Elise Brown is a Hoosier and proud of it.
She is from Tangier, Indiana, and a Hoosier is the name applied to a resident of that state.
A junior high and high school agriculture teacher, a Future Farmers of America (FFA) adviser, freelance writer and photographer, she arrived in New Zealand last June to spend a year working on farms and exploring the country.
"I have always wanted to travel internationally and had the opportunity to come to New Zealand for a year," Ms Brown said.
She comes from a sheep and beef farming background, and her family raised Shropshire sheep, shorthorn cattle and Clydesdale horses.