4 da shorteez

Yeah...School is crazy right now. I have 3 assignments and an exam this week. On top of that I have a ton of stuff to do for my environmental club. But I'm proud to say I feel like I'm handling all this like a pro. I'm not stressing (too much) and I'm being super productive. I made some pretty awesome decisions this weekend. I stayed in both nights to study. I went to ChCh during the day on Saturday and ran errands like a housewife on steroids (is that offensive??).

On Sunday I took the afternoon off and drove to Castle Hill with Trina, Kirsti and Mike. We put on our bathing suits and fleeces and jumped into a freezing river. We walked upstream through the river into a cave. It was a walked called the "Cave Stream Walk." They don't lie--it was a walk through an ice cold cave stream. At one point we were trying to get over a waterfall and I slipped and went underwater. Kirsti didn't want to complete it so I went back with her. Ain't no thang, it was a great time even though I didn't finish it. Afterwards we walked around Castle Hill, where they filmed the battle scenes in Narnia.

Overall it was a great weekend. I got a lot of time to myself and it was exactly what I needed. ChCh (Christchurch for you newbies) and Lincoln are really feeling more like home. This week is going to be hectic, but I'm not too worried about it. I'll go on a 2 week long holiday break after that. Here is a rough layout of my plans:

1. Drive south to Dunedin
2. Drive further south to Stewart Island. See a wild kiwi.
3. Drive north to Fiordland National Park. Kayak in Milford Sound and hike the Routeburn Trek.
4. Jump off a cliff or bridge at Queenstown.
5. Drive north to Abel Tasman National Park.

There are 6 of us going (2 Americans: 2 Germans: 2 French). We will have 2 cars and 3 tents. This might very well be the best 2 weeks of my life coming up.

I hope everyone is just as busy living as I am!

--Lizzie