New Zealand in my dreams..

So I have officially been in Christchurch for three weeks now. I totally meant to keep up with this blog much more frequently but it's been so ridiculously difficult to find any free time here. AHHH... I love it here so much! I am so, so, so glad that I finally made my study abroad dreams become a reality. The past three weeks have been such a dream come true and even better than I could have imagined. I love absolutely every new person that I have met here. I have already managed to create this new, strange, completely foreign place into my new home. I feel so well acclimated, and like I have known all my new friends for years. Although Ilam Apartments where I live is quite packed with study abroad kids from the states and international students I have had a blast getting to know them all. Even the kids that come here to study abroad are so different from my friends back home. My eyes have been opened to the amount of people that love living outdoors, never just sitting on their butts for days at a time like I feel so many people I know back home do. Kids here are always out rock climbing, going skiing, tramping ( which is what they call backpacking here), and just generally wreaking havoc in nature. I love it so much. My flatmates are great, my neighbors are great, my classmates are great.. I am just elated to be here. And kiwis are the most fun, down to earth humans that you will ever meet. Not only are they absolutely kind and genuine to complete strangers but they take life as it comes, never worrying too much and always making sure to have a good time. And yes, they like to party, a lot.

As for weekend trips our first weekend here was spent discovering the surrounding area/beach. We took the metro bus to Sumner beach and just hiked around all day, eager to take in everything and anything we saw.

 Although it is winter here I find myself forgetting that quite often. As we hiked around the beach we were all in T-shirts just taking in the warm weather, and basically loving life and reminding ourselves that we really were finally in New Zealand.

I absolutely love the group of kids living in J-flat of Ilam that I have met here. We are all from the states, except Lisa who adds some culture to our group being from Germany but I love us anyway. I love the fact that even though we are from America I am still learning so much from these people. I have learned one thing for sure, life outside of Indiana is so much better, and cooler.... I was also so excited to find out that we have a pretty musical bunch, and especially our first week here we spent a lot of time playing guitar, singing, banging pots and pans as drums late into the night...

For lack of time and better choice of vocabulary, I totally love this place, and just pray that my time here doesn't fly by too fast..