Olveston house

On Monday at 10am our international group visited the Olveston house just across the road from St Hilda's.
This house was built in 1904 by a rich jewish family who had an export business in Dunedin.
 The house is one of the oldest in Dunedin and we had a guided tour through it. From outside it lookes pretty grand but when you are inside it's just huge! There are so many rooms like a kitchen, a scullery, 4 bedrooms, a huge hall, a flat for the secretary, bathrooms, hidden corridors, billard and cards room, dining room, library, fodd preparing room...
The man who built the house was so clever, because you could live in the house now days and the only thing missing would be a microwave and a internet connection.
They built a heating in every room and had two telephones. The also had some pretty cool inventions like a thing to press folded table cloths or a chair with holder to put your book in while your reading.
Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any photos from inside so the photos below are from the internet.
After the parents and the childran died the house was donated to the city Dunedin.

Weekend

Last weekend was really nice even if the Saturday was a very relaxed day when I didn't do much.
The weather was horrible, so raainy that some streets of Mosgiel were fludded. When I went to town with Mike we passed some shops on the main street and in front of most shops were sand bags to stop the water from fludding the shops. But it didn't help very much, because some shops were under water ;)
On the way back we noticed smoke in the sky that didn't look like clouds and we were curious to find out what it was.
Unforunately it was someone's house that was on fire :( The weird thing was that the flame were meter high althought it was raining.

On Sunday morning I took the bus to town and met Sophie and her friend Alina from Christchurch to go to the Otago Museum. It was interesting but also a little bit boring but we had a lot of fun taking photos with a crocodile ;)
Then we went to the main attraction of the museum: the butterfly exhibition.
It is a big room with a tropical forest in it and you can see hundrets of butterflys flying around. They were so beautiful in every color. The most beautiful one was a big black and blue butterfly.
There were little feeding stations were you could watch the butterflys slurp bananas and oranges. We also learned that some butterflys have some weird prefernces about their food eg. tears, sweat and blood.
But butterflys weren't the only animals in the really hot (28°C) forest. They were turtles, little birds that were running around like chicks and ants.
LLuckily two butterflys landed on me and I could take a picture with them but you had to be very careful not to touch the wings.

Walking Tour

Last Friday morning we did a walking tour through Dunedin and our guide showed us historical buildings and street of Dunedin. We had some knoweledge because we have been at the settlers mueum the week before but it was interesting to see and discover it by myself.
We also visted the First Church of Dunedin on the Bell Hill.
After two hours everthing was finished and my friends and me went to the Meridian shopping center and had lunch.

Monarch Cruise

On Thursday we did the Monarch Cruise on the Dunedin harbour alomg the Peninsula. The weather was cold, rainy and windy, but we still saw a lot of animals.
At the Albatross colony we saw a flying albatross and a baby.
On the very steep rock cliffs there were New Zealand Fur Seals and sea lions. They climbed up the rocks and there also was a baby.
And then a special thing happened for that I waited almost a half year. We saw dolphins!!! They swam next to the boat and jumped in the water. These dolphins are hector dolphins and they only live in New Zealand.

On the way back to school we stopped at an Maori bulding.

Omaru and Moeraki Boulders

On Wednesday in the morning we headed up to Palmerston (was just a quick break), Omaru and Moeraki. It took approximately 1.5 hours to drive up there.

For those you know New Zealand is a very young country (Dunedin ws first setteled in 1848) and they don't have a big long history but in Omaru are a lot of historical buildings... Most of them are from the victorian epoche and they are all made out of the famous Omaru stone. I think it's like the sand stone and probaly a similar one as the Cologne Cathedral is made out of. It just isn't as old (means not black).

The following weekend there will be an victorian festival which is one's a year when the people dress up in old costumes and ave parades and stuff..

After a quick look at a steam punk art thing (I really don't know how to call it but you'll see on the photos) we went into a gift shop where they had a „one wheel bike“ and it was really funny to try to ride on it. But all the small japanese girls had too short legs to reach the pedals :)

After Omaru we drove to the Moeraki bolders. That are some big round stones that are just in the sea and on the beach. Some of them look a little bit like dinosour eggs and others look like turtles. It really interesting because they are actually a mutant nucleous from a shell fish that developed in the sand and finally broke out of it. Sounds weird but when our really nice guide Mark explained it to me it made a lot of sence.

There were some rocks that were broken or fallen apart so you could sit in them, the only difficluty was that they were in the water. Some of the girls got a bit wet.

It was very funny and also fascinating if you thought about how the rocks got there.

We also saw one seal and it was so cool and cute. <3

I sometimes write this but that's because I'm still not used to the fact that they live here at the beach (more on the cliffs and rocks). So every time I see one it's amazing and an other great experience, because in Germany, espcially in Cologne it's not very common to find a seal just at the beach.

Internatinal Farewell (13th November)

In the morning I had a nice sleep in and a delicious breakfast with berry cornflakes, jogurt, bananas and grapes. I took the bus around elven o' clock to town. Then we had a rehersal for the upcoming international farewell in the evening. My task was to „host“ the farewell. That means I before and after a performance (mostly speeches or music performances but also one comedy act) I had to go up on stage and announce the next act, thank the last one. First I was a bit nervous but I made some notes and I hoped everything we will go right.

I was also involved in a reflection of our (German girls) time in New Zealand accompanied by a photo presentation. We had more than hundret photos and I think we gave a good insight of the half year we spent here.

The actual farewell started at 5.30 pm and there almost everything went right.

The older girls from Year 13 gave speeches and it was so sad even the teachers were crying. Because most of the Thailand girls stay here for 5 years and it was pretty hard for them to go back home.

After we got our certificat and the Teddy bear wearing an St Hilda's T-shirt I forgot to say that there was a last performance (a song sang by every internatinal girls) and wanted to end the farewell a bit earlier. Fotunately everbody else knew what was coming next and we dind't forget it.

At the end we could eat some sandwichs and cakes in the library.

And if you wonder why Sophie and I look a bit odd in our uniforms it's because we wanted to receive our cerificate in the traditionel uniform. And also for the photo.

from right: Celine, Karla, Chiara, Jess, Sophie and I

An performing a Rakugo (japanese sit- down comedy)

Me receiving the certificate from Mrs Maw

All international girls singing a song

photo with Maggie and Mrs Maw

Modeling at school

On Monday a woman, who ownes a model agency came to school and taught us how to do our make up properly. First she did Maggie's make- up and after that she looked so different and so pretty. Unfortunately we had to do the make- up on our own and after some first trys that looked a bit aweful we all looked beautiful and transformed. It was so cool and we could use all that expensive make- up stuff. After that we did a photoshoot in the school court. And it wasn't as easy at it always looks like but everyone of us girls got at least one beautiful photo.

Kie and I

Jess in the middle of her photoshoot.

weekend 10th and 11th November

That Sturday I visited my friends Karri and Alice at the school's hostel. But first I had a the problem to even find the place. I took the wrong street as long as I finally noticed that it was not the right one I was totally exhausted, because I had to walk back all the way.

The hostel is so cool, everybody is relaxed, you have a lot of space to spread out and you are always together with your friends. Best thing ever: they have a outdoor swimming pool! We wanted to swim but the water was ectually pretty cold and we just decided to try throwing each other in. We had a lot of fun, but I had to leave quite early again because they were going some study for their exams.

On Sunday it was the 11^th November but I did nothing I actually forgot about it until I saw all the photos from my German classmates on Fb.

Settlers Museum (Friday, 9th November)

 On Friday we visited the Settlers Museum in Dunedin. The actual museum was still closed because of renovation work, but we where in a room and listened to a power point presentation about the first settlers of Dunedin. It was reall interesting and I learned a lot I didn't know before. -->

Then we could dress up like the people in the 19^th centry. It was so much fun. I wore a nice blue dress and a hat.

Unfortunately the museum had no air conditioning and after a while it got quite hot under the heavy dresses, because I think it was the hotest day I ever had during my time in New Zealand! 28°C and luckyly I just wore hotpants and a tanktop.

At half past twelve it was finished and Kie and I went to the Meridian to grabed some lunch. Of couse I ate subway (since I'm here I really started to like it).

Orokonui and Port Chalmers

Thursday (9th November):

Because of the German and Japanese girls don't write the exams Maggie organised a whole lot of trips for the next weeks for us. Today we went to the Orokonui birs reserve. I've already been there with Outdoo Education but it was alright. Then we drove to Port Chalmers where we did rock climbing a few times. It was really nice wheater and when we walked along a long path we saw 2 seals!!! There were so cute and looked os fluffy :)

Tuesday and Wednesday (last school days)

Tuesday:
We had a french breakfast in French with croissants and chocolate croissant which was so delicious!!
It was really funny, eating and talking.. But after 10 min we had to do a listening exercise for the rest of the period.
The other lessons weren't more interesting than usually..

Wednesday:
Wednesday I had my last school day :( It was so sad... I don't want to realize that my time will be over in less than one month. My last French lesson with Karri, Alice, Harriet, Kayla and Georgia was sad, but funny too and the girls wrote in my memory book. Unfortunately I was told off by Mrs Kruger for distracting my friends in their last lesson (which means last chance to study French, as if that would be the only thing we do there).
Science lesson was also very funny, because our teacher didn't show up and our whole class hid in the room next to the class room. Of course we were found and Mr Janessen made some awkwards jokes when we had to keep on pretending to work. Haha :) If I seriously had to sit the exams I probably would fail..
After a short lunch time the Year 11 girls met in the Whitby Hall for a meeting with Mrs Kruger.
She gavw all of us cupcakes in yellow, orange and red. Every colour had a different meaning eg. Red= strengh and determination for the exams..
I chose orange which means happines and enthusiasmus. Seriously that was one of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten.

After that we had to go to the Chapel and got the information about the prize giving on the 6th December and the upcoming exams.

Weekend (3rd and 4th November)

From Saturday to Sunday I stayed at Sophie's house. Her host parents are really nice and friendly. They also have a brown labrador dog named Coco, that is really energetic and hyper active.
Sophie and I went for a run with her. We wore PE gear and ran for approximately 45 minutes when it suddenly started to hail! After minutes we were wet and freezing :(
We called her host mum to pick us up, because we landed on a place where we didn't know the way home.
On the ride home we stopped at Countdown where we bought the ingredients for spagetthi carbonara. On this day there was a food carnival at the supermarket and Sophie and I tasted a lot of food like wraps, fairy floss, chocolate and seafood. We had a lot of fun and the food was so yummy :-)
We also picked up Karla and brought her to Sophie's home too. We went for a walk with the dog with Karla and visited the Brockville Park.
We cooked spagetthi and German chocolate pudding. It was delicious and Sophie's host parents also like it.
At night we watched movies and ate cake... relaxed evening.
The next day we had eggs on toast for breakfast and watched more movies.
You should really watch „Just Go With It“, that is one of the funniest movie ever.

My last whole school week at St. Hilda's

Monday:

I just had an average day I guess. During PE we played really funny games like „Brennball“ with a tennis racket and „long ball“. That is o much more fun than in Germany.

Tuesday:

It was really sad... I had my last student assembly. In assembly all students meet in chapel and play games, get study tips and talk about the daily notes.

Wednesday:

That was a very sporty day. Before lunch we played basketball in PE and it was actually really hard exercise. Over the last month I lost a bit of my fitness, but it was really good. Unfortunately I had a little accident with another girl and now my nose hurts and I have sore knees. Later in Outdoor Education I was very disappointed, because we wanted to go surfing, but instead we just had a hot chocolate in a cafe. Finally it was nice and relaxed, a good ending. Ms Fletcher also offered us to go to the rail trail biking tour in Clyde in December.

In the evening was Halloween, but in New Zealand it isn't really popular same as in Germany. There were still groups of kids outside who knocked on the doors to get sweets. The first time we pretended to be not at home, but he second time we had to open the door, but we only gave the kids sweets we didn't like :)

Thursday:

On Thursday we had a whole year assembly. This was an art award ceremony and the choir and some other girls sang songs. It was impressive and overwhelming. It didn’t know that the girls are sooooo talented and I thought about my own life and that I didn't even know, that you have so many opportunities in New Zealand to succeed in.

Friday:

Friday was a really exciting day with a lot of surprises. In the morning we had quiet a famous guest at school: the prime-minister of New Zealand John Key!!! Pretty amazing uh? :) He visited the lessons and gave a speech in front of the school. I know that a lot of people have different opinions on him, but to me he seemed really nice and his speech was very funny. Unfortunately me wasn't given the opportunity to shake the prime minister's hand rather than taking a photo with him, but some other girls were lucky enough to do this.

Some other international girls from my year and I had to go on the stage too, because we were fare welled.

Then we had a special chapel. It's called prefix chapel and it means that all the head girls prepare a movie or a play to present to the school. The played „The St. Hilda's Games/Hunger Games) and it was pretty amazing how many details from the movie they brought into their acting.

Clyde

How I already mentioned we were planning to go on the cycling trip (which is now set with my parents). It is from the 2^nd to the 4^th of December and we will bike to Clyde. We are going with Mr West's PE class and we will stay at a camping ground for the night. I will share a tent with my friend Zoe. But first we had to practice how to built a tent. I've done this before with my best friend in her garden, but that was five years ago, so this refreshing exercise was very useful. It only took us a couple of minutes, but when we tried to back everything back in the bag, it was so windy that the different layers almost blew away.
I also have to add, that it has been a really hot and sunny day with probably 25 degrees and I almost died in my uniform. But it was so nice to feel the beginning of the spring. But later you will read that the weather developed a by different than expected. :)

In lunchtime I did something good for people who doesn't live such an fortuned live as us by buying a cupcake. The earned money goes to a charity organization.

In my French class I had to sit a french vocab test with 60 words, but it was actually alright, because my french crew (Alice, Karri, Harriet, Kayla and Georgia) helped us and so we all got enough words right to get a little present (in my case it was a pencil).

During my English class we had a party (party= everybody brings something t eat or drink and we eat it together). That sounds lame, but it's always really nice with a relaxed atmosphere. I already did this I French before the holidays (we made Crepes) and next Tuesday we'll have a french breakfast.

I finally came home and we had pizza (yummy) with salami. Then when we wanted to put the washing outside it suddenly looked really dark at the sky and there appeared huge clouds. But it didn't rain yet.
It got really windy and then... Boom, the power was switched off!! It was just for a few minutes and not serious, because it was still light outside. Later it actually happened again, but this time the power-cut was for two hours and we had to put candles in the whole house. It was so quiet then.. no TV, no radio, no CD.

It was funny but I couldn't live like this longer than a few hours.

When this happened I realized how hard it must be for the people in New York not living with an access to power and only limited water. I feel really sorry and I hope the situation will be better soon. We can only hope for them.

This was an exciting day with lots of things I've done.

Saturday:

Tomorrow I will stay at Sophie's and will cook spaghetti carbonara for her and her host family, because she never gets pasta :( pour girl.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will still have school, but from Thursday next week we will do day trips with Maggie. (We= German and Japaneses girls) 

But the school isn't finished yet. Next week we will have three more school days.