13th day in New Zealand.

So, it came to the realization of Carlos (a fellow physics student from Austin, Texas) and I yesterday that we have only been here for 12 days! It sure does seem like a month, and we cant get over how much we have accomplished, the number of people we've met and how well were getting adjusted for the city.

It also hit me yesterday that if I have been here for 12 days, I have another 353 days to go! A little daunting, no? Looks like I may very well complete all my goals on my New Zealand bucket list!

One thing I did yesterday off my list was SURFING! Myself and a few friends headed off to New Brighton Beach (pictured above) and surfed in the pacific! Using wet suits (which worked great being that it is winter here) we spent the last few hours of the daylight surfing! Surfing is so much fun! I didn't do too bad for a first time, and I hope to keep improving. Closer to the summer I may find a cheap surfboard. I finally found an activity to enjoy at the beach! It was a lot of fun watching all of us succeed and fail at surfing. The waves are great for learning, and are much better than waves on the U.S east coast. While resting on the rented surfboard looking back at the beach you could watch the orange sunset and New Zealand's fogged-in terrain. Then I realized, "I'm surfing in New Zealand!" After returning we hit up a fish and chips restaurant which for $3 USD you can get a huge slab of fish and more chips (thick fries) than you could ever need. I had kumra fritters, a fijian root similar to a sweet potato fried, which was excellent!

Well, off to see the city, I might visit some of the garden's and the art museum. Next weekend i'm taking an overnight trip to learn about snow-crafting (ice-axes and crampons to scale icy mountains)