It was 3:04am Tuesday when things really started to get shaken up. I had just woke up to a few aftershocks before that time and was laying in bed. Well at 3:04 there was a huge violent shock of a 5.3. It was the most violent one thus far. In my opinion I'd consider it worse than the actual quake back in February. It actually lasted a lot longer than the other shocks, almost to the extent that u'd think it was another quake. I wasn't sure what to think at first but once it was over it rattled me up. People were pouring out of their rooms and halls rushing outside. I heard a few screams out my window and people were out on the lawn for the next few hours.
Ahh yes and for those of you avid readers and emailers...you know that I was asked to the Halls Ball. And of course I had to wear a dress! Icky I know. I havn't wore a dress in over 4 years and I was perfectly ok continuing that streak. However, I was pressured otherwise. So, over break I ordered a dress online. Why I ordered formal wear online is still a question in my mind, but I decided to make things harder than what they should have been. So on Wednesday I was expecting to get this dress, I went and picked it up from the book shop and opened the box. Ahh yes,it was purple and full of sparkles....so other words it was not me at all. Well seeing as how I waited a month for this thing to get to NZ (oh and apparently when you order formal wear online it comes from the US) I opened it up to try it on. Haha ya right!! I couldn't even zip the darn thing if my life depended on it. They sent me the wrong size....oh and to make matters worse it was a size 2!!! So at this point I just wanna say screw it Id rather go in my jeans and t-shirt anyways. But I had a skype date with my Dad, and of course he wanted to see the dress (he has only seen me in a dress once). So I had this freaking bling bling of a dress that I couldn't fit into and the ball was the next day....lovely. So I go to various neighboring towns looking for an alter, and of course no one would work on it. Its 4:00pm, no dress, s***. So I skype my mom and tell her my situation and she tells me to just get another dress. So Alan was nice enough to take me to Riccarton Mall after our coffee date and find a dress and he needed a tie anyways. So all I can say is that I found a dress...and it zipped.
Needless the say I had a dress, well I also order shoes from this formal wear place. And I must say, never order shoes online. The picture looked much "nicer" than the product. I opened my box and load and behold I have a pair of silver hooker shoes...Oh S***. I don't even wear heels, let alone own a pair. All I can say at this point is that this guy freakin owes me big time, and I was praying to God I wouldn't fall and bust my butt. To make things even better, I don't have insurance so if I did fall and practically put myself in a coma...tough luck!
The next night was the ball. I got ready and Alan picked me up at 9:00pm. I struggled with the shoes...terribly. I tripped at least 5 times just getting to the door. And once I got to the door I forgot my ID so of course I had to go back and get it. That meant another painful walk across campus and back. Finally I got in the door and immediately I took of the shoes...I still don't see how any female in their right mind would wear such things. Personally, I think there a male invention to make it harder for women to get away.
The ball was a success, I really enjoyed myself and had a great time. The bar was open and the dinning hall provided snacks, and the live band played kiwi music all night long. The dance mostly had kiwis attend, not many Americans, which was okay too. It was nice to get out and have a good time with new people. That is something that I have tried to do, is hang out and spend more time with the kiwis as apposed to other study abroad students.
The following week was filled with more studying and more work on my genetics project. It is slowly coming together. But this next week I have to give my presentation and hand in my paper so I have my fingers crossed. I had a marketing test Wednesday morning, I ended up studying an hour before the exam and got the second highest grade in the class. Too bad that can't happen more often. I was pleased how things turned out. The rest of the week I worked on learning my various species of plants for my practical.
On Saturday night I cooked Alan a dinner for his birthday that was the next day. I made chicken alfredo with peas and garlic bread. Richard brought over some wine and it was a great evening. The meal turned out edible and that's all I could ask for. Later that night we went in to Riccarton Mall to watch Fast and the Furious 5. When we got there, they said they were sold out. So we got on the phone to see if there were any other theatres....nope. So we decided to go ask the cashier about other movies and discovered they weren't sold out to begin with. So we were able to watch the movie. I really enjoyed the film, Id say its the best of the series thus far. We finished the night of by making a Mackers Run (McDonalds) and then headed back to Uni.
And of course since Alan was turning 20 Richard and I wanted to pull a prank on him...by duck taping is door shut. Haha well it would have been a success if Alan had actually been inside his room at 3:00am. Turns out he caught Richard in the act through a window outside...figures. Its okay though, its not over yet.
The next week flew by fast. I didn't have any assignments or tests to do. So I focused on my genetics project and started to build my presentation. I plan on building a life sized puzzle with the picture of GAR Precision 1680 on it, which is the bull who caused the AM defect. I ended up sketching out the bull and then sprayed it with hair spray to keep the pencil from smudging. I then cut it into puzzle pieces and now I'm just waiting on getting some cardboard and velcro to finish it up. So as a final product I will have 12 pieces that I hand out to the class and they have to put the puzzle together. That way I get the audience attention and have a class activity to use up time in my 25 minute slot.
This week was going to be one that tested me. I had a marketing test, sheep test, and plants id test. I had my marketing Tuesday afternoon, it went pretty well and I feel confident about it. Wednesday morning I spent my time studying sheep and plants. That afternoon I had a sheep review and I went to that. I'm glad I did because most of the test material was covered in the review. After the review I went on a plants walk with Alan where we identified weeds, grasses and worked on estimating herbage masses. It was a productive walk to say the least. We then went to Rolleston where we had our usually Wednesday afternoon coffee. It was good to get away. I love going to to cafe's in NZ. With your coffee they draw a design on top of the foam and they give you a chocolate covered marshmallow fish to dunk!!!
Our cups finally ran out of coffee and it was time to head back to Uni. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening studying for my sheep and plants tests.
This morning I got up early and studied one last time before sheep. I felt confident about the material and it was over stuff I found very interesting, minerals, deficiencies, animal health, feeding, lamb growth. The test was 8 short answer questions and I knew everyone, thank goodness I went to the review yesterday otherwise I would have been a dead duck. I finish my test just after 9:00, head back to my room and start studying for plants.
It was finally 11:00am and time for plants. I know my weeds, grasses I'm decent at. To top off this lovely practical id test, it was outside...in the rain. Ahh life couldn't get much better haha. Oh and it only gets better!! We had 45 seconds to walk to each id site, identify the plant and answer a multiple part question. Our professor supplied us plastic bags so we could put our exam inside it and write to keep it from getting wet. Well seeing as how I like to make things difficult, it didn't really work for me. So I said forget the darn bag! My paper was soaked, covered with dirt and my ankles and pants were caked with mud. Long story short, it was the most miserable testing environment of my life. But thank goodness it is over.
This weekend I plan on finishing up my genetics project and finishing constructing my poster/ puzzle. Things are really coming together for me on it and I'm excited. The project has been a hair puller and has been time consuming but overall I really enjoyed doing it. I got to learn more about the Angus industry and a lot of animal genetic defects in general. This class has been well worth it.
My time in NZ is running out. I have 27 days left until I have to leave this beautiful country. I have built a family here and lifelong friendships. I love the country as a whole and what their agriculture means to the people. I look forward to seeing my family again and being able to spend time with Dad and Mom. Julia's wedding is coming up. And yes, that means another dress! But I'm happy for her and what she has accomplished. My time in NZ has been amazing, but it has gone by far too quickly. It has been an experience of a lifetime and I hope that one day soon I will be able to come back.
Oh and to my avid readers....I have another visitor...Ahh yes spiders! They are back...well at least for a while until I can corner them.
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