Friendship

Love this:

Carefree No More

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow classes begin and the week of beaches, hiking, and irresponsibility has come to an abrupt end. Very sad.

Today, as most days have been, was incredible. Taking off from Sumner Beach, a group of us fine gentlemen decided to take on Taylor's Mistake, a hike through the steep cliffs in the surrounding hills.

Needless to say, while it was all extremely beautiful, not all parts were for the faint of heart. Or, namely, me. Realizing a fear of heights is made all the more difficult when it is done when facing sheer rock faces opening up onto jagged rocks hundreds of feet below. But... no big deal, really.



However, the group persevered, and was soon rewarded with discovering yet another gorgeous beach and another breathtaking view.


Making our way back from the beach, we managed to stop (for the second time) at a perfect location for cliff jumping. About 40 feet high, it took the four of us roughly 10 minutes to work up the nerve to take the initial plunge. After that was out of the way, however, we couldn't help but leap several more times.

Hunger soon crept into our minds, meaning the wonderful day finally had to come to a close.

Will there be more days like today? Of course. But they will not be able to be had at whim. Academics come first. Obviously.

No, really.

But when the sun is shining this weekend, it will be hard not to make the trek out there again.


I mean... does it get any better than this?

Meditations in an Emergency

The New Zealand experiment is officially one week old, and though seven days is too short of a period of time to make any conclusive judgments, reflection remains a constant.

When I made the decision to come to Christchurch to study for the semester, it was in the hopes of discovering something, as elusive and ambiguous as that seems.

So what have I learned over the past week? Or what do I think that I've learned anyways...?

For one, I never want to take the people in my life for granted. My friends, my family, my wonderful girlfriend... I miss them all tremendously. I expected to miss them all, of course, but perhaps not to the extent that I have. Relationships, like most things in life, are strange. Sometimes you can be unsure of them and their value, but when they are ripped away from you, it hurts (I use the phrase "ripped away" loosely here... New Zealand was a decision I made willingly, though perhaps without full consideration of the things I was leaving behind).

Certainly (or hopefully?) they will all be waiting for me upon my return; life could revert back to the exact state it was when I left. But a part of me is very scared. In life, change is constant. How will things exist five months from now? More specifically, how will people close to me change over the next few months?

I guess my fears are simple: that some of the strongest bonds I have formed will weaken or, much worse, break. Then I'll be confronted with the harsh reality that if I do indeed lose anything or anyone, I can blame nobody but myself. This is difficult to accept.

Hopefully these are pessimistic thoughts and life will, in fact, resume uninterrupted in June, but the doubts will always linger. And how can they not? As I said, change is constant; that applies to me as well. The person I am in a few months will surely be different from the person I am as I write this now. This is not a good or a bad thing, merely a reality that must be accepted. As they say:

Time and tide wait for no man.

The sun has set on my first week in Canterbury, but it will rise again tomorrow.

And I take comfort in that.

Adjustments

You say you will love me
If I have to go.
You'll be thinking of me,
Somehow I will know.

Someday when I'm lonely,
Wishing you weren't so far away,
Then I will remember
Things we said today.

You say you'll be mine, girl,
'Til the end of time.
These days such a kind girl
Seems so hard to find.

Someday when we're dreaming,
Deep in love, not a lot to say.
Then we will remember
Things we said today.

Me, I'm just the lucky kind.
Love to hear you say that love is luck.
And, though we may be blind,
Love is here to stay. And that's enough

To make you mine, girl,
Be the only one.
Love me all the time, girl.
We'll go on and on.

Someday when we're dreaming,
Deep in love, not a lot to say.
Then we will remember
Things we said today.

Me, I'm just the lucky kind.
Love to hear you say that love is luck.
And, though we may be blind,
Love is here to stay. And that's enough

To make you mine, girl,
Be the only one
Love me all the time, girl.
We'll go on and on.

Someday when we're dreaming,
Deep in love, not a lot to say.
Then we will remember
Things we said today.