"I've been waiting all month for this..."

Yet again, the weekend does not fail to amaze.

Weekends around here begin on Thursday because most people have no Friday classes. I also only have one class on Thursday that begins at 9 am and lasts an hour. Seeing as I have a half an hour walk to the University, most Thursdays I just can't justify getting out of my warm bed to walk a total of an hour (there and back) in the cold and spend 50 minutes in class. So, as usual I missed my Thursday class and instead took a 'me' day.

So I hopped on the bus to the city and picked up a hat for the All Blacks game and then caught a bus to Sumner and spent the day reading, writing, listening, and contemplating life while sitting on these huge bouldered rocks and overlooking the ocean. If that's not the perfect day, I don't know what is. I mean, this was my view. And the picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

Once it started to get dark, I headed back home and went to a potluck dinner that a bunch of my friends had put together. After that we all headed to Eunice(my IES program director)'s house to hang out and eat some more, as always. So much eating. The best part of this evening was when Eunice volunteered to bring some of us home and decided to bring us to see Christchurch at night. I thought this was just going to be a drive by experience and nothing too exciting. I was incorrect. Once we drove up this big hill we got out and walked out to see the lights of Christchurch. It was absolutely beautiful. Not only that, but the stars were incredible from where we were. Overall, a wonderful day. Only made better by having a girl's night and watching Persuasion in Shona's room.

That night me and Cathy stayed at Courtney's because we had an early morning (as in, we woke up at 5:30 am, I believe) so that we could take a train to Kaikoura. As most of you know all too well, the early morning thing is never an easy thing for me but somehow we made it on time. This is surprising because the night before me, Cathy, and Courtney had some issues - too much talking and laughing, not enough sleeping. But trust me, this early morning was so worth it. What a perfect day.

It began with some impromptu dancing on the train, all to separate songs on our separate ipods. I feel as though people were judging. Followed by the sun rise. Um, spectacular doesn't cover it. And the views only got more incredible as the day progressed. There was a viewing area on the train where you could step outside-ish and see all around. It was freezing but more than worth it. On one side was the Pacific Ocean. On the other side, mountains. Absolutely incredible. The day only continued to get better and better once we got to Kaikoura. I mean seriously, this was only the train ride and it was astounding. The sights of Kaikoura were absolutely mind-blowing.

We started off in Kaikoura by getting some coffee to get us going then we stopped in some shops and had some lunch. Then came the fun stuff, we headed out to walk around the coastline for a while -- stopping to take pictures and climb on things and to just sit and soak up our astounding surroundings the entire way. We all were amazed by the scenery here. I wish so badly that you people at home could understand. It was like staring at a picture, it did not seem real at all. I don't know how anybody could stand where we were standing and not be blown away. And the weather was perfect. We could not have picked a better day to go. The whole day was even better because it was such a girls trip. The walk back to town was full of conversations about relationships and all of that girly stuff. So much bonding. AND it was topped off with delicious ice cream. The train ride home ended with a beautiful sunset and then a much needed nap while listening to Ray LaMontagne. Another absolutely perfect day.

And then Saturday began with a bang. This was the day of the much-anticipated All-Blacks rugby game. This game was a big deal because it was against Australia (aka their main rivals). So, naturally, the entire day had to be legendary (think Spring Weekend here). All of us were completely decked out in all black an face tatoos/designs in order to support the All-Blacks. The game began at 7:30 so we left at 5:30. You'd think that'd be plenty of time. Apparently everyone in Christchurch was going to this game though because it took quite a long time to get there.

Once we got there and finally got our tickets me and Shona ran to our seats (completely unnecessarily, by the way). Let me just say, we got some of the cheapest tickets so we thought that we'd be in the nosebleed sections. We were incorrect. We were literally 2 rows up from the field. I still don't understand how we got such amazing seats. But hey, I'm not complaining. The game began with the famous Haka, which is a traditional Maori dance that is performed by the All-Black players and is meant to intimidate the other team. It's pretty much awesome to see in person. The game was really great, especially since the rain held off and it wasn't as cold as expected. However, we were all pretty surprised by how tame it was compared to most sporting events in America. I was expecting a rowdy crowd and it really wasn't too rowdy. In fact, one of my friends got in trouble for trying to start the wave -- a little absurd if you ask me. Either way, it was a great game: the All- Blacks won and our seats were far closer than any of us expected.

Sunday was a day of delicious pancakes, rest, and catching up on homework. Mainly because it was far too disgusting to do anything outside.

So with that, another epic weekend passes and another week of school begins.