Last weekend I did the Tongariro crossing with some other AFS kids. It was 12 miles and took us 8 1/2 hours including lunch and snack breaks. We went across to a volcano, up the volcano, through the volcano, down the volcano, up a ridge, and down a mountain. The inside of the volcano looked like Mars and there was another active volcano right next to us. On the other side of the volcano are these crazy blue and green lakes, unnaturally blue and green, they look fake and edited. but they are really that color because of the minerals left over from the eruption. I now know nz has so many crazy mountains and volcanoes and earthquakes because it is in the convergence zone of two tectonic plates! Here’s some other cool global facts: in France you go to school from 8-5 everyday!(ew), in Brazil you get out at 12! but have to take 12 subjects and start at 7:/ in Germany you can buy alcohol at 16, and my favorite one: in Portuguese olive oil directly translates to the oil of olivia! 

The day after the crossing we stopped at Taupo to take pictures

Lis and I on the crossing

Lis, Coline, and I 

The other AFS kids and I

The blue and green lakes!

The day after the crossing we stopped at the falls

Coline (Frenchie) and I at the falls

On top of the volcano

Walking down the mountain

Me cheese'n 

Me and the lakes

Another river we stopped at the day after the crossing 

Genuine Possum nipple and belly button warmers! Made in NZ

Sky tower, Auckland 

Aladdin in Auckland

The other AFS kids and I at orientation

Cotton candy sunsets!

Athletics day 2019! Go Arapuni! (the blue sharks)

Me and Lis with an Allblacks player!

My family and I at a Chiefs game

Me on the Redwoods treewalk!

My family and I on the treewalk.

Lis and I on the treewalk

More treewalk

I am now almost through my second week of school. The classes are in different buildings and lunch and break are both outside. There are four different "lakes" which are kind of like Harry Potter houses, but random. I am in lake Arapuni, the blue sharks. I am taking english, biology, outdoor education, food technology and hospitality, art, and high performance sport. Most of the people are super nice. I joined the two cultural clubs, Poly (polynesian dancing) and KapaHaka (native dancing). They are similar and both have dances to songs in Maori. It is super hot here and has been in the 80s and 90s this week. But, because the hole in the ozone is close to New Zealand the sun here is way stronger. The burn time is ten minutes! So it feels much hotter when you are in the sun. I spend most of my time at school with my sister from Brazil, Lis. I like her a lot and we have made a couple of other friends too. I am settling in and hoping to make more friends soon!

 Mural at my school

What you wear for the Polynesian dancing

Me and my parents daughters daughter, Mila. She is 18 months.

Me and some of the family at the beach

Me and Lis at the beach

hello from NZ!!! 
After orientation in LA, a 13 hour flight, and another 40 minute flight I have made it to my host family. On the plane they had a whole movie category for “Hobbit Tales”! My host parents are named Karin and Mike, they are younger grandparents and have hosted 13 exchange students in the past! I’m living with another exchange student from Brazil, Liz, she will be my host sister. The town I’m in is Tokoroa, in the middle of the North Island. It’s pretty small and and rural, my school is around 350 students. I start school on Monday! There’s only me and one other girl from the US going to NZ. I definitely brought the most stuff out of the four other American exchange students I met haha (3 ausies and the other kiwi girl).

New Zealand (pt.2)

Last January, I planned to move to New Zealand as an AFS exchange student, live with a local family,
attend a new school, and find adventure. Just three weeks before my departure date, everything changed.
While ski racing, I hit a rut, flew face-first into the netting, bounced off, and tumbled backwards down
the mountain. I watched my left leg girate as if it was no longer connected to my body, a limp noodle
flying in all directions. A 20-minute wait for ski patrol seemed like hours. Unable to move and in
excruciating pain, one thought reverberated in my head: This could very easily be the way I die.
And I almost did.

My femur had snapped, then rotated 180º inside my leg. If my bone had rotated the other direction, it
would have knocked out my femoral artery (instead of hacking off five inches of the popliteal artery),
and I would have died in 30 seconds. The crash was the worst pain I have ever felt. I now know it takes
30 times your body weight to break your femur; it’s proven to be more painful than childbirth. Because
my artery was wiped out, I lost circulation to my lower leg and was flown to Denver on ‘Flight for Life.’
After three operations, plenty of pain meds, and a week in the ICU,  I thought I understood pain. However,
the real pain hit me when doctors told me I couldn’t go to New Zealand. My heart broke, and for the first
time all week I reached 10 on the pain scale.

I am unable to explain the devastation I experienced when I couldn't go to New Zealand last spring.
But the good news is, I can now go this spring!! Both my accident and this trip to New Zealand are costly,
which is why I created this blog. I have joined the AFS Sponsor an AFSer program, which is an online
fundraising tool through AFS to allow sponsors to help fund my trip. It is easy, secure, and non
tax-deductible. No amount is too small and anything helps!

Thank you for your help, feel free to forward my blog to anyone else who may be interested!
Once I get to New Zealand I will post weekly updated and pictures on this blog, so keep an eye out!

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the Donate Now button:)