June 16th 2011

10: Thermal Village

Well this was definitely an experience to see how they use everything naturally.  It was a really cool experience and you will never forget that lovely sulfur smell.













9: Walking around Cairns

I loved this because it was the most relaxing time throughout the whole trip.  And it was mainly the only long periods of time we got to be on our own without a teacher. We just got to go and do our own things and eat what we wanted when we wanted, it was nice.  This time got me a lot closer to a lot of other students on the trip.




















8: The Sydney Tower

This is where I definitely got to see the most of Sydney at one time.  Also this is where Alec explained the most nad really showed how much he knew about his hometown.  It was so cool.  You could see for miles!













7:  The Beach/smoothie

At first I was a little iffy about the beach but I gave it a chance.  I went and got a smoothie that was just delish! And then Schags got me to come down to the beach.  I loved it and I couldn't stop laughing from how hard the wind was blowing!








6: Burgerfuel/ Pak N' Save

Burgerfuel was delish and the first real meal I had in New Zealand!  The burgers were so different, a different texture and everything! They also have different condiments that they put on their burgers.  After dinner we stopped by Pak N' Save and it was basically a smaller version of Sam's Club.  It was nice to be able to buy things we needed for the shower and food and water!





5: Luging

I definitely loved this! It was the first thing we did in New ZealandIt was on the top of a huge moutain and the view was beautiful! There was a friendly cat up there as well! But the Luging was super fun and super fast!













4: OGO/ FishPipe
In the beginning I did not plan on doing this but once I got there and I took a look at what OGOing actually was I had to do it.  And I have never laughed so hard in my life, even though Alvaro landed on my head.








3: The Opera House/ Bridge/ Acquarium

The Opera House was beautiful and unique but the light show was amazing and it made the opera house that much cooler.  Alec also told me it was the last light show of the year and we got to see it! The bridge was cool at every angle because it was just remarkable; I still can't believe people climbed it!  The acquarium was the best though because we got to walk in a tube of sharks and stingrays and we also got to feed sharks!




2: Rangitoto College

The kids there were so cool! I love how into their history the Moari students were, you would never see something like that in the United States.  My pen pal was so nice! Her name was Laura!  But overall the Moari students made my night because of the intensity they put into their Haka Dance!




















1: The Great Barrier Reef

This was the best part of the whole trip.  I spent the most time in the water and I loved it.  Being able to swim so close to the fish was such a cool experience.  I loved being able to see and feel all the different types of coral and sea plants.  The best parts were seeing at least 5 squid, being able to hold my own starfish and how to clung to my hand, and being able to make the clams shut by rubbing the inside of the clam!

June 15th 2011

I loved the Great Barrier Reef so much!  The water was so clear.  This was the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most.  The ride to the reef was a little uneasy, I was beginning to feel a little seasick, but we got there just in time!  Right away we got off the boat, put my stuff down, got my gear on, and jumped in the water!  At first the water felt a little chilly but I jumped right in and started swimming!  Something really cool is right where you get into the water there is a big school of fish just swimming around.  And they aren't even scared of you they just swim around you and with you! It was so cool just to look at the fish as the sun reflected of their scales.  Right away I swam up to the reef. The current actually pushed me up against the reef and I hit my knee.  It started bleeding, but a little battle wound never hurt anyone.  It was cool to swim around and feel the different textures of coral.  Some were hard, some were sharp, others were soft and flimsy.  It was all so interesting and I just wanted to know more and more about everything.  Some corals were cartoon like, some were round, some were ridged, and some were flowy.  My favorite kind was the flowy stringy kind because not only was it fun to touch but you could make stronger currents with your fins and then the coral would sway all different ways.  Also there were little fish that swam in there.  The most amazing thing was that the fish did not swim away, all the fish were not afraid like I thought they would have been.  There were so many kinds of animals! Everywhere you looked there was a different kind of fish or sea creature.  There were HUGE sea clams everywhere you looked! They were fun to play with because if you were to touch the inside of the clam it would snap shut so quickly!  It was like its' own defense mechanism.  There were also some starfish out there.  At one point I took one off the coral and it stuck to my hand it was so cool!  It was a little one about as big as the 50 cent coin from Australia.  It was a bright coral redy orange.  I loved just looking at it! I kept swimming past it just to look at it.  But back the clams they were all different sizes and colors.  Some were big and some were small.  There were blue, pink, red, and purple colored clams.  The fish came in all shapes and sizes.  There was a huge grouper and it was so friendly it would even come swim up next to you! There were some fish that were multiple colors! Any color you could think of there was a fish with that color on it! Everywhere you looked you would see a kind of fish you hadn't seen yet.  For a while I would choose a fish and then follow it around and see where it would swim and what kinds of coral it would swim by the most and so forth.  This is where I did my inquiry!  A lot of the bigger fish liked having smaller fish swim with them but under their fins.  The fish also like coming up really close to you! I loved how interactive they were! I was one of the only people who actually got to see squid and it was so cool! But they were so fast! I tried to touch one and in the split of a second they were gone and were no where to be found.  After they had left I went back to following some fish, there were blue and pink and green and yellow fish.  Some were multi-colored.  The farther back into the reef you got the more beautiful the reef got! I stayed in the water the longest out of everyone, but I couldn't help it I had to soak it all in! I guess there was a shark in the water but I didn't get to see it :/ Either way I had the time of my life! It was definitely the BEST part of the whole trip.  My goal is to come back out here some day to re-experience the beauty of the wild sea at it's finest.  I hope I remember this experience forever!

June 14th 2011

Today was kind of a long day but at the same time it was the most relaxing time so far throughout the trip.  Today we woke up early and flew from Sydney to Cairns.  It is so much warmer here. I love it.  When we got to the hotel we all realized it was definitely the best hotel we had been at throughout the trip.  The view out my window was gorgeous! After we put all our stuff down we decided we were going to all go down to the lagoon.  This was a man made saltwater lagoon! I decided not to go into the water but I did sit out and tan.  Also we got a lot of freedom here.  The teachers just let us go and get what we wanted to eat and just do what we wanted with our time until we had to meet back.  After we were done at the lagoon we all met back up and walked back to the hotel we all changed and were let out for a night on the town and we got to go and do whatever we wanted to until 9:30.  It was great! There was a group of about eight of us and we went to Outback Jack's and Arnaud did the Outback Jack's challenge and won.  After that we all went into the hot tub! It was a pretty good night and after that we found out we didn't even have a journal for the night.  What a relaxing day. :)

June 13th 2011

I do think I am a good traveler and I love to travel so much! I am a good traveler because I'm up to try anything new.  It's great!  I love experiencing new things.  Change is good and to have the chance to indulge into a new opportunity is pretty awesome.  To be able to be a good traveler you have to be ambitious and a positive thinker!  Travelers have to be able to get a positive out of every negative.  You have to be able to have a good outlook on the trip as a whole.  And you want to be able to take as much as you can out of every moment.  Being social is also a really important trait to a traveler because when coming into a new country if you really want to experience the land you would want to become close with natives because they would know the land better than anyone.  I feel like I would be comfortable traveling on my own because I have traveled so much that I know how to check my bags and get my tickets and I just know how to act in an airport.  I actually do travel a lot and I have gotten a lot of experience from it.  I just feel comfortable traveling the world and new places.  I feel like every traveler can improve on something.  I have many things I can and will improve on throughout my traveling experiences.  I am one of those travelers who takes things slow.  I am never in a hurry, I take my time and take everything in. This could be something I could change because this would allow me to be able to see more of the city then I would have normally.  I also need to learn how to conserve money and not let it burn a hole in my pocket.  The last thing I would need to improve would be to sleep late, because if I cut my time off of sleeping I would have more time in the city and the new places I was exploring.  Throughout this trip I have realized you only have so much time and you have to use it wisely. 

June 12th 2011

I love traveling but there are always positives and negative experiences.  While traveling thus far I've loved traveling with a large group because there is always someone to talk too. It also brings you a lot closer to people you wouldn't normally talk too.  I feel like I've been good with traveling and keeping up with a big group and being prompt on timing.  I've also been really patient for waiting at airports, at the first airport we had to wait three and a half hours to get our boarding passes.  I was also just being really good at being patient even though I am usually not a patient person.  Some of the difficulties were getting checked in because with having such a large group something always went wrong with the boarding passes.  Security was also hecktick because having to have your liquids and electronics and everything figured out.  And if they saw anything wrong with your bag they would have to take everything out and check it so that would take more time then originally planned.  Before this trip I had never gone through customs and suprisingly it was not hard to get through at all.  The point of customs is to protect the country.  But some things are unnecessary that they do, especially when they question you about the dumbest things.  Throughout this trip I have grown a lot.  I'm doing things out of my comfort limits and I've been pushing myself.  I try to find the positives out of everything that I have done rain or shine.  I try to keep a smile on my face and I have learned not to complain so much; you just have to go with the flow and live life to the fullest.  I've also learned you can't worry about technology or the most popular thing you just have to take in your surroundings and really try to live in the moment.

June 11th 2011

Well to start this journal off, I really love Sydney! It is so pretty and it is a very clean city!  When trying to compare it to other cities I would have to say I would compare it to Chicago!  The main reason why I would compare it to Chicago because it is the only real city I've actually been too. The two cities have many similarities.  Some things that are similar are that they both have a bunch of different types of foods everywhere you go.  There are also really large stores, for example, a Forever21 would be multiplied by three in the city.  There are also big parks in both cities with fountains and space for people to play sports.  All cities are always busy and the traffic was always heavy.  Riding a bike is also popular in any city.  Some differences were that the landscapes were prettier in Sydney.  Also the park was a lot cleaner then it would have been in Chicago.  The Harbor was a lot bigger then the pier in Chicago.  The Sydney Harbor is the largest naturally made Harbor in the world, it is about 600 miles long.  Also something that was different was that there were bouncers to get into some stores at the malls.  The malls there were really nice but the store sizes were remarkably smaller.  Another difference would be that they have really intericate designs on the buildings. Everything was very unique there, and I really loved it!

June 10th 2011

I absolutely did NOT want to go hiking this morning.  I am not a hiking person at all, and on top of that it down down pouring. All I could think of was "this is my nightmare."  We had to walk forever to get to the bus stop and then the bus never showed up, so we back tracked back to a different bus stop but not all of us could get on the bus.  By this time I was soaking wet and cold.  But since I did not really want to go hiking I knew if i stayed back I would not be hiking as long.  By the time the bus came and we all got on the bus we only had an hour or so to walk to the entrance (which was at least a mile away) and then begin the hike, finish the hike, and walk back to the bus stop.  When caught up with Mr. Schagrin, he was with a group who wasn't going to be hiking as much.  I decided I would join his group.  We all decided we would go into the gift shop because it was warm in there.  Also there were some pretty cool things, I was taught how to count how old a tree was.  After that the decision was made that we were going to hike for a little bit, for me this was pushing my limits, I was all wet and cold and the last thing I wanted to do was hike but I stuck through it with a smile on my face, I didn't want to ruin the moment for anyone else.  So we hiked about half of the short trail and it was actually more then I would have to begin with, mainly because it was raining.  After the hike I went back to the hotel and then we got ready and headed off to Rangitoto College! The kids were so nice! One of the best parts of the night though were being able to watch the Moari students preforming the Haka. It was sooo awesome I loved it! The intensity of the dance was just amazing.  All I could think of was that their performance was so much better then the one we watched at the hotel the night before.  My pen pal was super nice, her name was Laura.  She loved all her candy I got her and she made me a really cute little keychain thing and then gave me some pineapple lumps.  I thought it was really nice that she brought me a gift.  The food there was interesting and not really what I expected and I didn't know exactly what I was eating.  After we ate we got to learn the Haka dance it was so so so so so so fun!  Everyone got really into it.  All of the students I met were really nice.  But they had a lot of questions.  Laura's friend Charlotte was really cool and had a really good taste in music.  I am so happy I got to visit the school! It was probably one of the best parts of New Zealand!

June 9th 2011

There were so many cultural differences at the Moari Village.  The way they cook, live, and how they portrait life in general.  They cook using the thermal energy which is really cool because it is all natural and free!  They also have public bathing which is different from at home. It is different because all the town bath in the same place, where at home houses have if not one more then one bathroom/bathtub in their house.  They also have water flow straight from the geysers into the tubs.  At home we have the ability to change the water temperature.  They also use the water to cook.  Things we would boil water on the stove for they just put in a bag and throw into the water to cook.  They also do not have heat in their homes either, where in America we usually have both heating and air conditioning in homes.  If the Moari people would like some heat in their homes, the floors are naturally hot from the geysers and the steam is also used to heat a home.  They also only have two different kinds of religion, the Moari religion and Catholic religion so in their town they only have two different churches.  In America there are more then 100 different kinds of religions. I loved learning about their culture.  The whole experience was just very interesting.  And I got to try corn that was cooked inside the geyser and it was delicious!  At dinner the show was pretty interesting.  The faces the men who were preforming were making were kind of funny.  It took a little bit for me to get accustomed to the way they were acting and all the stomping.  I was interested the whole time.  I've also noticed that a lot of their food is also bland a lot of the time.  During the show they played traditional games and they reminded me of traditional games they played in Hawaii! It was cool to bring back memories. Overall the day was full of eye opening experiences about the Moari culture and how they use the natural resources.

Day 1 & 2

Well the past 48 hours have been rough.  I'm quite tired but New Zealand is AMAZING! Alec is our tourguide and he is pretty awesome! But back to the past 48 hours, when we first left the school it was 96 degrees and I was dying because of how hot it was.  Then on the little yellow bus ride to the airport it cooled off a bit but all that was on my mind was that I was actually about to start my journey to half way across the world! When we arrived to the airport we had about four hours until our plane was going to be boarding, but we then had to sit and wait for three and a half hours as one by one we had to wait for our boarding passes.  The computer system was so old at the airport that after every ticket we had to wait as the computer system rebooted. We all got our ticket just in time to get on the plane.  One of the scariest things happened though, we were all told we would NOT be checking our bags but since we had to wait so long we were the last to board the plane and this meant that there was not enough space in the overhead compartments; this meant some of us had to check our bags and I was one of those few.  Now I have been on a plane many many times and have never lost my luggage but I also have never been on a connecting flight.  This meant our luggage not only had to get on the right plane once but it had to make it on the right plane twice.  I was going half way across the world with the chance of loosing my luggage... I was very worried.  On the plane ride to LAX I talked with some new people, their names are Lexa and Riley! They were so nice! We talked about everything from the trip to sports to our home lives. It was a really cool experience to talk to some new people! Once again when we arrived in LAX we had no time! I got myself some chips and a water bottle and once again on a plane, but this time it was not going to be for four hours it was going to be for 13. The plane ride really sucked and it was probably one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever had to go through.  13 hours of not moving and sitting in one place really is not fun. But at least I got to sit next to someone from my group I was going with.  I got to sit next to a girl named Cody.  She was pretty cool.  About half way through the trip I watched about half of the movie Tron, and from what I saw I really liked the movie! Before I left my dad told me "don't eat airplane chicken" and the first meal I had was airplane chicken. When we finally landed it was pretty hecktick. It was the first time I have ever had to go through customs and it was easier then I thought it was going to be. Once we got through we found the bus, packed our bags, and hit the road.  Right away we all noticed how they drive on the opposite side of the road, it was so weird. During the bus ride I fell asleep.  When I woke up we were in Hobbitown.  It was so cute here.  I had a weird first meal though it was fried lasagna with chips and a coke.  Other then that we just walked around town.  I also got a picture with smeagol! After Hobbitown we went Luging! It was so fun! The view from the top of the hill was breath taking! You could see the whole city basically! After Luging we went to the Jade Factory and a bought two necklaces! One for my mom nad one for me! They are so pretty! For dinner we got to go to a place called Bugerfeul and it was pretty good! But the bugers just taste so different there! It was very different.  Then we went to a store called pak n' save and it is like a sam's club here! Now we are just back at the hotel.  Some of the culture shocks I went through were how they drive on the opposite side of the road.  Using a debit card is also confusing because there are like five different options and to every option there are options and it is just very different from at home. The food is also a little different they eat things like pies where we eat things like hotdogs.  I'm definitely looking forward to meeting the highschool kids and just seeing the land and learning about the culture!