New Zealand

I'm in New Zealand!!!! I've only been here for four days but it is absolutely amazing. I am participating in a study abroad program through AUIP and the University of Montana in a four week course called "Sustaining Human Societies" which will cover a range of topics and issues concerning the interactions between humans and the environment in New Zealand. From Chicago Midway to Christchurch NZ, I was in the air for a total of about 17 hours and went through three different airports on the way. Each one had different rules about what was allowed in the carry-on, etc and that was a little disorienting. Auckland airport, however, was definitely a nice change of pace. When you arrive, you can see the bluish-green water of the Pacific, palm trees, and breathe in some nice fresh air (it's summer here in NZ)! On the descent, I could see little white dots all over the green landscape below...and those turned out to be sheep (NZ is populated by 4 million humans and 39 million sheep). When we arrived in Christchurch, we met Professor Borrie and took a shuttle to Living Space (our apartments). I'm sharing a flat in Christchurch over the next few days before we head off to Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park and about ten other locations around the South Island. On the first day here, we went on a crazy scavenger hunt to find different things associated with NZ. Apparently, there are three different kiwis in NZ..the fruit..the bird..and the people (New Zealanders call themselved 'kiwis'). One other surprising thing about NZ is the number of Asian restaurants..there's about one on every street corner!
Christchurch is an absolutely gorgeous city. It is probably one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. There is a beautiful cathedral in the center of town and the streets are lined with trees and all kinds of cafes, shops, and restaurants. There is an enormous park on the west side with a beautiful river running through the city. We visited the Canterbury Museum a few days ago and it sits right next to the Botanic Gardens...which were so gorgeous! It's nice to see so much green in an urban area..this is definitely my kind of city. We also visited the International Antarctic Centre which is basically a museum/information center about Antarctica. We attended a lecture on climate change and it turns out that parts of Antarctica are actually cooling (global warming is uneven in its effects across the globe). It was kind of touristy, but there was a room where you can experience an 'Antarctic Storm' (and take pictures of yourself around artificial snow/ice). In any case, skin cancer here is a pretty big issue (the ozone isn't so strong here in the southern hemisphere) and I've been playing it safe with the sunscreen, etc. One other thing I should mention about New Zealand is that the weather changes a lot! In one day, the temp. can change from 50s to 70s and you have to dress in layers. It also rains quite a bit in the summer depending on where you are (the west side of the South Island gets about 300mm of rain a year). In any case, I absolutely love it here and I'm definitely looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Anyways, that's about it for now, but I will be sure to update later!
Cheerio!