Adrienne Vita, the 2011 New Zealand Sustainability student blogger, writes:

Just after four days at Lincoln University, I found myself ringing in the New Year with locals in Christchurch. It was an extremely different experience and a great way to talk to people about their daily lives in New Zealand.

After chatting with a few people, the blunt question of “What is the most unattractive quality in Americans?” was asked. I found that many people from all over the world hate how we always try to talk over each other. It quickly occurred to me that they were all absolutely correct. It’s a rather nasty habit that so many of us possess and it seems that no matter how hard we try, it will happen sooner rather than later. It was really interesting getting their point of view of the American culture and in a social setting. But overall, the countdown to 2012 was the best New Year’s I’ve ever experienced so far.

The next day we drove to the most beautiful lake, Lake Tekapo. The blue of the lake was only a color I’d seen once in the sky of San Diego. During our lunch stop there, many of us chose to swim in the clean lake rather than eat. To us, it trumped any food a thousand to one.

We later arrived at our lodge to wake up the next day and hike the Hooker Valley of the highest peak in New Zealand, Mt. Cook. The mountain, pictured left, was tipped with snow and accompanied by a ring of clouds around the top. Hooker Lake, at the bottom of the glacier, was the perfect spot to eat lunch. The glacial water was about 30 to 40 degrees cooler than that of Lake Tekapo, so just dipping my toes in was satisfactory. The six to seven-mile hike in the Valley was by far the best walking excursion I’ve ever been on.

I think it’s safe to say that my New Zealand study abroad program has trumped all other adventures I’ve done. Considering it’s only been five days-and there’s so much yet to see and do-I can only expect remarkable things for the rest of the time.