Lab, plans, and sports

It's only Wednesday, but this week has been great!  In my first lab for my marine system "paper" (they're called papers, not classes here), we were going to go out on the university's research boat out into the harbor to do water and seafloor measurements.  Of course, though, the boat broke down, so we didn't get to go, but the harbor was sooo blue!  There was tons of kelp and we found a dried up seahorse on the dock!  Last night (Tuesday night) my kiwi host (roommate from NZ) was going to play a game of netball and said her team needed players, so I jumped right in.  It's a very interesting game.  I feel like if we were good, it'd be really intense and strategic, but we weren't.  Essentially, it's like ultimate frisbee in that you can't run with the ball and the defense has to be 3ft off of you at all times.  However, then it's like basketball in that you have to shoot the ball through the hoop in order to score.  Then the positions were a little complicated, but unnecessary to explain here.  Monday night a group of us met up to make some tentative plans so that all of our great ideas could actually happen.  From now until October 12th, I only have 4 free weekends as of now!  The activities include visiting Abel Tasman National Park, mountain biking on the Otago Peninsula, a wildlife tour around Dunedin, a weekend in Christchurch, a weekend in Queenstown (world's tallest bungy!), Lake Tekapo (trying to become the world's first starlight preserve), a 3 day field-trip with a class, skiing this weekend, and a weekend trip to Kaikoura for their Seafest--you dress up and for $40 you get all-you-can-eat or drink local seafood, craft beers, and local wines!  Our mid-semester break is from August 26th-August 30th and I plan to spend that week in Australia scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef and visiting Sydney!  Then our final exam period is from October 14-November 9, so once I get my exam timetable (schedule), I can plan a few more things.  There is an All-Blacks (NZ National Rugby Team and winningest pro sports team in the world--they win 90% of their games) here on October 19th, but I also am hoping to get to Fiji for 4 or 5 days and to Mt Cook.  Plus, I have a backpacking trip planned on the Milford Track (the "greatest walk in the world") from November 11-14th and have a friend (long story) doing that with me! Then I'll have from the 15th-26th to road trip from Dunedin to Auckland! So exciting, but 5 months seems so short now...  Well, weather's beautiful here, unlike at home!  Talk to ya later!