Thanks Jack.

This morning I took a bath in the absolutely frrezing waters of Lake Tekapo. I think my heart stopped beating for a few seconds.

Then I went on a hike up to the observatory where I was supposed to check out stars the night before. The hike was incredible. Some of the most gorgeous scenery I've ever seen. At the top I met a guy from Phoenix working at the observatory cafe. I noticed he was wearing a Phillips Exeter hat. I asked if he had gone to school there, and then proceeded to tell him why even though I got accepted to the school I chose not to attend ( something having to do with the student tour guide taking me to the campus bridge and informing me that the bridge is where most Exeter students went to kill themselves.). I chose Larenceville after that because it had no bridges.

The walk down from the observatory was unexplainable. Even though there was a designated path it felt like Sabrina and I were walking through fields completely alone. Exploring the earth as if we were the only people alive. Hills fell over each other all greener than the next. The water of Lake Tekapo a neon blue, that if you havent seen it with your own eyes you would never believe it existed. Spaces so open an untouched by man that I kept repeating, 'this is how the earth was before we ruined it.' Absolute perfection.

At around 9pm I left for my second attempt at star gazing. This one was a success and I found that where I had turned around the night before was literally steps from the office. I took the van ride up the mountain and arrived at the observatory in complete dark. The sky was full with more stars than I had ever seen before. I spent most of the night nerding it up with the head astronomer asking questions I'm sure my 8 year old nephew knows the answers to but which completely melt my brain out of my ears. Take for instance, did you know that the closest planet to us at this time of year is Jupiter? And if you took a flight in a commercial airliner to Jupiter it would take you 19 years? Did you also know there are more stars in the galaxy than grains of sand on the earth? Or that when we look at stars in the sky we are looking at them in the past because they are so far away from earth that the light take sometimes 10's of millions of years to get to earth? Some stars we see in the night sky might, at their actual source in the galaxy, not exist anymore. Isnt that fucking insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I learned alot about the galaxy, stars, and space last night but I think I learned alot more about myself. I a fucking huge dork...and I'm ok with that.