Flashback Friday

In 2006 I went to study abroad in New Zealand.  I lived in Auckland, NZ and attended classes at a local university which had an exchange program with Marshall University (where I attended undergrad).  I spent 4 months there and learned SO many things and also got to experience a ton of new adventures.  The time I spent there meant so much to me and I think about it often. 

I went knowing one person, Jillian.  Jillian and I met our freshman year in college and became really good friends.  One day we were talking about how we always wanted to study abroad.  Her being the go getter decided to look into it further.  We found out that our university had two exchange programs, the one in NZ and one in England.  Jillian wisely said that we could go to Europe a lot easier so why not travel half way across the world and attend NZ because how likely would we get to visit there if we didn't decide to study there?  She had a good point.  So I agreed that was a grand idea, only half believing that I would be there one day.

So we did some research and found out there was an opening for two people a little over a year later.  So we signed up, me still not believing I would go.  About eight or so months out Jillian was doing research on plane tickets and found some great prices and suggested we go ahead and buy ours.  So after finding some dates I purchased my ticket, again still not believe that in about eight months I would be getting ready to embark on a 24 hour travel adventure to another country.

 About 4 months before we were set to leave I met Jeff, who is now my husband.  After a few months we were getting into a serious relationship, especially compared to any I had in the past.  I was then bound and determined that I was not going to go.  I went as far as calling the airline to see if I could get a refund on my crazy expensive flight.  But in the end I figured that if we could live 4 months apart maybe, just maybe, we could go the distance.  Between that and the fact that I knew I would miss out while Jillian was having all the fun and that maybe one day I would regret it, I decided to go.

See during this whole process Jillian did most of the research and I just followed along.  I am usually a pretty good planner but I was happy for her to take the lead on this one because during the whole process I was in denial that I was actually going to be going.

So after many tearful good byes, on July 7, 2006 I was on my way to New Zealand.  I met up with Jillian in Dallas and we flew to LA and then to New Zealand.  We took a shuttle to where we would be living the next 4 months.  We lived in a complex that composed of apartments.  Each apartment had 5 separate rooms, a living room, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen.  Jillian and I lived in different apartments and were in two separate towers of the building we were in.  The people I lived with are a whole other story for another time though...it sure was interesting.

But needless to say, once I was shown to my room I decided to take a shower because I had been traveling none stop for a day.  I took a shower and then went to blow dry my hair using the blow drying I brought from home with my handy dandy electric converter.  Well within seconds I saw sparks and blew the electric in my entire apartment.  So between that a good spell of home sickness I had a shaky time during my first several hours in NZ. 

All in all I am so glad I was able to share the experience with Jillian and went to NZ.  And in the end I was right about Jeff.  We made it through my time abroad and a little over a year after I got home we were engaged.  Jillian was also dating a guy when we left for NZ and she married him a little over a month after I married Jeff.  So maybe one day we can take our husbands to NZ and show them a little bit of what we experienced.

I did so much in NZ.  My mom even came over for about 2 weeks and we traveled the Southern part of NZ.  NZ is known for its adventure.  One thing I decided before I left the US is that I wanted to sky dive in NZ.  So before we left NZ Jillian and I decided to make the plunge.  Jeff always told me he didn't want to know when I decided to be stupid enough to jump out of a plane so I told him I had errands to do!  So today I thought I would share some pictures from my skydiving venture.  I hope to do Flashback Fridays more often and hopefully share some more of my pictures from NZ because I have some amazing ones and did SO many neat things. 

A little about my sky diving venture.  Jillian and I originally tried to skydive one weekend when we were traveling with a bunch of friends.  Several of our friends there were planning to skydive together but the wind was too bad and we didn't get to go.  So we ended going, just the 2 of us, to a local place near where we were staying.  It wasn't as nice I don't think but we still had a ton of fun.  We jumped from 12,000 feet and at first were falling around 100 mph.  We each decided since we weren't going to be doing this every day that we needed to get it caught on firm so each of us had our own camera guy.  So now some pictures......

Me and Jillian

The plane.  After seeing pictures of the plane my husband later told me he was glad I had a parachute on

Me and my professional jumper!

Hope you enjoyed!  It was a TON of fun and I highly recommend it!  I would love to do it again but I will need to find someone to go with because my husband informed me that he would would never jump out of perfectly good plane!  Maybe one day I could convince him?!?