the men in my life

i know that BYU has a strict policy of no dating on study abroads, but that doesn't mean i have no men in my life.
have you calmed yourself? i know you are probably all jumping for joy at the thought of me having a man in my life further more two.
Well i'm sorry to burst your bubble but Clarence and Elroy aren't human. sorry.
I'll start with how i first met Clarence, for it was he that lead me to Elroy.
It was a fine Tuesday Morning (not the shop) i got up, ran 9 miles, then Katie Jo and I biked out to Anderson Park to go hedge jumping.
-they have this incredibly thick hedge that you run and jump into and you bounce off.
i had been before and we discovered we could crawl inside and then up the trunks and
branches of the hedge and get on top. we call it hedging. -
Anyway, we arrived and there he was. about 10-12 feet high, green, strong, pokey and covered in BYU students. (Clarence is the name of the hedge. He is Steve and Wayne's 2nd cousin, twice removed)
when we arrived people were already there and on top but this time, i decided to be "hard core" as kids call it these days and climb up Clarence's face. I was about 8 or so feet off the ground when i got stuck in a hole. so i side climbed to get out and i began my ascent when my hands slipped from Clarence's grasping branches and fell. down down down i went and i landed. BOOM! at first i thought i was fine. then i collapsed in instant pain!
i rolled my ankle bad. the pain ceased not after too long. so i RICEd. and it brusied and swelled up real nice. it didn't even look like a foot. so i named it Elroy.

bivys and new zealand spainiards

have you ever heard of a bivy?? it is short for bavawack. have you ever slept under a bivy? cuz i sure have. i thought i knew a lot about tramping. that was until we started going survival style...kinda. aka, no tents. the 1st night we built our bivy, pretty good for amateurs. i stayed nice 'n roasty toasty. in fact, i was sweating. could be the fact i was nicely nestled between jakapo and tony (dont tell byu, but it twas for my survival here.) but anyway, NZ is not like Utah where you can almost always plan on no rain, and if it does rain, you can throw a tarp over you and be fine. it rains, a lot. needless to say, it rained. and our bivy proved true. a few people on the edges got a wee bit wet, but that was it. night 2 we were all dry. and covered in frost in the morning (the outside).
to go alongside my survival tramping trip we had no trails. bushwacking thru the NZ bush with only a map, a compass, and the knowledge we have gained to guide us. no help from the instructors. it was fun! and that is that. we tramped through the bush, (the BLM would be furious at what we did) i have to say we fell through trees, broke trees, etc. but worst of all was the spainiards. these evil plants that look like flax and you think would be nice. but oh no, no sir. they draw blood. evil......evil.....
but having said that. the trip was great! i couldn't have done it without the aid of group B, a map, 1 tube brace, 1 ankle brace, and a dang good pair of hiking boots!