Where in the World is Meredith?

On my way home I figured I migh hit some troubles, I was flying home into a major storm, but I did not expect to be spending the night in LA, which is exactly what happened. From LAX I was supposed to fly from LA to Boston with a stop over in Dulles (DC). The flight was delayed for an hour due to "late aircraft arrival" so I decided to check the rest of the flight status to see when I would be getting home so I could let my parents know when to pick me up. Although the leg to Dulles was still going out, the plane would not be traveling on to Boston that night. I went to the desk to see if there was anything going to Boston from LA that night, nothing, from DC to Boston the next morning, full. My only option was to stay in LA and fly out the next morning. Luckily, I didn't have to pay to switch my flight and I got a huge discount on my hotel. Although I had hoped I would be spending my night in my own bed, the day defintely could have gone a lot worse. Instead of flying an

Sadly this journey has come to an end. I was debating weither or to say that this is really the end of  journey, but it really is. Yes, I hope to come back some day but it will never be like this and with these people. I ahve had the most amazing trip and I cannot thank everyone who helped my get here enough. And money isn't the only thing I need to thank people for, even though without it this wouldn't have been possible (thank you so much Mom and Dad xo), but also the people who helped me become the woman I am today, the woman who got to experience a new country kind of on her own, with people she didn't know. I never would have been able to do all of the things I did here with as much grace, respect and responsibility if I hadn't been raised right (again, thanks Mom and Dad xo) and had all the experinces and friends I have had over the years. Like I said before, this trip was absolutely amazing and it has added some new facets to my every growing personality. I am no

On Monday night, after our morning exam and Super Bowl Monday, we had our farewell dinner at Rossendale Winery down the road. But of course we had to see the farm before dinner, dresses and all! Brett raises bull beef but he uses dairy breeds because they have a better temperment. We also got to see some of the grapes and he told us all about how his winery, resturant and event/function buisness (mainly weddings)were started. We had a lovely dinner and wine tasting (I found a wine I really enjoy!) at the restaurant followed by thank yous to our guests and hosts, the recieving of our completion certificates and some awards. The awards were all very funny, I recieved the "Forgot to Count" award, and reminded us a little of why we came here in the first place. After we all took what was probably hundreds of pictures out back, we said good by to our hosts and guests and piled on to the bus to head back to Lincoln for the last time. It was a really great evening full of great food

This weekend we had our last trip of all and we went to the west coast to the little town of Hokitika. The drive over there was so beautiful and full of moutainsa and braided rivers. We arrived there late afternoon to check into the backpackers and explore the town. There were some really great shops and I got myself some more yarn and a really cool walet. After having a delicious dinner we went back to the backpackers to change to get ready for the bonfire. The boys headed down to the beach to dig a pit and build a fire and, to my surpirse, they actualy did it, and the fire was pretty good! We spent the evening on the beack taking pictures, watching the sunset and realxing with music around the fire. I headed back in fairly early to shower and head to bed as I had an early wake up call on Saturday, 5:30am! On Saturday 18 of us piled on to our bus at 6am to head to Franz Josef for kayaking and sky diving. We started off the morning with a three hour kayak around Lake Mapourika. It was