The sunshine is continuing to stream into Dunedin, making it great weather for exploration. One morning I headed west up the hill towards a reservoir that a Kiwi told me had amazing running tracks around it and I soon found a trail disappearing into dense undergrowth. Soon after leaving the street it seemed like I was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a forest. The only sounds I could hear were the birds chirping and the occasional bubbling of the stream when the trail met back up with it. The path wound through the untouched, wild forest for ages it seemed as I ran without really knowing where I was going. I finally found the small lake before diving back into the bush. The tall trees shaded the path as it wound up and down hills, past small cliffs, and across small streams. It was really peaceful back there.
One night all of the Willamette students met up at Stas's family's house for a delicious dinner and we stayed late into the night planning our semester break trip and talking on their deck. It was a totally different view of the city than I'd seen; their house is situated above the city on one of the surrounding hills. As the sky grew darker and our glasses grew emptier (they had some delicious apple juice) the stars overhead grew brighter and brighter. By the time we were done talking we could clearly see the Southern Cross overhead through the glass ceiling.
There is a farmer's market every Saturday morning, rain or shine, next to the vibrant flower beds of the Dunedin train station (which is incidentally reputedly the most photographed building in the world). My roommates and the rest of the WU students made it a party and went and checked it out. The spaces between stalls were filled with people vying for a chance at all the delicious offerings. There were chocolate-filled crepes, tubs of fresh, bright red strawberries, bags of speciality teas, fresh bread and berry pies, newly budded flowers in their small pots, sweet tubs of local honey. Groups of musicians playing folk music added to the friendly clamor of the market with their guitars and drums. I, coming out of a wintertime-produce deficiency, of course filled my bags with everything fresh I could lay my hands on.
Afterwards as Elizabeth and I navigated the weekend crowds on our way to the Octagon to check out some bedding sales we found the street closed off by a bagpipe festival. All of these kilt-wearing Kiwis were playing their songs simultaneously, each group competing against the next for the ear of the observor. The drummers twirling their drumsticks in the air as the pipers drew in huge breaths to fills their bags with air. The sidewalks and grass were crowded with people enjoying the reedy music and sunny weather.
One sunny afternoon I went with my Brasilian flatmate Jenny to play soccer in the park near our house with a bunch of her friends from her non-native English speakers class. It was a total international affair with guys from Mexico, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Italy.
View from Sandymount: Allan's Beach and Mount Charles
The next morning I met up with the same guys and we took a bus out to explore the Otago Peninsula. There are tons of hiking tracks and wildlife- penguins, albatross, sea lions, and loads of birds. The bus only took us so far so we starting hiking up a mountain to the east of the small village we were dropped off in. They were planning on camping there overnight and I was going back to town so we split up after a bit when I decided to walk out towards a beach on the eastern coast as they continued up the hill. I soon was picked up from the dusty road by a friendly German family who took me to Allan's Beach where you're supposed to be able to see sea lions. I never made it down to the shore though because as soon as we got there I met up with Jenny and a van load of international students- we had two Germans, a Norweigan, a Belgian, and another Brasilian cozily squished in a mini-van.
Jenny hiking at the Otago Peninsula
After a delicious stop at a cafe we went up to Sandymount Lookout. It was a narrow, slippery hike to the top through some prickly bushes but from the top we could see the entire peninsula and the coastline of the mainland. A few of us continued hiking around the Sandymount Circuit track to see a bit more. We found a beautiful spot where the trail was suspended above some meadows that bordered the sea cliffs. The Pacific Ocean was spread out beyond the cliffs' edge in a broad expanse of slightly curved blue water. The rush of the breeze through the brush sounded like waves coming ashore as we watched sheep peacefully grazing the meadows below.
Sandymount Circuit track with the sheep for company
(the little white dots in the meadow below)
After enjoying the silence we made our way to Sandfly Beach where at dusk you can see yellow-eyed and little blue penguins coming ashore to feed their babies.
The hike in to Sandfly Beach
Today Elizabeth and I spent the morning signing up for non-academic classes and programs to do this semester. I am now signed up for: massage, surfing, astronomy, stand-up paddle board, scuba diving, meditation, yoga, pilates, and self defense. I'm going to get to try so many new things!
Although the New Zealanders are very similar to Americans for the most part (loud, friendly, love to party) I have run into some interesting cultural differences. A couple nights ago I was hanging out with some of my new friends in their flat talking and watching tv. The two Kiwi girls who were there were explaining some of their commercials to us. Kiwi tv is very serious about their safety warnings. In the hour or so that we were watching it we saw a warning against "Unattended Cooking" in which a woman's daughter burnt up and a drunk driving warning filled with blood and dead bodies. It was definitely strange compared to American warnings that only hint at the results of bad decisions. It was very like the Kiwis...very straightforward.
Since it's orientation week most of the students have arrived and the streets surrounding the university where all the students live have been going crazy. During the day the Kiwi students sit outside their houses and drink. There are parties every night on every street and flat complex and students walk around the streets drinkng. Since the drinking age is 18 here the alcholism is a bit more visible.
I'm also learning a lot about Brasilian culture from Jenny. She has lived with her mother and sister her whole life; she says that in Brasil it's unnatural for people to move out of their parent's home before they are married. Also, since they have cooked for her her whole life she doesn't really know how to make anything and goes out to eat for every meal. The other night she was really agitated about needing to go to the store because she was out of water...she has only drank bottled water her whole life because of the water quality in Brasil. She was shocked that we drank the water straight out of the tap.
Hopefully tomorrow is another sunny day!
After relaxing by the stream there I hiked from the gardens down to a nearby bay where I took a trail up into the hills to Larnach Castle. The castle was built in 1870 by an Australian banker, it was abandoned after his family sold it and fell into disrepair until it was re-discovered in 1967. The gardens outside the castle are incredible with their creative floral designs and speciality gardens. My favorite part was where they had an Alice in Wonderland-type garden. 
After exploring the grounds it was getting towards midafternoon and I decided I should find my way down the hill to the bus stop before it got to late so I got directions from a local guy and started hiking down the mountain. It was gorgeous walking in the shade from the huge trees on each side of the narrow road and enjoying the sunshine that was lighting up the meadows and harbour. I was having a great time, enjoying life, until I got to the point where the road ended and I was stranded in the middle of three fields. I spent a good deal of time trying to find the track, retracing my steps and exploring my options, until I decided that I just had to go for it. I could see where I wanted to get to, so I just took off through the fields. It was pretty slow going hopping fences, slogging through the deep grass, getting stuck in a muddy creek. I'm glad that sheep and horses are such docile animals because if I had been walking through fields with som angry creatures, it might have gotten a bit more difficult. I was so happy when I finally made it onto more of a road and I almost feeling good about it until the road turned out to be a path from someone's backyard and I ended up in right in front of their house with their two large dogs. Luckily, the woman whose fields and backyard I had just tramped through came out to call her dogs off and point me down the hill towards the bus stop. I had never been more happy to see a concrete road before but it was definitely a fun adventure.
