Active Girl

One thing that's been great about having a calmer school schedule is that I've been able to keep in great shape! Between all of the hiking and surf trips I've kept busy at the school gym which is right across the street. This week I finally made it rock climbing and this evening I did a 5k run with the Auckland Nike Running Club. I'm always so much happier when I can keep active!


Already thinking about resolutions for the new year, I really hope to do a lot more rock climbing and running : )

Last Week of Classes!

Well I just handed in my first final project! It's hard to believe it is already the last week of classes. Today I finished up my screen-printing textiles class.

Here is the workbook that I turned in for the class:

Final Project

These are the prints that I handed in today:

HURRAY ALL BLACKS!!!

One really special thing about studying in New Zealand when I am is that over the past few months the Rugby World Cup has been hosted here. Auckland has been filled with rugby fans from all over the world here to enjoy the cup. Last night was the final and luckily New Zealand's team the All Blacks won the cup!! It was really exciting to celebrate along with the entire country!




I've been following the cup on television while I've been here and have slowly learned the rules. I was super lucky and managed to make it to three live games. I got to see South Africa play Namibia, Samoa play Fiji, and Wales play France. The games were all so much fun!!

Here are some photos from the games:









The wave!!



It was raining during the Samoa Fiji game, which just added to the excitement!



It is so much fun seeing all of the die-hard fans!





The Wales vs. France game was one of the semifinal games so it was particularly packed and exciting.









The New Zealand Army marching band played before the game and they performed the All Blacks ritual haka that they do before each game.





It's been really fun learning about rugby and am now proud to call myself a huge fan of the sport!

End of the Semester Approaching...

Can't believe next week is already the last week of school!
I'm putting all the finishing touches on my projects. I'll be sure to post the digital versions on here.

Here is the book that I will be turning in as my Fashion Illustration Portfolio for the semester:

Fashion Illustration Portfolio

Week Two of Semester Break

Once we made it back from Samoa I took off the next morning with three Americans that I met here. We flew to Queenstown in the South Island and spent a week driving back up to Auckland. We found out that they often need cars brought from Queenstown to Auckland so we were able to get the car for free so long as we got the car back in 7 days, and payed for gas and out ferry crossing. It was an absolutely amazing week! I seriously could have spent a month touring the South Island. The Lord of the Rings films will never be the same no that I recognize almost all of the landscape. : )

Here is a slideshow of some of the best photos from the trip:

Samoa Photos

The first week of semester break I traveled to Samoa with a group of international students I met here in the student apartments! I have seriously never seen water that blue in my life! We stayed in fales on the beach which are essentially raised platforms with thatched roofs and tarps for walls. We were a lively group and were lucky to get very close with the staff. The most exciting night was when there was an earthquake out at sea and we were evacuated at 1am because there was a chance of a tsunami. (the place we stayed at was completely destroyed two years early by a tsunami)

Here's a slideshow of some of the best photos:

Day 93

Wow I haven't posted in ages! Things got very very busy!

Since I last posted I've been to two world cup rugby games, spent a week in Samoa and a week in the South Island, visited Hobbiton, and have been working my butt off at school. I can't believe I only have six weeks left here, time has really flown by!

I'll put up a few posts shortly with a ton of pictures from the past 53 days.