Here We Go

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Sent some of you this in email form, but for the rest of you... here's a quick update on my life in NZ thus far.

It has been pouring rain since the day I got to Dunedin and it has not stopped yet. A lot of my clothes are soaked from walking around the city in the rain, including my shoes, coat, purse, socks, pants....

It is 1:16 pm on Saturday here. This morning I went to Cadbury World and took a tour of their chocolate factory. They gave a little bag of chocolate with my ticket. I went to two different grocery stores and got some cereal, granola bars, sunflower seeds, soup, and rice. This morning I also went to the Dunedin farmer's market at the train station and got some pears and apples and a bit of bread. I also went to KMart and got some soap and batteries for my clock. I also got a cheap converter for my plugs at a second-hand store. The battery in my camera was dead for the first two days of orientation so I have no pictures of Auckland and most of Rotorua. I have a few from the last day. Maybe when I get all hooked up on my computer I will be able to send some to you.

Orientation was a lot of fun. We went to an aquarium in Auckland, and climbed up this ridiculously big hill to take in the skyline. We also walked around and got to see the campus where the Auckland students will be. Then in Rotorua we went to a farming show at this place called the Agrodome where they sheared sheep and showed us 17 different varieties of sheep. We also went to a nature reserve where we got to see a lot of different NZ birds including Kiwi, Tui, and Kea. We also saw this lizard called the Tuatara, only found in NZ. It has 3 eyes when it's born and can go without eating for 6 months. It also only breathes once an hour.

That night we also went to natural hot springs and got to soak for a few hours. The next day we got to see a bunch of mud pools and a thermal area with lime green lakes, aqua and orange lakes, and lots of big crevasses in the ground. We went zorbing in the afternoon (you get thrown in a big plastic ball with two other people and get pushed down a big hill) and it was a lot of fun.

Then I got to Dunedin. My flatmates are not very friendly. I've seen all of them only once or twice very briefly. They don't really interact with me very much. Kind of sad. One has yet to arrive. Instead, I have been hanging out with some people from the Arcadia group or just been on my own in the house. We all chipped in for a big spaghetti dinner last night at one of their houses.

My classes start on March 2. I am working on registering for all of them- it is a long and dumb process here because you can't do it online. You have to physically go to each advisor for approval and then go get it signed somewhere else and then go get your ID somewhere else. The campus is much bigger than Arcadia and the city is also pretty large. It's a long way to lug my groceries from the store to my flat.

Well I was very happy when this trip was a vacation! Now that I actually have a real life to deal with and some people who weren't very welcoming, it's a little bit more lonely. Luckily I still have the people I met during orientation if I want to hang out with someone.

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