i’m finally settled in and getting over the 19 hour ahead time jump. i LOVE new zealand. its like the perfect mix of northern california and southern ireland, which happen to be two of my favorite places. believe it or not, this is the campus! its so beautiful, even in balmy weather (got that one from my awesome kiwi roommate). the campus is on a horse ranch next to a volcanic crater, which is now a lake, surrounded by forrest. the picture below is the view from our common area. its pretty epic! i find it amazing how much the vegetation differs within such a small area: from jurasic looking palm trees to lush rolling hills to fields of beautiful yellow flowers. it can look like a jungle out of jurasic park then a few minutes away looks straight out of the shire in lord of the rings. its pretty trippy! there are lots of trails to hike and roads to explore, when i’m not studying of course. the classes i’m taking are fantastic (all 22 credits worth) and it feels like everyone here has been friends for ages. needless to say, i’m having a blast here on the other side of planet earth.

*side note: the internet is terribly slow here (if the internet is even working at all) so i will definitely be posting less. i’ll still try to update regularly, just not the same ‘every-other-day’ posting schedule i’ve been on lately