Hello dearest people on the Northern Hemisphere!

This'll probably be my last blog about my exchange, as I have a mere 6 days left in the glory that is Sydney.

New Zealand has been amazing. By far my favorite part of this exchange I reckon, though the rest hasn't been that bad either. I think I would sooner live in New Zealand than Australia. It's still too far away, but damn I love that country. Granted, I've only been there 2.5 weeks during summer, not very representative, but it was love at first sight! The mouuuntaains and the green hiiils and the cold rainforeesst. Oh it's just over the top pretty.. and the climate is more bearable than Australia. It's sorta similar to Holland apparently.

Christchurch is a dump though. The earthquake from two years ago has utterly destroyed it. They still have not finished cleaning up the mess in the City Centre and most of the buildings in it that seem ok still need to be torn down because they are unstable. What's even worse though, according to people I met there, is that it traumatized people to a level of stress that causes nervous breakdowns during minor aftershocks (which they are still getting). Scary shizzle! I was often walking around like, what the hell am I doing here I could die. But then I just ignored that felling, similar to how most Dutch people ignore that they live under sea-level, and went on with daily life. And what doyaknow, I survived!

During my time in Christchurch, I went up to the location of Edoras (Lord of the Rings) in the Southern Alps. It was absolutely stunning! (see facebook pics) They got us to handle some movie replicas which made me feel like a complete geek but secretly also like a total badass. I mean come on, holding a sword with an epic mountain backdrop on top of Edoras? Awww Yeah.

I went on a tour around the South Island with a great group of people - lots of 22 year-olds and such - and had an awesome time. Especially Queenstown, where the population doubles during high season, can certainly be considered a backpacker's heaven.

Among my many activities there was speedboating, which basically means you hand over your life to a guy who takes you 80 k/h through a narrow canyon while trying to make you think you're going to smash into the rocks. Needless to say, at some point I thought I was going to die. I couldn't possibly, however, get the massive grin of my face. That smile lasted 2 hours after the ride as well, so totally worth it (sorry pap).

The canyon we shot through was gorgeous by the way. Used in Lord of the Rings too. It seemed like almost everywhere you go in New Zealand something is used in LotR. Good stuff. It certainly is beautiful all of it! I also went on a "Ride of the Rings" on horseback. I was very pleased with myself that I got my horse - Oscar - to listen to me quite well and had managed to not fall of. Oscar was a movie star, he can be seen in the second Narnia movie - Prince Caspian (also filmed in NZ ofcourse).

Another highlight was hiking on a glacier, which involved me getting into a helicopter for the first time of my life. On the same day I hiked up a mountain with two other girls after sunset to go look at glowworms in a cave. Scariest hike ever. Probably not the best idea I've ever had (sorry mam). We were singing Justin Bieber songs on the way down to distract ourselves from the fact that no one would hear us scream up there.

I was very responsible for the remainder of the trip I promise.

Reflecting back on my exchange I think it has helped me grow in many ways. I am much more comfortable with jumping on a plane by myself to some random city I have never seen before and I have also found that making friends is very easy if you set your mind to it. Oh educational exchange is educational. =) I'm glad I went, for sure.

Well that's it for now studmuffins. Imma chill in Sydney for 6 more days before heading back to my beloved cheeseland on the 19th of December - Arriving in the morning on the 20th. I am really happy to go back because I have missed everyone so much!

See you soon :D

Liefs