My plans to go to the Fiordlands National Park were put on hold this weekend. For the first time since I have been in NZ I got a bug. Nothing big, but my energy was really low and I was very congested. Not exactly backpacking material.

I laid really low and tried to sleep as much as possible. I went to an all you can eat buffet with my Kiwi buddies James and Willie. They couldn't believe how much I could consume for a small guy. I put down about 20 plus pieces of sushi, fish and chips, nachos, salad, noodles and topped it off with apple pie and icecream for dessert. It was only 8NZD! We are making it a weekly ritual.

Willie plays Rugby for Otago which is semi-professional as they do get paid. James just graduated with honors in nutrition and muscle development, so he is a strength and conditioning coach for the players.

I am trying to get as far ahead as possible this week in school so I can somehow fit the Fiordlands rainforest into my plans by skipping class. This upcoming weekend I am hiking Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in NZ. Apparently there are a ton of avalanches and glaciers you can see from the top! I cannot wait.

I just finished posting photos and videos of my weekend in Kaikoura. Without question the best weekend I have had in New Zealand. Five kids total packed into a white Toyota Camry and made the trip six hours up the east coast of NZ.

Matthew, my roommate from Poland and I are planning to travel together every weekend until we leave. I am really looking forward to all the adventures ahead of us.

We left Dunedin at about 1 and arrived in Kaikoura after dark about 815 Friday night. Matthew and I slept in a tent and the other three crashed in the car (budget accommodation at its finest). We literally slept off a bridge on the side of the road.

Dustin, another kid on the trip, and I, woke up early so we could swim with dolphins. There were between 500-1000 wild dolphins just off the peninsula. It felt like a dream come true. I cannot remember ever enjoying myself constantly for a three hour period as much as I did. I probably won't again until I see Lebron in the NBA Finals or the 2012 Olympics in London.

I was completely surrounded by these mystical mammals and didn't even care that the water was freezing. We finished swimming at around noon with a full day ahead of us.

The rest of the group picked us up, and we went on a hike about 20 minutes outside of Kaikoura north along the coastline. At the end of the hike there were at least 30 baby seals in a pool of fresh water under a waterfall. Apparently a mother had made the journey from the ocean to find an area where predators would not get the babies. They were so cute, friendly and fascinating to watch.

We went to a bar and got drinks and pizza and burgers for dinner. Because it is winter now in NZ, days are short and night falls around 530. It was raining so we packed everyone in the car and got a terrible nights sleep. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves so much none of it mattered.

We woke up around 645 this morning to a beautiful sunny day. We ate breakfast (leftover pizza, peanutbutter and banana sandwiches) and headed toward the ocean. The group went on a 3 hour hike along the coast on top of some cliffs. At the tail end, we were walking along the road to get back to the car, and I stuck my thumb out as a joke to hitch hike. It would have only been another 45 min walk. Literally ten seconds later, a van pulled over. The chances of ANYONE picking up five hitch hikers is slim. But for the very first car that passes to pull over within ten seconds is impossible. It happened.

The rest of the day was spent driving home and stopping at rest stops.

I am hoping to go to the Fiordlands next weekend and Mt Cook the following, I will let everyone know what happens.

I apologize in advance for brief blogs that lack description. I don't have time to be as detailed as I'd like

So I have officially been absolutely horrendous about blog postings. It has been over three weeks since my last entry.

The first two weeks back in Dunedin were extremely low-key and I was trying to cut back on expenses a little after excessive spending in Australia/Fiji.

Last weekend was J Day, a national holiday to celebrate the legalization of marajuana. The entire Octagon was flooded with smoke and liberals advocating for greenness.

Sorry this is so short, but I am swamped with school that I need to complete before I leave this weekend. I am going to Kaikoura, a beautiful coastal town about 6 hours north Dunedin. I am jam-packing a car full of 5 kids and spending the night either in the car, or in tents.

Really looking forward to the journey because Dunedin can get boring after a while. Swimming with dolphins in the middle of the ocean Saturday morning and while watching, followed by hiking in the afternoon.

I have also been writing a ton for FanHuddle which inhibits my motivation on this blog.

I'll be sure to check in after the weekend and get better at keeping this updated for the remainder of my study abroad.

I am in Nadi (pronounced Nandi with a long A) which is the main island in Fiji where the airport is. You really go from third to developing to a first world nation in a matter of seconds here. I haven't really experienced anything like it before. The exchange rate is wonderful with the Fijian dollar worth about .5 of the USD.

I spent the first night in Nadi because the plane arrived to late to make it to the Yasawas where I'd stay for the following four evenings. The smaller islands are the paradise ones that everyone always sees pictures of and hears about. The word "Bula" is used more frequently than "like" in spoken English. It means hello, welcome, and general happiness. The sunset was gorgeous on the first evening and little did I know that I was just getting started.

Departing at 7:15 am towards Densaru Port, the sun was already scorching. Wearing sunscreen in Fiji is not an option. Even if you are trying to get a tan, you must coat it all over your body to avoid a third degree burn. The boat ride was 2.5 hours long to our first stop, Waya Lailai. I have never in my life seen such white sand, turquoise water. The shells on the beach were ones you would normally purchase at a store. I forgot to mention that in Nadi the police station was smaller than a dorm room. Everyone is so unbelieveably kind and welcoming that the crime rate must be near zero.

Waya Lailai was an amazing, once (well, hopefully more) in a lifetime experience. I felt like I was on a honeymoon alone. It was the kind of time that you really wish everyone you loved was with you. I slept in a straw hut just feet away from the beach, with a big bug net surrounding me at night. It was hotter than balls 24/7 and I was constantly sweating. I didn't shower because I would just jump in the ocean. There is no way to describe how warm the ocean is without feeling it for yourself. All I can say is, there really were some parts that the water was warmer than a bath. North of 100 degrees and I am not exaggerating.

75% of all earnings went to the local tribe on the Island. They are still living rather primitively but with obvious upgrades from centuries ago. 800-100 Fijians inhabit an island and live about 4 hours away via boat from the main land. For 26USD a night I had a place to sleep, and three thanksgiving size meals per day.

Anyone who wants to go to Fiji can ask me more questions, but I am far too exhausted to type anymore. Back to Dunedin

Last day in Sydney. This is not my favorite city I've been to in Australia, that would go to Melbourne. It is however the most I have enjoyed myself by far. Every day has been filled with fun events.

The first day I arrived I walked around downtown (my hostel is centrally located). I went to the world famous Botanical Gardens and saw the government house, I purchased groceries for my stay here, and I walked by the Sydney Opera House. The weather was perfect and I was really happy to be exploring the city without any restraints. I figured out the public transportation system and met some really cool people at my hostel. In particular, a 22 year old named Andri from Switzerland who only speaks German.

We've been getting along really well together and have hung out the past few days. He is always asking me what things mean in English. I used his computer and it was really difficult to type with all the new characters and symbols in different places.

The first night I also met a 29 year old teacher from South Africa who lives in London. She has really traveled the world and was so passionate about her life. A very inspirational person. I love cooking intricate, expensive meals from scratch now for a quarter of the price. The kitchen at the hostel is great and has everything one would need.


The second day I went on a Sydney tour bus type thing that lasted from 7am-7pm. It was totally worth it. I got to cuddle koalas, go to an all-you-can-eat buffet (I took FULL advantage), hike in the Blue Mountains, and take a night Ferry across the cove to get a gorgeous view of the city and Opera House. I think that has been my favorite day so far on this trip. I ate some "Grain Waves" which are a thicker, healthier version of Sunchips and absolutely loved em.

The waterfalls at Blue Mountains were gorgeous. They have that name because when the Eucalyptus gets hot from the rain forest, blue air rises up. My only complaint is that minimum wage in Australis is 15, and their dollar is equivilent so everything is at least twice as expensive. Andri said Swiss money (they refuse to join the EU, they are neutral) is equal and his min. wage is 23.00!

Yesterday I went to the world famous Bondi beach. One of the most popular beaches in the world. The weather has been perfect throughout my stay in Sydney.

Today I am going to the Sydney Aquarium and going to explore Darling Harbor. I think that I'll also run around a nice park close to my hostel. I leave tomorrow morning for Fiji, where I don't think there is internet.

I feel so weird for a twenty year old. I don't go out and get wasted at all in college because I got that out of the way in high school. I eat only healthy food, I always get enough sleep, and I try to exercise every day. I was reading about Fair Trade and other 1st world exploitations of 3rd world countries last night and I want to try and change some of my habits. I think it is crucial to be educated and informed on issues like this. Some of my actions manifest the inequalities, I know about. And some downright contradict it. Can't win them all.

I am safe and staying at a hostel in downtown Sydney after three days in Gold Coast, but the journey was anything but easy.

Sometimes it is impossible to show empathy or relate to someone without first hand experiencing what they have. I know what it is like to be homeless for a night now. Gold Coast airport closed down last night between 10-4, and I thought I was going to be sleeping there. Instead, I slept on a hard wood bench with my kacki shorts as a pillow and a towel as my blanket. It was soo gold and I don't think I even got a minute of real sleep. The good news: I still have all my belongings, I got to sleep on a bench that was not near a smoking section, and I was the first person in the airport this morning so I didn't have to wait in any lines.

Gold Coast was cool but it was too touristy and Americanized for me. Designer shops, beaches, food joints everywhere, hotels. That kind of thing. It was decent for a day and a half but not for as long as we stayed. I did go to an amazing wild life reserve though and hold koalas and seeing rare endemic species to Australia. I ate Mexican food for the first time in 2 months, much needed. I miss the Mission at home a lot.

I am solo in Sydney for the next four days and will be meeting the group at the airport to go to Fiji on Monday. Needed some space. Pretty overwhelmed by some of the tendencies of my travelling mates. You learn way more about someone when you travel with them than living, or any other kind of environment.

I'll check back in the night before Fiji.

Great Easter weekend celebrated in Melbourne. A lot of stuff was closed on Good Friday and today, Sunday, but the four days spent here were still filled with activities.

I went to bed early every night so I could wake up early and have complete days. Friday we walked around town in the morning and saw a ton of really cool graphite; it is legal here which I think is something the USA should embrace. Definitely one of the more unique types of art that is just seen as a crime. One alley-way was completely coated with an array of colors, designs, and styles. I could not have taken enough pictures. The Chinatown in Melbourne is really small, but cool nonetheless.

Friday was mostly about just walking around everywhere and getting a feel for the city. The architecture here is awesome. I especially liked the Train Station and all of the surrounding areas. Orange/Auburn building that has a clock tower and ancient kingdom feeling to it. We walked through an atrium and the ceiling was similar to a spiders web made out of steel or something. I won't be able to post any pictures until the end of the trip, but I hope everyone goes through them once they are up and available. Melbourne has a white Eiffel tower type building as well as some really distinct cathedrals. I know that I need to live in a big city for a good portion of my young life, if not a suburb of a big city during adulthood.

In the afternoon on Friday we took a tram to an area called St. Kilda. It was a hip area about twenty minutes outside of the city center that is famous for desserts. The twins and I each got a sweet treat (a strawberry crisp cake, a chocolate almond cake, and a custard danish) that we split three ways. Really could not have been any tastier. St. Kilda is right next to the beach so we took about a five mile walk along the beach until we found the perfect spot. We ate lunch, and then took a nice nap in the sun. I saw jellyfish along the way. I don't think I have seen any not in an aquarium before. The place that we stopped also had about 50 different small huts that were each individually colored and designed. I guess people pay millions to say that they own them.

I have been waking up early so I can go on a run everyday. It is so nice to see the city before it wakes up. I run up and down the main sidewalks that are generally packed with people. I still have to use my agility to dodge people, but I think that is fun. Running is the best way to cover a lot of ground in the city and explore on my own. I went by the river and to the botanical gardens and around the sky scrapers on my runs. I have been doing about 5-6 miles a day that usually takes no more than 45 minutes. I love that it is 75 degrees in the morning and the fresh air near the river is really motivating. After a long day at the beach the girls made Eggplant mozeralla and noodles with greens for dinner. We crashed hard.

Saturday was another early morning and we went back to Queen Victoria market to get fresh fruit and nuts to last us through our next city. We also bought fresh Turkish bread for lunch. I got a kangaroo steak just so I could say I have had it. It tasted like a gamey steak. I only had a bite or two because I don't eat red meat and didn't want to upset my stomach. For some reason, red meat just doesn't taste or sound good to me anymore. I gave the rest of it away and had eggplant again for lunch.

The afternoon was scorching. We went to an AFL (Australian Footy League) game. It is a combination of soccer, football, and rugby. It was much more entertaining for me than NZ rugby. The players are built like soccer players and they really get after it. There is a wide and a narrow field goal like post. If you make a catch in the red zone area you get a chance to kick it through the post, 6 points in the narrow, 1 point in the wide. You can also kick it during the action into the narrow post to get six points. A player is able to kick or punch the ball (shaped like a football/rugby ball) to their teammates and cannot run with it for more than fifteen steps. A lot of deep receptions reminded me of the NFL.

After the game we were starving and walked and trammed for at least an hour or two to little Italy or Lygon St. I was so hungry by the time my meal came that I had to refrain from practically drinking it. I ordered Salmone Spinach Fettucine with a wine cream sauce. It was so authentic. I don't think I've had italian food like that since New York City at my Global Young Leaders Conference, or the east coast trip with my dad, jo, chase, and hannah.

Speaking of which, Hannah messaged me something like "holy.shit.i.got.into.harvard." I could not possibly be more proud of my sister. She has worked her butt off and deserves it. I now have a great excuse to go to the east coast! And get sweet Harvard gear :-). I don't want to even try and compare myself to her. She is two years younger and already far superior as a reader, writer, in math, science, and probably the arts. Not just for her age, but in general. I can see why my parents have had a hard time getting her to do what they want. She isn't just a "know-it-all". She actually knows it all. Wisconsin, Illinois, Oregon, Harvard. Which one stands out? Its not hard to tell hahha. I love you Hannah, best of luck!

Today has been really low key because nothing is really open on Easter Sunday. I went for a run and then have just been reading in the sun and at the appartment. I also went to McCafe to get some things lined up for Brisbane/Gold Coast.

I leave tomorrow morning really early, but I will check in on my last day in Brisbane.

One of the longest dayssssss of my life. I got little to no sleep Tuesday night, and then zero Wednesday night. It is now Thursday at 10 pm in Melbourne, so midnight NZ time, 4 am Pacific.

I left Dunedin at 915 pm Tuesday night and took a Knightrider bus to the Christchurch airport. Rather than just my head being on swivel because of a crazy driver, my whole body was. The stereotypes are dead on about guys that have to drive semi trucks and buses at night. He was on some combination of drugs because he was insane. He looked like he had just blown about 25 lines of booger candy and only had about ten teeth: "I don't give a shit about none of yalls bags, i got no responsibilities, make sure yall grab the right ones." I didn't even mention the amount of stutters and stalls in that quote. It takes four hours to get from Dunedin to Christchurch, but for some reason it took us 6.5. You meet some of the wildest characters on earth at NZ gas stations in the middle of the night, let me tell you.

By the time we reached the airport deliriousness was in the distant past. Our group collapsed on the airport floor with our bags as pillows. We were waiting for the international terminal to open at 4 am to check in and catch our 6 am flight to Melbourne. Accidentally slept through the opening and had to wait in line behind the whole city of Beijing to check in. That sucked. All of our flights between cities are at 6 am because they were the most economically efficient so I will be a zombie for a lot of this 19 day adventure. I "slept" the entire time on our flight from Christchurch to Melbourne so I was somewhat recharged for the day. We landed at eight and met up with Paiges twin sister by 10. I am so glad we don't have to pay for accommodation for a few nights in Melbourne. Saving me a good 100 bucks.

We had our priorities straight and went to the food market after dropping our stuff off. This place had the largest plethora of food I had ever seen in my entire life. Fresh vegetables, fruit, baked breads, meats, cheeses, nuts, dried fruit, EVERYTHING. I have never seen so many different kinds of meat in one place. Kangaroo...I am going to fry some up Saturday night for dinner. No joke at all. There were at least 15-20 different kinds of every single food group. Ridiculous. There was also a flee market. I would say it was like a 6x6 NYC block area. Definitely my favorite few hours of study abroad. I wish I were with my Dad because it was totally the kind of thing we would have loved together. As in, wake up at 8 am and dont leave til 8 pm because we are trying every single thing we could put in our mouths as fast as possible. They also had live ducks and chickens you could slaughter yourself. Almost bought a duck for eight bucks so I could let it go in honor of the U of O. I could tell by their faces that the locals weren't feelin it.

I walked around the city pretty much all day probably clocked north of ten miles on the ground. Melbourne University has 44,000 and the campus is amazing. The food is soooooo good everywhere I turn. I will not be able to eat the sushi at home I can already tell. I had prawn pizza for dinner for four bucks, are you kidding me? I hate to say this because I love Dunedin and New Zealand so much, but if I were to do it all over again, after one extremely biased day, I would have lived in Melbourne. This place is perfect for me. 3.8 million people, but it is very accessible. Reminds me a lot of San Francisco in terms of the art, food, public life, and transportation.

I am have hit the wall and feel like I am floating so that is probably a sign to crash. Paige and her identical twin are going out to bars to meet all of Abbeys friends, I am sleeping. Tomorrow is Good Friday here and its Easter weekend which means absolutely nothing to me, but apparently the city shuts down. Not very happy about that. I am going to the beach during the day tomorrow and am gonna just post in the sun. There is a missing ozone layer here so I plan to coat my body in SPF 45 sunscreen.

Goodnight guys. I'll try and check in before I leave for Gold Coast/Brisbane.

I finished all my essays and work that I needed to for this trip. 5000 words and a couple tests. Yuck. I never understood the studying part in "studying abroad". There is so much more to learn outside of the classroom as an exchange student.

I am going to get some sushi and a chicken sandwich right now because I am taking a knightrider coach bus to the Christchurch airport, leaving at 9 pm. I will get to the airport at about 330, and then fly to Melbourne at 6. I am in Melbourne from the 1-5, Brisbane/Gold Coast from the 5-8, Sydney from the 8-12, Fiji from 12-18, then back to Dunedin.

I will fill in more details if I have access to a computer at anytime during the trip.

Definitely been a minute or two since I have posted. Things have been pretty stable around Dunedin and I didn't leave town last weekend for the first time on this trip. I have had a lot of school to do because the professors requested I get work done before I leave for Melbourne. I CANT BELIEVE ITS ONLY TWO DAYS AWAY! I am really stoked to have a vacation in a vacation. My neighbor growing up, Emily, went to Australia last year for study abroad and has given me a ton of helpful information for my trip.

I saw Avatar in 3d on Friday night and without any exaggeration bought 1/25 of my body weight (in kilos) of bulk candy. Could not have felt more like throwing up after the movie. Thought I had the flu or something. I did not get out of bed the next day until 1 haha. In regards to the movie, I highly suggest seeing it in 3d while it is in theatres because it is not worth sitting through that film for 3 hours unless it is in theatres. It is definitely mind-blowing in terms of visual effects.

My birthday was basically a full weekend event and seems to be dragging into Monday, at least on my facebook wall since it is today in the States. Saturday night a group of us kicked off the evening by getting a tour of Speights Brewery. It was the original brewery in New Zealand: 1876. There was so much cool history and our tour guide was amazing. At the end of the tour we had a 30 minute all you can drink with 7 different kinds of beer. It was so cool to be able to serve ourselves on the tap behind the bar. My friends let the guide know it was my birthday so he extended the period for another 15 minutes.

Free drinks at every bar all night on Saturday after midnight so that was pretty wild all night.

Sunday, my real birthday, was really relaxed as you can imagine. I laid around and watched movies pretty much all day. Paige and Abbey brought me a double scoop from Rob Roys dairy for breakfast ha. We went to a Turkish joint for dinner with a pretty big group. I got a chicken doner, rice, pita bread, noodles and salad. It was amazing. Pictures posted on the net of the meal. Paige made a blueberry cheesecake for dessert which is my favorite by far. Could not have been more thoughtful - and expensive. Apparently the ingredients here are a bit overboard.

I gotta get crackin on the school work cuz I leave for Melbourne in 2 days.

Friday morning I got a text message from my friend Simon Blue. He has already graduated and is a pharmacist now. His license plate says "DrugDr." Simon is an awesome guy and comes from a really wealthy family. He offered to drive up to Queenstown for the night and show Paige and I around the town. We accepted the offer and he picked us up at four in the evening.

The drive up was a little bit crazy because his car has turbo and we wanted to get there in a timely fashion. The curves are pretty intense all the way up. Queenstown is one of the more famous places in New Zealand. It is where all of the skydiving, bungyjumping and other extremities take palce. We stayed at hostel right on main street. Our room had 8 bunks, and 9 people. We hung out with the couple that was sharing a bunk for a little bit: The guy was from Argentina and his girlfriend from Spain. They were really nice and had been staying at the hostel for three weeks while living off a workers visa. Simon, Paige, and I had a reservation at an ice bar at eleven.

I'd never experienced anything like the ice bar before. Cups, tables, chairs all made of ice. We got to shatter them at the end. Our bar tender was a really pretty girl from England and she let us break a bunch of rules in the bar. It was -10C and we were required to wear huge coats, gloves, and pick everything up with two hands.

Later in the night I met a girl who lived in Oregon and was about to attend Law school. It is ridiculous how small this world is. Paige met a guy that sounded like he had fled America for legal reasons but lived in Aspen where her brother lives. Small world again.

I lost my cell phone that night and won't have one for the rest of the trip. I cannot afford to buy one. I already know I am going to go broke. Traveling and eating are killing me. Once you have paid for transportation, food and accommodation you are a few hundred dollars in. Then you factor in doing any activity...yikes. This is a once in a lifetime trip so I am not going to hold back on anything.

I was on the top bunk and didn't sleep a single second. Heat rises and the ceiling was cooking. I cannot crash unless it is cool in my room.

We woke up the next morning and had breakfast right on the Lake. After debating on taking a steam ship around Queenstown harbor, we decided on going to the top of a peak and luging.

I crashed a few times really hard into a wall and had to ice my legs and lay in bed the next day. It was well worth it. Always is. There is no way I can put into words the view from the top of the peak. You will have to check out the pictures I have posted.

This is the first time I am feeling homesick. I already know what the reasons are, and I am just trying to remain busy and distracted. Spring break is going on at home and that is my favorite time of year to be with my friends. My birthday is in a week. My mom and Steve's the following two days. The NCAA tournament is heating up and I am usually with my Dad and buddies breathing basketball for a week. I gotta stop.

Last night was St Patricks Day in Dunedin. I live within 45 seconds of an Irish bar and man it was roudy. I won't get into any more details about that. I think I am spending the weekend here which will be a nice change of pace, especially considering next weekend is my birthday followed by going to Australia. Probably a great idea to just chill. The only reason I posted today was because I have been reading Shane's blog, gettinwetineugene.blogspot.com. It is absolutely hilarious. It is just about our friends and day to day life. He isn't traveling anywhere. If you are 25+ or are offended by any explicit content you probably shouldn't read it. For anyone who wants a great laugh, check it out.

People that believe you need to take hard drugs in order to find new brain tangents, expand your mind, or have an epiphany or sorts should either travel or chill out in nature. Every day I think of new things that I have never though about when I am here. I guess that is probably a big part of being by yourself in a foreign country. I wish I could write everything down. First and foremost I need to find some way for an American to buy land down here because of the opposite weather patterns. It is summer here during our winter, talk about ideal.

I got close to zero sleep last night but woke up early this morning to go to the Catlins which is basically the southern most tip of the South Island, about 1.5-2.5 hours down the coastline of Dunedin. About every 20 km or so there would be a new sign for an epic view, hike, waterfall, some kind of mind blowing visual. This place was sooooo lush it was insane. I have this bad habit of eating if I am not busy doing anything else. Car rides are the worst and today was no exception. Three bags of chips, a big bag of candy, two peanut butter and jellies, a chicken sandwich, two blue cods and some french fries. I am most likely leaving some stuff out, but you guys get the point. I have been consuming a jar of peanut butter every single day trying to gain weight but without success; I had to google search negative health repercussions from indulging on this much pbutter. sketchy. I put it on apples, bananas, mix it with any kind of icecream I eat, sandwiches, plain spoonfills. Rob Roy dairy is less than a block away from my flat...bad news. A single scoop is equivalent to a double in America with two flavors for $1.40. And a double is a quadruple. Its plain sick.

On the drive to the Catlins there was a full rainbow going over our road which was awesome for so early in the morning. The first stop in the Catlins was a lighthouse built in 1869 at Nugget Point where there are usually yellow-eyed penguins. It was so windy and unstable I thought I was going to be blown off a cliff into the sea. I held my ground this time against mother nature. Purakanui Falls was right off the road, rather small but easily accessible and convenient which was great because of the rain at that point.

We drove another 45 minutes down the beach to Porpoise Bay. Quite self descriptive. Home to Hector's dolphin pod - an endemic species to New Zealand - Porpoise bay was probably my favorite site today. I don't think I have ever seen dolphins in their natural habitat, let alone a species that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. It was awesome. I am definitely going to pay whatever it costs to swim with leopard sharks, dolphins on my trip to Golden Coast in Australia.

After the bay it was freezing cold and raining so we headed towards Waikaka where we found a fish n chips RV serving Blue cod. We got into a conversation for about an hour with the people working and it was definitely a learning experience. Waikaka has a population of 28. That is no joke. We met 1/14 of the entire city. The fish n chips was so deep fried that the food was wet. Apparently the person who caught the fish was a third generation fisherman on this area of the coast so they had their quota lifted. Pretty cool stuff I thought.

Before the next stop in the middle of the road was a herd of sheep. Never seen anything like it. We couldn't drive for atleast 2 km because of the roadblock. By the way, why the hell isn't the US on the metric system? Sure makes a lot more sense. I guess we're really stubborn in our ways and love our national identity. Surprise surprise.

The next waterfall, Mclean Falls, was gargantuan and had a little pool in the bottom. If it weren't so cold I would have surely jumped in. I almost did anyways, but no one would go with me. I always do that kind of stuff. The water was about as cold as Jake's cabin that I used to spend birthdays at every July 30th. I really miss those days of cops and robbers in the forest, freezing my balls off, the ski-bowl, and it was the first time I had ever smoked a cigar. I love the Harders. One of my all-time favorite families.

We had to climb a little bit to get to the last waterfalls, Matai. I thought we were going to run out of gas on the way back, as did everyone else in the car. I have only had that happen one time in my life, with Shane Chandler on the way back from a Blazers/Nuggets game on I-5 in December. Police came and that wasn't too fun but it all ended up being okay and we sat courtside at the game after buying 2 tickets from a homeless guy with no front teeth and a beanie. We initially thought they were counterfit.

Somehow, someway, we made it to a "petrol" station and filled up. The most strange thing ever was inside. So, you know when you are filling up your cup of water from a big filter that you have to switch the flip and poors out? They had about five huge jugs, with empty (more or less, a little liquid at the bottom) fifths and wine containers. You could fill them with vodka, rum, whiskey, or bourbon. It wasn't even just weird for me, none of the kiwis had ever heard of such a thing and we all decided it was unsanitary. Obviously didn't stop us from filling up other things than gas.

My kiwi buddy AJ just noticed I am writing a blog, he was on the trip today, and he decided he wanted to make a celeb appearance in the blog. Legislation decided to approve the request:

Ok guys (very kiwi mother start to a chat to be honest), my name is AJ (Alasdair Johnston)and I was a key player in the trip today. I provided the 1996 Nissan Pulsar SR-V rubbish 4WD with SR18DE, as provided by my aged mother, well more aged then my youthful self and obviously more aged than your loved one... Kevin... I know him too... we share that in common, now we're close... I may have create raport with you. Nice.

Today, I almost stranded your loved one in the desolate, tourist infested South Island region called the Catlins. But thankfully the petrol station we found just in time was also fueled itself with various homebrewed spirits... let just say, drinks were drunk (not by myself, the driver), people got a bit effed, effin effed, and a Kiwi helped Americans see dolphins... for reals... in the sea... I rated it. They literally said they'd had as much fun as a fat kid on a scooter... going down a slip and slide... wet.

Well until next time my loyal new friends, from the pretty much exact opposite side of the world.

All my love, real kiwi, 100% pure love,

AJ

Its remarkable to me that I've almost been here for a month, let alone only having 3.25 months left. TIME FLIES when you are constantly on the move. Welcome to my life. I am about halfway done with a pair of 3,000 word essays for my 300 (400 in America) levels. One is on Perestroika and how the economic, social, and political reconstructions completely dismantled the USSR. The other is about "New" Social Movements like environmentalism, feminism, peace movement, anti/pro abortions, etc. Almost all new movements come from the left wing, which is a good sign for the future of humanity. With a few exceptions of course.

I officially have all five of my flatmates addicted to Entourage, I know it was a good idea to bring my external hard drive. I have such a bad eating disorder: I have already consumed about $500US of food...I don't know what to do because if I am hungry I am going to eat. I am even buying by far the cheapest foods, not buying alcohol, and only going out to eat if the meal is >5$. There is really no alternative when your playing ball, lifting weights, running, or hiking 7 days a week. Also, with no car, I am walking about 5 miles daily just to get from place to place. It feels good to not be contributing AS much carbon footprint as I do in the states. A nice 4.5 month break from driving and drying clothes.

In contrast to the last statement, I learned on my flatmate Abbeys car how to drive in NZ yesterday. The steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and they drive on the left side of the road. The blinker is on the right too; several times I turned on the windshield wipers. I actually did a fairly good job driving. I don't think I broke any laws at all. The weirdest law they have is if someone wants to turn right across traffic, they have the right away. Not me. In America, imagine not being able to turn right on red, or even green for that matter, because the person across the street turning right across traffic has the right of way. SO DUMB! New Zealand is the only country on the planet with this law, and they are altering it within the next year or so. I drove to the grocery store and Baldwin St. (The steepest street in the entire world, I think Lombard in they Bay is 2nd).

My Polish roommate Matthew is never home, he is always out and about or adventuring somewhere on the island. He came home last night so I got to hang out with him for a while. I really love when he is around because I usually live with four girls and need some testosterone around. Although Paige is kind of like a guy anyways with a trucker's mouth and the best beer pong player that I've seen here. Matthew taught me some cool things in Polish. He is fluent in English, German, and Polish, while currently learning Spanish and French. That would be the greatest benefit of living in the EU with basically a transnational government and no trade/travel barriers. They have 7 different noun forms. Imagine that. Not only trying to learn a bunch of verb forms, but SEVEN different noun forms. For example, Kevin, Kevina, Kevineam, Kevinowi all mean my name but in different scenarios. Polish has 9 additional letters in their alphabet and they drop our X. Zobaczytem Jak Kevin Gra W Koszykowke means I saw Kevin play basketball (note that that is not spelled correctly because I had to insert our letters for some of theirs). This one KILLS me: beaobachtungspanzerwagen. That means military car. One word? Are you kidding me?

As a flat we watched the film "Out of the Blue" that was about a schizophrenic guy that lived in a town of 50, and murdered 13 of the residents in 1990. As you all know, I hate movies like that and was hiding behind my Macbook for most of it. It reminded me SO much of the Kip Kinkel shooting at Thurston when I was a kid. "Out of the Blue" occurred only like fifteen minutes from where I live, so tonight we are driving the the EXACT shooting area. It creeps me out that people live there now.

I got to get to class, but I'll let you know what happens over the weekend. I really want to go to Milford Sound which is where a lot of Lord of the Rings and Avatar were filmed. I think we're gonna have to postpone that trip though because it is more than a two night kind of trip.

I felt like this small bit of information was hilarious and necessary to share: You know at the gym they have transparent fridges with gatorades, powerades, juices, and an assortment of bottled waters? Well, at the workout facilities in NZ you can add beer to that list. What would a nice sweat be without a bottle of your favorite brew? I thought this was extremely comical and seems paradoxical.

That is really all I had to say. I have had a really relaxing day reading in the sun. I also skyped with my mom, dad, anne, and Whipple. It was great to see and catch up with Alex because I haven't seen him since I left. It is so weird to think that some of my really good friends are graduating college soon and going into the real world.

Dunedin is so strange for a college town because everything is poppin' from Monday-Thursday with everything closing at like 8:30. Weekends seem really dead here on George St. most likely because people leave town to go hiking. This weekend was not exception for me.

I went to Turkish falafels last night for dinner. And then again for post-dinner meals. There seem to be literally four seasons in one day in New Zealand. I woke up to grey skies, slight rain. Sunny skies and warm beaches appeared three hours later. I hiked sand dunes today with Abbey, Paige, and JJ. It was amazing but now I can't move from bed. I really messed my feet up from jumping off dunes. We got some amazing pictures but in retrospect was no worth it. There was a giant sea lion that snuck up on us while we were hanging out on the beach and charged and growled at us. Adult males can reach 9 feet and 650 pounds. This was definitely an adult male.

Got some pretty epic photos leaping off sand dunes. I'll load those later. Great Saturday.

I've now attended all my classes and can't wait for the weekend. I wanted to get way ahead in all of my classes so I could chill for a few weeks, so this week I have been a pretty big geek doing a ton of reading. Last night was Katie Garlick's 21st birthday. Her parents were nice enough to let her charge the tab for 12 of us to go out to a high end Indian restaurant. We each ordered a bottle of wine, some Naan, and a meal. I couldn't believe how generous she was. The fact that they don't tip in NZ saved us about 50 bucks. I got a spicy chicken tikka masala and i had to used my napkin as a sweat towel. It was absolutely delicious though as I love food that lights my mouth on fire.

My roommate made KayGee a birthday cake and we had ice cream back at my flat before everyone went to the bars. I didn't feel like going out last night so I stayed home. It is nearly impossible to keep up with the drinking culture here unless you are an alcoholic. I have been reasonable every night I have been here except one. I don't want to wake up in the morning and either regret something or waste a full day because I don't feel good. There is too much to do on a day to day basis to throw one away.

I'm really looking forward to Friday/Saturday because 5 of us are packing into a car and driving to the Penninsula for an evening. It is only an hour away; I am praying the weather is perfect. JJ (John Joseph, not Joachim Jacobs ;)) is making the trip with our group and he is one of my favorite kids in NZ. Real laid back and would fit into any group, extremely versatile.

I got to get to class, but I am learning to drive this afternoon all over again. Steering wheel on the right side, drive on the left side. This could be interesting.

Absolutely crushed in the back seat of a Toyota 4 Runner, the 2 hour drive to Oamaru was not very fun. Luckily, the weekend shaped up quite nicely. The beach house was a three minute walk from shore and most of our time was spent laying in the sun. I was absolutely exhausted so I took a nap. The turquoise blue water was slightly too cold for me to get in, but the Kiwis did not hesitate at all. The first night we were with 6 Kiwis and 4 Americans, a nice blend of culture. They are more into taking facebook pictures than we are. I felt like I was a candid model or something.

One of the Kiwi girls was really loud and a little too much for me...she was constantly screaming and made it a point to not let anyone in the house sleep. We went hunting for mussels and Paua shells around just before the sunset and I found some amazing Paua. They are beautiful shells that appear is if they've been dipped in oil or something, giving off a rainbow shine. After hiking the beach and cruising on low tide, our group headed to a place that is famous for penguin colonies. Apparently the night before there had been 150 small blue penguins.

We had a low key movie night with lots of food. I consumed so many chocolate chip cookies dipped in peanut butter. I also got a double-scoop of icecream: boysenberry and caramel. It sounds like a strange combination but it was melt in mouth, both literally and figuratively. After the exhausting weekend and drive home, Paige and I watched a few episodes of entourage and hit the hay.

Today was my first day of class since December. My 400 level history class is taught by a Russian Kiwi. One of the weirdest accents I have ever heard. I am pretty disappointed because all of my basketball games would be on the weekends so I don't think I can play. There is one weekend in which all of the schools meet with all of their clubs and party, bbq and play sports for a get away weekend. I'm hoping to be able to participate in that. Cavs on a 3 game winning streak, keep it rolling!

The last few days have been really relaxing filled with indulging on sushi and chicken curry sandwiches. I have found some great deals and it has only been a week here. Chicken sandwiches are 3.50NZD, so like 2 bucks for a really tasty chicken burger.

Paige and I taught the kiwis how to play beer pong and now my flatmate Abbey is practicing in between classes. She is ultra competitive and president of the squash club. Paige plays college volleyball at Brandeis and she is also overly competitive: We went 16-0 at the table on our first night. It was ridiculous. Paige is like the Dikembe Mutumbo of pong, literally blew the ball out like ten times throughout the night. I have had enough time to workout the last 2 days and I am feeling really good about that.

Today I had preliminary classes; I got my syllabuses and found out when lecture times are. Grading must be exceptionally difficult here because an A grade is 80% and above.

I am leaving for the weekend and going to a place called Oamaru which is about an hour and a half north of Dunedin. It is a coastal town of 13,000 with amazing outdoor activities. Oamaru is also very famous for its large penguin population. I cannot wait to see wild penguins that are not in a zoo.

Classes start on Monday, and I also have basketball tryouts Monday night. I'm really looking forward to that. I'll check in after the weekend and let you all know how it went.

Today was full of motivation. Waking up at eight to go to an International Students lecture was SO not worth it. It was three hours long, but my group ended up leaving at around the midpoint. I walked over to the gym and got involved in my first pickup basketball game.

The three point line is further back. And the lane is much wider. I think that it is the same as European ball. It is definitely a big man's game here as no one really shoots from far at all. The kiwi players also use the glass from all angles and distance. However, the backboards are not glass at all, and the rims aren't orange. Everything is old school: Wood backboards, and strange rusty rims that are tilted up which makes it tough to shoot. They also play very robotic with no flair at all. I can see why Dave Hancock coaches the way he does. I definitely stood out as the most competent player on the floor as it is not a very popular sport here. I kind of play like Rajon Rondo here - mid range jumpers, mostly attacking the rim, but also lots of rebounds, assists, and steals.

Everyone here strives to be built like a Karsten Tindal/Zach Zosel hybrid. Rugby is the game of life. I am by far the skinniest person in the weight room every single time. The most odd part of the gym is that all the guys are lifting weights. Close to a 40:1 ratio to girls. All of the girls are on the cardio machines. Somewhere in the 10:1 ratio. After my workout it was about noon.

I came home and ate and did a little Yoga. AJ, a Kiwi that I might a few nights ago, came and picked me up to go to Flagstaff Summit. This is basically a mirror image the Spencer Butte in Eugene. For example, it is about 5 minutes outside of town and 3,000 feet up. I posted pictures on facebook of the hike. AJ is an awesome guy and he is working as a commercial entrepreneur as he called it. He basically listens to new ideas and tells the people at ground one whether to continue to try to be innovative. It was just the two of us so I definitely got a lot of isolated time to ask questions. I love learning all the Kiwi slang. I already know I am going to come back with some of it as well as a slight accent with certain diction. I learned today that Mcdonald's and every place with red meat is free range, that KIND OF entices me to try something. They keep their eggs on shelves, not refridgerated. They also only eat turkey on christmas and thanksgiving, so chicken is sliced in the deli.

I am looking forward to tonight because it is my Kiwi mate's birthday. Her name is Rebecca and I haven't even met her yet. We'll see where this leads....

PS: Cleo who is a great dog that I am friends with in the states is really sick and may need to be put down soon. I am praying for her. I hate hearing about sad things back home that I have no control over. If my dog Buddy dies while I am gone (which he may, he is old with lots of health problems), I don't want to know about it.

Thank god for iTunes and ESPN.com. I needed some Rolling Stones and sports updates today, and I found them both. While jamming to "Beast of Burden" I got some high quality reading done. 4 Oregon football players have been arrested in the last month, not including Jeremiah Masoli and Embry; this is terrible news for our program. I also saw that Jermere Holland was dismissed today for something he posted on his facebook account. Ducks football is sinking faster than Enron after a Rosebowl birth. I sure hope we live up to our #4 preseason rankings for 2010. Cleveland hasn't won a game since I left the country. No need to get into details about how I am feeling in regards to that. Tigers speech was horrific. He is a robot. I still love him and bought a Tiger poster at the local music shop for my room. I also purchased a New Zealand flag that coats a large portion of my wall.

I had a wonderful workout this morning that was extremely needed. You all know that I workout at least 6/7 days a week, and taking a week off was painful. I am back in the game now though so all is okay. Paige and I went to the grocery store and I FINALLY got my cell phone up and running. People don't call ever here, I mean never - only texts. I also purchased a few surprises that should reach the U.S. within a few weeks. I am missing a lot of people in the states, but not Eugene at all. I wish everyone could just move here. Other than that today has been really relaxing. I made some rice, chicken, and veggies for dinner. I also got to skype with my dad for like ten minutes. That was a real kick. I was so happy to see him in his office wearing lounge gear and a baseball cap. Classic Rob. I am waiting to skype Anne tonight when her chemistry is over and am really looking forward to that as well.

I made a bucket list after dinner. The list is about 25 events deep so I figure if I hit 60% of them I'll be happy. They include white water rafting, swimming with dolphins, bungy jumping, sky diving, to name a few. These rec events are all in the most breathtaking places on earth. I am in for the night because there is a huge Toga party tomorrow that I bought a sheet for, should be fun. The kiwis are playing a funny version of Kings Cup upstairs...gonna go play.

I said I wouldn't blog until Wednesday, but every day is a new adventure. I love it. I woke up this morning at around 9 after a low key night. I really needed it. Just hung out with a few flatmates and watched an episode of entourage. I walked around campus and found our rec center. It has everything I would ever need, and is about the size of the local YMCA in Eugene. The only difference is all the equipment and courts appear as if they are from the 1950s. Paige and I walked around town and got posters, 18+ cards (basically drinking ID), and lunch. Thai food and Sushi are both HUGE here. The food is phenomenal and it is cheaper to go out to eat than shop at a grocery store. I got a huge Yakisoba teriyaki noodle and 8 sushi for like 12 bucks (8 US dollars). They don't tip here which I find very strange.

Activities just don't stop here. Right after running all these errands my other roommate invited us to go to tunnel beach. It is world famous, just wikipedia it. Absolutely gorgeous - it kind of reminded me of the hobbit trail I go to with my Dad at the Oregon Coast near Florence. After taking the bus back to downtown, I got 8 more sushi and headed home. I was pleased to find one of my Kiwi hosts, Abbey, at home. I had not met her yet and she is very nice and so helpful (a common theme with natives). I really cannot believe how helpful everyone is. Everyone is so logical and reasonable. They never get stressed over anything, ever. It is the most laid back environment I have ever been, parallel to the Oregon Country Fair, but it is a real society. Basically an indescribable vibe. I feel like I am surrounded by Charlie Wilson-Mosess and Kevin Melias. I like those two guys a lot so this is great. I am sure hoping to take this mindset home with me. Police are only helpful, never trying to seek out a ticket to meet a quota. Everyone in the country has health care. Officers do not carry guns, and open container laws do not exist. I am learning more and more by the second.

I found out that I won't have to attend class which is amazing because my roommate Paige and I are planning to go to Melbourne, Australia to visit her twin sister. I think we are also going to go to Bali, Indonesia and Bangkok, Thailand within the next few weeks. Round trip flights are around $250.00. I am joining the Men's Basketball "club." Apparently they travel and play other teams and it is somewhat competitive. My kiwi roommate said I should excel because it is not very popular. Clubs and societies are huge here. I am also joining white water rafting, kayaking, tramping (hiking), and a norml club. The last club is about legalizing marajuana. Every Friday at 4:20 they sit in the Uni lawn and smoke, legally. There is also a day in May called normal J day and everyone goes to the city center (called the octagon) and smokes together: http://www.norml.org.nz/article633.html. I can't believe it and had no idea everything was so lax here. I should have assumed it though. I am teaching the kiwis beerpong tonight, that should be a blast.

Tomorrow is the beginning of O-week (orientation). Apparently they just go so big from Sunday-Sunday. I think I am going to go camping at the Milford Sounds. This is like a national geographic type beauty place. Check that out on wikipedia as well. I'll let you all know how O-week is going as it progresses.

I have officially reached the stage of intense deliriousness. I feel like it is hour 21 on night 6 of dead week before finals. I haven't really gotten a good night's sleep since Thursday night February 11th. The next night was a Friday, and I didn't feel very good. Saturday night was the big party night going out with Melia, Joachim, and Charlie. Sunday was the NBA All Star game - I suppose I slept fairly well that night. Monday I couldn't sleep at all because the trip was too close and I was still feeling like garbage from the weekend eating and drinking extravaganza. And Tuesday was my last night in town - I stayed up all night. Wednesday night I was on the plane from 7 p.m. Pacific time and didn't arrive in Dunedin until 9:30 a.m. Friday (Thursday night didn't exist for me because of the 21 hour time difference. If it is 12:00 in the afternoon on Thursday in Oregon, it is 9 in the morning on Friday in New Zealand.

I gave this explanation because if the money line is over or under 100 brain fart grammatical errors, I am taking the over and betting a grand.

The traveling was extreme. In no way am I exaggerating when I say that I pitted out my sweatshirt and jeans carrying all my bags through customs and everything in Auckland in order to make my flight to Dunedin (I kind of looked like Shaquille O'neal in the early 00s during the 4th quarter, you know, when he looks like he just got out of a swimming pool). They took my hiking boots because there was American soil and spider web remnants on them. That sucked, new boots are expensive. I was running around with 150+ pounds of luggage (they weighed it in Eugene) in a foreign country. It made my backpacking trip in Washington feel like a trip to Costco. My student visa wasn't recognized at customs either. I was too tired to be mad or frustrated about any of these things. The sleep deprivation had turned into brain damage by this juncture and the only thing I could process was reading my mom's itinerary page and getting to my flat. I was emotionless.

Waiting for me at baggage claim in Dunedin was a guy with a sign that said Southern Taxis; he was about 65 with a thick accent, and 5 other students were taken with me. We stopped and got my keys at the international students center, then headed towards the flat. I live in 4/46 Queen Street. I was so happy to get to my flat that I had an energy surge until right now. I am laying in bed, and I can't wait to finish this blog so I can sleep and rest up for tonight. I have hit the rookie wall as some call it. My key didn't work in my room, so I sat in my living room and used the wireless internet (thank god). 20 minutes later my Polish flat mat named Matthew came in with a key that worked. My room is pretty decent sized. I have the biggest one closest to a bathroom and shower, I don't know how I got so lucky. I brought my Jordan Wings and AJ 1 posters all the way from home - they were a real hassle while traveling, but definitely worth it. It was really cool that I arrived in the morning. I was unpacked with all my posters up by noon with a full day ahead.

Countdown is like the local Safeway and I hadn't eaten since Cafe Yumm in the SF airport. Food is really expensive here, and they don't eat turkey except on thanksgiving. I got a fruit smoothie, salad, bananas, oranges, chicken, bread, rice, and a razor. It was $90 NZ, which would be like 65.00 in the US. Everything is really expensive. Way more than I thought. I have spent a few hundred and only been here 28 hours. That better slow down when school starts, but I have only purchased neccessities. I am re reading each sentence so I can remember what i wrote for the next one. That is how tired I am. In classic Kevin fashion, I was extremely efficient on my first few hours. By 4:00 I had already gone to campus and gotten my student I.D. card, signed up for all my classes, gotten groceries, and bought bedding. The city has 130,000 people, and 20,000 students just to give you a picture of how much ground I have to learn. It is kind of like if Eugene were on an island in all honesty. I showered and ate dinner, and was invited to go to a Rugby match with my roommates Paige and Megan. They are from Colorado and Minnesota respectively.

We went back to Countdown grocery which is about a 20 minute walk and got this drink called Scrumpy. It is 1.25 liters and looks like 7-up. It is an apple cider that is like 6% alcohol (a martinelli's and champagne hybrid). The three of us walked thirty more minutes and partied in a flat courtyard with a bunch of other students. Then walked to the Rugby match - longest suburban walk of my life. The stadium is huge, holds about 30,000. The Otago Highlanders are the home team. They lost the match but I had fun time cheering with the die hards in the general admission section. We had to take a taxi home because we were too drunk to walk back. That was really cheap. Only $14.00 for like 5 miles. I probably walked close to seven yesterday. My Kiwi hosts have cars, but they don't get here until tomorrow. Paige and I may buy a car and sell it before we leave. She is my best friend here so far. I also met a kid that goes to Butler named JJ (John Joseph is his name). I am the youngest person I have met, everyone else is either a senior or junior. I am also the only one taking 300 and 400 level classes. Everyone I have met is taking 100 levels and they are P/NP. My GPA transfers over. It is bullshit. I may change my entire schedule and blow this term off to get As in all introduction classes, then just graduate in 5 years and enjoy life more. I have to make that decision within the next week. Classes don't begin until March 1. Last night after the game Paige and I walked across the street to a party and were really outgoing. We just walked into a Kiwi house. They were all so friendly and were offering drinks. Everyone is really out and easy going. An amazing combination. The best way to describe it here is with a metaphor that is literally true. They don't need the 750 additional channels that the United States has. They are satisfied and overly happy with 70. People here seem to have such a better grasp on what is important in life. I guess that is easy when you live in a college beach town on an island and it is 80 degrees and sunny. The metric system takes getting used to, everything is in Celsius as well. I order 200 kg of chicken yesterday from the deli and got like 8 slices.

Paige and I befriended two native Kiwis last night, and today they drove us around and helped with getting accustomed to Dunedin. They have been so outwardly kind and helpful it is unbelievable. They showed us cheap eats like pizza, sushi, thai, etc. Sushi is huge here and huge for Kevin. If you know me, you know I love my sushi. I didn't even know that going into this trip. Thai restaurants are very common, and I also love thai food. I can see why they don't really allow immigration, this place is paradise. There is no question in my mind that I will come back here and take people when I can. I really hope Joachim or Kevin makes the trip over here if it is in any way a possibility. You were both born to be here. Or if Brooksie can get a concert over here, I would love that. I also went to the beach today. The water is a different color of blue. It is insane that the Pacific Ocean is the Oregon coast too. They smoke weed here and I didn't know that at all. It is about the same prices as in Eugene if you do that conversion rate, but it is much worse. I don't think I am going to very much at all. That leads me up to this minute. I will go into less detail in future blogs, but I thought I would let everyone know how this thing started off. Also, Cleveland has lost two straight. Jamison trade was amazing and I hope they pick it up. LBJ had like 43,15,13,4,2 line a few nights ago against Melo. Read that again. And again. Are you kidding me? We are buying a dish that is $40NZ month so I can watch the tournament and NBA finals. End of discussion. I am going to sleep and will hopefully wake up to skype with a few people tonight and then MAYBE doubtfully go out. I'll get back to you all in a few days. Say Wednesday?

I already posted this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-0knDpn5g on facebook, but I feel like it is the best way to introduce my blog considering it is a visual summary of where I will be for the next five months. My skype name is kevinmcbaron and I will be dying to video chat with my friends and family. Email is baron@uoregon.edu - this will probably be the best way to get in touch with me on a more personal level.

I would like to thank Jakey Gelrod for the blog inspiration. On his trip last year to Israel he used this website and I thought it turned out well.

I haven't been academically motivated since spring quarter of 2009, so I am hoping my writing will improve with time and the blog will be easier to follow. For now, just bear with me.

I have had nearly three full months off from school, and I am actually ready to go back. I wish it didn't have to be until next fall. However, I am forced to take classes on this trip because it is a "study abroad" experience. My last few weeks in town have been wonderful. An excessively wild Saturday night led into an all-you-can-eat brunch at my dad's house on Sunday morning. I could not be more appreciative for both of my parents emotional and financial support throughout this process - I would be lost without them (as well as Jolene and Steve).

I wanted to give individual thanks and shout outs to all of my friends, but the group is so extensive I didn't want to leave anyone out. You all know who you are.

Of course my first flight is delayed from Eugene to SF, darn fog...

JJ - You are my number one partner in crime. You bring out the best in me. I cannot think of a single time in life that we have been together and not lived it to the fullest. We go all out, balls to the wall. You are always optimistic and looking forward to what's next. You make me feel like my swagger is on 100,000 everywhere I go with you. I am already a confident kid, but when we are hanging out I feel unstoppable with any mission or goal I have. I am so thankful and lucky to have you around. You better make your way down to NZ for the tail end of this trip, we'll be in touch. If not, hold it down in the classroom and gym for me in the 541, and I'll see you at our new crib this summer.

Ann - I really appreciate the ride. Not just to the airport, but also for becoming so close this year. I trust you with everything. You are one of my best friends. I am sure that I will be in touch with you more than anyone else on this trip, I am not worried about a thing. Good luck with finishing out school and tryouts. You are a wonderful person. I'll finish this later, I'm boarding.