The Adventure to New Plymouth

I’m back, safe and sound! First of all, sorry to any of you who were worried about me after the earthquake in Christchurch. I was farther north on the North Island, and Christchurch is on the South Island, so we didn’t feel any effects. However, it is a tragedy for the country…after just five months since the last earthquake, and this one was much stronger and has claimed lives, unlike the last. Although New Zealand is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in the world, it is also in a precarious spot. Located on the edge of two tectonic plates is never a good place to be, and almost all of the mountains are volcanoes. In fact, the black sand beaches that we visited this week are made when lava flows down and turns into the sand (thanks to Alex for being my Wikipedia informant on that one :P). It’s just a reminder that you should live each day to the fullest, because you’ll never know what will happen the next. And that’s exactly what we did this week!

Laura, Nicole and I arrived in New Plymouth around 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon after a full six to seven hours of bus time. Usually this would be irksome to me, but I was unfazed after my twelve hour flight! I got some reading done and spent a lot of time just gazing out the window at the amazing scenery. I would have tried to take some pictures out of the window, but they were pretty dirty…oh well. So we arrived, and started the trek up the hill to the hostel, which was located fifteen minutes walk outside of the city center. On the way, we encountered a roundabout. However, we handled it well and followed the nice street sign that directed us how to continue onto the hostel. Then it started drizzling. Then it started pouring. Then we couldn’t find our turn-off. We finally reached a dairy (aka convenience store), where the man spoke basically no English, but was kind enough to bring out a map. We had apparently taken the wrong turn at the roundabout, and so headed back down the hill in the rain. Let’s make it clear that I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt as well as flip flops…flip flops and rain do not mix. I ended up walking barefoot down the road looking like a drowned rat. Suddenly, we all heard a shout from the other side of the street: “ARE YOU GIRLS LOOKING FOR THE HOSTEL??” Yes!! “Wait in the garage, I’ll give you a ride!” And so we met June, a wonderful woman who took pity on us and called us over to her neighbor, Dorothy’s, house. As we stood in the garage with Dorothy waiting for June and her car, I inquired if she could recommend somewhere to eat in town. She replied, “Well I don’t go out much anymore. I’m an old woman now. I’m 95!” She looked great for a 95-year old! After we managed to convince her that no, it was not necessary to invite us in and make us dinner and dry our clothes, June gave us a ride to the hostel. She even came in to report to the lady working the counter that the sign “needed to come down, or I’ll be calling the council’s office! And I’m good at doing that!” Then she offered to drive us to the pub with her because it was quiz night. We gladly accepted, and had a fun night at the Ugly Duck. Our quiz team was called Waifs & Strays.

The following day we headed out early to catch the bus to Tongaporutu, which Laura had read about in one of her guidebooks that exclaimed that it was “the most wonderful place on the North Island.” We were dropped on a street corner in the middle of nowhere. Let the giggling ensue. After walking down a gravel street, we came to a small carpark and camper van area (there were signs posted stating “NO CAMPING”) with a single (cobwebby) toilet. We walked out onto the beach, but the tide had already begun to come in and we were unable to get around the bend to see the rock formations and waterfalls that the author of the guidebook had promised. Then we sat down at a picnic bench and attempted to find a way to contact the author of this guidebook, who led us to this deserted location where we were now stuck for the next eight hours.

After a little bit, we decided to walk up the road to see if we could get some better views. We discovered the Whitecliffs Walkway, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful walks ever. We spent two hours hiking out (Nicole and I were in flip flops, mind you) amongst the locals. They weren’t too talkative, but were in fact scared of us and would run away as we approached. But we just want to be your friends! A stealthy group of sheep climbed up a hill and observed us warily from atop their kingdom as we walked by. After walking about as far as we could bear, we found a tiny little spot of shade, with a great view of a fence and some trees. Although we had to share the space with some cow pats, it wasn’t all that bad. After refreshing ourselves, we headed back and jumped over some more fences while the cows and sheep watched us with suspicion. After arriving back at the beach, we found that the sand we had walked out on earlier was completely gone. It was pretty crazy! We changed into our bathing suits and took naps out on the grass in the carpark near the water (don’t worry, we applied copious amounts of sunscreen beforehand). We then waited on the side of the road for a looong time, probably looking like hitchhikers. But the bus finally came! And we arrived back in New Plymouth safely, a little sunburned and very hungry.

The following day we headed out on the same bus to Mokau, another black sand beach a little farther away from New Plymouth. This one was really upscale; there were two cafes, two public toilets, and postcards! Insane. We walked down to the beach and played in the caves and climbed rocks and slid on mud and examined shells and teeny crabs. After taking a long walk down the beach, we turned back and headed up for some lunch. I tried the local delicacy, whitebait, a small white (duh) fish. It was served in a sandwich in what appeared to be some kind of pancake-egg concoction. Not too bad! Then I ate most of Laura’s fries, and lunch was fantastic. Afterwards, we wandered up to a little grassy area and repeated our routine of napping and reading under the sun. Unfortunately, the spot was right next to the road. Some people had pulled over (I assume to get a look at the view or to pick up some ice cream), and commented “What are they supposed to be, road kill?” It’s not definite that they were referring to us, but entirely possible. Oh well. After an unpleasant meeting with a bumblebee, I got some ice cream to sooth my woes. Laura and Nicole followed suit, and it was another fun day at the beach. By the time we made it back to dinner that night, we were a giggly mess however. I think all of that sun exposure did us in. It didn’t help that Laura’s “special friend,” Sam, showed up in New Plymouth…what?? Nicole and I lost it and collapsed on the pavement in a fit of laughter (…it’s a long story). I think a lot of people thought we were a bit tipsy, although none of us had a drop of alcohol. After one last night in the hostel, we headed out on the morning bus and arrived back in Wellington about 3:30 this afternoon. It was fun, but I’m glad to be back and to not be woken by an alarm early tomorrow morning!

Also, here are the public links to my pictures so far in case some of you are not on Facebook. I'll try to remember to include them from now on:

Week 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=615104&id=597595706&l=ba81ced46a

Week 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=616569&id=597595706&l=ca62e436a4

Week 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=619675&id=597595706&l=16eba6633b

Mmmm, gelato

I’ve continued to explore Wellington over the past few days, with still another week to go until school starts. It’s hard to believe that I haven’t been in school for over two months! Crazy! Although it’s been really fun to be able to head out each morning with only one objective in mind: try and make sense of this city.

So I made it to the farmer’s market! It was just as great as I was expecting it to be, and according to my roommate, we didn’t even make it to the big one down by the waterfront (where they had fresh fish and meat). There was a large selection of fruits, vegetables and potatoes (I wasn’t about to carry them back up the hill!). I acquired some a couple oranges, bananas and some peacherines (they are just as delicious as they sound) for less than $10. Hooray! Then Nicole and I went on to 11am Mass at St. Mary of the Angels, which is a beautiful church with lots of stained glass. They are extremely traditional…male altar servers, incense the entire time (yuuuuck), and although the Mass was said in English, all of the music and the Nicene Creed was sung in Latin. I was lost for sure, and Nicole almost passed out due to the incense (I never react to it well either). It was an interesting experience though, and obviously it wasn’t all that different from back home…I missed our music though!

Last night, Laura and Nicole and I headed into the city, determined to get some fast kebabs at Abrakebabra (clever, right?), but could not find the street on which we had seen it to save our lives. We determined that it was the same street as the electronics store, which we also needed to find. Finally we had to give up the search and settled for a corner café, one of the few open on Sunday. It’s crazy how little stores are open here compared to us U.S. workaholics. Almost everything is closed on Sunday, and even when we were wandering the city today around 5pm, people were closing shop. Unheard of! But, back to the café…a jazz combo magically appeared in the corner, which was fun, although I’m glad we ordered before they started playing. As we walked around the city in search of gelato (again, it was eluding us!), we heard at least four other live musical acts. That’s pretty cool for a world that is more and more turning to electronic and pre-recorded music. We located our previous gelato spot in Courtenay Place, Kaffe Eis, although I was shocked and dismayed to find that they didn’t have lemon. Instead, I had to give boysenberry a try…it was pretty good. Just not as great as lemon :P

Today we got a late start after planning our trip (read on for details), but we headed down to do some shopping and then took the cable car up to the very top of the Botanic Gardens where we walked to the Kelburn Shops for 2 for 1 pizza! Between the three of us, we managed to devour two large pizzas. We were pretty proud. The two pizzas and soft drinks for all of us (which are rather pricey) came to only $30, which was fantastic! Then we headed back down the cable car to meet a couple friends to go to the movies. We were going to use Snapper, a card that you can load money onto and then use for the bus and other various things, but the Snapper reader refused to recognize any of our debit cards since they weren’t from NZ banks. I was extremely frustrated and was hating all things New Zealand for a bit…typical culture shock. Hopefully it stays a rare occurrence. And hopefully I get my NZ debit card in the mail soon! After paying student price for the movie and not getting our 30% off with our Snapper (grr), we headed for...you guessed it...gelato. Lemon was back!!! And the same guy has waited on me all three times. I'm pretty sure he recognized me this time. Either we will become friends or it will be super awkward that I come in pretty much every day...

So, now for our trip. We changed our minds a few more times, but finally decided to head up to New Plymouth on the west coast of the North Island by bus tomorrow morning. From our hostel there, we will take the bus on Wednesday to Tongaporutu and Thursday to Mokau. Laura read about them in one of her guide books, in which the author insisted they were the best part of the North Island. They are black sand beaches with some waterfalls and other water features. I’m excited! It should be a lot of fun and a nice, relaxing trip preceding the start of the trimester next Monday. I’m not sure of the internet situation there, so you may just get updated this weekend once we return. Until then, kia ora!

Wellington!!

Woohoo! Finally made it to Wellington! Sorry I haven't updated since I arrived on Wednesday, but school and exploring my new home for the next five months has kept me occupied. Let's start from the beginning.

The 4:45am alarm on Wednesday morning was unpleasant, to say the least. After the hour plane ride from Rotorua to Wellington (we didn't even have to go through any security, the plane and airport were so small!), I settled in for a long wait at the airport after collecting my luggage. We all had to be taken to our housing, so we went in small groups...one by one, my friends disappeared. Uh oh. Suddenly I was left with the majority of kids that I had really quite disliked over the week. Fantastic. After a bus ride filled with stories about drunkenness, blacking out, and puking (once again, everyone is getting a great impression of the American student), we were dropped off at a dorm building near our houses and flats. I am living in a house with ten other girls, none of whom were with me in Australearn. So far, six of us are here...five Americans and one Vietnamese. The other girls will be arriving next week, and from their names appear to be from Asia. Should be interesting! Then there's the whole room situation...I'm sure many of you saw my status about my tiny room and thought I was just being whiny. Well, I was being whiny :P But we had paid for me to have a single room, and I'm not in a single. It deceivingly might appear a single, because I do have my own room...but I have to walk through another girl's room to get to mine. And my room is smaller than our bathroom. I have a desk, twin bed, and shelf. It is...cozy, for sure. It's also all windows, which is nice because I can look at the trees in our front yard, but also makes it a few degrees warmer than the rest of the house, and I would think it will also be colder as the weather turns. Anyway, it has been affirmed that I am in a shared room and paying for a single...so I'm asked if I want to move or just get some money back. I have no interest in dragging my stuff around Kelburn because it is so dang hilly here I can't even describe it. So I said I would like a single in my house if one opens up, aka. if one of my housemates is a no-show. Because they h.ave yet to put a lock on one of the singles downstairs, and let me tell you, I think it's at least the size of our living room. Talking with another Australearn pal who lives next door, we have come to the conclusion that all rooms are not created equal, at least not on Salamanca Road. Oh well. I have a room, so that's the most important part.

Anyway, I've had orientation (boring, stuff we did last week and before I left) and enrollment (sitting in a bunch of lines). I'm signed up for four classes...I have two classes a day except for Tuesday, when I randomly have none. For all of you who know me well, you are aware that this is about a quarter of the amount of stuff I'm usually doing during the school year. So I'm a little worried about that, but I'm sure Wellington will entertain me. So far, I am loving the city. Which is a big deal for me! Cities and I are not usually BFF, but so far Wellington is making a good impression. It's absolutely gorgeous right on the harbor, and anywhere I walk up at school (which is above the city), I have amazing views down at the buildings, the beach, and the water. It's also easy to get to, all downhill. It's not so easy to get back, all uphill. Another important note: all groceries are down the hill. As my friend Laura pointed out, we are guaranteed to lose weight while we're here for the following host of reasons:
a) There's freaking hills everywhere!! And we have to climb them!!
b) Groceries are down the hill, so we won't want to buy much to carry back up
c) We won't eat that much, to avoid going back down to buy more groceries.

...Australearn should include that as a perk to studying here, along with the great university and the fun city part. Luckily, the more and more I climb back up gasping for air, the less time I need to recover and actually breathe without looking like a fish out of water. Super attractive, let me tell you.

My friends and I have been steadily checking out the city, trying new places to eat and walking around aimlessly. Tomorrow I am verrry excited because it's Farmer's Market day!! Lots of cheap and good fruits and vegetables. And they're light, so carrying them back up the hill won't be too bad! So far my favorite things about Wellington are the gelato place on Courtenay Place (mindblowingly amazing. so so so so so good.) and the Botanic Gardens, which are basically in my front yard! Beautiful views, foliage, and Rose Garden. My plan is to have picked a favorite rose before I leave. But it will be difficult...check out the pictures on Facebook when you have the time. I also went to see the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra tonight with my friend Nicole. It was just the wind section, so it was a chance to hear a lot of new chamber music. They have six more concerts in Wellington before I leave, so I definitely plan on seeing as many as possible!

In other exciting news, we still don't have school for another week. Next week is "O-Week," for all new students. However, we have been told by multiple Kiwis that it is a bit of a waste of time, and it would be better to spend the time traveling. My friends Laura and Nicole and I are planning on taking a trip for a few days somewhere. We started out ambitiously with Fiji, then looked at flight prices and quickly decided to stay in-country. Then we were thinking Milford Sound, but we heard it's better when the rainy season starts and the waterfalls get more powerful. So now we have two options: National Park, where the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is located, or Peihia, where there are some great beaches and tours and dolphins at the Bay of Islands. And we have to decide tomorrow, since we plan to leave the day after :P Talk about spontaneity!

Anyway, it is getting late here and I'll be up early tomorrow to head down to the market. See you next time!

The Last of Australearn Orientation

Today was fun! We started out sleeping in a little, until about 8am, then off to breakfast and back to get ready for our community service day. The bus was supposed to leave at 9:20, so we headed out there at 9:15…to find no bus. Really?? They left seven people behind. Christie, our leader from the previous day, was luckily there since she was heading to the airport and called the other leader to ask how he managed to manage that one. Apparently a head count had been unnecessary. Anyways, after that brief setback, it was on to Whakarewarewa (that’s the shortened version, mind you), a Maori village located on the thermal craziness that is Rotorua. Unfortunately, we were not informed that we were going on a tour of the village first, so I didn’t bring along my camera. The water looked so clear and blue, apparently due to a rock that made the water look that color. The springs were between 95-110 degrees Celsius, so I kept my distance. There was also some bubbling mud, which was pretty cool. After the tour, we moved on to the service section…which involved fifty of us with eight trashbags total and a few rubber gloves off to collect “rubbish.” There was none. Most of the bags were filled with the discarded gloves. It was kind of pointless, and the leader said they used to have other people organizing it, but lately it had been pretty lackluster. Hopefully they will find something else to do for service, as I would have liked to give back to the community in a more meaningful way. I think we should have helped out around Kiwipaka, because it has been really fun to be here these past few days. The guy running the place, Malcolm, is also super nice. He had volunteered to drive those of us who had missed the bus to the village, and also convinced Christie to let him give her a ride to the airport instead of calling a taxi. It’s a little strange coming from the U.S., where most people would never offer anything like that unless they were going to be paid.

After an afternoon of rest, which included an ice cream run and a much needed shower (a lot of soreness going around from yesterday’s caving adventures), we headed out to the Tamaki Village Maori cultural “experience” and hangi. They had a mock village set up as the Maori lived in the old days. After walking through there, they performed some singing and such while dinner was being prepared. Finally it was food time! Everything was really really good. I also had a chance to try the famous NZ pavlova, which was delicious. After a joyful bus ride back that included singalongs such as “Jesus can’t play rugby (because he only has twelve friends),” the University of Colorado-Boulder fight song, and a rousing finish with “Star Spangled Banner” (did you know that Barack Obama is Maori? The indigenous Hawaiian people are also Maori), we made it back to Kiwipaka for the last night. After a brief stint in the bar, we moved on to pack up our bags and get ready for our 4:45 wake-up call tomorrow. Why we needed to get to Wellington before 8am, I’m not sure. Someone is supposed to be meeting us at the airport from Victoria’s International Office, so that should be good. Since I don’t know my living or internet situation, it might take a few days to get up and running, so hang in there everyone! I’ll be back! For now, Kia Ora!

More of Orientation Week

 Sun. 12/13: 

Another day down in NZ. The days here are pretty long, seeing as I’m used to being in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 to get up early for work. Staying up late has always been a problem for me (always in bed by 2am on New Years without fail!), so the big partying and drinking atmosphere is difficult to adjust to…I mean, I do go to UMBC after all, and “I act like a 45 year old woman” according to David. But who knows, I could come back a party animal! You never know.

Today I walked into town with two of my roommates and another girl who we hang out with pretty regularly. We were looking for somewhere with reasonable lunch prices and ended up at a Portuguese place called Nando’s. Apparently it’s a chain and there is also one in Wellington, down where are the bars are located. Their big thing was peri-peri sauce, which from what I could tell was just chili or hot sauce. Anyway, I had the lemon and herb (which isn’t even classified as mild), and still felt the burn. My roommate Nicole, who had mild, and I had our noses running and everything. Embarrassing, by the food was still pretty good…just gotta bring some milk along next time. Then we walked down towards the lake and hit up the ice cream store again…I see a trend here. I almost never eat ice cream at home (unless there are Oreo milkshakes involved, or Soft Stuff is open), and yet here we went there twice in two days. I did not partake although we stopped at a convenience store later on and I acquired a very nice lemon and grapefruit popsicle. Yum. Anyway, so we walked down to the waterfront where there was a big fair of sorts. We perused, and although I was the only one to make a purchase, everyone seemed to enjoy it. Then, seeing as it was boiling, we headed back to Kiwipaka to get our swimsuits and head to the local aquatic center which has an outdoor pool. After a few hours more of sun, we were all ready to head back and examine our sunburns. I am happy to report that I was NOT the worst of them, and I was one of few who actually had sunscreen, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

After bumming around a little, we headed to dinner (corned beef…kind of…it was free) and then back into town where we were told there was a “quiz night” at the Irish pub. Unfortunately, we were told it started at nine when it actually started at seven thirty…whoops. Continuing on, we stopped into the Pheasant Plucker and everyone but me had an adult beverage…I considered it and then wimped out. Oh well. After chatting and listening to the live band that consisted of an electric bass and a ukelele (interesting combo?? They still did Beyonce), we headed back to Kiwipaka to find everyone out at the bar. After standing around aimlessly for a bit, we moved on to bed, where I will soon be taking a shower to get all this sunscreen off. Hooray!

Mon. 2/14:

Today was adventure caving day! It was fun, but exhausting and a little scary at times. We had to get up a little before seven to get over to breakfast and sign up for our trips. There was St. Benedict’s, which involved a zipline in the cave and rappelling down a waterfall (only ten spots though, and obviously the boys ran for it), Toobing which had a little tubing as well as a lot of water, and Haggis Honking Holes which involved rappelling and crawling through a bunch of really small spaces. My friends and I all ended up doing the Toobing, although three of us were in each time group. To start out we drove two hours up to Waitomo (Wai=water and tomo=cave in Maori) where the caving was located. After getting on a different bus and taking a windy path up a big hill (sometimes there were fences along the edge of the cliff, sometimes not…a one lane road…good times), we were put into full length wetsuits, jackets, booties, rainboots and helmets. After trekking down to the entrance to the caves (which was a ladder that you couldn’t even climb down normally because the opening was too small….auspicious start!), we started just climbing away on the rocks inside. Now, usually I wouldn’t find that to be too much of a challenge, but let’s remember that we’re weighed down with all this stuff we’re wearing. Plus we’re underground, using our helmet light to see, and climbing on wet and slippery rock. Luckily, no accidents occurred, although my knee is killing me now. I honestly don’t think they would ever have anything similar in the States just because they would be afraid of lawsuits. Some parts were a scary, but we also floated down on stretch of underground river with our lights turned out so we could see all the glow-worms, so that was pretty awesome. There was also some legitimate swimming in parts, but the wetsuits were pretty buoyant. Unfortunately, the rainboots would fill up with water really easily and then you’re lugging along the extra weight. The hardest part was walking back up the hill to the start point after we got out of the cave in all of our gear. Best workout I’ve had in years! I’m anticipating further soreness tomorrow.

On the way back to Rotorua, we stopped at a dam in Waikato where the bus driver went swimming occasionally. We were all pretty excited to jump in (it was about eighty degrees), but when we walked down the path to the water there was a cliff and a rope swing. So your options were to run and hurl yourself off of this cliff (about 25-30 feet, we decided), or attempt to rope swing out. It was terrifying to even watch. I was sure that someone was going to slip and split their head in two, but no one had any accidents there either, although there were a few very close calls. Needless to say, I did not have the guts to attempt it, although most everyone did. My status as a wimp grows every day…oh well. I have a feeling it would have been right up David’s alley.

After returning back to Kiwipaka and relaxing and eating some dinner, four of us walked into town to get, yes you guessed it, more ice cream! I tried chocolate mud…delicious. Tomorrow we plan to go big and get double scoops to commemorate our last day in Rotorua.

Tomorrow is our last day in Rotorua before moving to Wellington. Although it has been really fun here and it was a great opportunity to meet fellow American students, I am definitely looking forward to seeing Wellington for the first time. I’m confident that at least four and maybe six of us will meet up after we get to school. Three of us are living in Te Kotahinga, so it’s even a possibility that we could be roommates.

On a last and final note, Happy Valentine’s Day! It was pretty low key here, at least decoration-wise and everything. Pretty much nothing different. Although when we walked into town, the restaurants were having specials and there were a lot more people down there than we have seen any other night including Saturday night. Too bad my valentine is back in MD working hard, but I’ll be back soon enough!

I'm Here!

Finally, after all the hubbub and all, I've finally gotten here! 

So, let's start from the beginning: the plane. dun dun dun. Super long...actually, not as long as I think it will be on the way back. It was just about 12 hours airtime exactly, although it must have taken us a good 30-40 minutes to taxi to the runway at LAX. The plane was huge (duh), with three-four-three in each row. I was on the aisle of the middle row, so no window. Obviously there wasn't much to look at anyway, and it was dark, so I managed somehow. We all had little individual TV screens which had a ton of stuff to keep you entertained. Gone are the days of the one movie on the big screen, and in are the days where you have a choice of 15 movies and 15 TV series. Another shocking discovery was the amount of food and drink they had and the willingness they had to actually feed you. Coming from my last flight from Florida to BWI, they don't even offer the bag of peanuts/pretzels anymore. Then I'm on this flight and they're handing out wine and beer with dinner....whaat?? Anyway, the flight wasn't so bad. I slept off and on during the night, although the girl sitting next to me wanted to get up every 1.5-2 hours, which was slightly annoying when I was trying to sleep. However, it was probably good overall, as it forced me to stand up and move around every so often. 

We arrived at 7:30am NZ time, and were met at the airport by the Australearn people. Customs went smoothly, although I had to completely upend one of my bags to get my rainboots out so that the biosecurity people could inspect them. Then we went outside and sat by our bus for probably...two hours. It was kind of ridiculous. Finally we got going into Auckland and dropped our stuff at the hotel. We then headed out for a session (just basic info) and were presented with the cell phones. Turns out that the best rate you can get in NZ if you don't live there is 44 cents/minute and 9 cents/text. Ew. But, that also applies to international calls and texts, which is nice I guess. Also, incoming calls and texts are free, so y'all should call and text me instead :P My number is 0220813410. So go to town. Also, now all of us on the "culture and adventure orientation" have the exact same phone...could be problematic.

So yes, I am at orientation with Australearn. It's not just the 50 Americans going to Victoria, but also students from Uni of Otago in Dunedin (south island folk), and apparently some Auckland Uni people will be joining us tomorrow. We spent one night in Auckland and then took a bus yesterday down to Rotorua. The drive was gorgeous!! So much green and hills and mountains. Also, I feel tricked, because I definitely saw WAY more cows than sheep. In fact, one of my fellow students yelled "SHEEP!" the first time we saw cows. Then there was much laughter. I felt pretty bad for all the hungover kids who slept the whole time. Oh well.

Yesterday after arriving, we moved into Kiwipaka, the hostel where we will be staying until Wednesday. It's really nice, there are four of us sharing a two level "chalet" as it is called. The poor boys are five to a room, bunked, and have communal showers and bathrooms. Oh well, they will survive somehow. In Rotorua, there's a lot of natural gas and hot springs, so it smells like sulphur allll the time. But the hostel has a thermal pool, which is pretty cool. However, I woke up in the middle of the night to such a strong sulphur smell, it was kind of gross.

After we arrived and had another session about setting goals and all that fun stuff, we learned the haka, which is a traditional Maori pre-war chant. It was pretty intense. Apparently if you’ve ever watched the All Blacks (NZ Rugby) play, they perform the haka before a match. We were all dressed up in traditional clothes. For the girls, it wasn’t all that bad…the guys were wearing nothing but animal skins around their bottom, about the length of a speedo. We all agreed it was a little strange to be seeing so much of them after knowing them for all of a day and a half.

Today (Sunday) is a free day for us. A lot of people signed up for tours or rafting or extreme sports that a booking company offered through Australearn when we were back in the US, but I didn’t sign up for anything. They were all a little expensive and I wasn’t sure if they would be worth the money. Luckily, two of my three roommates also didn’t sign up for anything, so we will probably go out and explore a little later after just having some time to relax this morning. Tomorrow we’re going adventure caving (?) and Tuesday is a community day where we will be helping out in the community somehow and then later will attend a traditional Maori ‘hangi’ dinner. Wednesday we will be up and out at 5:15am to head to the airport to get down to Wellington. That day from what I can tell will mostly be settling in, and the next day begins international student orientation.

Although this cultural orientation is interesting and it is a good chance to meet the other people who will be at Victoria, I’m looking forward to moving into my own apartment/house, having my own room, and settling into a routine. Also, the internet is ridiculously spotty here, and it is impossible to video chat or even use AIM or facebook chat. I’m praying that it will be a little more reliable once we get to school.

So now you’re all updated! I’ll check back when possible to further explore my activities.

T-Minus 7 Hours (and change)

Well, I already broke my streak of being good and posting every Sunday...before I even left. Figures.

But, my excuse is that this past Sunday was my last full day at home, so I had a lot of goodbyes and a lot of packing. Both were accomplished, although I have since reorganized the suitcase situation since arriving in LA...the larger suitcase is riiight at 50 lbs (it came in at 53 at IAD). Yikes!

Anyhoo, Dad and I have been hanging out in LA since late Monday evening. Yesterday we strolled around Santa Monica and then headed to the Getty Center, which was pretty cool. Lots of outside stuff as well as inside stuff, and it's up in the mountains so you have a good view of the city. Today we walked up and back on Venice Beach before my feet began screaming in protest since they have yet to adjust to wearing flip-flops again. Oh yes, and I should mention that it's 75 degrees here today. So nice to be outside without a montage of jackets, coats, scarves, mittens and boots. On the other hand, I obviously got sunburned...go me.

Sooo, the plane takes off from LAX at 10pm west coast time (so in the wee morning hours for all EST people). We are due to arrive at 8am on Fri. 2/11 in Auckland. Confused? Me too. The whole International Date Line thing has my head spinning. So effectively I'll be missing out on Feb. 10th. Hope nothing too exciting goes on without me. Also, we get in at 8am? So does this mean I will be forced to stay up and do things all day?? Not really looking forward to that part either...that's what always happened when we took the night flight over to England. And I have inherited the wonderful trait from my dad that I have a tendency to not sleep on planes (or anything moving, for that matter), at least not for any restful amount of time.

The itinerary once arriving is a little fuzzy, but from what I know, I will be in Auckland on the 11th (and that night), and then head out for Rotorua with the rest of my American buddies for our orientation session with Australearn. After all of that, I head to Wellington on the 16th (at 6:45am...I'm not sure why that's necessary). Hopefully by then, I will have been assigned to an apartment or house so that I can move in. So far, I know that I will be living somewhere within the group of apartments known as Te Kotahinga, and that I have a single room. At least those were the housing fees I was charged for last week. It's still a mystery, and no address as of yet, which just gets me a little nervous.

I'm not sure what the internet capabilities will be in Auckland or in Rotorua, so we'll have to see what I can do as far as staying in touch. When I reach Wellington, I'll have school internet as well as internet in my living space, so that should be easy enough.

So, finally, off I go! Wish me luck, and I'll be back before you know it.