Blogs from Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 117

Kia Ora Katou!- (Hey everyone!) Long time no blog! My apologies! These past two weeks have been just overwhelming with all my schoolwork coming to a big pile. AGH! But I managed to survive and turn it all in. SO now I have a week until my Finals and then traveling the North Island, then FIJI! It has all flown by SO quickly, can you believe I am done with my classes at Vic, already? My time at school here has been a great learning experience. For the most part I loved all my classes, (Music in NZ, Maori Society and Culture, Peopling of Polynesia and Literature, Film, Theatre of Aotearoa NZ) My favorite being the latter. In Maori class I learned how to do cultural dances, sing a waiata, do a karanga and help cook ... read more

Today there was a huge birthday party for Evan and Kate. It was in 209, and theme was Mexico. I didn't have anything to wear, so Jason just told me to speak in Spanish for awhile, which was fun. I still remember a fair amount of Spanish. There were heaps of people in 209. It got pretty roudy. I was the 'funnel man' I packed dozens of funnels for everybody, it was alot of fun. I took one myself, even tho I didn't plan on drinking. I even had Evan funnel his margarita, twice. It was a really fun night.... read more

Dear Everyone, Hello!! Well I have officially been here for nearly 3 weeks now. It feels like a lot longer. I feel like I have settled in really fast which is nice. My furniture that I bought at the Salvation Army has all arrived so I have now actually unpacked everything. I have yet to recieve my boxes which I mailed to my friend Rhyan 2 months ago. I expected this though, last time it took me 2 and a half months to get boxes of clothing and books that I sent to myself last semester. Getting to know my flatmates has been wonderful. They are all really nice people and I feel completely comfortable here. I love my room and the location of the flat is ideal. Last week I worked on building claymation sets ... read more

Hello from the south of the north island - capital of this fine land - Wellington. After saying no more shopping I did a little bit more in a place called Otaki. It had a discount surf shop and i couldnt resist got couple of tops for my bros. So it was all good as it wasnt for me. Left Muckland (Auckland) on Sat, thankfully. Its a huge city but a dump, theres one main street and not a lot else. Got the coach to Rotorua, stopped off at a place called Waitomo were I did a glow worm tour and saw lots of little glow worms in caves. In the evening went to a Maori village (fake). Its an evening were tourists like myself can go and see what happens in a Maori village and ... read more

Today started off with a bang when Geri broke the hotel's french press coffee pot, showering glass shards, coffee and grounds all over the floor. Thankfully, hotel management didn't seem to care. You would have thought we'd told Linda, the manager, that she'd won the Lotto when we told her about the broken pot. Geri is drinking tea for the duration of the trip, at least when she's in charge of making her own beverages. After that trauma, we braved the rain and wind and headed off to Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum of New Zealand. (Te Papa translates to "Our Place.") It's a huge complex that includes natural history, cultural, scientific and art exhibits. Plus about 47 different places to get coffee. Kiwis are very into espresso all of a sudden. After Geri indulged ... read more