I am forever grateful I got to spend my last weekend in the country sleeping under the shadow of New Zealand's tallest mountain.
Yesterday, March 17th, all of us traveling got the news that our program was suspended and we must return home. While I did not have the chance to do so many of the things I wanted to in New Zealand, my sadness is overwhelmed with gratitude, as I am eternally grateful and lucky I got to live in this majestic country for the time I did!
Things were looking pretty bad in terms of our time being cut short in New Zealand last Friday and we did what I'm sure many people wished they could have done...run away to the mountains, shut off our phones, and escape the ever changing news for just a short while. I hope some of these pictures can help others who wanted to do the same...imagine themselves in a quiet corner of the world. These pictures help me remember that even in the craziness of our current state, the mountains are not moving, the rivers are still flowing, and the sun in still rising.
I know I will get to return to New Zealand one day. Hopefully I will be able to take the people I love most with me, to share the beautiful experience with them. Until then, pictures will have to do :).
Grinnelleans together across the globe. Always nice to have friends to lean on so far away!
This is the result of trying to get a picture of all four of us using the self timer... really showcases the beautiful scenery as you can tell :)
The visitors center at Mt. Cook Village.
The tallest peak in New Zealand, Mt. Cook, around 12,000 feet high. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to summit Mt. Everest (a kiwi or New Zealand citizen), practiced on Mt. Cook.
A bunny came to wish us farewell!
The moss looked like Manatees! Always a good omen..
Stopped at a quaint little roadside Lavender Farm on the way back to avoid heading back to reality for just a little bit longer.
When the cold of winter comes
Starless night will cover day
In the veiling of the sun
We will walk in bitter rain
But in dreams
I can hear your name
And in dreams
We will meet again
When the seas and mountains fall
And we come, to end of days
In the dark I hear a call
Calling me there,
I will go there
And back again
- The Breaking of the Fellowship by Howard Shore
Lord of the Rings
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