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It’s been about 2 months since my last blog update, but in that time some big changes have happened, although while I’m writing this my life looks about the same from the outside at the moment. To begin with, after I got back from Stewart Island, I was back on the job hunt. I was… Continue reading Major Life Update: Moving In (!), New (Old?) Job, Staying???

If you ever were to stick around and read a blog post, this is the one, because she’s a doozy! I have done 16 total days of tramping in the past 3 weeks and have come away with a couple of bumps and bruises and some good stories. First, though, a bit of news: I… Continue reading 200+ km Walked: The Holidays, Kiwi Style

It is now December and I’m back with an update that is not much of one. I am still unemployed and searching for a job – I have applied to countless positions online, hand delivered copies of my resume, and have been to recruitment agencies to see if they can place me somewhere temporarily, all… Continue reading 24 and Still Unemployed (plus some tramping tales)

At the beginning of October, I started working at Rāpaki planting trees four days a week. I decided to only work four days so that I could spend every Friday working on my research – I am getting closer and closer to being done with the work and am working towards a final publishable paper.… Continue reading October – Tree Planting, Tramping, and Persistent Exhaustion

I’ve been back in New Zealand for a month now – a month filled with joy, reconnection, loneliness, anxiety, fun, and sickness. The day after I got here, I went backpacking with Travis (the same Travis from the Hollyford) for 5 days on the St. James Walkway. This track is 66 kilometres long and is… Continue reading First Month Back in New Zealand

I have neglected this blog far too long, and it’s time for a little life update before I can hopefully post more frequently again. The reason for the radio silence is that I finished up my last year at UCSB, much of which was dedicated to writing my Senior Thesis about the same research I… Continue reading Some Major Life Updates

Kind of halfway between New Zealand and California is Hawaii, and on my way back I stopped there for a week to visit my friend Sofie, who had just transferred to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa to study marine biology. Sofie and I met in band in high school and have stayed in contact… Continue reading Visiting Hawaii and Moving to Cambria

This post is several months late, but seeing as this past quarter has run me over like a bus, I am happy to be making it now. In my last week in New Zealand, I went on one more incredible trip, which I still think about all the time. The group for this trip included… Continue reading Last Week in NZ: Greenstone-Caples and Welcome Flat

After returning from my road trip, I moved into a bedroom in a house with 2 other women, both in their early thirties. One of them I had done field work with back in June. The first week there I spent getting my life back together – I had just been traveling for a month… Continue reading Manaaki Whenua, Manaaki Mai

After dropping Fiona off at the airport, I drove into Auckland to meetHalley and Noah. Noah is a friend from Santa Barbara who also lived at the co-op house last year, and he followed me to New Zealand the semester after I went. We had been planning that he would buy the car when I… Continue reading North Island Road Trip – Part 2