Update

Hello everybody, I am sorry that I didn’t write about my week sooner. I have been busy with a lot of things and haven’t been spending a lot of time inside. :)
Monday was a full day of orientation. This could have boiled down into “Classes are hard and don’t be stupid in Chirstchurch because it is dangerous”. They told us that the driving was different, drugs were bad, there are murderers out there, and drinking in excess was bad. I made a friend in orientation. Her name is Amelia and she is from Montana. She goes to school in Portland and knows how to surf. She and I have very similar interests and hang out all the time now. She is actually in the Marine Biology class with me! Its nice that I have a nice study partner. :)
Tuesday I went to the “half” day of orientation. It was another session on how not to die in New Zealand. This day covered the city smarts section. Not very interesting and I laid outside for the second part of the afternoon. The sun was shining and I had started reading “The Da Vinci Code”. I actually fell asleep and it was magical that I didn’t get sunburnt again.
Wednesday I went surfing with Amelia and a girl from Holland at Sumner. We had so much fun and surfed for about 2.5 hours. The surf was great and I got up consistently. Amelia also taught me how to catch green waves (waves that weren’t quite breaking yet). This allowed me to stay up longer and ride farther. Afterwards, we went to the fish and chips shop and ate ourselves silly. We then went back to the backpackers that Amelia stayed at and just hung out. We played a new card game that Amelia taught us called palace. It was fun and I ended up taking the bus home at about 10.
Thursday I spent getting ready for school. I didn’t actually have class, but I had enrollment. I managed to be the first one in line and get through the whole process in less than a half an hour. I also got into all the classes that I wanted: Marine Biology, Evolution, Aotearoa: Introduction to Maori Society, and Antarctica:The Cold Continent. I also looked for books to try and save some money. I got all the books that I wanted and saved about 150 NZ dollars. :)
On Friday I meet Goody in the city. Goody is the Taiwanese girl that we met at the Bug backpackers in Nelson. She told me that she was going to be in Christchurch and that we should meet up. She had just gotten her mom, sister and 20 month old niece from the airport. We ate dinner and caught up on the adventures that we have been having. I took the group around the city and showed them the rose carpet in the Chapel. We also went to the grocery store which was quite the adventure for Goody’s mom. They had never seen so many food items in one place! They also had never tried cranberries or apricots, so we got them a few to try while they visit the lower part of the south island. It was interesting trying to communicate with them because Goody’s mom didn’t speak any english. Goody’s sister spoke a little bit of english, but not too much. It was a good time filled with gestures and smiles all around.
Saturday Amelia and I went surfing again but the waves kinda sucked that day. I had upgraded boards (that I’m renting), and that made it a little harder to catch the waves, but I’m up for the challenge. There was a ton of people out in the surf! It was about 100 people on the entire beach and most of them were surfers. I met this really nice older man who told me I was doing a great job for my fourth time out! Its nice to know that I’m making progress.
Today is Sunday. Amelia came over and we played a TON of poker games (not for money). We hung out at Michelle’s house and at leftovers until she could check into the next hostel. We both went over to check her in, and played soccer golf afterwards. It was fun kicking the ball through and around obstacles. We also found this super awesome bouncy mat (like the kind that are at carnivals) at the place she was staying. It was supposed to be for little kids, but we had fun bouncing on it too. We also juggled around for about an hour, it was great to pass the time in the shade. Now I’m home and Michelle is making a pasta dish for dinner. Amelia is staying, and we’re trying to find a used surfboard for me on trademe.com. Well, thats EVERYTHING that I’ve done. I’ll upload pictures tomorrow after I get done with class. Bye!