I went exploring in town and found three major churches/cathedrals: The First Church of Otago, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Knox Church.  Churches are one of my favorite places to visit.  I am not religious anymore, so churches, to me, are architecture.  They are beautiful pieces of artwork that you cannot just look at, but must enter and experience.  

If you are going to read this post without any knowledge of the architectural language of churches and cathedrals, here is a slideshow describing some basics and some of the specific details I will talk about.  The floor plan is the most important. 

This was one of the most stunning trips I have ever gone on.  But, before I get to the nature bits, let me start of by saying: I love trains.  They are my favorite form of transport.  They seem to be one of the few moving objects that I do not instantly get sleepy on.  They are so old fashioned, yet high-tech.  At home, I love taking the train into the city.  In France, I loved taking the RER and the TGV.  And now, I got to take the Taieri Gorge Railway Trip.  The train went from the Dunedin train station to Pukerangi, then back again.  It was a 2 hour ride each way, but it all went far too fast.

The trip started out with the conductor saying something along the lines of, "please, no heads out the windows and keeps your arms inside."  Hahaha!  No one listened to that.  Heck, he didn't even listen to his own instructions because the ad in the local pamphlet had the conductor hanging his whole head and torso out the window!  He then went on to explain other rules, introduce other workers, and welcome all of us on board.  

My first adventure!  Granted, it was only about a 10 minute drive away from the center of the city...but it was gorgeous!  It's a big sight-seeing spot.  You can see most of Dunedin from up there.  

It was our first adventure as a flat.  We still are missing one flatmate, but the car only seats 5, so it worked out perfectly.  This was a great first place to go.  It helped us get oriented and see an overhead landscape view of our new city.  

I am a time traveler!  No, it was not because I hitched a ride in the TARDIS.  It was because I left for my first flight in America around 5:30 pm, and arrived in New Zealand two days later at 5:30 pm.  The total hours I spent traveling though, was 29—not 48.  

The best time travel moment was when I took the 12 hour flight to New Zealand.  I left just as it was getting dark…and when I arrived, it was still dark for about another 2 hours.  That’s 14 hours of darkness.  According to the map, we literally were flying with the night.

Anyways, let me give you a few tips and tricks about travelling with some of my stories in between.  

*Warning* This is a long post.  

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!