On my birthday weekend, the city of Hamilton, NZ was nice enough to put together a little event to celebrate the big 2-1. Balloons Over Waikato, maybe you have heard of it. twenty five hot air balloons touched down in the field just behind my dorm and it was the sweetest thing. [View Full Entry]

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Alex, dan, Raquel, and I made a little trip to Rotorua to go Zorbing and Luging then down to Taupo to Bungy Jump and then all the way down to Gravity Canyon! Not much to say here, the pictures and video will say it all. [View Full Entry]

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When I signed up for classes here at Waikato, one in partiuclar caught my eye. Adventure Programming said that there was a cumpulsory camping trip. Well, I was in! The trip ended up being free and it was awesome. We did the normal team bonding activities but then we got to do abseiling (repelling), caving, and I climbed Mount Ngauruhoe and camped at the top. This mountain is 7,516 feet high and it was used as the "Mountain of Doom" in Lord of the Rings. Woopey! Anyways the hike took about 6 hours and we had to carry packs with food, [View Full Entry]

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The first week I was here, I bought tickets to Jack Johnson. I love, love, love his music and the concert just so happened to fall on Easter Sunday so I knew we would have a couple days off to make the trip down to New Plymouth. Our original plan was to drive to Marokupa and stay at the beautiful campsite on the beach that we saw on a flyer at a travel center, and then we would go to Tongaririo National Park and camp there and then head over to New Plymouth and hopefully find a place to sleep after [View Full Entry]

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Having grown up in San Diego, the zoo is definately in my top three places to visit. Hamilton Zoo is just a ten minute drive from campus and Simon was dying to see the giraffe feeding so Raquel and I figured "Hey, homework or zoo? Zoo of course!" [View Full Entry]

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Endless Summer is a 1964 film about surfers searching the coasts for the perfect wave. When I found out that there was footage of this film shot in Manu Bay, just west of Raglan I just had to go! Come on i had that poster in my room freshman year! Since we don't have classes Friday, all 8 of us headed out to Raglan for the day to get some sun and check out the black sand beaches. The bus from Hamilton drops you right off in "downtown" Raglan. Little did we know that we would have to walk a good [View Full Entry]

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After a rainy weekend at the Mount all of us Americans were determined to get back there and get some sun. Simon, a guy who lives across the hall from me, invited 8 of us to his beach house in Papamoa for the weekend. Its just south of the mount0 ten minute drive. Come to find out he didnt tell his mom we were coming. When he showed up with 4 americans she was suprised. Then, when the rest, who had taken a bus over, showed up she was not very happy. Basically she hated us, but hated simon more. Just [View Full Entry]

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Here are some pictures from my trip to Rotorua. Sorry for doing it seperate from the blog! I am still figuring out this whole thing! Ash [View Full Entry]

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So University of Waikato was nice enough to take international student to Mount Maunganui, apparently one of the nicest peaches in New Zealand. So, naturally I paid the 5 dollars to get on the bus and was sooo excited. Then we get there and it was pouring down rain. It was so rainy and nasty that you couldnt even see the top of the mountain! Sad day. So instead I went shopping and what did we find but a sale rack that said "SALE: $99& less." Are you serious??? I need to find a forever 21 in NZ like now! Anyways, [View Full Entry]

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Orientation back in the states usually involves all the students going to countless powerpoint presentations teaching them what to expect at their school. Well we did have two very boring sessions just like that but the University's Student Union also puts on "O- Week" which is basically the entire week filled with all types of activities on campus, free concerts and comedy nights, and most popular are the themed bar nights in town. The week was kicked off with the "B.O.C.S" party. Each letter representing a residence hall ( B- bryant, O- Orchard Park, C- College Hall, and S- Student Village) [View Full Entry]

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