Home and back again!

Alright... its been a little while... but ill update as far back as I can! The last time I wrote on here I was getting ready for finals week... yuck.

We had goodbye nights/days for Jesse and Mike since they took off early... it was sad. But an update on them... Mike made it to Poland for his brothers wedding and he is doing well and learning how to get around. Jesse went in for another surgery this past tuesday to stabilize his vertebra... its a big surgery but it will really help him out in the long run. So it is nice to talk to them and to hear they are doing well.

We took a big group photo of Stevens hall..most of the hall came out for it! I am right behind Mike in the picture.. We also took a few group shots in front of the Lincoln Uni sign... they are in the photo section!

During finals week, 23 of us decided to do a sunrise hike at avalanche peak in Arthur's Pass. We went to bed at 10:30 pm and has to wake up 2 hours later at 12:30am and drive 2 hours to the bottom of the trail head. We had to drink energy drinks and wear a bunch of layers! We started the hike at about 3:30 am and it was brutal. It is a straight 4 hour uphill climb... and once you pass the bush line... you are trekking thru snow! Talk about freezing. It was fun though because it was the first time Graham had ever seen snow. The views were amazing... we had to hike with headlamps. Once we got closer to the top there was about 5 false peaks... so each time you think you are finished... you get to the top of a peak and see another HUGE one in front of you... and the wind was blowing so hard we had to stop and grab onto things! After all of the false peaks, we made it to the bottom of avalanche peak...and that final part was rough but we had alot of adrenaline since we knew we were close... We made it to the top about 20 minutes before sunrise.. and it WAS FREEZING! once you stop moving all your sweat starts to freeze and we had to sit in the snow... it was cold. Sunrise was beautiful... there are a few pictures... my hand was too frozen to take too many and my camera kept shutting off... it was boycotting the cold i think, because it is fine now. After we watched the sun come up... the first people in the world to see it rise... we hiked the 3 hours back down... it KILLED your knees... we got back to lincoln and everyone went to bed... and then i had to stay up and study for a final I had the next day... oops... hey at least I passed!

After the peak, we went out to adams farm to check out his animals... i got to pet sheep and I even watched one go nuts and run into a cement block... he was included in the count for sheep going off to the big farmyard in the sky... kinda sad! I got to pet cows too... they were a bit nervous though... you could jump at them and they would all take off like there was a ghost charging at them!

After that, I finished up my finals... said a bunch more goodbyes, and then packed up to head home. Of course...me and airlines dont get along so I realized 3 days before my flight that the airlines put me on a monday flight from Christchurch to Fiji... but the SUNDAY flight from Fiji to the states... it took a half day of arguing until I got them to get me a seat on another plane... I ended up travelling for 32 hours! It was terrible... Once I landed, tony and kristen picked me up and took me to michelles place in LA... I walked in to surprise mom and she stared at me with her mouth open for about 5 minutes... and then burst into tears. It was fun :0) I love surprises... me shell and mom went to Wicked that night... it was AMAZING! The next day we went to Target (i missed that store!) and Sprinkles and saw michelles new classroom... and then mom and I took off for Oakland... only after our flight getting delayed an hour... OF COURSE.

once we landed our luggage took another hour to come thru... yep I have awesome plane luck.... dad picked us up and he stared at me with his mouth open and asked what I was doing there! Then we got home and saw everyone and I think Emma gave me the best greeting with a big smile and high pitched screech :0)

It was a nice 3 weeks at home... i got to see everyone and spend lots of time relaxing by the pool.... which was especially nice coming from winter time... we went to Sue and Carls wedding and got some GREAT family pictures...

then I packed up again and headed off... I flew down to LA... and of course... I go to check in for my flight to New Zealand... and I find out they cancelled the flight... apparently the plane got struck by lightning and they couldnt put people on it... so they offered to put me up in a hotel... but instead Emily picked me up and I stayed over there.... I had to keep calling the airline, and then I finally got thru at 5:30 am... and they said I needed to get over there as soon as possible because my flight would be taking off for sydney that morning. I got there... boarded the plane... then lucky me, the luggage got screwed up and we had to sit on the runway for an hour while we watched them take out and spread our luggage all over the place... so 16 hours later... I made it to sydney... and since the flights from there to CHC ended already... they had to put me up in a nice hotel for the night... then I finally made it back to the airport...thru customs for the millionth time, and landed in CHC where a bunch of people from school were waiting for me outside of customs. It was so nice to see them after such a terrible travel time!

I started up at school... kinda boring... but school is usually that way... Its been nice seeing everyone.... we celebrated grahams birthday the weekend I got back... and jet lag and all I managed to stay out at the clubs until 5am and then back at school until 8am! I slept for a few DAYS after that!

I booked my ticket to Africa! We are leaving on the 8th of August and returning the 28th of August. We have 2 big layovers in Singapore and I hope I can get out and see a bunch of places! After singapore, we fly in to Johannesburg, South Africa, get picked up and then we drive up to Zimbabwe... and apparently it will take about 5 hours to cross the border... YUCK. I dont know very much about what we are doing... my next post will either be from Africa.... or after I get back... but I will definitely tell all about it at some point!

Love everyone and miss you all too!