Three Weeks to Go!

As February 7th approaches, I am beginning to realize that yes, I am in fact leaving to go halfway across the world for a significant amount of time. This has me bouncing between hysteria and excitement...who will win out?! Stay tuned to find out.

This week I have been investigating exciting things going on in and around Wellington. So where do I start? With Wikipedia, of course!! Where else to get information about any topic you could dream of?? So, a summary of the interesting points:
1) In Maori, Wellington is referred to as Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara, otherwise known as "The Great Harbor of Tara." Tara was a chief in Maori history who came to the area in the 12th century AD and stayed...although there were apparently Maori who were said to have been in the area since the 10th century, Tara is more important for some reason I have yet to find.

2) Wellington became the capital city in 1865, moving from Auckland which is farther north on the North Island. Apparently the government decided they needed to keep a closer eye on the South Island so that they didn't decide to go off and be their own country.

3) Weather-wise, Wellington is very windy being located right on the water ("Windy Wellington") and has a temperate climate with temperatures staying between 30-70 degrees Farenheit. June and July are very rainy (better bring my wellies!! har har har), but snow was last reported in 1995.

4) Wellington City has a population of 195,500...in comparison, Baltimore City's population is 636,919 and Ellicott City comes in at 56,397. So it's somewhere in the middle...probably better for me, as I tend to dislike cities. Hopefully that won't hold true in this case.

5) Due to its recent acclaim with The Lord of the Rings, as well as King Kong and Avatar, Wellington is also sometimes referred to as "Wellywood." Filmmaker Peter Jackson reports on Wellington, "Well, it's windy. But it's actually a lovely place..." I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Wellington starts using that wonderful quote in all of its tourism literature.

A view of downtown Wellington taken from Victoria University of Wellington's Kelburn Campus, where all of my classes are as of now. I have to say it will be an improvement over the construction and huge crane that are always in sight at UMBC.

In advances towards actually going to NZ, I have (finally) received a housing offer from University Hall, which offers housing in several houses and flats near the Kelburn Campus and about 10-20 minute walk from the downtown area. Some of its flats are located right near the Botanic Gardens, which would be awesome...but I have yet to receive a room offer, so just keeping the fingers crossed for now.

For next week, I will continue to try to entertain with interesting facts and figures about Wellington while I'm still in Ellicott City, which I'm sure is fascinating as well, but do you really care? Doubtful.