Week 6!

Hello all!

Wow! A lot has happened since last Thursday!
Friday, I went to TVNZ for my last day. I went out on a shoot as soon as I got there! The cameraman and the reporter told me that we were going to Porter's Ski Resort to cover the snow and their opening. The snow was beautiful! I can't say though that I like snow in July! It was a really good snow too. The flakes were so big you could see how each one was different! Anyway, it took us about 1.5 to 2 hours to get there because the roads got worse as we headed up the mountain. We get about half way there, and I am told that the Prime Minister of New Zealand would be there. How crazy! We get to the mountain and listen to the Prime Minister speak and then we went out to watch her ski. I shook her hand! It was a great way to end the week!
Saturday I was interviewed by a program on Plains called Women On Air. They wanted to hear about my experience so far and about the broadcasting program at App. So that was fun and for the rest of the day I mostly just rested. Sunday I decided to take a trip to the Christchurch Gondola! Amazing! After a somewhat scary ride, due to my fear of heights, I reached the top and looked at the beautiful scenery! On the way up, I managed to look around and try to take my mind off of the climb! It was a great way to spend about 2 hours!
Monday, I started at TV3. This Saturday, the All Blacks (NZ's main rugby team) are playing the Springboks (South Africa's team) in Christchurch. So, most of this week was spent covering the All Blacks training and press conferences. I've been watching rugby some the past few weeks, and have decided that Richie McCaw is probably my favorite player (and not too bad looking if I say so myself!). Richie is a pretty big deal here and most people like him. I guess he's like our Tiger Woods or something. So, from Monday until Wednesday, I spent my mornings watching the All Blacks practice and then attending the press conferences in the afternoon. Due to some kind of regulation, they can't have the same players at the press conferences everyday, so they had to rotate. Wednesday was the best All Blacks coverage day. Practice was awesome, the All Blacks seemed to be playing with a lot of strength and force. Afternoon came, and we were told that we would be able to interview 6 players. We get to the hotel where they are staying and get to the press room. There is this buzz that Richie is one of the players available for interview. The newspapers here have been doing most of the coverage with a small video camera and microphone. One of the journalists needed someone to hold his microphone near the player being interviewed so he could operate the camera. So I got to hold the microphone. 4 players later...Richie walked in the room. I'll save you the details of what was running through my head...but I could not stop smiling. Yeah, he's even better looking when he's 2 feet away! Haha!
Wednesday was also interesting in the fact that as we were out shooting some other things for another story, the cameraman received a call that there was a body found in a river. So we went to shoot it. And indeed, there was a body in the river! Turned out to be a suicide and he was found by the milkman. The news didn't end up covering it because they don't cover deaths that aren't suspicious. But we got to see the police turn the body over and take the wallet out. Ewww!
Anyway, that's pretty much how the week went! Monday, I start my two weeks at the broadcasting school and then it's all over! Sad! Saturday I'm making plains to visit Akaroa, a small town on the Banks Peninsula. And I'm sure more will come up!
Hope all is well!