Part of our International Student Welcome was a free trip on the Taieri Gorge Railway train during our first weekend on campus. We were all crowded onto the cute little wooden cars and traveled through lots of farmland and forests to arrive at the beautiful view above.

Once we arrived at this valley, in all respects it was the middle of nowhere, we disembarked the train and were treated to a barbecue, Kiwi-style. There was an enormous amount of meat to be had and with a semester of my own cooking ahead of me, I ate 'til I couldn't force another bite.

My flatmate Sarah, completely psyched for the train ride. We made some Korean friends out here on the viewing platform between cars. Their accents made words hard to distinguish at times but we all bonded over the terrifying moments when the train went into tunnels or over bridges.

Here I am enjoying the view of huge forests of introduced pine. I'm not terribly impressed with the forestry management here as of yet, but perhaps learning more in my Environmental History course will clarify my opinion. In any case, the pines are a bit disconcerting.