best friends together again

My goodness, do i have a whole lot to write about, this should keep me busy for the next few days!  Spencer left New Zealand yesterday morning.  As we were on our way to the airport it truly felt as if i had just driven there the day before to pick him up for his first day in Dunedin; the time went by so quickly.  I knew that leaving each other would be difficult, but it was even harder than i thought.  I held it together until i left the airport but i had a tough time yesterday and just wanted to be back home.  I haven't really been homesick this semester but i can definitely say that i am now and that i am ready to be back in the states again.  I've loved my time in NZ but Spencer leaving just triggered an intense longing for home and i am so so excited to see everyone again and be back in Somerset.  But for the time being, i am working on being content with where i am now...and only a few more weeks until the Kimmels invade NZ!  And i definitely have enough studying for my upcoming finals to keep me occupied until then.

tunnel beach

So i'm going to attempt to recap a lot of what Spence and i did while he was visiting.  One of the first things was going to Tunnel Beach, which i've written about in an earlier blog.  It was super muddy but a really good time and beautiful as usual.  We stopped by the art museum while waiting for the bus (anybody else surprised that i talked Spencer Brougher into spending time inside an art museum??).  Needless to say, he enjoyed making many cracks about the art, but i quite enjoyed the exhibits.  I also took him to the botanic gardens and to the grocery store, where he was wide-eyed at the portion sizes and prices of food.  This was actually a really entertaining part of Spence being here (other than the fact that i sort of like him...), seeing what he was surprised about and what is very different from home.  Some things are still obvious to me, like prices and portion sizes, but i have gotten used to much of what NZ is about.  Hah, and in about a month i get to have reverse culture shock : )  Anyways, in the following few days we hiked Mt. Cargill, which is a big hill in Dunedin and from the top it feels as if you can see all of NZ.   We also went out and explored the peninsula, where we saw some beaches and i chased a herd of sheep while Spence took many pictures of this endeavor.  I took him to jazz night at the Robert Burns pub on Thursday and then we were off on Friday for our first weekend adventure.  Destination: Copland Track.  Our weekend was quite eventful, full with one of the best hikes i've ever experienced, an amazing scenic drive there and back, watching the sunrise on the east coast and the sun set on the west coast in the same day, and the unfortunate death of our dear car Lucille.  And i shall be posting about all of these stories tomorrow : )

sheep chase!!