Summer In Wellington

Summer has finally arrived here! I have horrendous tan lines thanks to two days of sitting on our deck reading, but soaking up the sun in October after spending a winter here freezing cold was totally worth it. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have been sailing with the yacht club down the street, and its been a great experience. The wind conditions are unbelievable, and that often makes it a little hard to learn while we're out there, but I'm so thankful to just be out on the water that it's alright.

I joined my flatmates' outdoor 5 v 5 football (aka soccer) team that plays on Thursday evenings, which is so much fun. I was hesitant about joining because I haven't played soccer in a long time, but as soon as I got out there, my love for the sport came rushing back, and I had so much fun. There were 4 other games going on at the same time, and I was the only girl there, which worked pretty well for me. The other team underestimated me a lot in the beginning, so I enjoyed showing them they were wrong. We ended up losing 4-3 and my flatmate Richard broke his hand, but it was still a good time. I look forward to next week. This will definitely be something I want to continue when I'm back in the states, having sports to look forward to after work makes the week so much more exciting.

Work has slowed down a lot because we are all caught up on registrations. I am still liking working there, but am hoping that I start to do something a little more challenging soon because my mind is getting rather bored.

61 Roxburgh

Please enjoy some video of the fireworks last monday night celebrating Guy Fawkes Night (p.s. this video took forever to upload, and is not even a good one, so check back in a bit and I will try to get a much better one up). The fire works were set off from two barges in the harbor, so we had a spectacular view!

Guy Fawkes night celebrates when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up English parliament in 1605 (he was against Protestant rule) it was a failed attempt...and somehow the tradition of blowing up things continues in Commonwealth countries. While definitely lacking the patriotic tones of the 4th of July, and there is no day off work with the obligatory BBQ, it was still a great night. All we had to do was step outside, onto our deck and enjoy the display!

Sailing

In the past two years I have jumped out of airplanes, bungee jumped off massive drops, swung across canyons...yet I was never as scared as I was tonight, sailing in Wellington harbor. Tonight, my second night of my sailing course, we were supposed to join the members racing, but the dangerous gusts (some up to 130 kms) meant the race was canceled, yet after our class time, our instructor decided the wind had died down enough and we went out for a sail.

Now this class is not learn to sail, it is a course for those familiar with these keel boats (about 21ft) and with racing experience. I am well over my head here, which is why I was so nervous in the first place. Add my lack of confidence, to the extreme wind conditions, and you get a rapidly beating heart for two hours. I have never felt so close to capsizing and never gotten so wet, needing to keep focused and working at the same time. It wasn't that I ever felt my life at risk, but not only was I scared of letting the others down b/c I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, but I was also sure I was going to get swept into the water rushing over the side. The calm periods were awesome, b/c the thrill of having gotten threw it was awesome, and looking out around me, we were the only boat in the middle of bay looking out at the sun set with a gorgeous landscape around us.

After we arrived home (very safely), I was soaking wet, but extremely happy. Even though I clearly am above my head in this class (not for lack of sailing experience, but b/c of my complete unfamiliar state with this type of boat), its going to be a great learning experience, like everything else that I have done in my year out forcing me out of my comfort zone.

Alright its 1045, and Im exhausted...will have more updates on Wellington coming soon!

Musings...

I am including some interesting and random tidbits that don't really deserve an entire posting on their own:

• When I tell Kiwis I'm from Boston, one of the first things most respond with is about the TV show Boston Legal...I had no idea that show was still on, let alone so popular! (I have actually started watching it here, and it is quite good)
• The country pitches itself to the rest of the world as being an attractive place to come live and visit basically because its like England 30 years ago...while that is pretty much true, its a rather interesting way to market your country
• The lack of corporate competition really does hurt consumers...not just financially, but I think it makes the quality and customer service suffer
• I love that lives here revolve around pursuing hobbies and genuinely pursuing happiness instead of money and fame and fortune
• There is one limo in Wellington, and its really old, it's rather nice to not have such excessive displays of wealth like NYC, and you really do get a sense that Kiwis have a sense of obligation to help each other out in terms of welfare support...but the taxes are pretty horrendous, and their council budget is not something to be proud of
  
• You cannot really appreciate economies of scale until living here (cell phones, internet access, electricity...all much more of a hassle here)
  
• There is an enormous amount of pride in the country, but at the same time a humbleness that is sometimes a detriment...New Zealand is losing thousands of desperately needed talent to Australia, something that they recognize and are trying to fix with extremely generous hiring schemes...but I'm not sure that's what's needed, I'm still trying to figure out what would work
• The national obsession with the All Blacks is more intense than Red Sox nation, but the recent loss to France in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup is going to have very interesting repercussions for how this team is glorified in the future (already a number of the commercials featuring the All Blacks in the world cup have been pulled)
• Speaking of the All Blacks...there is more pride in the All Blacks than in the country...for example the All Blacks flag is more commonly found around here than their own flag.
  

The more I travel, the more people I meet that tell me stories of places they have seen, and that only makes my list of places to see longer. I have developed an extremely expensive addiction to traveling, but I find it so rewarding...the amount that I learn from the people and what I see almost always exceeds my expectations.

Some Highlights

Because I only started this blog at the end of my travels in Australia, I figured that now that I have some time, and access to my flatmate's computer, I will add some details about my travels around the South Island of NZ and the rest of the East Coast of Australia. For amazing photos to correlate with these stories, click the link I have posted below to see my picassa pictures.

Less than 3 weeks after walking the stage at Richmond, I boarded a plane to take me to Auckland, NZ with no plan of what to do when I got there. I had a work-holiday visa and a hostel booked for two nights, but that was it. I was looking forward to this opportunity to live without a plan, because I needed that change. More excited than nervous, I was looking forward to simply figuring out what to do basically on a whim. I did know that I wanted to go to the South Island first because I was interested in working at or around a ski mountain, so after two days in Auckland I flew down to Queenstown. While the ski season was not under way, the town was already filled with similar minded people all looking for a winter job, and housing in a place that was not really hiring and had ridiculously high rent. In addition to the skiing, Queenstown is known for its extreme sports...it is the adventure capital of the world, so of course being the adrenaline junkie that I am, I immediately signed up for bungee jumping and canyon swinging. After spending some time in Queenstown, I realized it was not the place I wanted to spend an extended period of time. Too touristy, and not a great place for employment (the skiing actually is highly overrated, but I guess that's because there's really not much else in the S. Hemisphere). I decided that instead of looking for a job straight away, I would travel and booked a place on a bus tour called "Kiwi Experience." It was perfect for me because not only did I get to see practically the entire South Island and learn and do an incredible amount, but I also met some amazing and fun people.

Some highlights from my trip around the South Island include: seeing penguins in the Caitlins, Milford Sound cruise, glacier hiking on Franz Josef, kayaking and hiking in Abel Tasman, taking in the most stunning scenery driving down the west coast, and the experience of skiing in the middle of a snow storm in June!

...more to come...

Wellington

Well, it has been quite some time since I've updated this, but that does not mean nothing has happened, in fact, I have done a lot, and that's partly the reason I've had trouble keeping this up! The other part is that I do not have a laptop here, and I work all day, so I have to use my flatmate's computer, and I do not want to hog it for too long. I have been in Wellington for about 3.5 weeks now, and I love it here. I am settled into an amazing flat, making friends (Kiwis, Canadians and Americans), and have been working at a decent temp job for the entire time I've been here.

I currently live with 4 Kiwi guys who are all around my age, one is a student, one works in hospitality and the other two do IT work here in the city. Our similar schedules means that we cook and eat together every night. Because our flat has so much open space (And a great patio area) we are the meeting up point on the weekend for all my flatmates' friends, which has been a great way for me to meet a lot of people all at once. Lately, the wind has been absolutely unbelievably powerful, and because we are up on a hill our house gets hit pretty intenesely. So much so that it shakes not only the house, but my bed...and I even have to wear ear plugs to fall asleep b/c it's so loud! Thankfully though, the wind died down enough for us to have our first bbq of the summer season on Saturday evening, which was a really great time.

Sunday morning the All Blacks (NZ's rugby team) played France in the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup. So far, the ABs have dominated every team they played during pool play, and were heavily favored to beat France, so I did not bother to wake up early for it, since I thought it would be a boring game like the others. I was stunned to wake up to the extreme disappointment of my flatmates...some how, NZ blew it (the blatantly unfair reffing had a lot to do with it), and France caused a huge upset. The nation is in mourning, it's a really, really big deal because so much was invested in this team. As my flatmate Hamish said "New Zealand is know for our rugby, and now we have nothing, this is embarrassing and we need to find something else." The feeling is very similar to when the Red Sox blew it by leaving Pedro in for too long, but at the same time its a little worse b/c in this situation the entire nation was behind the All Blacks. The number of commercials, billboards and promotions that depend on the All Blacks and the connotation of the team is stunning. My boss, who's from England, felt bad for everyone at the office this morning (England upset Australia this weekend as well) and so he bought us all sweets! The press reaction is really interesting to read...and its also the only thing to read in the papers! (Thank goodness, for me, the Red Sox are broadcast here!)

I have about a week left as a temp at NZ Equestrian Sports, and after that I have no idea where I will be placed. I really have liked the steady nature of this job and the people I work with, so I'm not entirely looking forward to the change, but that's alright. I have not taken many pictures recently, but I have added a couple from day trip I took to an island just past the harbor here, and two that are from the window in my bedroom. I will add more soon!

Pictures

It has turned cold again here in Dunedin, which has made me even more eager to move on to Wellington. I am leaving the 12th, and wish that it could be sooner, but that was the best air fare I could get. Until then, I am enjoying reading and baking (keeps me and the kitchen warm!). I finally found a computer usb port that works here, so feel free to check out some of the pictures I have taken from around Dunedin, including one of my flat from across the way.

Link to all my pictures = http://picasaweb.google.com/giudice.cara

Enjoy!

Skiing & Weekend with the Ross Girls

Thursday afternoon I took a bus to Queenstown where I met Kaleigh and Robyn that evening. After checking into our room at the hostel, we rented ski equipment and had a late dinner. I loved being back in Queenstown, but felt like it had changed a lot in a month and a half since I had last been there at the start of the ski season. Now, it is peak season and it was so crowded, the streets reminded me of Chatham in July!

On Friday morning we headed to Remarkables, a ski area about 20 min from Queenstown. Although the mountain only had 3 lifts, I still really enjoyed being back on the slopes, and this time with better snow conditions (although the flat light was really annoying!). I had a great time skiing with Kaleigh and Robyn, and our last run was the best. We hiked up a back part of the mountain, carrying our skis, to ski down a completely untouched area. By this point, however, the conditions were starting to get pretty bad, with a lot of snow coming down, making it really difficult to see where we were going, and this being New Zealand skiing, nothing was marked so that was a little scary. We decided to leave a little early because the conditions were getting a little slippery on the road, and we didn't have chains for the car. Also, Robyn left her camera in Wanaka, so we had a little detour to make before heading to Dunedin that night.

On Saturday I met up with Robyn and Kaleigh to walk around the main street in Dunedin, and then we took a tour of the Speights Brewery ("The Pride of the South"). Our tour guide was a great, funny old man, and he made the tour very enjoyable. Not only did the tour give me a greater appreciation for well crafted beer, but it also gave me a greater understanding of the pride that people here have in being from the south island. After tasting some delightful beer, we had dinner at a great thai place, and then played some pool at a sports bar.

I did not get the job at the tavern, which was really dissapointing. I am not giving up yet, and applied to three more places yesterday. I ran into a friend from Kiwi Experience yesterday on the street, and found out that she is living here as well. It was great to see a familiar face and find out that I know more people here. She informed me that her flatmate is looking to rent out another room in their place. Before seeing her, I was thinking about moving onto Wellington, but I may take her up on it. It would be nice to be able to stay here for a longer period of time.

Update

Yesterday was my last day at the ministry of health, and I cannot say I was sad at all to finish. While I learned some things that will help when I'm running my own office, it was not an experience I came to New Zealand to gain...I can file and scan in a similar enviroment from 9-5 in the States just as easily. Although, I must say I did think the standard tea breaks throughout the day were a nice Kiwi touch. After making chicken curry for my flatmates, Kat and I headed into town to go see a band that she knows play in a cafe/bar. We had a good time, but since I had to get up early for interview this morning, it was an early night.

This morning I met with one of the partners of the Mornington Tavern. (Mornington is the part of Dunedin that I live in). The interview went well, and its a place that I would love to work at, the people that work there are really nice, and the clientelle in that area are a little older than what you normally see downtown. They are going to call me on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning after they interview two other people...I have my fingers crossed! If that doesn't work out, I will take another temp job and continue to browse the help wanted section of the paper.

I am enjoying have a more settled life here in Dunedin. Today is beautiful, warm due to a norwester, and I love walking around this place. After my interview my flatmates and I went to the farmers market. It was really great to pick out local fresh food to eat for the week, and also I had a great crepe for breakfast!! Dunedin has everything I love about cities-great cafes, easy to walk around, and all that I love about country areas- great scenerary and access to outdoor activities. While I have not decided whether or not I'm going stay here after mid-Sept, when I have to move out of the flat, I am glad that I am here for a long period of time. I realized that this is the type of place that tourists can easily overlook, but its a great place to live in.

Scanner Extraordinaire

My week's Routine
6:47 am: Wake Up
6:52 am: Force myself out of the warm bed
7:20 am: Walk to town Centre
7:50ish am: Arrive at Ministry of Health
8:00-10:30am: Remove staples, scan, stamp and pile health contracts
10:30-10:45 am: Drink tea with team members (oversee these agreements/contracts)
10:45-12:30: More scanning, or if scanning's finished, hole punching and filing.
12:30-1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00-3:30 pm: More scanning and/or filing
3:30-3:45: Tea with team members
3:$4-4:30: yup, more scanning and/or filing
4:30: "Is it raining?" yes = go to internet cafe, check mail and wait for the 510 bus (which usually arrives at 520) no = walk home
5:30-6:30: Wash dishes or cook dinner (depending who's turn it is)
6:30-9:30: Sudoku and tv
9:30: BED

As you can tell, my week has been less than pleasurable, and extremely mundane. While I did not gain any career skills, I did learn a lot about training my mind to bare the boredom that it faced. I must say that I gained a massive amount of respect for people that work on assembly lines. Thankfully, I was allowed to listen to my ipod while doing these mundane tasks, but even that got boring after a while (although Dane Cook's 3 cds kept me quite content for a long time!). The people that I work with are all very nice, and I was offered a full time position there where I would not be scanning all the time, but its still along the same lines of data entry, so I am not pursuing it. I have an interview with a tavern on saturday morning, and I do not have my hopes up, but I do have my fingers crossed that something comes of that, because I did not come to New Zealand to have to pry myself out of my bed before sunrise every morning!

While it's certainly not the filing that gets me out of bed in the morning, the walk to work is very helpful motivation. The views are magnificent. For half of it the sun is just starting to come up, so the city lights are all on over the harbor and the hills, and because my walk there is mostly downhill, its great! The first two days I was not able to walk home because of the rain, which thankfully held off on both days until the afternoon because there is no bus in the morning that would get me to work by 8. The walk home yesterday, while not enjoyable due to its mostly uphill nature and my exhausted feet, was good for me b/c it kept me warm for an extended period of time in the flat!

After I find out about this tavern job, I will either be starting that or onto the next temp assignment that comes my way. I get the impression that most of the temp jobs are for various government agencies that are rather behind on their filing...so I may or may not be facing a few more weeks of the fun I experienced this week. Either way, I'm looking foward to a change, and to meet some more people, hopefully this time people I have more in common with and are in my age range!

A Week in Review

Well I have been in Dunedin for about a week now, and the best word to describe this week = COLD. While Monday's rainstorm was a fluke (they got a months worth of rainfall in 8 hours), the temperature has hoovered around 7-9 (Celsius). The silver lining in all this is that I am not tempted to stay in my flat (my flat has no heat, no insulation) for any longer than necessary, and I am walking back and forth to town because going up and down the hills makes me hot! Besides the lack of heat, my flat has been working out really well, and I'm really happy to have that sorted while I look for work. I have 3 flatmates, one has been away on business for the week, and the other is in the hospital (she has something like epilepsy and had a major seizure). So, basically this past week it has just been Sarah and I hanging out in the evening, cooking dinner and watching TV (with a hot water bottle and a large duvet of course).

This past week I have spent looking for jobs (see below) and exploring Dunedin. I joined the library, which has been a great place to go spend a couple of hours reading and keeping warm. There are a number of great cafes here as well that I love trying out. I also met up with a friend of a friend, Rachel, who goes to the university here, which was great because it was nice to make more connections than my flatmates in this town.

The Job Search:
The gourmet food store and cafe job did not work out because they needed someone who could work through Christmas Eve. I was extremely frustrated after that, because I realized that any retail store would be the same way, and I didn't feel comfortable misleading the managers. After writing a number of cover letters to send off to the positions for cafes and taverns advertised in the Otago Daily Times, I realized that it would probably be a smart decision for me to just try out a temp agency. At first, I resisted this because I have worked in offices for the past two summers, and know that is what I will be doing when I get back to the states. But, once I came to my senses, I figured that a temp agency is actually probably the best option since I can leave pretty much when my schedule dictates, all of my skills are already geared toward office work, and I would be able to get some valuable experience working and meeting people in the corporate environment here in Dunedin. Therefore, before sending off those cover letters, I walked over to the temp agency (also advertised in the paper) filled out a number of forms, and then took an hour and a half word processsing, excel, data entre and typing test. I then had an interview with one of the placement ladies, who informed me that there was nothing they had yet, but that something would surely come about soon. Lone behold, at 3:30 on Friday she called me to ask if I wanted to start a job on Monday temping for a week at the Ministry of Health. I of course agreed right away. She cautioned that it would be rather mundane, scanning things mostly, but said its a good place to work because there are a lot of people that work there. It's also in a good location for me to walk and/or take the bus too.

Today, I woke up and decided to bake something while doing my laundry to keep me occupied and warm. After I made an interesting scone type thing (not exactly sure why it didnt come out right...I'll keep working at it), I walked into town to check my email and buy some shoes that are appropriate and comfortable for work. Besides the weather, I am really getting to like this place. While the buildings are not as beautiful as Edinburgh, there are a number of similiarties between the two cities that I appreciate. I am looking foward to meeting more people, hopefully through work, and learning new things about this town as I try out temp work!

My First Days In Dunedin

Yesterday was one of those days that are just so bad, that it becomes funny pretty much right away. I arrived in Dunedin on Sunday, after a 6 hour bus ride from Christchurch, where my legs didn't fit between the seats (and I'm only 5'8''!), but I had some good sudoku and my iPod, so it was fine. Once I got to Dunedin, I was greeted by rain and cold...a drastic change from warm and draught plagued Brisbane! One of my new flatmates offered to pick me up, but before we went back to the flat, we stopped by her office, where I met two former Olympians that she works with, which I thought was pretty cool! We got to the flat, where I discovered they still do not have heat. (The landlord had told them he would be installing a heat pump for this winter, but nothing has come of it, but there's nothing I can do since I'm not actually renting it). We ate dinner together, and watched TV for the night. Thankfully, Liz's bed (the girl who I'm subletting from) has an electric blanket, so I slept very well.

Yesterday morning, the rain still had not subsided, and actually with the wind, it got worse. I stayed in bed for as long as possible. After forcing myself out, I got ready to head into town, wearing my hiking boats, pants and winter rain jacket. I could not find the extra umbrella they had, so I ventured out without one. I ended up not being able to find the bus stop for about a half hour. And in that half hour, I managed to work up quite a sweat walking briskly up and down large hills trying to find it! Which actually worked out for the better, b/c once I got there and had to wait in the cold, it wasn't so bad since I was hot at that point. Once I got into town, I managed to lose my gloves in the matter of 10 min between the bank and another store. (At this point I could only really laugh at the situation). I managed to find a well priced internet cafe off the main street of town, which although not really warm, helped me to dry off a little bit.

I wrote a cover letter to a place that I found advertised in the help wanted section of this weekend's paper, and worked on my resume before sending it off to that one place. I decided to wait to print out my resumes to take door to door, since it was still pouring rain, and I looked less than presentable. As I was browsing in the bookstore, my mobile rang, and it was the woman from the gourmet food store and cafe that I had just emailed. She asked me to come in for an interview the following day. Needless to say, I was very, very excited. I just had the interview this morning, and it went well. They asked me to come in tomorrow to begin training to see if I like it, and if they like me. I was nervous about my lack of cafe experience, which they said in the ad was necessary, but that actually wasn't a problem. The new problem, and more major, I think, is that they are under the impression I'm able to work through the holiday season. So, tomorrow I have to go in and let them know that after looking at my flight plans, I realized I cannot be there up til Christmas Eve. Hopefully this won't be a problem, but I can see how they wouldn't want to train me if they're gonna lose me before their busiest time.

If that doesnt work out, I may have to take my skills to a temp agency, b/c I realized that is probably the only employment I will get if I am honest and let employers know I will not be here after Decemeber 18th. Hopefully I'll have a positive update tomorrow afternoon! Until then, I am going to be walking around town, to avoid going back to my freezing flat, and take advantage of the sunny day today! Riding the bus into town today was a much different experience, and I had a lot more appreciation for Dunedin, and I'm looking forward to getting more settled and getting to know this place better.

Whitsundays Sailing

It is 5 oclock on Thursday evening, and I only have 2 days left in Australia, although essentially my trip is over because the next two days are travel days. I have absolutely loved my time in Australia, and definitely am looking forward to coming back here sometime soon (hopefully), and when the weather is a bit warmer!

The past three days, the Ross girls and I, spent sailing on a maxi yacht. The boat, named "Spank Me," was a former race yacht, that won some important race in 1989. So, while it was cool to be on a fast sail boat, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable boat, especially compared to the yachts I was used to from Sail Caribbean! The boat measured approximately 100 ft, and including crew, we had 26 people crammed aboard.

Our group was great, very multicultural--including Swiss, French, Irish, American, Austrian, Danish, and Scottish. Again, we faced the task of changing the rest of the world's opinion of Americans. (Side note: one of the most common comments I hear is "Americans never travel) I must say, I think we did a good job, especially since one of the Swiss guys did admit after meeting us, he did change his views of Americans, from being lazy, loud and self-centered. We were among the youngest on the boat, but there were a number in our age range. The others went up to age 27, but despite the age difference and nation difference we all got along very well.
The first day began in the afternoon, and we immediately began sailing for the inlet by one of the Whitsunday's islands where we moored for the night. Once we arrived, our hostess passed around a snack platter while we got to know each other. We had a delicious, hot dinner, cooked and cleaned for us, which was such a nice change! The wind was pretty strong, and the temperatures were less then optimal (pretty much the story the whole time...) so after hanging out for a little bit, I went to bed pretty early. The next day, we awoke at 7 for breakfast, and the n sailed for a few hours to our snorkeling and diving point for the day.

I was nervous to dive because I had not dived since 2001, but I was comforted by the fact that the dive master on board told me my dive certification was one of the best, and compared to the others who had really speedy courses, in places like Cairns and Thailand, I was a little more reassured. We had split into diving teams the night before, and I was diving with 4 other certified divers in the first group, so there wasn't much time to get myself nervous or fret about the cold! We got to the beach and put all our equipment out and then snorkeled to the coral reef we were to explore. I initially had a lot of trouble getting down, so after a bit, we all came to the surface and two of the girls gave me some of their weights and after readjusting, I was able to get down just like old times.

I had a blast diving. While I remember loving it in the Caribbean, I had forgotten that amazing high I got from being under the water and in a completely foreign and astounding world. The next day we were meant to be sailing to the outer great barrier reef, which I was looking forward to especially because it meant that I could cross off another thing on my list of "things to do in life"list. Unfortunately, the poor weather prevented this from happening, but we were able to dive at another site, just off one of the other islands. This time I had a lot more fun (if that's possible) because I was a lot more confident about what I was doing, and more focused on the stunning coral and underwater life than on the actual diving. The two girls in front of my buddy and I saw a reef shark and a manta ray...I was so mad I didn't see those two animals, but, honestly, everything I saw was so impressive, I can not complain at all. The coral had beautiful vibrant colors, and was a lot more extensive than I can remember any coral we saw in the Caribbean.

My experience diving off the Whitsundays Islands made me want to continue to pursue diving around the world. I am already planning on coming back to Australia so I can go to Cairns and do the actual Great Barrier Reef sometime in the warmer months. I am going to start checking the discount airfare sites every so often to see if I can get a good deal. I also am going to make sure that when I travel to S.E. Asia I dive there as well. We got back to Airlie Beach on the third day around 11, and immediately proceeded to our hostel to take much needed showers and rest. While the sleeping conditions weren't too bad, our early mornings made us exhausted. Our boat is meeting up tonight at a bar for drinks and dancing, and I'm looking forward to being able to hang out altogether at night without having to wear lots of layers and shivering in the wind!