4.5 months over so soon

hey guys,

I havent written in a long time, Ive been concentrating on studying and getting the most out of Auckland! I leave the day after tomorrow, I can't believe its over already. I haven't done too much since I wrote last, but it was a lot of fun. I'm sure I will tell you all in person soon so I won't write too much here.

I went to Wellington a couple of weekends ago with 3 friends, the drive was about 8 hours long! It was a long drive, but totally worth it. We got 3 full days there, full of shopping and touristy stuff. And they have a museum there that was really cool. A bunch of interactive stuff, and all about NZ history, art, culture.. all that!

After that, not much happened til last weekend. Classes ended, and I had a week full of lounging before my finals started. Depending on the class, the final weighs between 40-70% of the whole grade! A lot of pressure for one test. But, Ive had 3 so far and they havent been bad at all so thats good. My last one is Saturday morning. Then, I have the day to pack up, say goodbye to Auckland, take some final pictures, and I'm off to Fiji til Friday night! Apparently it is supossed to rain the whole time we are there, but I really hope it doesn't.

Last weekend a few of my frineds and I went on this 9 hour hike up a vocano. If you have ever seen Lord of the Rings, a lot of the movie was filmed there! It was called Tangariro Crossing. It was so cool, but so long. It took us 7 hours to do the whole hike, and we didnt even get to go all the way up to the summit bc the weather started to get bad. It was amazing though, unlike anything in America thats for sure! It was hot and sunny when we started, but as soon as we started getting high up it became cloudy and foggy, so the pictures arent that clear. Then, there was snow all over, it looked liek a big ski area. At one part it was just a huge valley with mountains surrounding us and just snow everywhere.. like somrthing out of a movie! hah At the end of the hike, it reminded me of a rianforest, all green and trees and birds all over. It was a great experience and a cool big last thing to do.

Now, I am packing everyhting up and getting ready for my last final. Its going to be the hardest one, and its worth 70%. Wish me good luck, i'll need it. Its so weird thinking how fast these past months have gone by, but at the same time, packing all my clothes for NZ seems like forever ago. I had a great time here and am so glad I was able to experience it. Can't wait to see you all!