Week 1

I have been here for nearly a week now and I am having a wonderful time! So far we have been involved in orientation, and class doesn't start until Monday. We have been keeping very busy doing various fun activities and trips. On Thursday we went on a hike and learned from some park rangers about the history of New Zealand and about the particular area surrounding our campus.

On Friday we took a trip to Castle Hill, the location where the final battle scene in the Chronicles of Narnia was filmed. We had a great time doing some bouldering and taking in the beautiful scenery. Then in the afternoon we went to a place called Cave Stream, where we walked through a river going through a cave under a Mountain. We used headlamps and the walk took about 45 minutes. The water in the stream was snowmelt from the mountains, so it was very clear and very cold. On Saturday we spent the day in Christchurch, the 2nd biggest town in New Zealand. It is about 40 minutes from our campus. We spent about 5 hours doing an Amazing Race photo hunt, during which we walked all over the city and got our bearings. Yesterday (Monday) we made a huge feast in the traditional Maori way. The Maori are the indigenous peoples of NZ who were here before the Bristish came. The cooking method is called a Hangi. We dug a huge hole in the ground, filled it with wood, put large rocks on top, and let the wood burn and the rocks fall into the hole. When the rocks were red hot, we put tons of food in baskets and cloths in the hole and covered it with sheets and then dirt and a tarp. After three hours of cooking in the ground, we 'exhumed' the food and had a feast. Today we went to a town called Akaroa right on the water and watched the Waitangi Day celebration. It is best comparable to New Zealand's version of the 4th of July, although this is not a perfect comparison. We watched some of the festivities and then laid out on the beach all afternoon and had dinner overlooking the bay.