June 12th, 2011

After traveling these trip i think i am prepared for independent traveling. The reasons i think i am ready is becasue i have all the right traits needed to travel alone. I have the independence, i am a person who does not need help i can do everything on my own, which everyone needs to have during travel. I have the organiziation that is needed, i am good at organizing things from hotel, flights, transportation, and packing, the only part that may be a problem is my addiction to shopping and spontanious buying, because when I want something I will get it! I also am responsable although others may not think so i am i know i am. Another thing that is needed is my analytics, self-awareness and conciousness of everything, knowing that you are traveling your in a new atmosphere, but since my mother taught me well she taught me to always be aware of where i am, what time it is, how to get out of situations, and what to do incase there is a problem. When i am traveling i know where not to go, why not to go, what time i should get out of a specific area such as the time during the trip that we went to a area that was clearly stated by our tour guide the red zone district at the night time, and things happened that should have never been simply becasuse we were at the 'wrong place at the wrong time', and those type of situations can be avoided if you pay attention, analyze, and judge. So i conclude that i am ready for independent traveling!

June 11th, 2011

All things that challenge you always have a positive so here are mine during my trip. I would have to say the first challenging thing that i have came to accomplish during these once in a life time trip was to try new things, i am a person of habits and repetition, so once i try something and i know i like it im not going to try something different because i know what i like already, especially when it comes to new food(s), but during these trip i became open minded with trying new things and new foods and i brought that back with me to my daily life, which to me is a huge deal, because i never used to do it. Then i would have to say it was getting along with everyone which i mostly did besides one person... my roommate, which isnt good but i tried at least, but other than that one person i got along with everyone else. this was a challenge for me because i am a leader, hard headed, blunt, honest, independent, and an argumenative person, and i always speak my mind which sometimes get me in trouble, so some or all of these traits of my character some people dont like which cause me to bump heads with people, but during the trip no one had a problem with it..... except my roommate, hahaha. Finally, but still as challenging as the others was expanding and stretching my comfort zone, but these particular topic is hard to explain so i will leave it at that.

June 10th, 2011

Sydney, Australia, Emerald City (the Emerald is my birth stone, so it most be fate for me to live there.), sits on the LARGEST natural harbor, which is also one of the most famous harbors in the world, which has a resemblence to that of the harbor in which New York City is located on, also very famous. Anyways Sydney is like any big city that i have been to, but for me Sydney was more chill, tranquil, and natural... Lots of the famous monuments and landmarks in Sydney has some signfigance to those of other cities . The Skydeck reminded me of the Sears tower aka the Willis Tower in Chicago, Hyde Park was kind of like the Central Park of New York City, and i guess its also similar to Millenium Park in Chicago. Then the infamous Opera house and the gate way of New York the Statue of Liberty, i which both of these momuments are World Heritagies. Then the world famous Sydney Bridge is like that of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Broklyn Bridge in New York City. The fountain in Hyde park the Archibald Fountain is similar to the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. So no matter what city all cities have a signifigant landmark.

June 9th, 2011

The day started off pretty rough because having to wake up so super early just to go for a 'nice' loooooooooong stroll in the pouring rain and the freaking cold, and then get all dirty with mud and moss and some other unknown stuff... Even though the rain forest or whatever its called was a bit of a downer because of the weather and because the whole group rush on through it so you couldnt really soak everything in, but it came to be pretty cool because what little i saw was stuff that i have never really seen, and stuff that i havent seen in the places ive traveled to. After coming back from the forest we showered got dressed and we got on a bus and took a long bus ride to Auckland in the middle of rush hour! But from the coach bus we had some phemominal views of the landscape and the city of Auckland! But after we got in Auckland we went to the hotel and got back on the bus and i was unaware in where we were going and then we pulled up to RANGI COLLEGE, and i realized that the long drive was DEFINIETLY worth while, because the time spent at Rangi was the highlight of the trip, those kids were the best hearted, funny, and just all around AHHH-MAZING!!!!!!!! I personally had a blast with them and i got really close with them really fast which was fantastic, and they taught us the HAKA which was sooooo sooo sooooooooo cool because i wanted to learn it so bad and i still remember how to do it, then we had a competition of which haka group was the best and that was interesting, hahaha, and then we had a tour of the Campus and yeah its huge! But the night came to an end and we had to leave and it sucked because i never wanted to leave them because i dont know when im going to see them again and i dont ever want to lose communication with them..

June 8th, 2011

The thermal village of Waka was such a awesome eco-friendly village that used all of the natural resources to its fullest potential which I thought was great because im a very enviornmentaly aware, so when i saw that i felt very graceful for all that they do to limit their negative affects to the Earth. So with that said i have to compare and contrast their village and country with our country. The U.S is supposably enviornmentaly aware and say they are changeing what they have done in the past but to be honest i havent seen any changes i still see the U.S as a immature non-eco-friendly country that is all talk but no action and its awful that we are like that but its the truth, the U.S is trying to change i suppose but it is taking way too long to change. And then our country is always complaining about the economy when they spend millions and billions of dollars on fossil fuels and nuclear power which are both very bad for the enviornment. As for if they used natural energy they would have more effiecincy and its cheaper to operate. So all in all the experince i had at the Waka village was awesome, and then we had the Maori dinner... at the hotel.. which i thought was pretty corny i thought it was going to be more authentic and cultural, such as it being outside and have our foods cooked in the things they had at the village. But i do have to say it was informative.

June 7th, 2011

My first impression of New Zealand was that the island was so beautiful, and green, and the vegetation was so vast. Also I noticed that all of the Kiwis are very social, outgoing, and an open book. And after just spending a day there made me want to come again on my own and explore the entire country and not just the northern island, and also be there for a much longer duration, and I would possibly move there. There is plenty other impressions I had but I'll keep it at a minimum. Three cultural shocks i realized was the way they drive on the opposite side of the street then we do, and the steering wheel is also on the opposite side of the car. Another shock was the amount of Asian Kiwis and how they have such a cultrual influence on the Kiwis, because originally I assumed that the Kiwis were going to be predominetlyy White/European or Polynisians. The final cultural shock I had was the excessive amounts of livestock, for example in New Zealand for every person there is forty sheeps which is insane, but while driving I noticed more cattle than sheeps... so yeah.. But what i expect for the days following today is for us to have lots and lots of fun with my new found family, and after doing the lugeing I am ecstatic for the Ogoing or the ball rolling thing! :)

The Invasive Cane Toads

The Cane Toad which was a native of the South Americas was brought to Australia to kill the invasive Cane Beetles, but only became an invasive species themselves by overpopulating and spreading. The Cane toads were originally found only in the Queensland area but have now spread all over the north eastern territory of Australia. Some of the solution tried were making viruses to kill the toads, and making fences. An invasive species that is in America is the Burmese Python which was a native of South East Asia the python was introduced to America as a pet at first but as they grew the owners let them go in to the wild of the Florida Everglades but they have done many bad things to the normal ecology of the everglades by killing the native birds, mammals and even the alligators. The government has tried to reverse it by making it illegal for the release of the snakes and have tried hunting them.