Goodbye Aotearoa!!!!!!

Aotearoa is New Zealand in Maori language. FYI.

so scattered righ tnow. leaving here in a couple of hours. had a busy morning getting ready and what not. so this will be my last blog....EVER!! well maybe not ever. i'm not really a 'blogging' type. i really only did this for my family so i didn't have to write massive e-mails all the time. bwahah.

anyways, lets begin....

and this blog is going to have no structure whatsoever.

i feel like after this trip i have to pay it forward is a MAJOR way. i have met so many wonderful people over here---lindsay and lauri, hamish and margaret, becky,jennie and bob, and so many other people that have let me stayed at their house or cooked me a good meal. it is such a luxury to get into someones house and get out of the hostels, even if its just for a night. it get exhausting at times just moving all over, packing, balbaha. after this, if anyone, a friend of a friend of a friend came through wherever i lived, they would have a place to stay ALWAYS. it has really shown me how good people can be.

i wish i had brought a map with me so all the people i met could write where thye were from....I have so many places i can stay all over the world now, scotland, ireland, UK, germany, spain, argentina, pittsburg, boston, sweden, switzerland, italy, alll the fuck over. its awesome.

i think this trip went as smooth as a babies butt. i feel like i only have 2 icky days--when my bag got stolen (ASSHOLES), and then this other day in nelson when my hostel was invaded by germans and they wouldnt speak english (ASSHOLES, AGAIN). the only thing i would change would be to stay longer and work the ski season.

another thing about this trip....while i was "planning" it I tried to get some friends to go. and deep down i knew no one was going to do it. and that worked out WONDERFULLY. and i say that in the nicest, most loving possible way. this trip would have been TOTALLY different if someone came with me. completely 100% different. i think traveling solo is the way to do it, ESPECIALLY in new zealand. in other parts of the world, i'm sure its safer and better to travel with a friend, but here--its just way to easy. and if you travel with someone its harder to meet people. people who travel solo, which there are THOUSANDS, are just easier to talk to and walk up to. if you think about it, if a friend came with me, for the past 5 months 24/7, thats a lot of time with one person. it was just so nice to do what i want when i want all the time. KABAM! i have loved having time to myself--i think up of some really random, crazy, funny shit. and i love people watching. people can be crazy.

i feel like I keep saying "after this trip....." but here is another one.

After doing this trip, i feel completely re-energized. i'm not worried about anything. i talked to so many friends back home who have been like " wooahhh you are gonna have such a hard time getting a job" but i know i'll get one so fuck it. my mom always told me, when i througha fit or something, "that is always works out" and now I completely, totally see that. it always does. and i'm glad that i am a person that when i say i'm going to do something, i'm gonna do it. i said i was gonna go to new zealand, i did it, now i'm coming home. i'm saying now i want to move after we go to alaska this summer, and i'll do it. then i want to work for a year and then travel, and by golly thats what i'll do! ha. i should be a preacher....wank.

so the backpackers i stayed at in wellington is hands down the WORST backpackas of all time. no one was runing it. smelled awful. ew.

my friend beth, who i freakin love, met me in wellington. we went to this concert that was pretty sweet and met this old italian woman there named Maria Pia. she was INSANE. i asked her when she was from and then she started telling us how awful men are and how they need to chop onions all day and cry. ha. she was funny at first, but after 20 minutes of man-hating we got out of there. ew, one thing that pissed me off about the concert was they told us to "clap our beautiful hands" i hate when people (musicians) say that. what if we dont have beautiful hands? what if they are cracked and dry? i just can't stand little things like that.sdf.

there was this guy in wellington who was trying to get $ by doing lame magic card tricks on the street. he asked beth and i if we wanted to do it and said no thanks and then he SCREAMED down the street that we had boring awful lives. ha. i mean how RUDE can you be. BORING, AWFUL, LIVES. and we said no, THANKS. we heard him tell some other girls the next day the same thing so that made me feel better.

so after wellington, we (beth, myself, and her friend angelique who flew in from the states for 2 weeks) headed to Taupo (Tow-Poor). its the biggest lake in NZ. i had already been there and really enjoyed it. cute town and gorgeous lake. the tongariro crossing, the big hike i did at the beggining was cancled for 3 days straight bc of weather. i'm glad i did it when i did bc that wa sthe BEST hike i have ever done.

angelique told beth and i all this new crazy pop-culture gossip back from the states. we knew NOTHING. none of it. feel very out of it. i guess thats the effect of living on an island that just got internet like 7 years ago. no shit.

they put so much yummy chocolate on their cappucinos here. i love it.

FEIJOAS! holy shit. so feijoas is a fruit grown here. i can't describe it...anyways, i bought one the other day ...someone told me you could just bite into them like an apple...FALSE. so i was totally turned off. then i was with beth and she was eating them like a kiwi. so i tried....ohmigod they are so good. DELISH! love them and made i JUST started eating them.

in taupo, we had a 4 bedroom room but it was just the 3 of us. then at 1 am some man comes in to sleep. around our age. anyways, he starts snoring, as usual. it was AWFUL. beth was under him and kept say " OHMIGOD WHAT THE FUCK" so loud. the funny thing about beth and i traveling is that we have always tried to get away from snoreres so we book smallers rooms, etc. and it ALWAYS backfires. even her friend snored the first night (just the first, i think it was cuz she was tired) but beth and i wer elke ohmigod. this is unreal. so we started jumping and yelling and clapping our hands. finally we took beths pillow and put a hard object in it and started hitting her. that didn't even work. something worked later, i think beth just screamed really loud. humph.

i know traveling like this isn't for everyone, but i think its reall yimportant to atleast move and travel someone for like a month of two. ya.

i'm sure ive changed in a lot f ways, not sure what though...will have to wait and see.

bought the BEST swimsuit EVER and awesome red purse. loving them.

i have zero tolerance for alky right now. could get ugly in san fran.

i'm going to miss apple crumble, BUT i have the recipe so its all good.

and i'll miss the muffins. but i also have the Muffin Bible book so i'm set with that.

ALSO i have been meaning to write this for months (maybe i have already written it) BUT people sell their Horse poo for a dollar and aplaca poo for $2. so there are signs that say

HORSE POO $1 and it makes me laugh very hard. its for people compost.

my towel constantly smells like mold.

a tongan man, tonga is a island near here, bought me a shot the other night for leaving. how thoughtful.

2 finals notes for this blog.

#1 i can't stand heavy breathers

#2 and quite possibly the cardinal rule for backpackers----DO NOT BRING PLASTIC BAGS!!! they make a crazy amount of noise in the morning. there is hostel etiquette.