spent the next half hour paddling around and pulling ourselves around on a rope while looking at the glow worms hanging from the cave ceiling. It was really cool and reminded me of the night sky, although we were pretty freezing and my testicles were hurting quite a bit and it was a little difficult to pay attention to our surroundings. Then we ditched the inner tubes and waded through the caves, down a slide, and swam across a pool, all the while freezing my balls off. But then we crawled through some small holes and got to climb up a couple of small waterfalls. In the first one we had to hide in little pockets in this little lagoon while the water poured out of a hole in the ceiling which we had to crawl around to get up out of the hole. Went to Curley's that night to get burgers for dinner and then spent the night going back and forth between there and the hostel rooms. Stayed up late with Janelle and Emily eating ramen in the kitchen and talking about elf socks. Went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, then ran into Mark, so I hung out with him and Ryan before I went to bed.
Thursday 22nd
Last day, traveled to Auckland in the morning so I took one for the team so we didn't have any personality explosions. Dropped off our stuff in the Hostel and checked out the place. Not the most impressive accommodations, but it's still not bad. Signed up for the Pub Crawl and then went out to shop with our group. I got my other ear pierced, and the girls got a bunch of stuff done. Crazy women. Went to the mall and got t-shirts and sweatshirts customized for the Scroggin Fire House. Hit up the food court, the souvenir shops, and walked around the pier. Went back to Nomads, filled out an evaluation slip, then went to dinner with everyone for the last time. Went to go to the bathroom and came back to the table and everyone was gone WTF. That was like the third time that happened to me this trip! So I walked back with Vicky, Alicia, Christy, and Arianne and went into the raunchiest sex shop I've ever seen. There were scary belt masks for the dominatrix fetishes, and Christy looked at all of the vibrators while we got scared of the dildos that were bigger than a traffic cone. Then went to the pub crawl! First bar was kinda boring, so Emily, Janelle, and I got some Smirnoff and made vodka 7s in their room and carried it in a water bottle. Jager bomb trains in the second bar, finally got drunk enough to go dance with everyone at the 3rd bar, and the 4th bar was hella shady with Goth people everywhere. Sometime during the night Janelle and I went back to the room to re-fill the water bottle and played 2 person kings cup cause we wanted to get me drunk. So good night, with some slightly embarrassing events. Fucking Ryan with his video camera...
Afterword
I started writing this afterword on the airplane, and I'm already starting to get a little nostalgic and sad that I might never see some of these people again. Even though I've only known them for less than 30 days, we've become so close after spending every waking moment together, and I never want to forget the experiences I've had with my new friends. There is Emily, a funny, sassy, outdoorsy girl who genuinely lives for horses, not like other girls who just like them because they're pretty or fun to ride. They are her life, and she is the most dedicated to them out of anyone I know. She switched her major from environmental sciences to environmental policy because she feels that she can make more of a difference in ecological conservation, that along with a prospective internship next year here in New Zealand with DoC. Christina has the honor of being my first black friend, and isn't afraid of brandishing her inquisitiveness in the face of everyone and any one she meets. She is funny, filled with energy, and firmly supportive of her opinions, although not close minded to other people's thoughts. She barraged us with an endless stream of questions (and wood chips to some of us) for the first week because she wanted to know more about our own individual cultures and what shapes our own personalities. She wants to become a great lawyer. Steven is our "fake" vegetarian, extremely focused on living a sustainable life style and has to know where his food comes from. He loves film, and always exposes an interesting new way to looking at things. I have learned a lot from him about being a localvore and through the decisions he has made in life. He bikes to school and work, makes self sacrifices to uphold the lifestyle that he wants to live, and one person I would love to survive in the wilderness with. Janelle is a cute, quiet girl who is actually secretly a bad ass security guard by night and beer vendor at an amusement park by day. She's lots of fun to talk to once we got comfortable around each other, and plays more video games than I do. She can go from an innocent, 16 year old looking girl to a bad ass rock chick with her glasses and jacket. As the Canadian of our group, she was able to give and take the crap about Canada, as well as participating in our talks about America and our strange ways. She's been to New York and Florida more than I've been to Hawaii... Joanne is a very bubbly person, super flirty, and also extremely nice and caring. She's the hot dogger of our group, but always friendly towards everyone and can always make them smile. She doesn't take problems too seriously, and we've shared our fare share of silly stupid jokes about cows drowning in the fields. She was the one who first reached out to everyone because this was her second ISV trip (her first one that she did last year was to South Africa where she worked with cheetah cubs!) and yells in her sleep about who knows what. But she is genuinely one of the nicest people I have met. Finn was the funny one, always joking around, similar type of humor to me, so we got along well. Ridiculously good at soccer and a self-proclaimed leprechaun hunter. The combination of him being good looking, Irish, and a flirt made him a chick magnet for the second half of the trip, but he is also very dedicated, athletic, and inclusive. He isn't stupid like the stereotypical "popular" guy, and didn't leave our group to hang out with the shallow girls that made up his posse. I admire his independence and ability to balance work and play at the same time. Apparently he works in a bar back in Ireland where he can pour the perfect head of Guiness. Kathryn is nice, and always voices her opinions. Always. She did get on a few nerves on the trip, so we all were watching out for each other to make sure no one snapped. A couple people were close though... However, she is a nice girl who has traveled the world. She is eager to learn about new cultures and experience them first hand.
This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I wouldn't change one thing about it. We were the group that wasn't supposed to be, the last minute addition that was never supposed to exist in the first place, but we ended up being the tightest knit group of all the projects, and I would gladly travel with these people again. Maybe it was our isolation and how much we depended on each other that forced our interactions, and probably a lot of it was that the size of our group allowed for such intimacy, but they are all amazing people and during that trip we all grew unpredictably close. I still can't believe how 8 perfect strangers had such compatible personalities (guess I'm too brainwashed by reality TV). I've learned so much from them, and from the trip, too. Much of my new mindset on sustainability I attribute to Chauncy (Steven too). Chauncy is an amazing person, and he was one of our group, not just our project leader. He was so chill and funny and open, ironically immature sometimes, but he also provided the best insights and topics for fun discussions which helped open my eyes to the world and want to learn more about the world, my society, even politics. He is one of those people who can start a conversation, throw in a couple comments here and there, and cause the topic to evolve into this hilariously interpreted but accurate conglomeration of ideas, stereotypes, jokes, and possibilities.
For one month I didn't use my cell phone once, and easily held myself back from using the internet, a practice I hope to be able to continue in moderation at home. It truly is a great feeling to be freed from technology, an experience most people haven't encountered since we were kids. I had the opportunity to experience the most beautiful of places, from snow capped mountains to secluded beaches to dense rain forest to sheep-dotted grassy hills and knolls. The scenery it self was incredible: our hike to the top of the Franz-Joseph glacier gave us a view of both sides of South Island; the dolphin-interrupted waters of a brilliant sunset while standing in silence in a warm breeze; rain forest coverage so thick that it darkened the seemingly forgotten trails which were covered by fallen trees; the beauty of a simple grassy hill pulsating in the breeze. We were able to immerse ourselves in Maori culture and hear stories about their history and accounts with white explorers. I've shared and experienced cultural differences, and I think that everything here has all taught me more about myself, who I am, how I act, how comfortable I am with things, and has set examples for the type of person I want to be. These are the things that I want to remember forever.
I guess I'll have to compare this feeling to the sensation of when I first went to college: the feeling of the impending separation that will scatter us across nations and the world, and we are helpless to stop it. So to all of you, thank you for the memories, thank you for your friendships. Hopefully I will meet with you again someday.
I guess I'll have to compare this feeling to the sensation of when I first went to college: the feeling of the impending separation that will scatter us across nations and the world, and we are helpless to stop it. So to all of you, thank you for the memories, thank you for your friendships. Hopefully I will meet with you again someday.
