Puppies and free food for stress free study

 Lectures are now over and most of us here are in the midst of our exams meaning the majority of our time is spent studying in the library. My first of three exams is tomorrow so writing this is a welcome break from staring at Latin fossil names and facies models. In order to ease the stress of exams the university put on a number of events this week including free breakfast, lunch and good coffee (none of that instant stuff) every day. On Wednesday they tried out a new initiative of bringing in puppies for us to play with; for me this experience merely created stress as a TV camera appeared in front of me and I was interviewed about the benefits of puppies during exam periods. The chihuahua I was holding didn't make up for this experience; next time I'll stick to the free food. 

 I've also had a few meals this week as people begin to realise how close the end of our adventure is getting so want to make the most of these last few weeks together. 
On Tuesday it was Annemarie's birthday so a small group of us made use of a Groupon voucher entitling us to unlimited tapas and pizza for just $8 each. The food was surprisingly good and I was suitably stuffed by the end of the evening.
Last night we were treated to amazing Mexican food cooked by the Texan, Justin, next door. He had all the proper ingredients shipped up from Dunedin in order to create authentic tasty spicy enchiladas and fajitas with refried beans and much guacamole. You notice that in the photo below the majority of my friends have chocolate smeared across their faces; this was the result of a large scale chilli chocolate war. I was still finding chocolate in my hair this morning.
Other than the study it's been a great week and I'm really going to miss all the fantastic friends I've made out here; I'm not ready for them all to leave yet, however I am looking forward to home.