Books and Boulders

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Well life has been pretty uneventful since the birthday. Last weekend there was a “Pirates and Sailors” boat cruise that was organized by Ilam, the residence village I live in. We took a really old tug boat out on Lyttleton Harbor. Good times were had by all, but what happens on the Lyttleton Tug stays on the Lyttleton Tug. Unless you have Facebook...haha. During the week we are all becoming pretty consumed with the work for school. It’s still nothing like Geneseo, but Spanish is continuing to give me a fair bit of trouble, so I’ve been studying more lately. It’s wonderful to be able to go to the Botanic Gardens in the afternoons though…they are probably my favorite place in Christchurch. I could just lie in the grass all day, read, sit in the sun, and enjoy the green all around me. I’ve never been in a place like it before…it reminds of what I imagined the Secret Garden to be like when I was a little kid. The past few days have been beautiful out, though I think we got a taste of the Christchurch winter earlier this week. It started off pretty chilly and SO rainy. But I guess it still beats all the snow, so I can’t complain too much. Today was beautiful though, mid 70’s and super sunny. Kelly and I went running this morning, proceeded to yoga, then we drove out to Castle Hill with James and Mike, Kelly’s roommates. (Erika and Tamara are included in the “we”) That’s where they filmed the big battle scene for The Chronicles of Narnia, which I have yet to see. But it was a really cool place. There is just a random spattering of these enormous boulders in the middle of the grassy foothills of the Southern Alps. So we climbed around on the rocks and enjoyed the sunny Saturday afternoon. It’s supposed to be even nicer tomorrow, but sadly, I have an essay and a Spanish composition due this week so I don’t know that I’ll get to enjoy it so much. This is our last week of classes before Easter break, which is 3 WEEKS long! I have a whirlwind South Island road trip planned out with a few friends from Geneseo who are abroad in Australia but are coming here for their break. Sea kayaking, glacier hikes, overnight boat cruise, and a LOT of pit stops in between. Should be a great trip! I’ll try to update as much as I can while I’m on the road…but the next post might be a while, we’ll see. I miss you all…I can talk all day about the fun stuff I get to do here, but I still miss home at the end of the day. Thanks for reading, mel.

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Photos

the view from the top
at the top of one of the rocks at castle hill

some of the boulders
they were limestone. and fun to climb.

Comments

[lindsay]

wow, all these rock pics are like megan's dream come true. maybe you should print them out and send them home to her. or tag each rock as megan.

[Trish]

Howdy
It sounds like you are having a terrific time. Perhaps you can talk in Apanksh to Danielle as she is taking it too. Come and see us in AZ everyone speaks it!

[Carley]

oooh
omg Mel that picture with the boulders is GORGEOUS! Good job. Love you.