Super Troopers + Maple Syrup

I arrived in Waterbury, Vermont, half a bottle of Captain Morgan deep to be greeted by Carson, one of my American friends I met last year. We headed straight into Burlington where we caught up with another of my friends; Tommy. From Tommy’s we headed to a party at one of Carson’s mates house. One thing I discovered pretty quickly about Vermont is that there’s not a lot to do except ski. It was late December and there was still no snow on the ground and everyone was freaking out. The guys whose party we were at had built a ramp covered in ice shavings from the local ice skating rink to get them through the hard times. Fortunately I brought the snow gods from Iceland and the snow began soon after my arrival (Essential if I was to get my first white Christmas)! After a while we resided indoors to the safety of the pong table; it felt fantastic to exercise the table tennis ball throwing arm and the shotgunning skills after a four month layoff. Unfortunately Captain Morgan and the high octane beers caught up on me fairly quickly and an early night ensued.

The next day we went for a walk around the town and I was showed some of the sights the city had to offer, before heading back to Carson’s place out of town for the night.

The next day I met his family and was invited along on the annual Christmas tree hunt in the forest near their house; I was the eventual winner of the hunt, picking a spectacular, 7 foot, perfectly symmetrical beauty.

Later that night we attended the “Prickly Pageant”; a gathering of all the families from around the town, to sing Christmas carols and perform skits of current affairs. This was certainly an experience I won’t forget in a hurry and was a great start to the Christmas season.

After the pageant we headed into another party in Burlington. A few beers deep and we came up with the idea to go hiking the next day, up the second highest mountain in Vermont. I had only the casual clothes I was wearing however after they made a couple of quick calls, I was informed they had gear for me if I was keen.

I awoke in their house the next day, changed into the tramping gear that was awaiting and we set off to hike “Camels Hump”. It was an amazing hike to the top; frozen waterfalls and huge icicles made for spectacular viewing. At the top, the sunset pierced through the clouds creating some amazing rays onto the landscape below.

(Unfortunately during the hike my camera copped a bit of water damage so its currently in recovery mode. So unfortunately there arn't too many photos beyond this point of the blog!)

After a couple of days painting, we went out to a comedy show performed by an ex-Vermont girl. It turned out half her show was about her travels in NZ, so I sat there taking cheap shots (many untrue) for much of the show. I’ll cut her some slack though; what are the chances of a Kiwi being in an audience of around 50 people, in the middle of Nowhere, USA.

Later that night; SNOW!

A couple of days later Carson dropped me off in Burlington after a great week spent with his family. I ate like a king and was looked after far too nicely.

After leaving Carson I met up with Mel; my American exchange flatmate from the semester before I left overseas. We headed to her aunt and uncles house for a Christmas eve dinner, where the conversation over dinner was about who was the best catholic in the family; Riveting stuff.

CHRISTMAS! My first white Christmas ever and it snowed like crazy the whole day! I was lucky enough to be given a Christmas stocking by Mel’s family (present highlights included a bottle of genuine Vermont maple syrup (which will be chugged supertroopers style in the near future) and a toy car) and it was a great day all around.

On boxing day I got back on the tourist trail, visiting Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory and the Vermont cider mill. Any sort of jam, mustard or sauce you could think of, was there in cider or maple syrup flavour.

Tonight I’m meeting up with Lauren another exchange friend, and we could potentially be heading to Montreal for the night, before heading back down to NYC for New Years.

P.s: Hope everyone in ChCh is ok.

Sun sets on Iceland; America!

Alright, this blogs going to be a bit of a shambles. Due to the lack of wi-fi and busy schedule, I’ve sort’ve just combined several different blogs into the one entry so apologies for mixes in the tenses and whatnot. Here goes:

As I write this blog entry I’m currently aboard flight Fl615bound for New York City, America. My last days in Iceland were rather dull due to the departure of many of the usual crew. On my last night however, Ella cooked me up my first roast since London which was a much needed treat and we enjoyed a few celebratory beverages together before saying goodbye!

My last day in Iceland dawned, bringing with it a trip to the blue lagoon with Dagny and Ramathorn on my way to the airport. In hindsight I regret not going there more because it was just a fantastic wayend to my stay; the sunset was pretty incredible too. I met some very cool people during my exchange and I’m sure I will be in touch with many of them in very near future!

~New York~

I arrived after a 6 hour flight only to be told we had to wait on the plane for another hour while they cleared customs. I got through without any issues but later found out my Cuban cigars I had been carrying in my hand luggage, had a trade embargo on them that could have copped me a hefty fine. Whoops

I managed to survive the train system (Thanks for the preparation London!) and made it to Stoneybrook station, Long Island, where my flatmate from last semester; Gareth (Griffin) was waiting for me. After much excitement and yelling on the station we headed off to his room where I stayed the night.

The next morning I took the train into the city. While waiting at the station it was a welcome relief to hear birds chirping and have sun rays shining through the trees onto me. The 5^oC sun was in serious danger of searing my transparent skin.

Again like London, hordes of people lined the streets, fortunately NYC is a lot easier to navigate than central London at peak hour and the significantly less amount of tourists was nice.

On my afternoon in the city I saw the usual touristy spots like the empire state building and time square. Hopefully in the next two days before I leave for Vermont I can get some night pictures of it. Being my first meal in America there was really only one thing for lunch (and the fact that there was one on every street made the decision easier). I walked up to the Mcdonalds counter and asked for a supersized big mac combo. Apparently large was the biggest size they had! What is this England?

Stalked Madison square garden for half an hour or so, but no dice on sighting the elusive Mello or Amare. The my morning jacket concert tonight should be incredible.

~Update~

I caught up with Griffin and Isabel later that night at the 4 star hotel we were staying at before heading to the concert. This was easily one of  the coolest concerts I’ve been to (the fact that we got to go backstage, drink the bands beers and meet some of the band members was a smaaaalllll contributing factor). My Morning Jacket were unbelievable and all you people back in NZ should definitely start listening to them ASAP. Band of Horses were amazing as well. Unfortunately The Roots after party the following night was cancelled.

The day after the show, I dragged myself out of a terrible hangover to catch up with the others for a classic American style breakfast before saying goodbye to Gareth and his American friend Aaron and catching the subway to Wall St. It’s one of those places you hear about all the time, so it was nice to finally put an image to the name! Because we arrived during the aftermath of the occupy movement, police officers/cars/horses lined the streets and access to the area was limited.

From downtown, we managed to navigate our way uptown (via subway, using my now seasoned touristic skills) to Central Park. Major events: First ever squirrel sighting! Encounter with the best “frisbee’er?” I have ever seen; and a photo with my very own NYC jazz saxophonist.

From Central Park we headed to the metropolitan museum of art. I’ve never really been one to appreciate (or have never had the opportunity to appreciate) art, however in the short time we were there before our legs and stomachs gave up on us, I was truly moved by some of the incredible sculptures and paintings on display.

We all but crawled back to the hotel, where after a fantastic jet-lagged nap we braved the NYC night to visit Time Square; and tuck into some super-heated Korean food before calling it a night.

Unfortunately the morning meant I had to say goodbye to Iz and her dad; however it did mean my journey to Vermont and the north was about to begin.

I leave you whilst writing on the train. Hopefully a wild night in Burlington VT is coming up. Regular updates while be on their way as I attempt to get the whole way across the country that is the USA.

See you soon Meeeerriiccca

So a couple of months ago I noticed the container of dishwashing liquid in my kitchen was being used up at a similar rate to my time left in Iceland (apologies to my flatmates for not using much of that). The 2cm of liquid remaining represents my last 9 days here. I’m still waiting on the Katla eruption that’s been in the news a lot recently, although if it goes now, I probably wouldn’t be making it to America anytime soon! I’m also running out of time to get to the north, and with temperatures frequently below -10 I may have missed my chance.

The snow has set in and it is like nothing that my rare winter holidays at Hanmer Springs could prepare me for. Where Dunedin grinds to a halt, the people of Reykjavik act like nothing has changed (maybe the just put on an extra coat or 5). There is maybe 25cm of snow on the ground, the big pond has frozen over, and I am feeling a lot better about the purchase of my new shoes a week or two ago. For all of you living it up in the summer sun, I ENVY YOU. I would give a lot for an outdoor barbeque and a fat steak of prime New Zealand beef, all while wearing a singlet, stubbies, jandals and developing some nasty tan lines. -9 degrees is my new personal coldest temperature! (my fingers and nose were on the verge of dropping off)

My first and last exam is this Wednesday. As usual, the “Jack Ensor” study routine is in full cry. Many arduous late nights of movie and computer game procrastination in the department have me primed to begin working in the next day or two.

Last weekend our hiking group went on a day trip to the geothermal valley of Reykjadalur. The scenery was incredible and the hike through the snow covered mountains to get to the hot rivers was an awesome experience too. We had been in the river for an hour or so when we heard word that our French friend (who had foolishly decided it would be a good idea to bring his snowboard) had snowboarded into a rock and badly hurt himself and that there was a rescue team on its way. A group of 38 people turned out in force in the dark and in well below temperatures, to pull him off the mountain by sled (which took aprox. 3 hours). Whilst performing what was a death defying snow leap (alah sand dune style) earlier in the day, I had taken a blow to head on a hard patch of ice. The rescuers informed me it would require stitches and sent me along to the hospital with the Frenchy. Half an hour later we exited (by foot), myself with my first 3 stitches ever and the Frenchman with a bruised hip and pride.

Hope everything's still good back home.

P.S: YEAAAAAAA NBA