13th and Final Prep Class!!!!

Hello Everyone!
I'm a little later than normal, but it has been a crazy insane week. This week was the last official class for my NZ prep. We took our final and talked about what we should pack, what we are worried about, and a few other things. We also got into our cooking groups and came up with menus. This coming Thursday is our banquet, we are going with a Mexican theme, because they don't have any Mexican food in NZ! This Tuesday is my first open dive for scuba diving. We are going up to the crater in Midway at about 9:00am. I'm pretty excited to finally get certified. I will let you all know how my dives goes and how the banquet is, but don't expect too many updates in the next month. I leave for NZ on Jan. 10th from LAX and return April 21st. Also, I graduate from college on April 24th, so, just a heads up. Since we will be traveling all over the country the first three weeks, I don't know how often I will have internet service. I will keep you all updated as much as I possibly can though! I love you all, Happy Holidays!

Christmas wishes from myself and The Office!

12th Prep Class

Wow this is really late, I'm so sorry everyone! Class was great, we had a lot of fun picking out cooking groups and talking to one another. We finished our city reports. I also talked to everyone about possibly making t-shirts for our group, everyone was so psyched! That is the main reason I am so slow in posting, I have been dealing with t-shirt issues all week! At the end of class we all went downstairs to the equipment room to set up our tents. We ended up setting up a two-person tent, but our tent group has three people! So I guess we will have to try to find a three person tent this week. Next week is our last official class, we are having all of our quizzes and wrapping everything up. Then, a week from tomorrow we are going to have a NZ banquet with everyone, so that should be really fun! I hope I can have the t-shirts finished by then! Happy beginning of the holidays everyone!
The t-shirts will be black with this nature green writing.
Front of t-shirts!


Back of t-shirts!

11th Prep Class

Hello Everyone!
In class we presented our city reports. Most of the presentations were on cities that we will be visiting our first two weeks in New Zealand. It was really fun to see all of the cool things that we will be able to do while we are there! Everyone loved my presentation on Queenstown because it is the adventure capital of the world, and we will be doing the coolest things in that city. I also had a video of a bungee jump off the Kaurau bridge, which is the first bungee site in the world, and the location for the pillars of the kings river scene from Lord of the Rings! We are all really excited to be able to experience everything for ourselves in less than two months! I hope everyone is looking forward to thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to being able to cross off another week until I get to go on my trip! I love you all!

10th Prep Class

Hey everyone!
Sorry the update is a little later than usual. I actually totally spaced it because we really didn't do anything. We were only in class for about 80 minutes, instead of the full two hours, and the whole time we were there we just listened to a safety presentation. One of the study abroad safety officers came to speak to us about the dangers of traveling outside the US. Fortunately, New Zealand happens to be one of the safest places in the world outside of the US, and is probably safer! I need to watch out for the obvious stuff though, don't flaunt electronics or big bills, never go anywhere alone, and think about what you are doing and saying before you do it. I will probably get an under-clothing valuables bag, they go around your waist under your clothes and carry money, passport, credit card, etc. The bag will mostly be for Australia and Fiji, but better to be safe than sorry. We might have to be creative when looking for safe places to put our valuables when we aren't carrying them around, the safety officer said he moved a ceiling tile once and put everything up there! Well anyway, class was a little subdued, and there was no scuba, sorry! Next week should be really great, we have our city presentations, and it is going to be really fun to see what we are actually going to do and see!

9th Prep Class/2nd Scuba Class

Hello Everybody!
This week in class we had more guest speakers, The Eckharts. Apparently they lived down there for quite some time, they even attended the ward we will be going to! I am so excited, the Ekharts had a slide show for us, they showed us pictures of our school, relief society president, branch president, and many of the beautiful landscapes! I can say this much, it is REALLY green! Everything is so beautiful and real, I can’t wait to experience it for myself. We had a bit of a discussion on presenting a positive American image. We will be seen as Americans with big flashing lights wherever we go, and issues will be brought up. We each need to acquire the skills to turn any perceived negative conversation into a positive. Topics that will likely be brought to our attention include: gun control, President Bush, the Iraqi war, nuclear warfare, etc. It is important to remember that New Zealand is a little bitter at the European and American countries. However, the attitudes of the average New Zealander make me believe that there won’t be too many issues. Everyone is very laid back and life moves at a lot slower pace. We will find ourselves speaking much slower in conversations, and taking the time to appreciate the experiences of life rather than rushing to the next one before we come home. In addition to my regular New Zealand class, I also had my second scuba diving class. It was still in the same ghetto shed, but we felt much less trepidation! The pool time went great, we went through our skills quickly and are all ready for our open-dive experiences. Unfortunately our instructor is going out of town for about three weeks, so we won’t be able to be certified for a little while. Still it is really fun to sit at the bottom of an eight foot pool with six other kids and learn how to fin pivot, hover, change air supplies, equalize, share air, use hand signals, and eight hundred other things we do! I am really starting to have fun with scuba diving, I can’t wait to do it for real! Tune in next week for another great update, we are getting close now, the weeks, days, minutes, and seconds are starting to fall away into the lower numbers! As of this second I am exactly 69 days 16 hours 23 minutes and 37 seconds away!

8th Prep Class/1st Scuba Class

Hello everyone!
So class this week was kind of boring. We had a guest speaker come and talk to us about how to avoid culture shock and what we should do in order to adapt to life in a different country. After his talk our professor talked to us a little about what is coming up in the next couple of weeks. Also, we are going to get our host families a small present, so we are supposed to come up with ideas. Class ended a good thirty minutes early so the scuba diving group could get up to Desert Scuba and buy gear for class. After I bought my super awesome snorkel, fins, mask, and booties package, we were off to scuba! When we first pulled up to the place we were all very worried, it looked like a run-down neighborhood, without a pool in sight, did he bring us there to kill us?! Myron, our instructor told us to grab our BCDs and tanks and get moving! After a short walk through weeds and someone's backyard we came to a very long shed, or so I though! Inside was a perfect scuba diving training pool! We all got changed and waited with great anticipation for the lesson to start. First Myron taught us how to assemble our gear. We learned how to hook up the tank, check compression, make sure our regulators were working, and how to inflate our BCDs. When we learned how to set everything up we all jumped in the pool for a test on our ability to float and swim adequately. Finally after that it was time to get our actual scuba gear on! My scuba buddy is a girl named Janelle Gibbs, and she is awesome (both at scuba and in general)! We practiced kneeling on the bottom of the pool, finding our regulators when they get kicked out, flushing our masks underwater if they leak, and going back and forth between regulators and snorkels! It was so much fun, I am really excited for all of my scuba adventures on the Great Barrier Reef in Brisbane and on the reefs in Fiji! I'll tell you one thing though, after three hours in a pool I was looking like I would have to use an iron on my hands, and my bed was definitely calling! I love you all, hope you enjoyed the update! New Zealand is getting really close now, we are down to about 74 days!

7th Prep Class

Hello Everyone! I have had yet another exciting New Zealand prep-class. Our backpacking trip that we were supposed to leave tomorrow morning for has been officially canceled. the weather here in Utah is just a little too frigid, especially since we are expecting more snow this weekend. I'm a little bummed, I really wanted to try out all my new gear, especially my backpack and boots, but I would rather keep all my toes and be able to study for my Ethics test on Monday morning.
I do have flight information though. I will be booking all of my travel through BYU, it is much more reliable, and it will be cheaper because we will get a group rate. My flight from LA departs at 8:45pm on January 10th. After being in New Zealand for four months I will travel to Brisbane, Australia on April 11th, I will spend six days playing and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef before flying to Fiji for three days. I will fly out of Fiji on Monday April 21st and return to the US sometime on the 22nd. I can't wait! I have five really cool girls in my group and we are going to have a blast roaming around!
Our city presentations are in two weeks. Our professor wants us to do presentations on the cities we will be spending the most time in, so here is the list: We are going to Rotorua where we go Zorbing which is basically where we get in a giant ball and roll down a hill. Hamilton is where we will go to the temple. Kia Kaure will be where we eat tons and tons of fish and seafood and go whale watching. Waitomo, Greymouth-the whole west coast where there are a tons of little towns, Christchurch, and Wellington. Whitianga is one of the first places we are going. Puzzle world will also be on our list of stops, so you now I am super stoked about that! Our city presentations are going to be on November first, my group is doing Queenstown, where the bungee jumping central is. They are each seven minute presentations, including: history of the city, tons of pictures, primary people that live there, things to do there, the major attractions, best restaurants, handouts, etc. I am really excited to learn about all of the cities, and we will use our handouts for when we go to the cities so we know what to do, where to eat, etc!
I know I say this a lot, but I am seriously so excited to be going that I can barely stand it! You all have my permission to be jealous!

6th Prep Class/Hiking Prep

So we had yet another wonderful New Zealand class this week! I swear I just get more and more excited to go with every day that passes. We talked about a lot of different things, but the most important thing on the agenda was our camping trip next week. I was able to get some awesome hiking shoes and rain gear. I also ordered my hiking pack and it should be here on thursday, before our hike on friday.
Apparently while we are in New Zealand we will be seen practically as general authorities, which means we spent fifteen minutes talking about how we should dress for church and the temple, we spent quite a bit of time discussing the difference between shoes and flip-flops (or as my teacher calls them ‘thongs’ which resulted in another ten minutes of giggles!)
Also, apparently there will be some serious cultural differences, meaning if our families drink a lot of beer, which they will, our director is supposed to tell them, which he will probably forget, so that should be fun.
We will be taking a religion class down there, which is great, seeing as how I don’t really need any hours anyway. We have to take twelve hours of classes in order to be full time students, the list of classes we are going to take is listed below. Also we are allowed and will be given church callings while we are there, no options, we will be doing good by dang it!
Visas are officially in, which is great, it was a ridiculously long form.
Interracial prejudices are well and alive and we will probably be experiencing some of it while we are there. Although a lot of it will be directed toward the Maoris rather than at us as americans. Despite whatever they say we have to remain neutral at all times, which means while we are there we basically have to be Switzerland.
This next weekend we are going to hike to Amethyst Lake, which is like 11,000 ft it will be freezing cold, possibly snowy. It is a very hard hike about seven to twelve miles depending where we go. Hat, gloves, cookware, tents, etc. will all be on the menu, this is a full-fledged practice run.
Possible classes-12 hours total
FL 100-3hrs Proclamation on the Family *
RMYL 301-3hrs Child and youth rec management
RMYL 199R-1-3hrs Service projects * (one hour)
RMYL 223R-6hrs All of our rec classes, surfing, sailing, kayaking, etc. *
Religion 350R-2hrs History of the church in the South Pacific *
* classes I will probably be taking

5th Prep Class

Another week of New Zealand prep! In class we discussed the mechanics of the sleeping bag, tent and backpack in depth. Chris and Cameron brought a whole bunch of bags and gear for us to look at, I guess we have to get our orders in really soon. Professor Widmer gave us a list of priorities for things that we should get: The number one thing we need to get first is REALLY GOOD rain gear, because we will need it constantly! The second thing is good waterproof hiking boots. Next on the list are a sleeping bag and then a backpack. This next week will be spent trying to find good deals on all of that fun gear! I think Chase is going to be able to get some really good deals for us. We also discussed dates of the program and what we want to do afterward. I've decided to go to Australia from April 11-17 and Fiji from Aril 17-20. I will be back on April 22 just in time for my graduation procession on Aril 24th. We also created a facebook group if any of you want to check it out it is called New Zealand 2008 in the BYU network. Well that is it for this week, take luck everyone!

The Song

Hey Everyone! I have class today so I will post my update a little later. In my second class a girl, Katie Jo, sang a song for her 'get to know you minute.' I thought it was so funny that I asked her for the lyrics, so here it is.
"Leaving for New Zealand" (to the tune "Leaving on a Jet Plane")

My bags aren't packed
I'm not ready to go
I'm excited we're going to avoid the snow
But I'm sure gonna miss the "Y" while I'm away.

I've got to exercise and get real fit
So that in a kayak I can sit
And surf and hike and mountain bike all day.

I'm leaving for New Zealand
Don't know if I'll come back again
I'll have so much fun, I'll want to stay.

My guitar case is resting on the floor
I'm saving for New Zealand 'cause I'm really poor
If you have any extra change, please drop it in.

I'm leaving for New Zealand
Don't know if I'll come back again
I'll have so much fun, I'll want to stay.

New Zealand, I'm on my way!

4th New Zealand Prep Class

Well, this week was a little boring. My teacher was at a conference so we just did a bunch of administrational stuff. We went over and filled out our visas for the Southern Institute of Technology (which is where we will take classes). We still have to fill out our visas for the country of New Zealand, but since it is about twenty pages long, we have to print it out and do it at home! One of the boys in the class, Chase, went over the options and cost for all of our gear. He is going to try to buy things in groups at wholesale so it will be cheaper for us. We also talked about our camping trip in three weeks, we still don't know where we are going, but I'm trying to put in a plug for Zion’s. The most enjoyable part of class was just learning more names and more about these people I am going with. I am so excited to spend four months with these people, they are all so individual, but so fun at the same time! Stay tuned everyone! (PS: I'm taking the LSAT tomorrow morning, so if any of you feel like praying for me!)

3rd New Zealand Prep Class!!!!

Hello everyone! Class was slightly more subdued yesterday, so not as much to report. We read 'The Anatomy of Peace' for a class assignment so we discussed the book at length. ***Sidenote*** If any of you are looking for a book that will change the way you look at life, and will make you feel like a better person and allow you to see others the same way, then this is a great book to read. It is written by the Arbinger Institution which deals with human behavior studies. Anyway, back to class, after we discussed the book (the point of our reading it being that we are going to be stuck together for four months so we better learn how to get along!), we were given the student handbooks for study abroad programs. I don't know if any of you have ever been to prison or a mental institution, but I'm guessing the number of rules would be about the same for this program! 26 pages of rules!!! (One of the biggest rules: NO, absolutely ZERO dating, sorry for all you hoping I would come back with some hot New Zealander!) Reading all the rules (and having our lives threatened if we did not abide by said rules) took a good portion of the class. For the rest of the time we got into camping groups for our camping trip to the Uintahs in October (I have been oficially designated as 'life saver' also known as first aid girl!). I got some information for equipment that I need, I will try to update my wish list in the next couple of days. Thats it for this week, thank you all for tuning in! Love ya!

Reply to Kathryn's post

Kathryn posted a comment regarding Birthday, Christmas, and graduation presents (feel free to view it, just click the little button that says 1 comment under the post.) In response, all the things I will need will be posted on 'The List' on the left side of my blog, just scroll down. This list is currently extremely premature, but will give you some ideas! Thanks for your comment Kat!

2nd New Zealand Prep Class!!!!

Last night I had my second New Zealand prep class. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooooo excited!!!!! First off, we had one of the BYU travel agents come talk to us about airfare and possibilities for island hopping after my program ends and before I come home. My first reaction was, ‘oh crap.’ This is going to be expensive! Luckily I have been saving money since I was about six years old! Still, birthday, x-mas, and graduation presents are still up for grabs! After the travel agent left and we were all in the throws of despair (especially those who don’t have their passports yet, ha ha!), my professor had to go to a meeting, so he told us to get into our groups. For our trip we have separated into groups that will plan what we do there. The groups include, the ‘backpacking’ group, the ‘charity/volunteer’ group, the ‘first three weeks tourism’ group, etc. I am in the ‘we’re in Invercargill, what social and cultural activities should we do?’ group! Here is the list of things we came up with. We will be doing these things on nights and weekends when we aren’t in school.
The List: Go to a professional rugby game, view the ancient art galleries and cathedrals in Dunedin, travel to Stewart Island to view the kiwi birds in their natural habitats on the beach at night, attend a cultural Haka (Maori war dance chanted loudly in a menacing way accompanied by arm actions and foot stamping), Beach bon fire and barbeque, Skydiving, Bungee jumping, cliff repelling, white water rafting, YSA activities with the kids in Christchurch, Gondola rides up the mountain canyons, black water rafting in ancient caves that are filled with millions and millions of glow fish, etc!!!!! Holy Crow, I am so excited! By the time my group was done we were all basically in hysterics and talking over each other and laughing, I already love these people! When my professor finally came back, and said ‘uh oh’ in response to our hysteria, we decided to do more introductions. The introductions were supposed to be one-minute creative expressions of who we are. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in my life! One girl did an interpretation of a raindrop, one girl wrote a song to the tune of ‘Leaving on a jet plane,’ which was entitled ‘I’m leaving for New Zealand!’ The lyrics were hilarious, and I’ll try to get them, another girl showed her world-class jump roping skills (yeah, she’s been on the View and Good Morning America, and tons of other stuff, all for jump roping!), and so many other things that I was starting to feel extremely inadequate! Don’t worry though, when everyone found out that I love to make movies and will be making a New Zealand movie for while I’m there, I got a standing ovation! These kids I’m going with are amazing, and I am so excited to get to know them better!

*****CHRISTMAS, GRADUATION, AND BIRTHDAY PRESENT UPDATE

If any of you lovely people are looking for Christmas, birthday and graduation present ideas I will have a full list of New Zealand items posted regularly. It will probably change a lot!

My first New Zealand Prep Class

So today I had my very first New Zealand prep class. I have to admit that I was a little nervous at first. My professor, Mark Widmer, kept talking about all of these backpacking trips and all of a sudden there was a red warning light going off in the back of my head! However, as he kept talking about doing all of these things that would normally make me cringe, I realized that this is exactly what I need, why I felt the need to apply in the first place. I have a really good feeling about this guys. I think my Dad is right, I am going to come back a different person. I still don't know very much yet but, I'll tell you what I do know. My program begins January 7th and officially ends April 16th. The first three weeks will be spent traveling and exploring the north island and the northern half of the south island. After the fun touring we will go down to Invercargill, which is on the southern tip of the south island, where we will live. We will be living in twos and threes with local non-member families. We will live 2-5 miles away from our school, the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), and church. Every student will be provided one bicycle for transportation, thats right people, we're going missionary-style here! Mon, tues, and wed we will take classes form local professors at the SIT that are outdoor classes, ie: surfing, sailing, hiking, etc. Thurs and fri we will take classes from our professor, which means we will probably be going on more backpacking trips and visits to Stewart Island rather than sitting in a classroom! Saturdays are our own, but we will usually have a group acitivity, and sundays we will go to church! Next week I will know more about travel itineraries and such. I can't wait!