10 months!

A cold breeze has now been blowing around Auckland. Daylight has declined to less than ten hours, night falls at five o'clock. People have turned grey and black: black coats, grey jackets, black tights. Winter has settled.
This last month has been incredibly busy. It's been a loaded term, full of new activities and opportunities.
As you have read, the Sunday after my return from the beautiful South Island was my second to last monthly AFS chapter meeting. Although giving my goodbye speech was rather sad, the meeting was heaps of fun. All of us students from everywhere in the world had to prepare a stall with information and food from our country. Everyone got to move around trying all the different foods and learning interesting facts. It was all really well done and I really enjoyed it.
Going back to school was actually a really good thing. I hadn't seen any of my friends during the holidays so it was good to catch up with them and hear how their holidays had been. I had missed two of my good friend's birthdays which was a bit sad but I got to hear all the stories with details.
With the beginning of term two started the winter sport season. I decided to get involved in as much as I could so I signed up for football. I get to be on a team with my really good friend Clare so that's been fantastic. We have practice twice a week so it keeps me busy. I also decided to learn something completely new so I signed up for hockey, a very popular game here in NZ. It was really funny because they needed players so I got to play on the first game without ever even having a practice! What's even more: we actually won! I must admit it wasn't at all because of me, but I did my best and started getting the hang of the game. Since I've been going to practice and had two more games (which we've very fairly lost :( ) and I am really enjoying it! It's an amazing game! You get to hit people with a stick! Well that's not the aim of the game, you try to hit the ball, but there's always someone conveniently in the middle... I should also clarify for those reading from back home that by hockey I don't mean, like you're thinking, ice hockey, but field hockey which is very different.
So basically my weekdays are mainly covered by school, football and hockey. Although I am not taking any of the exams or taking school very seriously, i still enjoy my classes. I'm taking some really interesting subjects and I have really cool teachers. I've been learning all about NZ history from the first arrival of Europeans, discovering all of Roman history and learning about hinduism. School is so different here. Choosing your subjects makes school less of a drag and something to look forward to. But I still think that my favourite subject is free period, where I get to bum around the year 13 "study" room (where no one other than year 13s, not even teachers, are allowed) with my friends, relax and enjoy their company.
During the weekends however I do have heaps of free time. I usually try to go out with my friends but sometimes I get to go away. This past weekend for instance I went to the Coromandel peninsula with my host parents and my friend Clare. Coromandel is a beautiful place with amazing beaches! It was a lovely weekend, although cold, the sun was always shining and we even dared to have a swim in the freezing cold water, so cold my whole body went numb! We walked to beautiful places with incredible rock formations. We had such a lovely time that it was sad having to leave.
With only six weeks to go my only plan is to have the best time ever and take advantage of every opportunity!
Lots of love!
Banana Girl