All the Fun and Half the Marathon

Hello hello hello!

Today marks exactly one month until I fly home and boy am I feeling the feels! I know I’m not the only one to ever say that I want to stay in my study abroad location forever, but I want to stay in my study abroad location forever. Lucky for me, I’d miss everybody at home too much if I did, sooo I will in fact be boarding my return flight. I am excited to say that, after some extreme budgeting (eating PB&J for every meal), my friends Rebecca, Harper, Tyler, Pam, and I have recently booked flights to Tasmania and will be exploring the island for 10 days after our exams (thanks for the tips and tricks @Paquette)! We are all so stoked.

Hawke's Bay and a Race Day 

The past couple of weeks have been such fun ones! In lieu of the Vermont City Marathon that I unfortunately missed this year, Tess and I ran half of the Hawke’s Bay Marathon on May 18! Hawke’s Bay is a region about 4 hours northeast of Wellington that is full of wine, art deco, and amazingly flat running routes!               

After the race, we met back up with Rebecca and Victoria—our two-woman fan base—for some wine tasting and sightseeing at Mission Estate Winery and Church Road Winery, complete with dinner in Napier.    

We were all EXHAUSTED on Saturday night and were in bed by 8:00. Party animals! Contrary to popular belief, this didn’t really make for an easier wakeup on Sunday morning when we rolled out of bed and drove to Te Mata Peak for sunrise. When I say rolled out of bed, I mean it! Alarms went off at 6:30 and we were out the door of the Rotten Apple Backpackers hostel by 6:45. It was well worth it though; the views were amazing and the company was alright too.   

You Think We Live in a Zoo?

The following week was one full of papers and assignments to turn in, but I continued to procrastinate by going to the Wellington Zoo with Pam! While she was off doing a sweet one-on-one encounter with a Red Panda, I did a little of my own exploring and learned about the giraffes! Sonny, the zoo's newest giraffe was enjoying his first day in the sun, and one of the zookeepers told me all about his journey and story. So sweet. Once Pam was done with her encounter, we walked around the rest of the zoo and hung out with the “Australian Neighbors” for a while! Such a blast.  

Pretending to put the Study in 'Study Abroad'
The cool thing about studying in Wellington is that even when I have a lot of work to do, I can find a cool place to do it! I spent much of Wednesday and Thursday hammocking in the trees of the Botanic Gardens typing papers and listening to the birds.  

Momma Ju and Aunt Kait Take the Weekend 

On Friday, as a reward for all of our hard work, Juliet and I had a "Mom’s Night Out" at Empire Cinema. We bought ourselves a couple tickets to Aladdin, some glasses of New Zealand’s finest (cheapest) wine, and watched Will Smith work his genie magic on the big screen!!!

We continued to reward ourselves with great weather and even better company on Sunday. Gonna miss these people WAY TOO MUCH in a month and, no matter how much I try and convince them, nobody is willing to transfer to St. Mike’s. Inconsiderate, but it’s fine.

Although it probably took no longer than 5 minutes because I’m slacking in the storytelling/blog department, thanks for reading! It really means a lot to have so many people following me on my adventures through this amazing country.

Much love!! xo