Lily Hislop, 2012 New Zealand Adventure Tourism student blogger, writes:

Prepare yourself, one and all, Gals and Galahads alike, for I, Lily Hislop, will soon be traveling abroad! I feel like “abroad” should be caps-locked and yelled from mountaintops with much distinctive echoing.

Yes, that is right, I will soon get on a plane, another plane and then another plane and fly to New Zealand, a land of adventure, beauty and apparently very few mammals. I will be participating in a study abroad for Adventure Tourism and Recreation. I suspect the program was invented when a student jokingly asked, “Can I go swim with dolphins for class credit?” and no one found any issue with this.

New Zealand blogger Lily Hislop

The class material and activities we will be doing all seems really neat. Glacier climbing. Farm tours. Kayaking. I will be learning about how tourism affects cultural and environmental sustainability. Plus we will learn about the Maori culture and even deer farming, and I am so excited to see a deer farm!

But before I leave I’m taking classes to prepare. Despite being very early on a Saturday morning, the classes are informative. I’m supposed to write a paper and make a presentation about the fauna of Christchurch and Kaikoura. I was told to make it exciting. However, I feel like it would be inappropriate to write my powerpoint in all caps with dozens of exclamation points, which is what I would really like to do. I am being completely sincere when I say the sea birds of New Zealand are really interesting and that I’m VERY EXCITED TO SEE AN ALBATROSS. Albatrosses are amazing, and I’m so stoked. I just hope I finish my presentation in a mildly formal and appropriate manner.

So, here where I sign off. Have a good day everyone, and check back later this month for my posts from New Zealand.