just a quick picture blog

I have a few minutes and a chance to post some pictures! so I will do that now. To see them, click on the link labeled "pictures" to the right. These are from my little adventure with the senior Geology majors. The ones with the beach are in Kaikoura. There is a lot of faulting and tectonic activity there. The penguin is called a "blue penguin." There are fur seals and some random sea life. don't forget to go the my PICTURES link on the upper right hand side. there will be some more pictures there. The big mountain pictures and pictures with clouds are south of Kaikoura. The mountains are the Southern Alps. Some of the pictures are of Mount Cook--a huge cloudy mountain that is about as hard to climb as Mnt. Denali. The lake is Lake Pukaki. The water is so absolutely gorgeous and blue. This bluish green color comes from glaciers. There are still a lot of glaciers in New Zealand. They feed into these lakes and rivers and make them that beautiful color.
I have to go to dinner with my crew now! We are eating at the "Dux de Lux," a well known restaurant in Christchurch. There are only about 10 of us! This is really exciting. They seem to be really nice and down to earth. The man I am working with is a lot nicer and smilier than my professor, Chris, described. Gotta run!

PANIC!!!

Tomorrow is the day. I have been in panic mode for a few days now. I am sure it seems like I am exaggerating, but I feel like I haven't slept in days. The woman who is in charge of my plane tickets is somewhat of a flake. She is really hard to get a hold of, and I never know what is going to happen with her. I wasn't sure about my plane tickets until just this morning! Tuesday! The DAY before I leave. No wonder I am in panic mode. Yesterday I had to drive to Colorado Springs from Denver to get my ticket packet to be able to get on the plane, into New Zealand, and into and out of Chile. There is a letter in this packet that tells the country of New Zealand that I am allowed to be there. I had no idea that I needed something like that! It freaks me out to have so much dependent on a little piece of paper.

I will be flying alone. Travelling for days alone. I think being alone and somehow losing something are my biggest fears for this trip. On Sunday my aunt Edna had a going away party for me, and everyone was telling me how brave I was to be willing to go so far away with people I don't know; proud of me for being on a ship for two months straight. I am truthfully not afraid of any of those things. I am just afraid that somehow I will forget something really important that will not allow me to travel. I am sure all will be fine but WOW! I really can't sleep.

It is time for me to say my good byes. Up until this point I wasn't sad. I wasn't worried. There were no issues. Now that I have realized that I am leaving tomorrow, I am a little melancholy. This will be an experience of a lifetime. Hopefully I will cultivate a better understanding about what I can do with geology. Tomorrow will begin an opportunity on 500,000 people have had.

I will be visiting Christchurch and Kaikoura while I am there. Kaikoura is a little north east of Christchurch. Kaikoura is on the beach and is well known for its whale watching sites. I am meeting up with Christine Siddoway and the senior geology majors in Kaikoura. Hopefully I will learn something about the fascinating geology of New Zealand from them!