Karen ist nicht da

Lynmore Ave girls: me, Andrea & Karen

Seems like so many of the international students have been leaving recently - it's just one farewell party after another. Sadly, a few weeks ago the time came for us to say goodbye to my lovely German flatmate Karen. In the lead up to her departure, we had a few memorable weekends away as well as a couple of parties.

Karen's last weekend in NZ began with a farewell party for her and for Berit who was going back to Denmark. It was a really fun night - lots of silliness to be had.

Me, Lucy, Karen and Andrea drink our prizes for coming last at the work quiz night! Our ex-flatmate Sebastian even came up from Wellington for the party (That's him on the right)Me, Andrea and Karen at our finestFlavia, Andrea and I discuss Italian cooking....
Karen and Matt do an Irish jig....or something

Then, the next day, we dragged our weary bodies out of bed and headed for the Whakapapa ski slopes at Mt Ruapehu for my first real snow adventure. We spent the evening scaming free stuff from the Jaegermeister girls and hit the slopes the next morning.

Karen and me with our free Jaegermeister gear
Jaegermeister silliness for everyone! Lucy, me, Angelo, Martin & Matt

Turned out it was a bit rainy and foggy, so only the very keen ones went snowboarding. (The rest of us rode the chairlifts and had snow fights until we were soaked through!) It was the most now I'd ever seen in one place before so I was pretty excited and I can't wait to go back again and learn to ski for real!

The hardcore snowboarders (Matt, Martin & Karen)

My first snowfield!
The walking sleeping bags! (Lucy Manning and Andrea)

On Sunday, on our way home from the mountain, we called in at the hot springs at Taupo for some relaxation and defrosting. What an awesome weekend!

Matt, me, Andrea, Karen, Lucy Mac, Angelo and Martin

Sadly, Karen left Rotorua the following Thursday but it wasn't so bad - together we were bound for Australia for 2 weeks for adventures! More on that soon.....