A Thousand Stories to Tell

My time in Dunedin is coming to a close! It's been a bittersweet two weeks of making memories, saying goodbyes, and desperately trying to fit everything into my suitcases. I don't leave New Zealand for another month, and while I love it here and I'm not in any rush to leave......at the same time....

Four Reasons I Know I'm Starting to Miss the U.S.

1. I heard a John Denver song playing in the supermarket last week and got all nostalgic.

2. Sometimes I catch myself unconsciously walking on the right side of the sidewalk.

3. I became "that American" and bought a coffee at the Dunedin Starbucks. I forgot how awesome grande/venti sized coffees are - it's like they never end!

4. I stood dumbfounded (aka culture shocked) in the New World supermarket when I couldn't find canned pumpkin for my vegan chocolate chip muffins. Of course there isn't canned pumpkin here. I guess my body has been culturally programmed to crave pumpkin in November, so when the closest thing to pumpkin I could find was canned butternut squash soup, I was just... sad. Five months in New Zealand and apparently I still got culture shocked!

***Update*** I was just informed by a Kiwi friend that there is indeed canned pumpkin in the supermarket! Apparently it's located in the International Foods Aisle.... which, you know, makes sense... 

Anyway.

Here's some of what I've been up to the past couple of weeks, in addition to studying for and taking my tourism and sociology final exams (which isn't as exciting to talk about).

I HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS EVER! Genna sent me "Autumn in an Envelope" because she knew I was missing fall! :D

I got to spend the day with these lovely people! My friend Tess and our tour guide Nick. I got to see Dunedin's hills one last time...in addition to seeing adorable penguins, seals, and lambs! 

Life is rough being this cute...

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED!

Tess and I were so freaking happy. I mean, look at that fuzzy baby lamb face.

The sunrise from outside my flat. (No filter).

Saying good-bye to Emily - the best flatmate ever!

My friend Matt and I did the Cadbury Chocolate Factory tour! It's right here in Dunedin...and we got chocolate samples, so...

My amazing no-sugar-vegan-chocolate-chip-banana-cinnamon-date-and-coffee muffins...with whole wheat flour, wheat bran, flax seeds, and chia seeds... Yes, you can be jealous. 

Going to see the butterflies one last time!!

So those were some highlights of the past couple of weeks. Now it's time to say goodbye to Dunedin, because tomorrow I fly to Christchurch and hop on a backpackers' bus to spend the next 23-24 days touring around New Zealand! 

As always, feeling fortunate and blessed to be on this personal and cultural journey in New Zealand. 

One of my friends once shared the following story with me, and I would like to share it with you now because it definitely inspired my decision to stay in New Zealand this extra month:

"A wise man once told me on his death bed... 'Make sure you always live life to the fullest, so that one day, when you have grandchildren, you will never have to tell the same story twice. Always have a thousand different stories to tell.'  He told me to live without regret, to grab the bull by the horns and to give it one hell of a run for its money. There is nothing in this world not worth doing at least once, because there isn't an experience we can't learn from, and every experience is a new story to tell." 

So I'm gonna go create some more stories! Look for a new blog post around December 11th.

Love to you all.

Falling in Love with Aotearoa (Part I)

Gooood morning, Dunneeeedinn!!! I am back!! 9 days and 500 photos later.... And, no, that's not an exaggeration - I originally had over 700 photos before I deleted all the crappy ones.

How do I begin to describe such a fantastic week without giving a detailed hour-by-hour itinerary? Let's start with the blogging list and see where that takes us...  

What I Experienced, Learned, Adventured, and Laughed About 

During My Mid-Semester Break

1. Backpackers (more commonly known as hostels in other countries) are the best! 

Especially for independent, money-saving travellers, like myself. 

I spent NZ$25 a night at this adorable backpacker in Nelson, where I stayed in a room with three bunk beds. Spotless bathrooms, plenty of lounge space, a spacious kitchen to cook meals in, and complimentary fresh bread from the local bakery delivered every morning. There was also an in-house vegetarian café (I mean, really, how could I not be at home here?)

The location was great, too, because it was right next to the "main" street (which, ironically, looks like the main street of almost every other New Zealand city). 

My little home for six nights!

The Cathedral right next to my hostel 

NZ inspired stain glass in the Cathedral

Found this familiar Orthodox icon there! 

Best vegetarian burger I have eaten. Ever.

Live music at the cafe

My first (non-alcoholic) ginger beer - essentially carbonated
water, sugar, and ginger. Sweet and delicious.

2. Three words to describe Nelson: sunny, beachy, and friendly. 

In Dunedin, student pedestrians are unwanted pests, hideous to behold, and forever in the way of The Almighty Cars and Buses. There is no such thing as pedestrian right-of-way. But in Nelson, drivers actually stop at the stop lights and wait for pedestrians to cross the street. They might even smile, wave, and/or acknowledge the pedestrian's existence!

Also, Nelson really was as sunny and beachy as people have told me. Its residents are mostly empty nesters or retired couples, although there are plenty of young families, too, which makes for a laid-back night life. Nelson is supposedly a great location for second-homes and so it gets quite busy in the summer months with all of the tourists and what not.

Lovely view of Nelson. The best part? Beach and mountain views in one beautiful location. Winning combo.

This was my lucky shot of the week!!

 

Happy flowers smiling at the sun

3. This week was really about me spending time with myself. 

There was a yoga studio just two streets down from my hostel, so I bought an unlimited week's pass for just $30 and did yoga once or twice a day for the duration of my time in Nelson. It really gave me a chance to slow down, put my body back into balance, and reflect on the past couple of months.

I also wandered around town by myself, like to the Queens Garden, where there were lots of happy flowers, a duck pond, and a cute café. 

4. It must be spring!!! Baby calves and baby lambs galore!!

I used to say (and I quote!) "I could never be a vegetarian because I love lamb too much." And then...after I became a vegetarian, but before I came to NZ.... "I'll break my vegetarianism just once while I'm there - I have to! They're known for their sheep!"

But New Zealand softened me more than I was expecting... Just look at those sheepies!! I can't do it. Even if I were starving in the wilderness and my life depended on killing and eating a rabbit or something, I'm not sure I could do it... Sorry, dad. I've become too damn soft.

5. One does not experience the power and majesty of this landscape without leaving unchanged.

My favourite part of break was when I tramped around Nelson Lakes National Park for a day. It was something I wanted to do by myself, so I picked out a couple trails appropriate for my fitness level and set out to explore (with lots of snacks, of course).

Lake Rotoiti at Nelson Lakes National Park

It was so quiet and peaceful. If I had to choose a moment from my time here in which I felt changed in some way, it would be sitting at the top of the parachute rocks, looking across this beautiful lake and the surrounding mountain range, and feeling like I found myself.

I know that sounds incredibly cheesy and like something that would be used in a tourism marketing campaign, but I don't know... there's just something about this place. My pictures don't do it justice.

No filters/enhances needed for these photos - it really was so blue and clear that day.

6. Driving along scenic routes is a great way to see New Zealand.

Most of these following pictures I snapped while we were driving, so it's amazing some of them turned out as nice as they did. (Admittedly it was a lot of trial and error. Blurry trees often got in the way.)

West coast beach sunset. (No filter on this photo either.)

The sheep have no idea how lucky they are. This is as close to heaven as it gets for them.

More scenery that looks like it came straight from Lord of the Rings 

A view of one of the routes we were driving on. Paused at a scenic lookout point here.

I loved these mountains, with all their shades of greys and browns. 

Okay...can you tell I'm addicted to this landscape yet?  I'll stop now.

Happy Campy Planty!

"Ah! Now, that is one happy campy planty!" said Martin, one of my German friends, after we successfully planted another little tree.

We were volunteering for the Penguin Place, which is a conservation reserve dedicated to helping the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguins (which can only be found in southern New Zealand). These penguins need shade and privacy to survive, but most of NZ's wetlands were cleared for farmland, so today we helped plant over three-hundred little trees in an ongoing effort to reproduce the penguins' habitat.

 

 

While we were there we got a tour of the penguin reserve, and we had the amazing opportunity to sneak a peak at a pair of yellow eyed penguins, as well as some little blue penguins (the smallest penguin species in the world), and even a seal just chillaxing by the beach.

It was a great day to meet new friends and lend a helping hand to the community.

There was also a ridiculously gorgeous day this weekend--I think it broke some 60-year record. So a couple of us spent the afternoon at a local beach to enjoy the weather. It was the first day I've wore shorts since arriving here!

It was the softest, whitest sand I have ever seen. 

Christian and I thought it would be cool to take photos of us doing yoga poses on the beach... It was fun and we had a lot of laughs!

 DOGGIE!!! Playing catch on the beach! So cute!!

I promise I have assignments and classes, too! I don't spend every day playing on the beach or tramping through the hills... Those days just make for the best pictures!