knitting

Right now, it's 40 degrees in AA, 50 degrees in Pittsburgh, and 65 degrees here. The temperatures are coming closer and closer together as it gets colder here and less snowy back home, it's kind of exciting.
I think it's technically fall here now, and the temperature definitely changed in the week we were gone up north. You can't tell any difference in the middle of the day, but it's pretty chilly in the mornings and at night. When we all wake up (remember we have to be done with breakfast by 8:00am) we drink our coffee in wool socks and thermals, but by the time ~10:30am rolls around, it's shorts and tanks weather outside and the girls tan out in the yard during the breaks. Then after dinner you have to pop on your winter hat again because it is freezing. A bunch of people here are working on knit hats, scarves, and warm headbands to wear in the South Island, (which we are leaving for on Sunday morning!!!) and I'm again impressed with how super crafty and handy other people are.

Today our lecture/discussion was about food production, and I usually don't blog about lecture but a couple things were kinda interesting. Like, I expected them to be very anti-meat, like every other environment-oriented class I've ever been in (eat at a lower trophic level, use less energy and produce less methane) but the talk focused more on human nutrition and sustainable farming practices, which totally jive with meat-eating. They didn't defend factory farms, but [free range] meat is actually a more efficient way to produce protein for human consumption than plants. And from what I've seen on our drives, the cows in NZ must be the happiest cows in the world.
We also learned that the way the New Zealand economy works, they export all their best stuff basically, and so the beef and dairy we eat here isn't any better or cheaper than at home, even though there are cows EVERYWHERE. In fact, apparently at Sam's Club in the States, you can get better and less expensive NZ lamb than you can anywhere in New Zealand! I just thought this was funny

This week is getting to everyone, because we have barely left campus (we took one slightly lame trip to a gold mine. We just listened to people speak and toured around, it felt like we were on a field trip) and we have so much to do. Our mid-term exam is tomorrow afternoon, and we have so much homework, not to mention a backpack packed for 3 weeks, due by Sunday morning. Also, there must be something in the water around here, because 3 long distance couples have broken up since last weekend--I think everyone was feeling stress to get everything in order before we go backpacking for 3 weeks and are isolated. Whatever their reasons (everyone's are kind of different) the broken hearts club on campus is rapidly gaining members and that has made things kinda tense as well. I think we're all looking forward to the end of this week and putting our feet on the freaking SOUTH ISLAND!