So it's back to the land of the free and the home of the brave(s) I go...

Top 5 most favorite moments:

-Drinking Dr. Pepper on the top of a hill with Shannon.  This day was one of my first real hang outs with a New Zealander.  Shannon took me all around Hamilton and showed me pretty much everything!  We ended the day drinking Dr. Pepper, which is a mission to find in NZ, on top of a hill near her house where we could see the city and pastures and mountains in the distance.  So great and so satisfying!

-Driving out on the Otago Peninsula.  On the 2 week trip around the South Island, this was our first big drive.  No one else was comfortable driving the honkin’ campervan on the other side of the road yet, so I took one for the team.  The road pretty much had hills on one side and a drop off cliff into the ocean on the other side.  Cue heart attack.  From the seat in the back on the campervan, you couldn’t even see the road or the drop off, just straight ocean from there.  Anyways, this drive was scary, but beautiful, which made it hard to concentrate on the road, but we made it! 

-Laying on a surfboard in the middle of the pacific ocean at sunset.  Never have I ever been on a surf board OR in the Pacific Ocean.  Although my friend Kelsi was teaching me how to surf, I was totally fine with just sitting there and watching her and others ride the waves in.  I couldn’t get enough of the feeling of being so small among the seemingly endless amount of water and laying under an orange sky as the sun was setting behind the shore.  Ahhhhhh, so peaceful (and warm thanks to the wetsuit).

-Riding on Ryan’s 4 wheeler with him and Loren.  Everything was so picture perfect.  Like the ocean, the green rolling hills seemed endless.  And then there were mountains and more hills in the distance where the sun was starting to go down.  Passing cows along the way, I tried to take it all in and take as many pictures (and mental pictures) as I could.  It’s hilarious how I thought it was soooo cool and Loren and Ryan were probably thinking that it was just normal and not interesting at all.  It’s crazy to think that people LIVE in the middle of those rolling hills and that’s their everyday view.  How awesome!

-Witnessing the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup.  I don’t think I’ve really successfully expressed how HUGE of a deal this is/was.  I mean, in the US we have like a bajillion teams, pretty much one for each major city, baseball, basketball, football, hockey (RIP Atlanta Thrashers), etc… Here they do have Rugby League which has teams from different regions of NZ, but then there’s Rugby Union and that’s where the All Blacks come in.  Just imagine if the whole world played football and the US had to choose guys to make ONE team to play other countries.  And then imagine how awesome it would be that the whole country would be supporting ONE team.  EVERYONE. ONE team.  None of this stupid rivalry, home team, where you grew up/went to college nonsense.  By the feeling of the energy and support level of this whole country, you’d have thought they were hosting the Olympics and had gotten gold in every single event.  I am SO glad I was here for this special moment!

Top 5 most favorite activities:

-BUNGY JUMPING.  Duh! Taking a 134-meter leap out into the middle of a south island valley with a river below, yes please!  This is definitely one of my most favorite things that I did not only while I was here, but in my entire life.  Sure, I was nervous that something was going to go wrong, but hey, oh well if it does, right? But it didn’t :) This was the most adrenaline-rushing experience I’ve EVER had.  It was like one of those dreams you have when you’re free falling into some unknown pit and then you wake up and you realize it was actually just a dream and you didn’t die… oh but wait, this was REAL LIFE! The ride back up from the bottom was just as amazing too!

-The roadie to Ryan’s house.  This day was a combination of being amused by attempted American accents, crafting (and being given personal souvenirs to wear/take home), eating a homemade dinner, and 4-wheeling through the hills and farmland.  With the sun setting in the distance, we whizzed through the greener than green grass and laughed so hard we almost fell off the back (oh wait, I actually DID fall off… just once though). 

-Glacier Hike in Franz Josef.  If you had told me a year ago that sometime in my lifetime I would see a real glacier I would have laughed in your face.  Not only did I see it, it but I hiked on it, touched it, drank flowing water from it, ate lunch on it, etc.  It was so awesome because it was just so natural.  All the formations of the ice changed over time, but on their own, not because of human interactions.  I also loved this because it reminded me of something that my Grandfather would have LOVED.  Being the adventurous traveler that he was, even in his 70’s and 80’s, I sure wished he could’ve been with me for lots of these experiences over the past 4 months because he sure would have loved it all, especially this one! 

-Running the Auckland Half Marathon. 2 weeks notice and 2 free entries into the Auckland Half? You bet I took my WWOOFer host up on that one!  Even though I think the training caused something to go wrong in some muscle in my right leg, power on power on… After a 4am wake up call (and less than 3 hours of sleep), a 7am start, and 13.1 miles, I FINISHED!!! What a cool feeling to get to run (although very slowly) over the Harbor Bridge in Auckland and eventually cross the finish line.  Success! And in a different country… even more success? Sure!

-Sunday lunch with the Hemmes family. One rainy Sunday after church… “Did you take the bus here?” Yep. “If you want, we can give you ride to the bus stop!” Oh that’d be awesome! “Actually you should just come over for lunch!” Wow, really?? Thanks!

Who knew Sunday lunches after church would turn into such a routine thing? Well, I sure am glad they did.  The Hemmes family took me right in.  They were so welcoming to this random American girl they had just met at church.  Over the course of the past 4 months, I have LOVED getting to know all SEVEN(!) of them, listening to their stories, sharing mine, throwing the rugby ball in their backyard, and indulging in their homemade bread and wonderful lunch!  From Jackie’s motherliness to Lisa and Jessica’s inclusiveness, they sure did make me feel protected and welcome; I knew that if I needed anything or got into any sticky situations, I could call them! I sure will miss seeing the Hemmes family sitting 6 rows in front of me at church, but I will miss their wonderful Sunday afternoon fellowship even more! Who knew that I would find my very own NZ family here?! God is SO good.  They invited me to eat dinner with them yesterday and the night was filled with awesome home cooked food, God’s word, stories, yummy dessert, more stories, cards, and eventually tears. Tears of joy because I was so blessed to meet this wonderful family, and tears of sadness because I don’t know when the next time is that I will see them again.

Top 5 most favorite words/phrases:

-Keen. “up for it” or “excited” or “want to”… Examples: “I’m pretty keen for yall to come visit me in Georgia” or “Are you keen for town tonight” (Nope) or “Yeah, bro, I’m keen as”.  I have already caught onto this word and have been unconsciously saying it here. 

-Goodonya. “good for you!” or “there ya go!”… Examples: “Goodonya for finishing that paper a week early!” or “I saw you running today, goodonya mate!”  This is so much more fun to say than “good for you”!

-Nekminnit. “and then…” or “the next minute…” This is one of those phrases that allows everyone around to imagine something different.  When you say it, you can leave it at dot dot dot… or you can add something after.  Like “Didn’t see the red light, nekminnit…” or “Ran a half marathon with 2 weeks of training, nekminnit… can’t walk.” Also, you kind of have to say it in a monotonous voice.  I’ll be happy to give demonstrations upon request. I’ll be saying this at home, prepare to catch on.

-Reckon. “Yeah, I’d say” or “I think”… Examples: “I reckon you were really cute as a baby” or “Um YEAH, I reckon!” Even though it makes me feel like a hillbilly, I love this and have been saying it unconsciously and will keep saying it unconsciously.  Maybe I’ll add “fixin’ to” to my everyday vocab as well.

-Crack up. “Hilarious”… Examples: “Aw bro that movie was crack up as!” or “Did you see that crack up thing he just did?!”  At first my mental response to this was, ‘wait, you mean you cracked up…’  Nope.  Love it though.

Top 5 most favorite pictures:

Top 6 most favorite scenery only pictures:

Top 4 most interesting foods:

-Spaghetti and baked beans for breakfast.  It was gross when I first witnessed it and it’s still gross.  Grab a piece of toast and load on the baked beans… no thanks.  Or like this kid in my dorm, just eat it straight out of the bowl.  Dude, it’s 8am and you’re eating spaghetti.

-WEETBIX. Y-U-M.  Weetbix are little flakes of wheat all compacted together to make up a 4inch x 1.5 inch x .5 inch bar type thingy. Add a wee bit of sugar, drizzle some milk over top to sog it up, and BAM, best breakfast food ever.  Hope I can get a few hundred of these little jonesers through customs.

-Pineapple Lumps.  Ew.  Little bite size pineapple flavored marshmallows coated with a layer of chocolate.  I am not too keen on these but people reckon they’re good as frozen (that was such a kiwi sentence).

-“American” hot dogs. I’m not too sure why these are called “American” because they are actually really disgusting and NOTHING like real American hot dogs.  Remember the time I described those hot dogs that looked like they were inside a hot pink balloon, even had the little ties on the ends?  Yep, well those bad boys are givin’ us Americans a bad rep over here.  Can’t wait to eat a REAL hot dog when I get home.

Top 5 things I’m going to miss:

-BAKERIES. Where anything and everything is over 1000 calories. 1,000 calories of greatness.

-The “laxed as” lifestyle.  In the words of my friend Adam, “do you reckon we’re just laxed as in New Zealand?” Yes.

-Getting mocked for saying “y’all”. Just doesn’t happen at home.

-FRIENDS. Loren, Shannon, Kelsi, Kelsey, Ryan, Pep, Pip, Megan… But can’t they come back with me?! Thank goodness there’s one American in there (Kelsey) who I have a better chance of actually seeing back home (hellooo Pennsylvania roadtrip!).  I could go on forever about how all these people have made me feel to loved and welcomed while I’ve been here, whether it’s taking me to their house, offering to drive me places, eating meals together, watching movies, or just plain being inclusive.  Remember when I first got here and literally didn’t know a single soul in Hamilton? Oh gosh, how I do not want to go back to that feeling. Thank you friends! Yall rock!

-THE SKY. This may sound really dumb because well, duh, the sky is the sky and there’s only one and it’s the same one that covers good ‘ol Georgia.  But no, the sky here is SO different and the clouds just always seem so low and perfect.  Even on a gross day, the sky still makes me smile and also makes me wonder how something can be so big and endless and beautiful (kind of sounds like Jesus’ love, huh? Didn’t plan that one).  The Maori name for NZ is Aotearoa, which means ‘the land of the long white cloud’ and that description could really not be more fitting!

Top 5 things I’ve learned:

-TRUST GOD. Trust that He will get me places safely. Trust the He will provide friends and fellowship. Trust that He will get me through the day.  Trust that He will place me where He wants me to be.  Trust that my bungy cord will not snap.  Trust in the plan that He has set out.  Trust that He will hear my prayers.  Trust that He will draw me closer to Him.  TRUST TRUST TRUST!

-The world is actually SMALL.  Whether it’s finding out that I have a mutual friend in common back home with Shannon or meeting my dad’s brother’s kids’ mom’s dad’s brother’s family (that was the long version, just for added affect), this world is not endless.  I mean, when you really think about it, all of the oceans run together and we all came from Adam and Eve right?  But really, how cool that I was placed in a city that was only about an hour away from people who practically became my NZ grandparents!  And what are the chances that I meet someone who knows one of my friends from high school?! Connections… so cool.  Oh AND that time I almost fell off the treadmill when I saw “JOHNS CREEK, GA” pop up on the tv screen in the gym??? Thank you, PGA Championship, for giving me a sense of place in this seemingly endless world.

-Family is one of the best things EVER. Ok, if you’re ever having a bad/hard/rough day, or just need a little encouragement, or even if you don’t, but you love getting mail as much as I do, let me know and I’ll put Diane on it!  From countless mail from Diane (and from Anna and the unborn baby #2), packages from my mom, emails from aunts, unexpected letters from cousins (thanks Todd, Lauren, and Eds!), talking to Jason, Drew & Diane, Anna, my Mom, and my Dad, calling Mamaw every other Friday, I could not have felt more loved and supported by my wonderful family over the past 4+ months!  I am excited to be excited to be going home (no, that was not a typo) because I think that’s a testament to the fact that I LOVE home and the family that makes home... well, home!

-It’s okay to be out of the comfort zone. Let. Me. Tell. Ya.  So I used to say that’d I’d be totally fine with staying in southeast USA for the rest of my life, just sticking to what I know and loving it.  However, somehow it this whole study abroad business was put on my heart and in my head and BAM, bye bye comfort zone… and I couldn’t be more thankful.  Really though, I am probably the last person to not only want to spend 4+ months away from home and familiarity, but also to enter a situation where I literally didn’t know a single person.  It was see ya later comfort zone from the very beginning.  And then I walked up and down a muddy mountain barefoot, went to stay with a random family that I found online for a week (sounds pretty sketchy), participated in class discussion without being forced, and LOVED it all! I have to say, that I am SO glad that I chose to come to NZ instead of go abroad with a Furman-led trip in Europe though.  I loved that no one but the Lord was holding my hand through this whole experience and that I wasn’t “getting away from the Furman bubble” just to be in another country with a smaller, more confined Furman bubble.  I am so thankful that I was pushed to be on my own and make friends and live life with a short break from Furman things. 

-The world keeps going whether I like it or not.  I selfishly felt like since I wasn’t a Furman, it would just stop and wait until I got back to start up again, just so I didn’t miss anything.  Fat chance.  Of course I missed being there this semester and there were times when I longed for friends who know me so well (not to mention intramurals, Tri Delt things, football games, sidewalk sales, etc).  See yall in a week though!

Top 10 things I can’t wait to do when I get home:

-FIND OUT IF I’M GOING TO BE THE AUNT OF A NEPHEW OR ANOTHER NIECE!

-Wear my cowboy boots and eat a REAL “American” hot dog (maybe even at the same time).

-Drink Dr. Pepper out of my Braves tervis tumbler.

-Take a nice, long bubble bath.

-HANG OUT WITH ANNA AND SEE EVERYTHING SHE HAS LEARNED IN THE PAST 4+ MONTHS!

-Take my mom Chik-fil-a lunch and eat with her in her classroom (and Lindsey, you too!).

-Walk around familiar places like TARGET, Publix, and TJ Maxx!

-DRIVE MY CAR while listening to Kicks 101.5

-Go to Chattanooga to see my dad and Mamaw!

-Go to Furman and hang out while having ZERO work to do.

-Play tennis with my brothers.

 (pictures are taking too long to upload and this girl has got to get packin! sorry!)

So now it’s goodbye to this one-time-zone country that I have come to love and back to reality. The land of the free and the home of the brave(s).  Good ‘ol Southern USA.  Materialism, Hummers, gas-guzzling lifted trucks, strip malls on every corner, kids being demanded to wear shoes, central heating and air conditioning, no clotheslines, and what now seems like bustling suburban life…  Or on a more positive note… family, friends, familiarity, and H-O-M-E.

"So do not fear for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you with my righteous right hand"            Isaiah 41:10