Hey everyone!
This past weekend I bummed around CHCH and Rachel went tramping with CUTC. Her group got pulled down by the current in the river and her Nikon more or less drowned : ( Frankly we're all more impressed with the bruises on her legs. Her paintball wounds from this past spring can't hold a candle to the battle scars she'll have to remember this adventure. They bushwhacked a trail for themselves, getting pretty scratched up by thorns in the process, and Rach still has splinters in her hands. She's going to write a post with more details hopefully soon.
While Rach was out risking life and limb, I was pretty much sitting in my flat watching Scrubs on Youtube. Sounds like us, right? On Sunday, though, I went to a nearby town called Lyttelton with my friend Jas, where we took a ferry then walked around looking at nature for a few hours. I'll put up some pictures of that soon. It was nice to get out of Ilam, although I should have been working on my two essays about the Iliad. (But who are we kidding, I'm not going to finish those til it's absolutely necessary.) I'm so not in school mode right now, and I'm determined not to be until, say, February, when Wake picks up and I'm taking seminars for my majors and there's no escaping it.
I've given it a lot of thought and decided that while nature is very lovely, I mainly prefer it in small nonfatal doses. One of my favorite things to do is walk around in the woods for a few hours, but after that I go back to civilization. Basically what we can draw from this is that I'm studying abroad in the wrong country. Everyone in New Zealand loves nature like it's their job. Rachel fits right in. It's become a joke between us. Last night someone asked if I was going to do snowcraft with CUTC- that is, learn how to camp and tramp in snow- and before I even answered Rachel died laughing, picturing me out in the wilderness wielding an ice ax. (It is kind of a hilarious image.) Actually the first thing she told me when she got back from her tramp this weekend was that I would have hated it because I'm too short for bushwhacking. This did not upset me. I'm ok with my homebody-ness, e.g., last night was a lot of fun because Rachel and I camped out in Matt's flat for six hours because he has an oven (also we love him) and baked a lot. Being domestic is therapeutic; it makes one feel accomplished. The three of us each made a different kind of cookie and I also made muffins for Navs, which is the campus ministry we are trying out. I really like it. Rach is still on the fence. They're a great group of people for sure, but I miss IV tons.
Our group from Butler has a choice between two weekend trips that are part of the package so they're paid for: an adventure weekend wherein you four-wheel to some hot springs, or a country weekend on a sheep farm. Although Rach and I wish we could do both, we decided to go on different trips and I bet you can't guess who picked which one. The adventure trip is this weekend, so I'll be on campus by myself. The two others kids going to the farm weekend with me, Dale and Alex, are going on the aforementioned snowcraft trip this weekend.
Oh yeah, we got our exam schedules. We each have three. This is how NZ does university semesters: you have class for a month and a half, then a two-week break, then another month and a half of class, then you have a MONTH off for exams. It's sweet as. Seeing as how I'm one of those people who can't make themselves do work in any sort of timely fashion and just studies the day before for every test she has, a month to "study" is going to be awesome.
Thinking of all you suckers as you head back to your REAL colleges where you'll have to do tons of work, ha ha ha-
a whole lot of love-
Carie and Rachel
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