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!