So I was about to go to bed and decided to check my messages and saw that my neighbor Carole and my daddy had wrote to me asking if i was okay because there had been a strong earthquake in New Zealand!!!!! Luckily i did NOT travel to the south island this week and it occurred along the coast there! I did not feel it being in Auckland but i am a little freaked out! New Zealand has many earthquakes as i learned once i was already here at the Te Papa museum earthquake exhibit at orientation!
...Earthquakes occur regularly in New Zealand as the country forms part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is geologically active. About 14,000 earthquakes, most of them minor, are recorded each year. About 200 of these are strong enough to be felt. This affects the culture of the country, in the form of general awareness, historical events, disaster planning and building regulations...
July 2009;
"A powerful earthquake struck off the southwest coast of New Zealand on Wednesday, US seismologists said, prompting a brief tsunami warning but no casualties or major damage."
Enough about earthquakes so you all don't worry about me! I'm safe and sound :)
On a lighter note, work yesterday was GREAT!
We had a meeting with Dr Steve O'Shea and Clara my supervisor because the day before we finished sorting all of our sediment samples, and now they explained all the results so far to us! Steve said "No one has anything like this... i promise you that, you are making history as we speak!" and i felt so proud of my job and really appreciate all the work we have been doing. Finally its all coming together! We still need to find more Rodalith type seabeds to compare our types too, reason being is because the department of concervation has rodaliths listed as the most diverse for species and that is not what my team believes! Shell gravel is what we are trying to show has more diversity and based on our samples it definitely DOES. Steve was in such a goofy mood, i think he is really happy with the way things are turning out.
Me with all of our sediment samples seperated by grain size, it was "beautiful" as Steve says.
Rodalith sample... not much growing on them at all.
Starbucks keeps us all awake haha even him!Next week we will get 40 more grab samples to start sorting and continue our work. Even with all this serious scientific stuff going on, work still can be very fun and entertaining! Steve is a goof and likes to sing especially Neal Diamond and he hung up a picture i drew for him of squid the only thing this guy loves lol i wrote USA on it of course! I'm a lot happier about everything we have been doing now and he did tell us it would become worth it in the end. Now i believe him! :)
The night before and last night i went out with some friends and had a good time! We're trying to spend a lot of time together since we're only here for a few more weeks, i am going to MISS all my new friends so much. I love them all! Courtney and Sabrina are newer to the American group and i had fun getting to know them, Sabrina actually has a lot in common with me! I found out she has my faiting disorder! haha Vasovalgal syncope! It was so nice to meet someone who can relate and knows how scary it really is! Doctors usually overlook it so i didn't know until recently why i faint so much and neither did she. As long as i'm not near needles i'm A OKAY!
Courtney and I before Cassette tuesday!
My own personal body guard!
Sabrina me and Lara keeping dry from the rain!
Sabrina, Hannah, Court and I at The Met, we were the only ones there, so the DJ let us be DJ's!
Today at work i watched the video that lara and i took on our last boat trip and saw the octopus that attacked our camera! It looked so cool! We highlighted the different seabed types on pretty maps to help Steve find them the next time we need to get grab samples.
Dr. Steve O'Shea published this HUGE thesis on NEW species of squid he discovered!
The squids tentacles on our camera!
Top left, he finally let go!
Sea urchins <3
A pretty map we did!
Tonight we have GOLD class tickets to Harry Potter! My friends here are huge fans and know everything about it, i'm excited to get served dinner and have a lounge chair all for the movie, it should be nice! This weekend is an Auckland weekend so we can stick around for the All Blacks rugby game against Australia! I can't wait! I'll keep you updated on any more adventures and on my research here in NEW ZEALANDDDDD one of my favorite places ever!
Since it was evening when we arrived we all decided to take a shuttle to Huka falls and then walk the hour trail to the hot springs then walk to the hostel. I was so excited once we got there because Huka falls was very pretty and the trail was amazing. So peaceful and serene. I love nature so New Zealand is heaven for me!
Gorgeous!
Sara caught me again doing an old man impression and made me pause to get a picture, she's a pro with picture taking!
As we walked down before our turn to slide i couldnt stop my one foot in front and slid almost into a split! Kind of like in Elf when he goes on the escalader! haha it was a close one! two seconds later down...up then down again!!! Kathryn too so i wasn't alone hahaha it was so fun!
Time to slide down! i went so fast!!!!! couldn't see with the backpack on my tummy and admit i screamed some but a fun scream not a scared one! lol I saw kathryn and lara coming down full speed at me i had to duck and roll to move aside before i got taken out!
Crossing a stream!
