Though it was not as stress-free as I would have preferred, my mid-semester break was fun and full of adventure.  I decided that I was going to explore a few places on the North Island during the long break.  I gave myself 6 days, which wasn't enough time!  But, to start, I had a great first flight (though it was the shakiest one I've ever been on) where I got to watch the wheels during the take-off and landing.  By the end of the day, I was quite through with travelling, because after two flights and multiple bus rides (and lots of mis-booking, confusion, and uncertainty) I racked up a total of 12 hours of travel time.  But my destination--Rotorua--was well worth the wait.

I went on my first adventure outside of Dunedin!  And what an adventure it was!  I took the weekend off and went to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand.  Actually, I took three days off: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Due to the massive amount of interesting and touristy things I did, I will be splitting my Wellington posts in to these three days.  So, lets start with Friday!

My flight was at 6:50 am, and I needed to be there early!  So, after a quick breakfast and a wonderful shuttle, I got on the plane and took off for the capital!  From now on, I only ever want to take early morning flights.  Both my arrival and departure flights were at 6:50 in the morning and both times I got to watch the sunrise from the air.  The sunrise created a perfect melted rainbow in the sky, the deep red slowly creeping over the wing and illuminating the clouds and land below us.  The white capped peaks of the Kaikoura Range stuck out of the foggy, blue-grey land like crunched up tin foil.  

Hey!  I'm Enjolie, as you probably know.  Well, this semester, I'm going to be going abroad and studying in New Zealand.  For those of you who have never heard of New Zealand or aren't sure where that is, here:

That purple circle on the bottom right is New Zealand.  I'll be going to university at the bottom of the South Island.  To get an idea of what New Zealand looks like, just watch the Lord of the Rings movies, The Hobbit, or the old tv shows Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.  The entire country is gorgeous, so you can expect plenty of unbelievable landscape shots.

I'm planning on travelling as much as I can, and with each adventure, you can expect a wonderful blog post about each one - maybe I'll even throw in a few posts about my time in France a few years ago (that's what the wonderful cover photos are from).  And you can probably expect an excursion or two to Australia!  

This blog isn't just about my travels, though.  It's also about food.  Wonderful vegetarian food: that I cook, that someone cooked for me, or that I order.  Plus, if I cooked it, I'll be sure to put up the recipe!

My summer usually consists of one thing: camp.  My study plans, unfortunately, made that impossible, so instead I have spent my time cooking, organizing, packing, and yoga-ing.  I set out with the goal this summer to be able to do a headstand before I left for New Zealand.  My wonderful friend taught me the pose the day before I left school.  I have worked on it everyday since, and got it about 3 weeks ago.  So, every time I accomplish one difficult pose, I will attempt another.  Right now, I am working on - through a series of other poses - a split.  Its not technically a yoga pose, but I am using poses like pigeon and forward folds to increase my flexibility.  

Finally, this is a place for me to be me.  I might nerd out, talk yoga, obsess over food, or completely brag about my travels (let's be honest, New Zealand is pretty brag worthy)...but this is just a way to share, besides on Facebook, what I'm up to down there!