Joe (left) is from the French-speaking part of Switzerland. This is his second season boarding in Queenstown. He's a funny guy. Just last night, we were all watching a scary movie (they all realize now it is not fun to watch them with me because I scream at every jumpy part) and he came up behind me in the dark and scared the ever living you-know-what out of me. He also makes the best cookies ever!!
Hayley (left) is who I share a room with. She's from Nottingham, England. Robin Hood! She's my best friend here and I don't know what I'll do without her when she leaves in a couple of weeks. We've had some great times. I will definitely go visit her one day.
Trish (right) is from Australia and actually already left to go back. Really sweet girl... wish she could've stayed longer.
Sophie (left) is my landlord...sweet, but slightly neurotic. She's got three young kids and they all live in the house above us. She comes downstairs every day and chats/lectures. We all have grown to appreciate her because she really does take good care of us. I find a new post-it on the walls every day around the house with messages such as "please recycle toilet paper rolls".
Kay (middle) is from China. She is an amazing baker, but also makes some really questionable food. I haven't quite figured out what some of them are. She's incredibly nice. Unfortunately she leaves tomorrow. Maybe I'll at least lose some weight. She bakes every day!
Avril (right) is from Ireland and an absolute trip! I find her so hilarious with her thick Irish accent and attitude. She says whatever is on her mind and I love it.
Jamie (left) is from Scotland. He also works with me at Coronet as an instructor. He's an amazing skier and really patient. He's even taught me how to ski over the boxes at the snowpark. Jamie is leaving for Scotland in a week or so to fly for Logan Airlines.
Boris (right) is a friend of Joe's and also from Switzerland. Nice goggle tan, right?!? These boys go up the mountain every day! He is a tiler and a ski instructor at home. He's an incredible skier. He doesn't speak too much English but has gotten so much better the last couple of weeks. For speaking so little English, he always makes us laugh.
Well these are my housemates. We're all incredibly different, but all here for the same reason... to ski and have fun. I'll miss them so much, but know I have a friend in so many different countries to visit one day!
My friends and I had a barbecue by the lake front. Everyone brought their own food and drinks and we just hung out under the moonlight. I even played on the playground!
The Winter Games have started here in Queenstown. What an event to have in my own backyard! It’s an elite winter sports competition that brings together the world's best athletes. I even saw Lindsey Vonn the other day. Tons of teams are at Coronet Peak including the U.S. Olympic team. Here's the rail jam they held in town.
My friend, Harriett and I were going to go for a quick shopping trip in town. We ended up buying too many groceries to carry. We figured we would just hitch hike on the side of the road (I assure you it’s safe to do in Queenstown). It was in an unnoticed location so we just continued on walking with our grocery cart realizing after a while that we accidentally, kind of stole it. Oops! For some reason, it was absolutely hilarious to us because people were staring. 
My friends Harriet, Lucy and I went up to Coronet to ski on my day off. The conditions weren’t too good so we decided to just take the first bus home and go have a drink. A nice day off in the sun!
One of my not-so-favorite moments happened last night at work. Part of my job is to assist in the search for missing people. We have a whole list of emergency procedures we have to go through. Usually it’s just kids who lost their parents or friends who can’t find each other. Typically, they end up being at home or at a bar. Last night, after my first missing person search ended, someone else came in to report that they could find their friend and they had searched for almost 2 hours. Keep in mind yesterday we had 65-70 cm. of new snow in the last storm cycle and most lifts were on hold all day because of the conditions. I didn’t end up leaving work until midnight after patrol searched for hours, police were alerted, and a helicopter with thermal imaging finally found him out of bounds. It was so scary and eerie being up at the mountain that late in those conditions. The guy was even able to walk into administration afterwards! It was so insane. I can’t even describe it. I cried along with his friends! We were so happy they found him… ALIVE! Here is some more information...