June 16th Blog Pictures

June 15th Blog Pictures

June 13th Blog Pictures

June 12th Blog Pictures

June 16th Blog

This journal is really hard to do because I don't know if I can narrow everthing that I've done in the past week to my top ten. My number one expierience was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I chose this because I will probably never have the oppertunity to do this again and it was very beautiful. Also, due to coral bleaching, future generations may not have the oppertunity to see it. My number two expierience was going to the Blue Mountains. Even though it was foggy ands raining so you couldn't see anything, it was still breathtaking and the immensity staggarded me. My number three was walking around Sydney. I enjoyed this because I like seeing cultural differences in different societies. My number four was walking around in Cairns. I like being at the beach and Cairns was a perfect beach town. I also enjoyed the freedoms we got when we walked around. My number five was going to the Redwood forest. Even though the rain nearly ruined the expierience, the trees were so enormous that it made up for the lousy weather. My number six was luging. I loved this because it was a great introduction to New Zealand and the views and ride was spectacular. Number seven was O- going. I enjoyed this because it was a great oppertunity to do something that we can't do back in Illinois. My number eight was going to Rangitoto College. I loved talkig to the students and taking a tour around their campus. Number nine was swimming at night with my friends. We had some good times swimming and it was a good time to relax and unwind. Finally, my number ten choice was going to the Maori village. I found the tour to be very facinating and the food was great!

June 15th Blog

My day at the Great Barrier Reef will never be forgotten for the rest of my life. Just the ride there was amazing in itself. The boat ride there was especially fun because the ocean waves really rocked the boat. After the hour and half or so long boat ride there, we arrived at a permantly marooned pontoon at the edge of the reef. On the pontoon, they had a bunch of picnic tables and all of the snorkeling and scuba gear. I was so excited to get in the water so I rushed to put on my gear and me and my friends ended up being some of the first people out there. The first glance I made underwater was truely breath taking. The vivid colors of the coral and all the fish was almost overwhelming. For the first ten minutes, we swam around the perimeter, just to get used to snorkeling. We all then decided to go and get lunch so we could then spend the rest of the day out swimming. After a quick lunch of bread and other carbohydrate packed foods, we set off again. The first thing we did this time was stay near the pontoon and swam with the fishes. I then split off from my group and did some solo expeditions to some of the shallower portions of the coral. I saw so many fish and even some sea cucumbers and even a moray eel! After a while Mr. Schagrin and Mr. Ewen even caught a video of a shark swimming underneath me. After swimming for about another hour or so I got tired so I got out. On the boat ride home I just took a nap. That day was truely one of the better ones of my life.

June 13th Blog

I believe that I am a good traveler because of many talents and expieriences I've had in my life. First off, I've been traveling all over the country since I was a baby since I have family in all corners of America. For this reason alone I think that qualifies me to be able to do this trip alone. I know the ins and outs of security and traveling light so packing and repacking doesn't affect me. Also, I have very good common sense. I understand what to do and what not to do. Common sense also comes in handy when you are walking around a city that you've never been in before. The only thing that I believe would be hard to do by myself in this trip would be organizing the flights and getting the best deals on airfare. I would hate to play the websites waiting for the best possible deal so I would probably over pay for tickets. Another hard thing would be getting all the hotels in order. Whenever I travel with my parents, they usually cover all that so i have no idea how to handle that kind of stuff.

June 12th Blog

I have only good things to say about traveling so far in my journey. The top three things that show me that I have grown as a person. The first thing I can think of that shows me developing as a person is me actually leaving the States to travel basiclly by myself. This shows me branching out and becoming a more independent person. One example of this is instead of having my mom cook breakfast, I have to do it myself. This will help me later in my life in college and further on down the road because I will move out as soon as I can. The second way this trip is helping me grow is letting me try new things that I may not have the oppertunity to do back home. Some of the examples of this are O- Oging and holding a koala bear. Although I did not do the second option, I'm glad I was given that oppertunity. The third and last way I've grown is being in constant contact with my friends for so long. Although this may not seem significant, it really helped me learn more about my friends and what they really are like.

June 11th Blog Pictures

June 10th Blog Pictures

June 9th Blog Pictures

June 8th Blog Pictures

June 7th Blog Pictures

June 10th Blog

So far, I'm enjoying this trip, especially the nights and the mornings. Even though I'm not a big fan of waking up really early, once I take a shower and realize that I'm in New Zealand and that I will probably see and do things I will never have the oppertunity to do again in my life, I'm wide awake. The weirdest part of waking up that early is you think it's normal but once you go somewhere you realize everyone else who is sane is still sleeping. Also, the breakfasts have been very good. The breakfasts they give to you in the hotels have been very good and I find that i have been eating more than I usually do. Although I throughly enjoy the mornings and breakfasts, I think nights are the best. The dinners are always something different and it really gives you a good time to reflect on the awesome expieriences you've had that day. Another great thing about nights is the free time we are allowed. Lately, me and my friends have gone to the pool. It's a lot of fun because it lets you unwind after a long day and also nobody knows about the pool so we have it all to ourselves. All in all, I'm enjoying every minute of this trip so far.

June 11th Blog

Today, I had a blast in Sydney. Flying in was really fun because when you fly in, you pass over the bay with the opera house and bridge. I liked seeing the famous landmarks from the sky. After we landed, we immediately went to our next hotel, the Travelodge in Sydney. After quickly dropping our luggage off, we started a walking tour of the city. We traveled from the hotel to the city's main park named Hyde Park. In Hyde Park we saw a cool war memorial and fountain to commemerate the fallen soldiers of World War I and II. After we took our photographs, we walked to a mall. The mall was very high- end and I didn't like it because there was nothing to buy because everything was so expensive. After we were all done shopping, we went up the Sydney Tower. We spent a lot of time up there because Alec told us a brief history of the city. We also took many pictures up there and bought many souveniers. After we all got down from the tower, we walked over to the bay and got our first up close encounters with both the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Bridge. we stopped at a little point and took many photos and shopped a little in the surrounding stores at the Rocks. I really enjoyed today because of all the exciting places we went to and all the cultural expieriences we had.

June 9th Blog

Today started out terrible, but ended on a good note. Our day started out horrible because we had to wake up very early and get our bags checked in by the teachers downstairs because we were leaving Roturura. Another reason that today started out bad was the weather. All day it was very overcast with a constant and soaking rain. Another reason why we woke up so early was we were going to the local Redwood forest before we left town. The most miserable part of the day was walking around the forest because it was cold and wet. Granted, the forest was beautiful and I'll probably never see anything like that again, but the downpour nearly ruined it for me. The Redwoods were very tall and majestic. After our excursion, we headed back to the hotel to take a shower and then get on the bus so we could make our way to Auckland. On the bus ride there, we stopped for a bite to eat. we then finished our journey to Auckland. When we arrived in town, we quickly unloaded our luggage and then got back on the bus to make our way to Rangitoto college. The students preformed a haka and we then ate some food they prepared for us. After eating and talking with our penpals for a while, they then broke us into groups to teach us the haka. After learning and preforming the haka, we had time to take a tour of the campus. we then said our goodbys and left to go back to our hotel.

June 8th Blog

I had so much fun today. When we first woke up, we were treated to our first New Zealand breakfast which consisted of pancakes, hasbrowns, and other delicious food. I even ate vegamite on a piece of toast with butter. After we were done with our breakfast, we went outside our hotel and took pictures of the beautiful sunrise. The sun looked so great over the water along with the steam from the geothermal vents. After we took our pictures, we the took a "duck" tour around Rotutura and various lakes in the surrounding area. The trip was extremely beautiful and interesting but the only downside was the it was very cold out so we were all shivering. After the duck tour, we were dropped off in a Maori village called Waka. Inside the village, we saw the Maori people living a unique life dealing with the geothermal vents and using them to their advantage. The tour we went on brought us through the village to the many baths and pools the villagers cook their food in. We also saw the houses and meeting places of the Maori. The tour was very informative and afterward we sampled some of the local cuisine (it was delicious!). The Maori and the Native Americans are alike in many ways, they both have a deep love of nature, the white man took most of their land when they arrived, and they are still around today. Also, both the Maori and the Native Americans both blame nature events on Gods.

June 7th Blog

Getting on the plane at O'Hare, I had no idea what to expect in New Zealand. I thought all I was going to see when we flew in was green pastures and beautiful, tall mountains, but since we've landed, I realize it's so much more than that. Stepping off the plane in New Zealandwas an expierience in itself. Everything from the stores to the mannerisms the locals used was unique. Since I've never been out of the country before, the trip through customs was an adventure because of the encounter with the drug- sniffing dog. When we started driving out of the ariport in Auckland, I was freaked out when we were driving on the wrong side of the roadin a right handed driving bus, but I think I've gotten used to it so far. The area aroundAuckland is spectacular; the rolling hills, the fruitful farmlands, and even the rivers and streams are breathtaking. When we made our pit stop in Hobbiton, I loved walking around the shopsand eating the local foods while talking to the locals. After wwe finished our journey to Roturura, I realized that I didn't like this town. It smells like rotten eggs, there's too many tourist shops, and the hotel's dirty.
The first culture shockI had was the driving. It seems that people in New Zealand drive crazier and more reckless. In Hobbiton, me and my friends almost got hit by at least three cars! Although it was partially our fault because we weren't used to looking for cars in the other direction.

Food and Cultures

There are many differences between the food in New Zealand and the food in America for a variety of reasons. The first reason is the cultural differences of the two countries. In New Zealand, for example, their indigenous people survived on mainly seafood while the indigenous people in the Americas staple was grains and other farm able foods. In the Americas, we also have influences from the Mexicans and the South Americans which give us many of our favorite foods like tacos and other spicy foods. We were also influenced by the many different cultures that live in The United States. We get nearly all of our food from that mix of culture. There are also many differences between the ways we cook our food compared to the ways the New Zealanders cook theirs. It seems that in New Zealand, there is a lot of slow cooking meals that are supposed to feed a lot of people for a long time while in America, we cook for one meal on one day. As I said before, the New Zealanders rely on a wide array of seafood's because they live on an island. In America, on the other hand, we eat mostly farmed foods because that's what our country is most suited for. In New Zealand, they emphasise a lot on family and large get together while in America, we barely see our family because we are very spread out over the country.