6.10.2012
The Worst. Today is the day that I have been dreading for
months now.
We woke up and got up to the house for a last breakfast at
about 6:30. We had chocolate chip and blueberry muffins. And I drank a little
bit of coffee. We had a lingering chat with Michelle, Neil and Murray, before
we had to head into school. We said good-bye to Kieran who had been asleep on
the lounge, as well as Murray.
We got to the school, and crammed the last few things we
wanted to in our bags to check. I was kind of nervous about the weight, but I
couldn’t be bothered to worry about it right then. These were my last few
precious moments with Michelle and Neil. I didn’t really know what to say, so I
just stood there with them, Carly and Erica. We watched everyone else saying
their good-byes. We were kind of waiting for Megan, who was struggling with cramming
her bag but still keeping it within the weight limit. Sure enough, she was one
of the last to take her stuff to the bus.
We saw Elise who was carrying her life drawings, and it got
brought up that I recycled mine. Michelle and Neil got mad and told me I should
have hung one on the wall in the flat. I told them that they were all still in
recycling and they said that they were going to go through them and hang one on
the wall. They are so cute.
We made what seemed like the shortest walk to the bus. We
took a house photo. And then we lingered for a while, and Kimberly announced it
was call number one for getting on the bus. We have probably about 8 calls.
My breakfast, as delicious as it was, sat like a rock in my
stomach. Neil quickly said “Okay, let’s get this over with,” and gave me a hug.
The scruff of his unshaven morning face hit my cheek and that was it. I felt
like the zip lock I had put on my tear ducts since last night were ripped open
and the tears came. I gave Michelle a hug. And just cried. They assured us that
we were always welcome back, and gave examples of all their students who have
come back. I know the invite is there, and I will probably take them up on it
someday, but it will never be the same as the absolutely wonderful semester I
have spent with them.
We all got a second round of hugs and then I had to get on
the bus. If I didn’t get on then, I don’t know if I would have. The Townsends
stood on the curb (spelt kerb in Australia) and waved as the bus left. I only
cried more at the sight of this. But we were on our way.
At the airport we all had to get checked in. My bag was 20.5
kg. Under weight! Granted I was wearing about 8 layers of clothes. But still!
We all made it through security, and met up at the gate. By this time we only
had about 45 minutes until we had to board. I utilized the free internet to
post a few backed up blogs. And soon enough it was time to board.
The plane had a killer in flight entertainment system. I
watched a bunch of How I Met Your Mother season 7. Took a quick nap. Then
watched more HIMYM until we de-boarded. I got my bag and went through customs no
problems. All of the employees were so nice. They all were asking about our
trip and seemed to generally care. I think I would equate New Zealand to the
Southern Hemispheres Canada.
We then had to pass through the section where we have to
declare things. I was nervous because New Zealand is CRAZY strict with what you
can bring into the country. Since they are so isolated they don’t want to risk
people bringing things into their country. It makes sense, but it was really
intimidating.
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| Megan M., Me, Joe, Michelle |
We met our tour guide for the week, his name is Lyndsay, and
our bus drives name is Eric. We went to the YHA, which is like the YMCA. This
is where we will be staying for the night. We had a few minutes to get ready
and then we headed out for dinner. We walked to this restaurant called Buffalo.
The food was really really good. But it took forever. I sat with Megan M, Joe,
and Michelle Livingston (ASC coordinator). We were sitting right by the door
and the staff kept leaving it open. It was really drafty and we had to keep
getting up to close it ourselves. It kind of turned into a joke after a while.
We played a game of saying movie quotes and then naming the
movie. After we couldn’t think of anymore, we moved on to naming two
celebrities and having 6 steps to connect them. I was really bad at this, but I
was good at coming up with the celebrities. I gave them a big stumper of
connecting Scarlet Johansen to Christopher Walken. It took them a few hours and
a lot of outside help, but eventually they got it. This was after I had
showered and gotten into bed. But good on you guys!
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