Saturday 4 June 2016

Cheers

Written by McKenna Pierce 

Days 1 and 2 of orientation are under wraps and everyone is eager, if a bit skeptical, to be leaving for Mt. Nicholas tomorrow. 

We've learned a lot about each other in the past 36 hours, including that out of all us, Vitto (Purdue University) is only the only one who has technically been to New Zealand before. But we'll just leave it at that. 

Some other highlights include learning that Brennon's go to phrase is 'Cheers' and Peter loves to give out prizes. 

We discussed in length what the 'Clean' in Clean and Green (New Zealand's motto), and ended up with some really cool groupings as to what the word meant. 

After dividing into groups our cooking groups (we'll be responsible for feeding each other for the next several weeks) Brennon and Peter sent us out into town on a scavenger dubbed "The Amazing Race."

Students did all of sorts of activities to get to know the area better, including trying Hokey-Pokey ice cream, L&P soda, taking pictures with local heroes, and speaking Maori with locals. 

Winners of the Amazing Race are The All Americans, with the glorious prize of a hot breakfast prepared by Peter and Brennon to come at a later date. 


Valiant efforts were made by the other teams, The New Zeas, The Traveling Kiwis, Team #Lit (Shout out to my chicas), and Team Gumtion. 


Pictures from the hunt can be found on the New Zealand National Expedition and Internships Face Book page. (Go to posts, and click on Visitor's posts to view)

As orientation comes to a close, we will soon be heading the Mt. Nicholas sheep station for Case Study number one. We've been told to pack lots of warm layers, and expect very little in the way of warmth, so here's to hoping everyone comes back with all of their toes and fingers.  

To quote, "Ogres are like onions, they have layers."

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