Numbering was an attempt at being 'brief'

1. I have two days to start and finish this essay. Doable? Totally. Intimidating? Totally. Probably not going to be my greatest essay I've ever written? Totally.
2. Yes I blog more when I do work. It happens. I get bored and procrastinate.
3. This Kapa Haka exam.. not really sure why it's worth 40% of my grade. The entire class minus one or two lectures was learning the songs and dances, yet 40% of my grade revolves around the written exam.. hmm.
4. I have officially changed my flight to coming home. I am flying home Wednesday, July 13. Which means I have a long long time still in this part of the world.
5. This also means that studying and writing this essay are falling to wayside to looking at flight in Australia. All I want to do is start planning it. Please?
6. However, after the essay is turned in and the exam is finished I've got a pretty awesome week ahead of me. On Monday after my exam some friends and I are getting together for a photo shoot! Some of them have fancy cameras - I have my good ol' point and shoot but that's fine - so I think it should be fun. A reason to dress up and have pictures taken? I'm in.
7. Then the next day (Tuesday) I fly out to Nelson at an ungodly early hour of the morning. Aka 6:50am. Meaning I'm going to need to leave for the airport at like 5am. Yay.. but then I will get there and (crossing my fingers) go to a half-day vineyard tour. Crossing my fingers because apparently for them to run the tour there needs to be at least two people, and since right now it's just me, it might be canceled. That would seriously suck. Because then I will have a day to kill in Nelson, and I don't think Nelson is that exciting of a place.
8. Wednesday I'm doing a bus - cruise- walk in Abel Tasman. I'm hoping the weather will be nice, it's basically a full day tour and again, I'm doing it by myself. I don't think I have to worry about it getting canceled though, besides I already paid for it.
9. Thursday I'm bussing Nelson to Picton, then taking the Interislander ferry across to the North Island to Wellington - New Zealand's capital city. I'll be meeting up with another IESer, don't know what we'll do that night.
10. Friday and Saturday I'll spend in Wellington. I don't know what I'll be doing exactly but on the agenda is Te Papa museum, the Carter Observatory, the Cable Car, Weta Cave, and getting a feel for the city and walking around. If you don't know what the things above are, and I would assume you don't unless you're in New Zealand right now or have been in your life and reading this, either google them or wait a week for me to come back and talk about them.
11. And Sunday I'm taking the TranzScenic Overlander train Wellington back to Auckland. It's a 12-hour train ride but it's supposed to be beautiful and this way I will be able to see part of the country that I otherwise probably won't. I'm pretty excited. Granted I'll probably be ready to get off that train after about an hour, but nonetheless I'm excited.
    
12. This trip, besides Thursday night and all day Friday, will also be my first time truly traveling alone. I'm excited that I have someone to hang out with for part of Wellington, but I'm also excited that traveling alone means I get to do what I want, when I want. I booked my hostels and transportation everywhere, I decided I wanted to pay for a vineyard tour (fingers still crossed makes for difficult typing, right?) and the walk in Abel Tasman, and that I'd rather take the train that fly back even though it was probably only about ten dollars cheaper to take the train. That kind of freedom is amazing. Of course it would also be awesome to travel with people - especially after my awesome trip this past week - but at this point if I want to go somewhere I just need to do it regardless if I'm flying solo or not. Besides, it'll be a good taste for when I go to Australia and I'll be traveling all of it just me.
13. Okay. I need to get back to studying. I really want to do a contemplative my-feelings-on-leaving-soon-etc post but I really can't procrastinate much longer. This needs to get DONE.