Sunday, February 14, 2016 -- On to Dunedin, South Island

This past week has been an interesting one. And a very very long one!  But today is the day of love, so Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tuesday we went to the University of Auckland and had a short tour of the Maori studies part of the university from a professor there. We got to see the Marae there and it was beautiful inside. We got our Mexican food fix afterwards, and it was goooood. That evening I started editing one of our videos – the Backpack Journalism video. We had a lot of fun with that one haha. I’ll post a link to it!

On Wednesday my group got to do a cool story at a tattoo shop! We got some good interviews and learned more about the traditional Maori tattoos, Mokos, which was the focus of the story. And not going to lie, we got some really cool footage. My camera was doing the time lapse so I filmed a guy getting a full tattoo! Let's say since my tripod was being uncooperative and wasn't in the right spot anyways, my arm got realllllyyy tired haha. But we are very excited about that project!

Thursday was a sad day because it was our last day in Auckland with the YSAs. In the morning we got a lot of editing done and just relaxed.  Ethan came over to get footage (because he made the sweetest video of our road trip – check in out on my FB, I am tagged in it) and brought us a bunch of Whittaker’s chocolates. What a saint.  Also we had a surprise delivery to our dorms with individually- wrapped personalized Maori necklaces with each of our names embossed on them and a sweet note to our group thanking us. That was SO thoughtful of them and they are the ones that need to be thanked! I am so grateful for each of the YSA there. Later that day we joined the YSAs at Mission Bay. There was some touch rugby going on, some eating, some swimming, some talking, and some climbing the fountain. It was just a chill day. After a few hours we got some food.  I had been craving Better Burger all day, so Ben, Jason, Ryan were kind enough to accompany me there. Then we got a dozen donuts and ate them on some steps. We had everyone come to our apartment to say goodbye. The saddest part was when Ethan and Craig said goodbye and we all took pictures with them and had a group hug and cried inside because we were going to miss them SO much.  Check out the goodbye pictures: http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/goodbyes-suck

That night I only got about a two and a half hour nap, and woke up at 4:30 AM Friday. I packed up the rest of my stuff, sorta got ready for the day, and said goodbye to my cute little dorm room. I am really sad to have left that place behind. Not only was it nice and we had so much space, but it was our home in Auckland.  I still feel like we are going to go back in a few days… to our home!

We each hauled all our luggage up the super steep hill to the main road where the bus picked us up at 5:30 am to take us to the airport. Going up that hill was the hardest thing I’ve had to do this trip haha. Anyways it’s a good thing I was SOO tired, or else I may have been too sad and mad to get on the plane to leave Auckland and fly to the South Island.

When we finally got to our hotel in Dunedin, we had to wait about 4 hours until our rooms were ready.  And although it is called a Hotel, the downstairs level is definitely a hostel, and that is definitely what we are staying.  Reviews for this place say that it is haunted. It’s a creaky old building that looks like an orphanage. There are bullet-looking-holes in the doors, blood on some of the mattresses, and a flickering vacancy sign in the front. You can just picture it huh? Yeah it is pretty fun. A real charmer, especially after being spoiled in Auckland. I’m not gonna lie, that first day in Dunedin I really had a hard being here. I just didn’t have a good feeling about it, I was tired and grumpy, there were drunk guys in the hallway trying to talk to us, I was really missing Auckland and the crew, and I was not feeling well. My stomach gets destroyed every time I travel, even though it was just an hour and a half flight or whatever (I was asleep so I don’t know). 

We went to a mall close by and got food; I got rice and naan.  My stomach was not happy even with that.  After a nap, later that evening, some of us walked around town.  It was raining and no one was on the streets- and it was a FRIDAY night! It was kinda cool though.  We found this area called the Octagon and walked along some cafes/ bars and found out that’s where all the people were! Instead of a crazy party scene, people were just sitting, eating, drinking, and talking. I thought that was a cool and unique kind of nightlife you don’t usually see. (The only completely wasted people we saw were the guys in the room next to ours!...) Anyways that was a nice little walk. We came home for group scripture and prayer, which I have never felt like I needed more haha. I know things feel better with the Spirit in my life so I’m trying to do everything I can to invite it and keep it in.  Anyways, I’m so grateful we do this every night.

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/day-one-in-dunedin

In the Octagon area just up the street there was a huge market that they have yearly. We were lucky to catch it so effortlessly! So this is where we spent most of Saturday. It was really fun to look around at everything, take lots of pictures, and have a positive experience with the city. There were little live bands everywhere (I got the best video of some people dancing), the most interesting people to talk to, and there were even alpacas for sale. I feel like I spent way too much money but I got some great souvenirs and gifts so I feel good about it! Madie and I went to a cute waffle booth and were so excited to get yummy gourmet (but expensive) waffles. While having some good conversation with the people running it, I pulled out my card to pay and he told us they didn’t take cards!  Neither of us had any cash on us, we were sooo bummed. But then the man in charge said “You can have just these for free - since you’re Americans ” We were so surprised and grateful! What a kind man!!  Later we were thinking about how if we hadn’t been interested in them and excited about waffles, and if we hadn’t started a conversation and just ordered without saying anything else, that probably wouldn’t have happened!  Ahh he was just so nice. And I just love people. It was nice to have a relaxed day to just enjoy the markets.  

Since we now finally have a full kitchen (minus an oven), we can cook more! I am so happy!! I want to try to eat a lot healthier as well (gonna lay off the Tim Tams). We went grocery shopping and later that day we took another walk. We were trying to make our way to the wharf but got lost on the weird streets. Haha Amy described them the best: “It looks like we are walking through streets of movie sets that never got finished”. It was a bunch of worn down warehouses and closed down buildings. There was evidence of life, but there was no one to be found haha. We had fun taking some pictures. We finally found the wharf, and although it is WAY too cold to jump in, we were happy to find it because we had missed the ocean.

Today Sunday we attended a 9:00 branch service not too far away. The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a big hill that we had to climb up, and then the church was right next to this cliff face. In a way it reminded me of St. George up there. Church was great. There were a few families, a few older couples, and quite a few singles. The Sunday School class we went to was called YSA Sunday School, then we combined with the others for Relief Society. I was thinking a lot about my home ward today, and I was missing my JR ward! 

After church, Dori (one of the director’s wives) made us Taco Salad which we were so grateful for! After everyone ate Valentine’s chocolates and took naps, some of us girls went over to the museum across the street to use their wifi from outside haha! We had the best conversations too. Since it is Valentine ’s Day, we all went around and gave each other compliments. Everyone gave everyone genuine compliments and it was just so happy. I feel so much love for these girls. It was nice because it was girls I hadn’t been super close with but I just love them so much. While we were gone, Ryan and Jason (the only two boys in our group) did the cutest thing.  They had tied flowers they had picked onto little candy bars and left them on each of our beds. What thoughtful brothers we have ;) Then Madie, Sam, and I walked around and checked out a little more of the city, took pictures, and had the best fries and desserts at a fancy restaurant in the Octagon. Check out Valentine's Day: http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/v-day-yo

A little more about Dunedin…

It is cold here! Yesterday it was in the 50’s. That will probably be the coldest day we have so that is good. I know I shouldn’t complain because everyone back home is in the snow, but I’m used to Auckland’s real summer beach weather.  Plus I’m seeing snapchats from multiple people skiing back home in the 45- 50 degree weather! What’s up with that! Is winter over??

They definitely have a different accent down here.

This is a weird one haha but… The guys are a lot creepier here!

This city is a lot older and historic feeling than Auckland. It is very European feeling with really pretty architecture and such. There are such pretty churches and train stations around us – as in directly out our windows. So we are fortunate. Then there are colorful houses on the hills. It’s charming, just very different than the North Island. After tonight’s walk, I’m realizing I still don’t have a grasp on it. It’s a different kind of city for sure. It really does feel like a movie set everywhere. 
It’s a pretty old city but also really pretty and classy. There are really pretty buildings. Then randomly we see really run down ones. Oh and there’s a ton of really cool street art as well!  It’s a quiet town… it just feels… abandoned for some reason.

Sorry that it is a long email that is kinda boring, but there’s my week!

This week’s NZ facts:

•          Everything always closes sooo early, even (and especially?) in the city in Auckland. If you want food late, your options are McDonalds and Wendy’s.

•          I say this out of pure love… But ya know how a lot of returned missionaries have a certain intonation in their voice where they go up at the end of sentences? Well New Zealanders have a certain intonation like that as well. It definitely doesn’t sound weird or anything though; it flows with the accent. In fact it sounds nice haha but they definitely do that!

Sunday, February 7, 2016 - I went to Narnia

This week was a big one! And it was a great one.  This week I am especially grateful for my incredible friends from our YSA ward here.  We have truly created lifelong friendships with people here; they have been SO gracious. This “crew” has taken us in, taken us on so many incredible adventures, and fed us so much food J. 

On Monday (a local holiday), I woke up very sick with a nasty cold... But I was NOT going to let it stop me from going on the adventure to Coromandel we had ahead of us. So I packed up, the crew came to pick us up, and we hit the road - after getting some essential snacks of course. I know I say this every time we drive anywhere, but it was GORGEOUS!  It's such a shame to sleep in the car or on the bus because of what you miss out the window...  The mountains were just completely covered in GREEN with lush trees, and the clouds and fog hanging around them, they were so sick!  Ahhh it was gorgeous.

So we finally got there and decided to go down to check out the beach, Cathedral Cove... It was about a 30 minute hike down. We were camping overnight, but wanted to scope it out before we brought all our gear down.  By the time we got down there I was so lightheaded.  I did not know how I was going to make it back up... But it was STUNNING down there. If you don't know what Cathedral Cove looks like, look it up! And look at my VSCO journal! PLEASE. It is sooo gorgeous. It's straight out of a movie, literally.  Chronicles of Narnia was filmed there. Check out the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39xnFVV4IpQ.

The boys played in the water, the girls took pictures, and then we headed back up to the parking lot. We got the little grill out and a little bbq on a little grassy area complete with some sausages on a piece of white bread, L&P (soda), and Doritos.  After dinner, we headed to hot water beach. This was one of my favorite things on this trip.  At low tide, you can dig holes in the sand, and hot water comes up to the surface from the underground hot springs and it creates a bunch of hot tub type of pools in the sand. And it is pretty dang hot! Some parts are way too hot to be in - there are certain areas by the vents that are too hot to handle! It is such a cool thing. I have a habit of just digging the sand but the more you dig, the hotter it gets, so I burnt myself a few times while subconsciously digging in the sand!  When you get too hot, you can just go jump in the ocean a few feet away!

When it got too hot and pretty dark, we all played around in the ocean then headed out.  We had heard that it’s dangerous to leave your car parked there overnight, as well as it being such a long hike to the car, so we decided to spend the night at Hahei Beach. When we got there, we were playing in the ocean and THE WATER WAS GLOWING! There were glow-in-the-dark specks making the ocean GLOW. It was unreal – add another surreal thing to the list of incredible things that made it felt like a dream! We found out that it is called bioluminescent algae... I did not get a picture but this is what it looks like: 

Then we lit sparklers, played some really good music, and had a dance party on the beach. Another perfect night!  We got pretty tired and decided to set up camp. Since I was sick they made me sleep in the car haha but that was for the best. It has always been on my bucket list to camp on the beach, sleeping on the sand and all, so that part was kind of disappointing, but everything else was just what I would have wished for.

In the morning (Tuesday) we whipped out the grill again and made some bacon egg sandwiches. Somehow even that was perfect. Then we headed back to Cathedral Cove beach and played for a few more hours. We took many many pictures, explored caves, found so many crabs on the rocks, jumped off rocks, and just had an awesome morning there. Next we headed over to a little waterfall completely in the middle of the jungle. By this time I was feeling so bad I could barely enjoy it, but it was still gorgeous. Again, please check out my  vsco journal because there are pics of all of this. The boys went all the way to the top and jumped off, those crazies! And they didn't tell the girls that there were eels in the water until after we left hahaha! We stopped for some fish & chips on our way home (well I got a double cheeseburger) but it was good.  When we got back we were so tired, we just crashed. I think that was the best adventure I've ever had.  Good times with the best people, complete with amazing music because Ezrom is a DJ and brought his speaker everywhere we went :)

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/road-to-coromandel

Wednesday was a very relaxing day of recovering, looking at pictures, and trying to get better... but I got quite a bit worse. That night we filmed our backpack journalism video which will be pretty funny - so I am excited to get that edited! 

The next morning (Thursday) we had an incredible opportunity. The now-famous couple from the NZ wedding Haka, Ben and Aaliyah Armstrong, came to visit us and we got to interview and film them!  They were truly inspiring. Their words touched every single one of us in different ways. They are filled with the light of Christ and the love of God. They are such lights and I strive to be like them. It was an experience I will never forget. Later that day most of the girls went to a cute little Italian restaurant and then shopping at a cool Indian store. 

On Friday we had another cool adventure. Some of the YSAs picked a few girls up and we headed to Piha. First we hiked to a Kitekite Falls.

We went all the way to the very top in that picture. There was a pool up there that we jumped in, then went over to the edge where there was another pool and ledge we could sit on. It was absolutely MAGICAL to be up there on top of a waterfall looking over the dense, lush jungle. It felt like we were on top of the world. Most people take pictures of the waterfall from below. But the view from the waterfall is just as, or even more beautiful. Dad, you would have died seeing us all dangling off the high edge haha!!  It is absolutely stunning.  After we hung out there for a bit, we got to stop at Piha Beach, which is a black sand beach that is in The Other Side of Heaven. It is the scene with Anne Hathaway running down from their house onto the beach in her white nightgown. That was always my dream, to have a white nightgown like hers, and run on a beach like that. I can’t believe I actually got to run on that same beach! I still want the white nightgown though :) On the way home, we stopped for Hell's Pizza. It was SO GOOD. 

Later that evening we started our big combined YSA weekend! We had an activity with speed dating, a Haka performance, and a dance. The YSAs had been preparing a Haka just for us Study Abroad students.... It was so neat. It is a huge honor to have a haka preformed to you, so it was very special. They sang a lovely arrangement of I am a Child of God, and then did the Haka. We had our nice cameras there, so later I will add a link of that when we have the nice video done :) It was so cool. 

Saturday morning we were supposed to do a service project but unfortunately it was pouring rain and it was cancelled. T, Claire, Madie and I went to a place called Better Burger. It reminded us a lot of In & Out, it was so so yummy! Then we headed down to Silo Park to the wharf and met up with some of the crew for jetskiing! We had been jet skiing with them once before, but this time was even BETTER. We got to jetski under then Auckland Bridge! That is a big deal! On the other side of the bridge, there is a pink sugar factory, called Chelsea Sugar in this lush green mountainside. And in front of it was a huge ship. It was picture perfect. It was the front of a post card. And you turn around and there is the picture perfect cityscape. Once we got to the Chelsea's Bay side of the bridge, I whipped out my go pro and turned it on to start recording. AND THE SD CARD WAS STILL IN MY COMPUTER. I am soooo bummed about it.  I really tried not to let it bug me in the moment.  As soon as I realized that, I thought to myself: the only thing I can do now is completely be present in the moment, enjoy it, and soak it up as much as I possibly can. I want to remember it forever and ever. And I did enjoy it! … But I am super bummed that I forgot to put the SD card in...

That evening we got some excellent Thai food and then went down to the wharf once again! There are steps next to a bridge in the harbor that have a perfect view of all the boats lined up and the perfectly placed cityscape reflecting into the glistening water. In our swimsuits we jumped in and had an all-too-perfect night swim. It was stunning to be in that water with the city views RIGHT there. Absolutely stunning. I tried to soak in this moment as well. In fact, I attempted my first sketch, because I soo wanted to remember the moment (even though I took a picture as well! haha). The group wanted milkshakes after so we went to Better Burger round two that day.  And yes I got another burger.... Hahaha.

Today at church was a very bittersweet day, as it is our last Sunday here in Auckland. It was also a very good (fasting) Sunday as I had many thoughts and feelings and realizations :)

After church the crew invited us over to the house for a BBQ. Guess what we had? Sausages in white bread! Haha it’s a staple here. There were also some burger things and salad, and it was very good! I think I am going to miss the whole sausage in a piece of white bread thing... Haha!  Our friend Ezrom has to fly back to Australia tomorrow (he moved there after his mission) so it was also a goodbye party for him. We took pictures with him, and were soooo sad to say goodbye to him. DJ Ez is our man!  

After this was the final event of the weekend- the fireside. It was very good.  At the end our group got up and Sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again. The congregation joined in on the last verse and it was really cool. The Spirit was very strong and I felt so sad we were leaving.  Also, Polynesians are soooo good at singing so it made it sound so much better :) The Other Side of Heaven scene flashed into my head when he was leaving! Yet another moment I don't want to forget. These memories are priceless and I wouldn't exchange anything in the world for them. Nothing.

I am starting to feel a little better and I'm looking forward to our last few days here in Auckland, then we will be off to Dunedin on the south island! I will try to make a little video with some of my Auckland adventures.... Then some of these things and places I'm talking about will all make sense. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Love and miss you all dearly.

This week's NZ fun facts:

• This has been the hottest summer here in Auckland for 70 years!
• The bus drivers went on strike the beginning of this week... That's not good for people like us with no cars in the city.... 
• It's really annoying that there is expired food on the shelves in the grocery stores here in the city. EW. 
• Seriously went on a road called "Scenic Dr" on the way to Piha. The name was fitting! And it was a very winding road... 

Sunday, January 31, 2016 -- A birthday, a Marae, Glow worms & more

Well this week sure flew by - it is unreal to think it is almost February! 

We were so busy that Monday was the only day we had class; it is hitting us that we need to get work done & get content out there stat!  After class we had a chill day and eventually went to the beach, then filmed our friend Leah, who is the youngest (and one of the only female) Justice of the Peace in New Zealand!

Claire, one of my close classmate friends had her 19th birthday on Tuesday.  We had the best day celebrating with her!  We decorated her room, we surprised her with our local friends when she came home from breakfast, they even made her a cake and it was sooo yummy. We road-tripped to Omaha Beach which was soo cool. The drive there was everything you imagine NZ to be - it was just gorgeous with palm trees densely mixed with evergreen trees and bright green shrubs.  We passed vineyards, farms with sheep, and forested narrow streets.  Just stunning.  It was a perfect beach day, slightly overcast (which made for awesome birthday pictures), more friends from the YSA ward showed up, we had the stereo playin the tunes, there were some pretty decently big waves and we brought the GoPros out, there was some touch rugby going on, it was great. After this, we went to a wharf and jumped off a dock. It was absolutely beautiful there as well. After this we rushed home to get ready for our night on the town. We had a reservation for Harbourside Grill right on the wharf down the street from us. It was a super nice restaurant and I got a ridiculously delicious appetizer - tortellini in a pumpkin sauce. Then we all headed over to our favorite karakoke place, the Rock Bar. Most of our study abroad group was there - including our director Steve and his wife Dori (HAHAHA didn't think they'd actually show), and a bunch of people from the YSA ward! It was great. 

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/go-shawty-its-yo-birthday (see pics here)

We had the opportunity to go to the Samoan Times on Wednesday. It is the Radio Samoa and Samoan TV headquarters. That was a very once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They are very well respected, highly rated, and popular. We even went on live Samoan Radio! They fed us some very good traditional Samoan food! I loved it! And it definitely tasted a lot better than it looked! Some people voted to go to the biggest mall in NZ that is close by afterwards, but most of us were so tired, we just sat and waited. In fact, I was among those who fell asleep in the middle of the mall until we finally went home.

On Thursday we had another very unique opportunity. We had the privilege of going to the church’s Pacific Area Office to meet with Elder S. Gifford Nielsen of the Seventy.  We were able to show him a short clip of the stuff we have been working on with the Maori Members and it sounded like he liked it a lot! He had a great message for us. One of the points that stuck with me was about our Heavenly Father wanting us to think and dream big. He wants us to make BIG goals and he wants to make those happen and help us to achieve them! 

That night, we had the opportunity go with some guys from the ward to the Sky Tower! It was so neat to see the whole city from up there. It was kinda weird to see the city without the sky tower IN it because it is such a landmark! Haha We got really yummy dessert afterward! 

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/on-top-of-the-world

On Friday we had the opportunity to visit a very popular Marae, which is a fenced-in Maori village.  Tourists can go to and learn about the Maori culture. It was fascinating. There was reenactment of a traditional Maori village welcoming from their chief, and some performances and dances, including a Haka. After all of this we got lunch. Since we had arrived about 45 minutes early, we ventured around and some of us went to a fruit stand and I sampled one of their mini apples. It was the BEST apple I have ever had! It tasted like apple cider. I deeply regret not going back after and getting a bag. 

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/marae

Our favorite cookie shop called Mustache closed at the end of that day, which is probably a good for the sake of our health haha. But of course we had to go stock up on cookies when we got home. They are the BEST! But my true loves are still Tim Tams... 

On Saturday we took the bus to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves! You are not allowed to take pictures of any kind in the caves because of light and sound from cameras so they banned them all. Jason and I snuck our go pros in on record because they didn't make noise or have any light (rebels, I know). Mine was on my head so it was pretty obvious and I looked like a nerd but oh well haha. So first we walked around the caves for about 30 minutes and even saw a few glowworms in this part. We also learned that one particular part of the cave has such good acoustics that they hold concerts there. Some pretty famous people have sung there and every year they have a Christmas Concert. After this tour, we got on a little row boat and this was the amazing part. We just rowed around the rest of the caves for about 20 minutes.  It is like a glorious starry night sky in there. There’s a slightly blue- green tint all around you and it is just mesmerizing. It is good that you don't get caught up trying to take a cool picture so you can truly focus and appreciate the beauty around you. Then you exit out into this gorgeous jungle. The water is just green and there are trees and moss just all around you and it is gorgeous. GREEN everywhere. Check out the pictures! 

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/waitomo-glow-worm-caves

I am so grateful we have made such good friendships with people from the YSA ward. This morning they picked us up and brought us to Stake Conference! There are so many kind and genuine people here. Oh and guess who is in our stake?! You know the couple from that viral wedding Haka video?! THEM!  Ahhh it was so cool to see them! The newlyweds, Ben and Aaliyah are both from New Zealand and you can tell they are just loved by everyone around them.  And the bride… she is just so gorgeous.  Afterward, I was fortunate to be invited to the sweet Cocker family's house with Steve and Dori (our directors), and my classmates Mae and Caitlyn.  I was feeling pretty sick with a bad cold that had started Friday night.  I just didn't feel well and they took good care of me.  After a delicious home-cooked dinner, we went for a Sunday walk along the Coast up to Takapuna Beach.  It was so beautiful. The first few pics on my VSCO Grid are from the walk:

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/grid/1

NZ fun facts of the week: 

·       You have to wave down your bus when you want to get on- even if you are standing at your bus stop... And as I learned the other day, sometimes it won't even stop when you wave it down. We got stranded at a bus one night because the bus drivers were straight up ignoring us...

·       We drove through this town called Manly. So all the signs were hilarious... For example: Manly Town Centre, Manly Fire Station, Big Manly Beach.  Hahahahaha it was great

Sunday, January 24, 2016 -- Temple, Night markets, Stranded on Sunday

Now I can't decide whether I feel like I've been here forever, or else not very long and time is flying by. I guess we only have 60 more days on the program so that seems weird to me, feels like it should be longer than that! It was a good week though, and I got a lot accomplished. 

The Snapfish pictures I ordered last week finally arrived and I put them up on my bulletin boards - above my bed and my desk.  My room became so much happier and cute!  

We had some really cool stories and got awesome footage this week. We filmed and interviewed a variety of people, including some street acrobats who are on a world tour, a crazy talented rapper that can rap about anything and everything on demand, a world-famous chalk artist who does his incredible work for FREE and then donates the amazing final product to charities, and a very respected hip hop instructor - the footage from that was sick. 

Monday we went to the Auckland War Museum.  We got to see a special Maori performance complete with a Haka :) It was quite a diverse museum, with Maori history stuff, dinosaurs, a cool volcano simulator, even a polar bear hahah. By the time we went home, it was pouring rain like I've never seen it pour before. By the time I made it home, I looked like I had fully immersed in the ocean. There was not an inch of my jeans that weren't dripping wet!

Tuesday we visited Hamilton, location of many church sites in New Zealand, including the TEMPLE! Unfortunately we hadn't arranged far enough in advance to be able to go in because of course this temple books up fast. People travel far and wide to come here to go to the temple; it makes me so grateful I have had the opportunity to go to the temple so many times in my life. I hope that I will be able to go to this one before I leave though! When we got there we went to a church meetinghouse and heard from the senior couple missionaries there many stories about the Maori people, the church, and New Zealand.  One of which was Sister Parker... It was incredible.  The more I learn about her, the more incredible i find out she is. And the Spirit was so strong as she was speaking to us. It was really neat. Here's an Ensign article about her:

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/01/so-they-will-know-their-heritage?lang=eng 

We then got to go to the temple grounds, take many pictures, and even got to interview some of the local members there! It was a good day.

Friday night we went to some night markets at Silo Park at the wharf. I got the best Mediterranean quesadilla ever. Then a few of us headed out to another night market with some locals. This one was in an underground parking lot underneath K-Mart and it was a lot more... authentic?  Haha we could say this was the first time I felt like the minority. It was super fun though! We had some dang good smoothies; I got two pairs of sunglasses for $20 (because the guy got frustrated I could make up my mind about which ones so he let me buy both for the price of one haha! "I bet your friends want to make it home before midnight"). This is also where we met Tihei, the rapper I mentioned at the beginning. He follows these markets around and people give him a topic and he does a 2-3 minute rap about it. The more I listened, the more incredible it became to me. It takes some SERIOUS talent to be able to do that. He doesn't skip a beat. He did two raps for us. The first one he did about my friend T and I, and how we are from the U.S. and everything he could fit in about where we were from. The next one he added Sam in there. We interviewed him, filmed the raps, and will probably be writing a blog post about him and his story, so stay tuned. He is from a broken home, he is autistic, and he has been offered recording in many respected studios but would "rather make $20 on the street than $10,000 in the studio".   Incredible.  After this, we hit up a YSA Stake dance in Hamilton in the church parking lot right next to the MTC!  It was way fun!

A little bit similarly to Tihei, Pepe is the chalk artist. I don't even know what to say about him. Just wait for the story on him haha. It’s pretty neat. After this, we headed over to the Bishop's (of the YSA ward we go to) house. Turns out his wife, Sarah knows Desley & Ron Innis (my dad’s cousin) really well and grew up with Lynda (their daughter)  in Sydney!  We "played sports" for far too long then finalllllyyyyy had our promised free lunch hahaha because that’s the most important right? It was sausages on buttered white bread. We were so starving that it was the yummiest thing ever. We had a good time hanging out with the people from the ward and then headed back home. Once we got home, we had a major girls night and helped the engaged girl, Emily, plan her wedding, bought LOTS of chocolate, and watched The Proposal (movie). 

Sunday was a good day, although I got left behind for church because I was stuck in an elevator with the cleaning  crew, who stopped on every floor!! (We live on the 10th floor...) At first I was a little panicked and a little upset but I was able to figure it out, find the bus stop, and I made it to church by myself during the opening song! So all was well.  After church we had a linger-longer which we were all sooo happy about. During 1:00 church we all get SO hungry and SOOO tired. During Relief Society, we all smelled this AMAZING food and we were so excited. We go into the gym, and guess what it was?! Hot dogs... haha... My favorite-Not really but I enjoyed the bun!! Yay!

It was a good week and I'm looking forward to next week which will be pretty busy!

This week’s fun facts about New Zealand:

• They do not have as many trash cans around, and it’s so frustrating, I feel like I carry around so much trash because I can never find trash cans!  That’s when I miss my mom ;)
• The styles are a little behind, sometimes I feel like I'm in the 90's or early 2000's.
• We are obsessed with a place called Tank which has the best smoothies and way yummy healthy food. We NEED Tank in the U.S.!
• Most of my money goes to Tim Tams.
• Because of the lack of space in the mini-fridge that 30 of us share & lack of kitchen facilities, we make grilled cheese and quesadillas everyday.
• The Aukland Sky Tower (out my bedroom window) lights up all colorful at night now! Pretty fun, pretty neat.

Monday January 18, 2016 -- The week of the Shire

The first full week is down! But wow it feels like I've been here a month hahahaha. Which isn't a bad thing! We've been going and going and it's finally catching up to us and we are feeling worn out. This past week we had class only 3 times, an hour or an hour and a half each. So that is pretttty nice! Buuut we do do work, I promise! The majority of the projects we have to do is literally going out into New Zealand, talking to people and telling their stories, then sharing those stories through mini documentaries and blog posts. But as far as class goes, the first day we got into our groups. The second day, we learned about all the fun equipment that is in our backpacks (cam corder, a bunch of different mics, booms, etc.) and how to manage our social media sites - both sections taught by our fellow students. Finally, the third day of class we learned about blogs and blog posts. 

Last week I left off on Monday which was such a fun day, and the rest of the week was just as amazing.

Tuesday was a rainy, relaxing day. We went out to eat at our favorite healthy delicious restaurant called Tank and shopped at Cotton On.  'Holiday' just ended here so there were big post-holiday sales going on everywhere and we got some good stuff! 

The sun came out on Wednesday and almost the whole groups bussed out to Mission Bay for a beach day. It was beautiful! We swam, laid, and had lunch. And then repeated, allll day. We were so exhausted after the whole day playing in the sun so when we got home we just relaxed and ate Tim Tams. Tim Tams are LIFE! So yummy. I eat way too many Tim Tams. I need a Tim Tam allowance hahaha. 

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/mission-bay

BYU Global Mass Communication Study Abroad New Zealand

Then. Then it was Thursday. Thursday was the day of HOBBITON. And it was epic. :) And the drive- although it was about 2 hours to the middle of nowhere- was absolutely gorgeous. Rolling grassy hills, with dense foresty trees, sheep grazing, and occasionally patches of these beautiful purple flowers. We then got on a Hobbiton tour bus and drove through the large, open property for a few minutes to get to the Hobbiton tour area.  I haven't seen all the movies but I saw most of the first. Our tour guide mentioned some of the scenes in the movie and I actually knew what she was talking about so that was neat! Haha I was glad I watched as least some of it. Because  now I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan ;) We were ALL taking pictures and videos left and right so it was pretty well documented. This is why I LOVE traveling with a bunch of other people who love and value this stuff because then I don't feel so bad being particular about documenting everything haha. I think the tour guide got a little frustrated with us because we were a little slow - I mean there are a LOT of us who ALL want the perfect pictures and videos of it so we felt rushed and she thought we were slow pokes. First we went through and walked past all the cute little round doors and learned about how they were able to film to make the Hobbits look like.. Hobbits! Then we went to the brewery and got a complimentary beverage and got to drink it in this stunning area by a lake and cool looking buildings. It was AWESOME! As all the BYU students were going through the brewery, of course we all ordered Ginger Beer which the only non-alcoholic drink, and the lady got confused and frustrated and said "Is ANYONE getting an alcoholic drink, ANYONE?!?!" Hahaha! Anyways, tons of fun :) We felt like it was a little short but it was magical. Felt like we were in this fake place. Like we were in a movie.. OH WAIT! Ha! Nah but it was amazing.  On our way back, we were starving!  We stopped in a little town and got some mediocre food.  It felt like a classic rest-stop town... I kinda felt like we were back in the US - in the middle of Montana or something. Beautiful classic little rest stop, hahah.

Check out my collection of pictures:

http://vsco.co/jesssanne/journal/hobbiton

Jason Murray, one my study abroad mates, made an excellent blog post and video of our journey to the Hobbiton.  You can kinda get the idea of it! And I’m even in it, haha!   http://jasonmurray.me/2016/01/14/gandalf-walked-here-backpack-hobbiton-vlogs/

Friday a big group of us headed to Rangitoto Island, which is a volcanic island about 3.4 miles long. There is nowhere to buy food or water; it’s pretty desolate. There were a handful of little family houses that we passed, but that was it. We explored some volcanic caves, and met an Anglican monk from Australia who goes to caves everywhere and prays in them. Another group got to film him so we enjoyed hearing his story. We then went to the summit - it was an amazing view with the gorgeous water, the city in the distance, and a few other islands around us. It was so beautiful on this island because the volcanic rock was black and stunning against the luscious green trees and sparkling blue water. We headed down from the summit a different way and we walked & walked & walked & walked forever and finally came to a beach which was the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. It doesn't have much traffic so it is a NICE one. Unfortunately we could only stay for a few minutes because we had to catch the last ferry back, or else we'd have to sleep there until the next ferry came in the morning! The walk back to the dock was even LONGER but when we had glimpses of the water, it was incredible. I didn't even want to take pictures because it was so STUNNING and pictures didn't do justice. It was amazing. At one point we went over a bridge and it felt like we were going over a mermaid Laguna. It was a dream. 

That evening a group of us girls met up with a few people from the YSA ward and hit up a Rock Bar & Karaoke place on Queen's Street. That was a BLAST hahahaha!

We were asked to sing a song in church so Sunday morning we all got together and practiced different parts to Nearer My God To Thee. I must say it turned out really well; I rather enjoyed it! After church we were able to go to our friends'  house and interview some of them who are Maori. We even had them say at the end, "I'm a Maori and I'm a Mormon" haha. Speaking of which, we may be doing some work for the church which will be an amazing experience. 

Well, I've written so much, y'all probably won’t want to read this. I'm sorry to overload you. But there’s so much to say!  Things are awesome here and I hope things are awesome back at home as well! Tell the snow I miss it. Jk I don't :) 

Monday January 11, 2016 -- Made it to Auckland

Every day just gets more and more amazing! We are on day four and I feel like we've been here so long, I feel like I've known these girls forever, and I feel like we've already done so much! Oh and I feel like this is my home and I should stay foreva! (that was supposed to be a New Zealand accent) Kidding mom, I will be back :)

After about 30 hours of flights and airport time, we were so glad to make it to our lovely dorms on the 10^th floor at University Hall at the University of Auckland!

We are in a TALL orange building. The Auckland Sky tower is directly outside my window and on the other side of that is the ocean- so there are amazing views all around.  Auckland is such a funny city. Sometimes it feels like San Fran or Boston, sometimes it feels like Europe with amazing architecture and neat European buildings, sometimes it feels like an Asian city, and sometimes it feels like I am in Southern California suburbs. And this can all happen within a block. 

On Saturday we had a free day and the whole group decided to go out together and we walked all over the city. We have 21 students in the group.  It’s a great number because I feel like we can become friends with all of them and it's not too many to get everyone together. Also I feel so lucky because we have such amazing people in the group and we all get along so well. Anyways we felt like pioneer children walking and walking and walking! 

First we went to a cute farmer's market with live sax music and meat pies. On the way to that we found these beautiful greenhouses filled with flowers and beautiful plants. One of them was just filled with beautiful ferns. Then we walked and walked to Mt. Eden which was once a volcano and went on a nice little hike up to a beautiful spot that overlooked the city. That evening we had our opening social at a very nice restaurant followed by the best gelato I have ever tasted! I got the flavor Hokey Pokey... I mean just the sound of it, am I right?!

 You can see pictures arriving to NZ until this day in this vsco journal: http://jesssanne.vsco.co/journal/day-1-1-2

On Sunday we went to Auckland YSA 2nd ward & it was soo much fun! It is at 1:00 & a 30 minute bus ride. I think we doubled the ward! Their accents... heaven, I don't mind listening to anyone there. Easy to the ears. We made a ton of friends and have plans to do way fun stuff with them like paddle board and beach party BBQs.  Love the southern hemi because summer living ain’t too bad at all! We met a girl at church in Sunday school named Bethany. She is from Canada and we got to hear a little bit about her story. She is a big traveler but had never been to New Zealand before, but got the impression to move there. She got home from her travels, told her family, and packed up and moved. She is now working (a lot) and lives very close to the church. She still doesn't know why but I just thought that was an amazing example of faith. Wow. Imagine taking that big of a step in your life when you are not sure why and to a place you had never been before. I thought that was incredible. 

Today we had theee best day everrr! First it started with our very first day of class, which was about an hour long. We heard a bit more about some of the projects we are doing, divided into groups, and got our backpack full of the goods! (Mics, cameras, tripods, etc.) Then we were off! The next part of the day wasn't as great, as I was sooo frustrated as to why my phone wasn't working properly and my number wasn't even associated to my phone anymore. Anyways that was a mess and I'm still sorting that out. But then we hopped in our swimsuits, got on the bus, and headed to Takapuna beach! We stopped at an adorable lunch place called Honey. I had one of the best sandwiches I've ever tasted. Us five girls laid on the beach for a bit and then headed back to the church to meet some of the members from the ward who took us jet skiing!! Heading back to the beach with them was the first time I'd been in a backward car before. On the busses you don't really notice, but the car, that was weird for me! Way cool though. Anyways so we had heaps of fun as they say :) Afterward we headed to the market and got New Zealand chocolate (Cadbury, Whitaker, Tim Tams, Pineapple Lumps, etc.) and Soda (L&P), while the other car got dinner- fish and chips. A few of us stuck with burgers but it was way yummy! A few others from the ward came and it was sweet as to just chill at their house like normal with them like we would back home. We were so glad to have made native friends who we can hang out with and see how their lives are! Anyways we came back and made it for prayer with the group and now I am so tired. 

Oh just to report, my stomach has been feeling great! It's actually feeling normal and I'm so grateful for that. Definitely a tender mercy. 

So now that I officially feel like a sister missionary, I will sign off... Haha!

Love you all,
J