Submitted by Jolyne Stoup on the 2017 winter session program in New Zealand sponsored by the Department of Computer and Information Sciences…
Somehow, we are at the end of our program. It feels like just yesterday that I was packing my bags to go on the program of a lifetime. Since we only had a week left, I figured that we should go out with a bang. Instead of hanging around Christchurch, a few of us decided to take a trip up to the North Island, specifically to Rotorua. The first thing I noticed when I got there was the smell. Rotorua is a very active geothermal area and although that makes it very interesting and beautiful, it smells terrible. No matter where you went, the smell of rotten eggs followed you. We didn’t do much the first day, but the second day we did everything. We saw a geyser erupt first thing in the morning. We then spent a few hours exploring colorful hot springs and mud pools.
After that, we went to a redwood forest. After all of that, we went zorbing, which is when you get into this giant ball and roll down the hill. We were able to do it at the place that zorbing was first created, which was amazing. I had so much fun doing that. We finished off our day driving around visiting different lakes and watching the sunset. After coming back to Christchurch , it was the last two days which were spent revisiting our favorite places and packing. I can’t believe that our program is now over, but it was an amazing experience that I will never forget.
