WEEKEND!

WOOO! 

Midterms are over, I no longer feel delirious from lack of sleep, and spring  break is officially here. :) 

SPRING BREAKKKKK!!!!!!!

It's so close I can almost smell it.. two days away until my two weeks of spring break. Unfortunately, I have 2 tests in between that day and right now. *grumble*

One of them is worth 50% of my grade... fantastic. BUT, all of the stuff I'm studying is relatively familiar because I have a background in Criminal Justice. So yeah... it shouldn't be TOO hard. I just have to make sure I'm not mixing up US stats with NZ stats... eep. 

BUT, to keep my spirits up I'm going to make a list of the things that I am doing this spring break!! WOOOOOOT! Be jealous. :D

- Night Snowboarding: powder won't be as good as the stuff in CO, of course, but it should be pretty epic nonetheless.

-Glacier Hiking: All day trip hiking around a glacier!! 

-Canyon Swing: Its like bungee jumping, but not. Basically you're on a bungee chord in this canyon, and you swing, from really high up. It's going to be so scary. 

-Near death experience day: OK. So this day, my friends and I have signed up to do this big old package of crazy stuff. We start the morning off by skydiving at 9000 feet. (YES!) and then a helicopter ride to in the valley, and end the day with white water rafting down this huge river. There's a reason we're calling it Near Death Experience Day. 

-Milford Sound: this is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in the world, so were taking a day trip there. :) 

Spring break is going to be epiccccccc. 

BUT, I would love some good prayer and vibes sent my way for these ridiculous midterms!! :D Thanks all, miss you tons!

It's a small world after all....

I've never been SO aware of how small this world actually is till I came to NZ. 

Three crazy stories that should convince you::

I just met a guy named Andy. (not my roommate). He is from around Boston. I casually mentioned that my best friend Kevin is also from the Boston area. He asked where and I said Westborough. He did a small doubletake and asked what high school he attended. Westborough High School... this kid Andy and Kevin went to the SAME high school!! And the more I mentioned him, the more he seemed to think the name sounded familiar. He played sports and tenor sax, and Kevin sang and did theater so its unlikely that their paths would really cross all that much. But still, the fact that I met someone from my best friend's high school... crazy sauce. 

I met a girl named Julie. She mentioned she was in an a cappella group in Virginia and I excitedly told her I did it too. I asked her what school she went to. James Madison University in Virginia. The JMU Overtones are friends of the GW Troubadours. She happens to be a part of a different group, and knows ALL the Overtones. I mentioned a few by name and she knew them all well. 

Finally, on my trip, in my program, is this girl named Cassie. Cassie is from Littleton, CO. My hometown. Not only is she from my hometown, she lives across Bowles Avenue from me in Bow Mar. Any Coloradans should understand how close this is to my house. She is literally across the street from me!!! We've lived most of our lives across the street from one another. She went to Littleton and knows half of my middle school friends. BUT it doesn't stop there, Cassie was AT my senior prom. I was there with my date, and she was there as someone else's date. For all we know, we could have been dancing next to one another!!! CRAZY!!!

This world is tiny, tiny, tiny!!! 

ROOMMATE STORIES!!

So my roommates here are awesome, although lately they've been a bit rambunctious! 

I have four of them, as some of you know. Two from Singapore named Pearlyn and Andy. One from America, Maddie. And another from Uruguay, Sebastian. 

So here's a little story about each of them: Enjoy!

Pearlyn: This girl is the Asian of Asians. You know how Asian people are always taking pictures of food and of them eating food and of them by the restaurant and ordering food? Well my roommate Pearlyn is the queen of this trade. She has an entire album dedicated to food we've made, eaten, bought, etc. It's really quite funny and I never pass up the opportunity to make fun of her. haha, but I love her. She is the biggest sweetheart and genuinely cares about people. I love this girl! 

Andy: Andy came downstairs a few days ago and saw that I had curled my hair (which I don't do unless i have heaps of time, because it takes forever). He was SO intrigued by it and asked how I did it and how it stayed in and everything. That in itself was funny. And then he asked me to curl his hair, for fun. So a few nights ago, I did just that. I curled his long-for-a-boy hair. And he looked like a Japanese game show host, especially when he put on the nerdy glasses. It was so funny, all of us were laughing for a good 20 or so minutes. The best part: yesterday he knocks on my door and goes, "jeenie? can you perm my hair again??" HAHAHA! 

Maddie: Last night Maddie and i went out to a boat party. It was someone's birthday and she had rented out this space on this little tugboat/restaurant dealio on the harbor. Guests had to dress up a little bit, so we all went to have fun! We went and her and her friends pre-gamed a bit. I abstained because I hadn't eaten and didn't really want to drink. But this little 5 foot 1, 100 pound girl had a bottle of Chardonnay by herself and THEN remembered she hadn't eaten all day. SMOOTH. She ws okay for the first two hours, and then I looked over to see her slumped over in a chair. Blacked out. A few guys were laughing at her and saying they wanted to take pictures with her, until I came over and told them to back off and quit being stupid. I called a cab, dragged her into the cab, took her home, dragged her out of the cab, and plopped her in front of the toilet. It was stressful in a my-roommate-is-plastered-and-i-have-to-take-care-of-her kind of way, but it was also funny. 

Sebastian: He got WAY too drunk a few nights ago (is anyone realizing that all these ridiculous stories i have always involved alcohol!?!?!?! Kids... DON'T drink). He tends to be a little intimidating when he's been drinking so it's not always the best job to have to take care of him. Wednesday night he got into a bar fight.  With the bouncer. The bouncer was on top of him, wailing on his face, before four of his friends (myself included) pulled this guy off him for enough time to get Sebastian back on his feet. What a ridiculous situation. We pushed Sebastian to get out of the bar, and my other roommates took him home. When I came home an hour later, he was sitting outside with his head in his hands, clearly upset. I didn't question what happened, just quietly slipped upstairs. My roommates then filled me in on what happened. Apparently he had been making dinner and went to talk to Pearlyn, while holding a knife. Now he wasn't intending to hurt her, as he was making dinner beforehand, but anyone would understand why she would feel a little cautious. So she told him to go downstairs and she'd meet him there. When she went downstairs, he told her he wanted to show her something. He tore a piece of cloth off, soaked it in gasoline, and stuffed it into a bottle of alcohol (which if you don't know, will great a big BOOM if lit and thrown). He then took it outside, lit the cloth with his lighter and threw it. The bushes nearby caught on fire and pearlyn put it out. 

Sebastian now has signed a contract that says he's not allowed to have alcohol here. Heh.... 

I guess this whole taking care of him thing is no longer an issue. 

So yeah, those are my roommates. Moral of the story, please don't drink. For your roommates' sake.  K thanks. 

Time needs to SLOW DOWN!!!!

I've been here for 5.5 weeks now. Midterms are NEXT WEEK. 

Most people back home haven't even started school. For people studying abroad, my midterms will have taken place before they even leave for their school. WHY is time going so fast!!! 

I am in love with this place in so many ways and I really, really hope that I get to return once this semester is over. The scenery is always beautiful, the people are abnormally nice... 

The first weekend at church my pastor's wife invited me over for a lunch later that month. I went, and there were 6 or so other people there and it was so much fun! Spring break is in less than 2 weeks. How is that possible? Why is time going so fast?!! 

I honestly don't know if I'll be returning home at this point.. dang it. Why didnt I study abroad for a year. ... poo. 

O Roommates

So today I've been incredibly blessed. My room was flea-bombed so I wouldn't have to sleep in a sleeping bag anymore, and my computer got returned to me!! Its so funny to see how dependent on it I was... the first day I think I went to the library to find a computer 4 times. But as today rolled around, I was beginning to only go once a day to simply check my email for notices from professors and student groups. 

When I got my computer back, I realized they had replaced my hard drive completely, which meant I had to reconfigure everything, and lost anything that didn't come with my mac. This means I lost my music, pictures, Finale (and the compositions I had going), and office products. It was definitely a pain and I was severely annoyed and frustrated with the fact that there was NOTHING left. As I fussed around and got more irritable, I knew I needed to calm down. So I put my computer aside for an hour to do a quiet time and read my Bible for a little bit. In that time, God showed me how He had used that week away from my computer to make me dependent on Him, and not on my computer. It made me realize just how reliant I had become on technology when really, I have a cell phone that works well enough and the only thing I really need a computer for is some internet for email and facebook. I don't even need facebook that badly. So it was very good for me to realize this. As soon as I calmed down, things started to work on my computer. FUnny how God works isn't it? 

Anyways, I've been sitting here downloading all my stuff back onto this computer, watching old videos of my a cappella group and laughing at how ridiculous we really are... when suddenly I inhale and smell a very distinct, potent smell. I knew a few of my roommates had done pot, I suppose I just never really thought they would here. With as many concerts as I've been to, I know that smell immediately. 

Kind of a conflict. I don't want to fall asleep to this smell (and so my window is open as its a sickly sweet scent thats too much to handle in close quarters)... but I cant kick them out because even though everyone here does it, it's still illegal in NZ. I'm not entirely sure as to what to do. I suppose, like everything else, I simply need to trust in God and hope that He moves in this situation. Right now, I'm breathing cleaner air and trying not to focus on it. I don't care if they do it, it's their own decision. But it does bother me that they are doing it in here... the likelihood of getting caught is slim. But if they do I am probably guilty by association and will be reprimanded for not snitching on them. I suppose when they're sober I'll ask them not to smoke in here.... the walls are thin. (to give you an idea, they're smoking on the ground level and I can smell it from the top floor). 

O roommates.. silly people. silly youth. 

Flu, Computer Troubles, Bed bugs

That's right.
In the past two weeks, I have had the privilege to enjoy all three of these wonderful things.

The 3rd week (end of 2nd week?) I got sick. I think the woman behind me was sick because she was coughing all throughout the church service. And i remember thinking, "boy would it suck to get sick!" Well it turns out God has a bit of a sense of humor. haha... jinxed myself. Oops. I was really bad on the 3rd day of being sick, and then miraculously recovered the next day (after 24+ hours of sleeping and lots of liquids) in time for an aweosme weekend trip.

Then, as my friends and I were planning our spring break trip and trying to buy bus tickets, my computer froze. It's done that before when there's too much going on at once, so I just turned it off and turned it back on. problem was that it wouldn't turn back on. I had to take it in the next day to get fixed, and I am without laptop for a good 2 weeks.

Yesterday I woke up with all these little bug bites on my body. mostly on my arms and hands... but there had always been a few new ones every day for about 3 days. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized I might have bed mites. These little creatures just love to nestle into your sheets and come out at night to feast on your blood. the best part about them: you can't see them! They're tiny little things and its hard to tell whether or not you have gotten rid of them all. I have to flea-bomb my room.

Despite all these tiny little troubles, I find all of this highly amusing. Of course this would happen abroad. But I am actually typing this, smiling and laughing at this ridiculous situation. I'm not nearly as irritated as I ought to be, which is a miracle within itself.
its funny.

I think my sense of humor is just ever-expanding. haha