the past 48 hours of my life.

Pulling an all-nighter the night before I left wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had. The next morning at breakfast (which I was already awake for at six forty-five in the blessed AM) I asked the waitress how her food was, and said goodnight to the cashier even though the sun was just rising.

I fell asleep sitting up twice that day.

We waited 4 hours for our flight at the SLC Airport, only to find out that it had been delayed for 24. We finally make it to San Francisco the next day and spent most of our time on photo booth, because at this point, anything seemed funny.

Finally we began the 12 hour journey. Someone proposed to his girlfriend on our flight, and it was kind of like The Wedding Singer, except he didn't sing about "growing old with you," he just told her. I have only witnessed one other proposal in all my life, and it was at a concert; I liked the airplane idea more, except if I were the girl, I probably would have cried in front of everybody -- especially when we all started to clap somewhere high above the pacific.

I miraculously slept for six hours on the flight while listening to this song on repeat (the entire six hours) and I will have it stuck in my head for the next 18 months. I carried on a conversation with Marcus (a bartender) which is ironic if you know another Marcus who is also a bartender, who ironically just kissed a girl I know quite well on the Fourth of July. He still also owes me a shirley temple, especially if he gets to ride my bike.

And now here I am. I arrived at 5:30 in the morning (NZ time) and to avoid jet lag and an awkward sleeping schedule, my parents have forced me to stay awake so I spent the early hours of the morning watching Fox News and MTV.

So far, I have seen birds in the grocery store, the beautiful beach (from the car), Rice Krispies called Rice Bubbles -- and after I overheard someone say "confectionery" in a New Zealand accent, I kept asking my mom if we could stop by the "confectionery aisle" at the grocery store, just so I could say that word the same way.

We bought four things of Tim Tams.

And that's it. The past 48 hours = success, because somehow, I am still awake, and alive, and all the way in the southern hemisphere in a tiny little place that almost feels like home. It's called New Zealand.