alex = beached

Wednesday night everyone wanted to go out somewhere to have a few drinks. I, on the other hand, was looking to kind of get out and ease my mind or have some kind of distracting adventure… anything contrary to the typical collegiate Wednesday night would do.

I decided to look for someone interested in going to the beach to relax and have a chat. I burned through my contacts list sending out text messages, receiving only negative responses. “No, I think I’m going to go into town,” “Maybe another time,”… the usual. Finally, I asked PT’s flat mate Sam to go with me and she responded simply, “Yes.”

We went down to the bus stop and caught a bus just a minute later all the way down to Sumner beach. We found this big rock on the shore and climbed up it to have a sit. It was just what I needed! A bit of good company, the sound of the ocean, the milky way visible over head, and all of the quaint little homes on the hill behind us made it a good little hang out spot. We sat and chatted for a while with my iPod playing the Beatles perched on the rock behind us.

Sam is pretty cool. I’ve never met a Dane before and I knew virtually nothing about Denmark until last night. She says she’s not been a very good representation of the people of Denmark because she hasn’t been stupidly drunk yet. She also said that Danes also have a very strange sense of humor and, though I haven’t experienced it yet, that she would definitely crack a joke at some point that I would 100% not get.

We sat there for only about an hour and then figured that we should try to catch a bus back as we weren’t sure exactly when the last one ran. We walked just a ways to the bus stop, seeing one go by as we approached. We got to the bus stop and read the posted bus schedule.

Yeah, we missed the bus.

It was a long walk. Three and a half hours actually. We just started walking, sending texts to our friends to try to get a lift home. I even texted my IFSA advisor Kate asking for a taxi’s number but she didn’t even respond. I got the number for a few cabs from Katie but for whatever reason Sam and I just kept walking. We decided to try to flag down a passing taxi at some point but all of the taxis had fares. After a bit more than an hour we stopped at a 24 hr. shop and the shop keep told us that we’d already gone more than half the way to the city and that taxis were quite expensive if we had it in us to walk. He also suggested that there are night busses we could probably catch that run out the city. We got to Christchurch but the Bus Exchange seemed closed down. From there it was only another hour to walk around Hagley Park and home to Ilam Apartments.

We saw the largest moon either of us had ever seen looming over the hills as we walked by Hagley Park on the way back. It was so awesome, though I’ve since been told by a friend that the moon being large on the horizon is just an optical illusion.

This walk, too, seemed to be just what I needed. I was definitely in the mood for an adventure. I love so much that we can create adventures out of just about anything if we have the right attitude. The only thing that could have made the walk better would be if I weren’t wearing my loafers. They really are terrible walking shoes.