Some Random Kiwi Things

It is completely acceptable to walk around barefoot

The stars twinkle like crazy down here

There is a very low number of homeless people in Wellington...however the famous one is Blanket Man. He wears somethin like a loin cloth and covers up in a blanket while listening to his ipod.

Kiwis are extremely friendly

The fruit here is way better. I hate peaches, but they're darn good down here

There seems to be a lot of hills everywhere

Like most of the world, they don't have screens on their windows, which means I find a lot of creepy crawly things, like the spider in my bed this morning. Thank God I saw it before I felt it.

Milk does not last very long here. It gets chunky within a week. Disgusting by the way when you expect liquid to pour onto your cereal.

There are roughly ten sheep per person

You do not tip because they make good money

However, you usually have to wait a long time for food.

Some bars or clubs won't let you in if you're not dressed nicely enough

The lowest dollar bill is a 5. They have 1 and 2 dollar coins along with 50, 20, and 10 cent coins.

Lime seems to be a very popular milkshake flavor, although I have yet to try it

Chocolate fish are really popular. They're chocolate covered marshmallows in the shape of a fish. However, the marshmallow is pink, and I still can't figure out why.

Marshmallows are definitely not the same here. They kind of have a dusting on them and really don't taste like anything.

They ask if you're dining in or if it is for take away. I have a hard time not saying to go.

Word Differences

Sweet as = Cool, alright, etc...

No worries = No problem, you're welcome

Chilly bin = cooler

Jandals = sandals

Togs = Swim suit, more specifically a speedo

Kia Ora = Hello, goodbye, you're welcome, thank you

Bach = vacation home

Biscuit = cookie

Boot = trunk of the car

Pissed = drunk

Car park = parking lot

Footpath = sidewalk

Chips = french fries

Tomato sauce = ketchup

Cheers = goodbye, thanks, goodluck

Dairy = convenience store

Dodgy = sketchy

Fizzy drink = soda

Tramping = hiking

Torch = flashlight

You're Dropping Us Off Here?

Kia Ora! So over this past week Nicole, Mary, and I made our way out of Wellington for a few days. Tuesday morning we caught the bus at campus and headed to the rail station to catch a bus up to New Plymouth. We knew when we got to New Plymouth it would be about a twenty minute walk to the hostel. No big deal since all we do here is walk around anyways. So we make our way to a roundabout where there is a sign for the hostel. The sign looks as if the hostel is to the right. So we keep walking and of course it starts raining and raining, and raining some more, and we can't find the street we're supposed to turn on. So we stop at a diary (convenience store), and the man has no idea what we're talking about, but he's nice enough to let us look at a map. It is then Mary realized we went the wrong way at the roundabout. Damn sign. So we venture back out in the rain when a lady outside stops us and asks if we're looking for the youth hostel. She proceeds to tell us we're on the wrong street, which we already know, but then offers us a ride because its raining. She happened to be at her neighbor's house helping out. So we go stand inside the garage with her neighbor, Dorothy, a 95 year old lady, who was so concerned that we were all wet. She really wanted us to stay so she could make us dinner. June, the lady driving us, then took us to our hostel and even came in to tell them that their sign is wrong and she is always finding people walking in the wrong direction. She was also the one to tell us about the earthquake in Christ Church. Thank God we didn't go there for our trip. It had been in the running earlier at least to fly into there. Guess we made the right decision. June gave us her phone number and told us to call her if we would like to join her out for dinner after we dried off. We definitely took her up on that offer. So she picked us up later and took us to the Ugly Duck where she regularly goes for Quiz Night (trivia). Side note: June went to University of Wisconsin Stout. Craziness

So we went back to the hostel to get some sleep because we had to get up early. We had to share a room with three other women. Of course we were all convinced that they were going to steal something. Anyways, we caught an early bus up to Tongaporutu, which is a black sand beach. This week's trips were based on a guidebook I was lended. This man came to New Zealand and wanted to do things that were not touristy. However, there was no guidebook for this so he wrote one himself. Tongaporutu is his favorite place on the north island. So everyone we had told we were going there seemed quite concerned. Now we know why. The bus dropped us off literally in the middle of nowhere. It was at an intersection with the only sign of civilization being some cows on the corner.

After a few minutes of laughing, the only thing to do was follow the sign. So we made our way up a road that had some shacks on it. Not really sure if anyone was living there or what the deal was, but we sure as hell didn't see anyone. We came across a camping area with maybe two campers. Right off the camping area is the mouth of the river, which at that time looked nothing like a river. When the tides are low the river is pretty much nonexistent.

So while this is pretty cool, its not exactly cool for eight hours. That's how much time we had until the bus picked us back up. So we walked along the coastline, which is where you're supposed to be able to see the Three Sisters, which are these rock pillars. Unfortunately there are only two left. Anyways, we didn't make it out there because the tides were starting to come in, and frankly none of us wanted to get stuck out there. So we played around in the sand  for a while until Mary got stuck. She headed out towards a small pool of water where she began to sink, and sink some more. Nicole and I immediately backed away. We didn't need all three of us stuck, although it would have been pretty funny, but Mary had me laughing hysterically. She wanted me to come get her camera, but as I tried to walk out I started sinking too. No way was I going any further. So she put it in her backpack and began pulling and digging herself out. As she gets one foot out it of course starts to sink as she puts it down again. She then manages to dig her other foot out, but her sandal is still stuck. I'm not really sure how she managed to completely get herself out, but she did. All the while I a was off on the side laughing and taking pictures.

We headed back to the camping area and realized we had absolutely nothing to do, and it was only 10:00 am. We did notice a road that looked as if it might take us up the cliffs so we went for it. Well it took us a lot further than the cliffs that were right there. We met a couple who told us the trail went on for miles. Well we had nothing but time so we hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more through gorgeous hills. At different spots we could see the ocean, and we could almost always hear the thundering of waves crashing against the cliffs. So cool. It is a good thing we had been in Wellington for a week with all of its hills otherwise we might have died of exhaustion. It surprisingly didn't seem all that bad. At the point where the road ends and the trail begins also means we would be in pasture land the rest of the way. This meant sheep and cows everywhere. We decided we're pretty good at herding sheep, probably because they're actually a really stupid animal. They would run away from us, but in the direction we were heading, so we were always catching up. The cows on the other hand would stare us down not really sure what to do. We're not really sure how far we walked, but we were out for about four hours. Oh and we did get to see the Three Sisters from up on the cliffs.

When we got back to the camping area, the tides had come in, and where we had been walking earlier that day was now all water.

We then laid our towels out and all fell asleep. Nicole somehow forget to put sunscreen on this entire day and paid for it later. She was lovely shades of red and white. When we headed back to the bus stop we went to the other side of the road where the driver said we would pick us up. This side had an actual bus stop. It looked like an outhouse. The bus was late, but when we finally got in, he didn't really give us a chance to sit down, and Mary fell over, which had us all in hysterics. We then had dinner at a pub in town, grabbed some ice cream on the way to the hostel, and made out way back to shower because none of us smelled very good anymore. That night we had a really nice older lady staying in our room. However, it came out the next day, that we all had a moment of panic that she was going to kill us. Obviously none of us had ever stayed in a hostel before. Silly us.

We got up bright and early again to catch the bus to Mokau. This time we actually ended up in a town. A small town, but a town nonetheless. We headed down to the mouth of the river like the day before had no water in it. This turned out to be the best part of the day. First of all, black sand is amazing. It's so soft and some of it doesn't even get that hot, and well it is just beautiful. So we played around for quite a while. I was on my way out to climb a rock in the middle of the river when I came across what I thought was rock. It was mud. Very slippery mud. I don't even know how many times we almost all fell over, but we had so much fun playing in the mud, until we saw little hermit crabs crawling out holes.That ended the fun for me, but we found a cool cave and a small waterfall. We then walked up the river, through a lot of driftwood, and up to the ocean. From here, the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there is almost nobody in sight. It was so peaceful. So we walked. There were tons and tons of shells, and we kept finding this weird squishy blue thing. It felt like a plastic bag filled with air. I took a picture and asked one of the girls at a shop. They were blue bottle jelly fish. If you step on them you'll get stung, but nothing too serious. Good to know afterwards. We then had some lunch and laid around at a picnic area and watched the tides come in and swallow the area we had been walking around in earlier. The big rock I went and stood on was completely gone later in the day.

After getting back into town, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the hostel, but not without running into some friends, Sam and Nate. They were in town to climb Mt. Taranaki. We couldn't quite believe it was them when we saw them across the street. Small world. This had us in hysterics all over again. Sam has been quite the entertainment for us since we arrived and this was the icing on the cake. That last night none of us thought anything was going to happen at the hostel. Guess we got over that fear. We caught an early bus in the morning back to Wellington. Sam and Nate managed to change their tickets to the earlier bus to ride home with us. I talked to Sam most of the way home making the trip go by much faster.

 So this trip wasn't the ideal trip, but we made the most out of it and had a blast. There was way too much laughing, and it made for some great stories. Sorry this post was so darn long. Until next time...

Kia Ora,
Laura

Roses, Roses, Roses

Kia Ora! So Saturday was a pretty great day. We all decided to sleep in since we haven't really been able to since we got here. Then we headed up to the Wellington Botanical Garden. Amazing place. It's sort of just up the hill a ways from where I live, but it seems that everything is just up or down a few hills here. Anyways, we started out in the Rose Garden, which of course is absolutely beautiful. There are so many types and colors. It is really hard to pick a favorite. Then we grabbed a bite to eat. Nicole and I both tried an iced chocolate without really knowing what it was. It seems to be chocolate milk with some ice cream on the bottom. A little strange but delicious nonetheless. Then we headed out to the main gardens, which of course is a series of hills. Not only were the gardens beautiful, but they led to some great lookout points over the city.

And there is this tree at the very top called either the Trippy Tree or the Drinking Tree. One of the Kiwis was telling us about it, but we completely forgot to look for it until after. I later found it in a guide book and realized we had been looking right at it. It looks like a huge shrub and is shaped just like a tin can. The Kiwi was explaining that a bunch of people with go there late at night and climb up the middle to the top and drink until someone falls down. We went and looked at it today. Nicole tried climbing it, but was not successful. 

After exploring the gardens for a good four or so hours we headed down to the Kelburn shops to find some dinner. We found this awesome pizza place, which is nothing like American pizza, and they have 2 for 1 pizzas on Mondays. Needless to say we found our Monday night dinner spot. Later that night I went out with my friend Sam and his flatmates. His Kiwi mate was taking them out to a bunch of different bars in town to see what they were all like. Wellington is crazy at night. There are so many bars and so many people. This is definitely a place to pregame because the drinks here are crazy expensive, unless you go to the student bar, then they're a bit cheaper.

Sunday was kind of a nice lazy day. I got up early to go down to the farmer's market. Of course its down the big hill. I now bring a backpack when I know I'm going shopping. It makes the trek up much easier. Anyways, the market is fantastic. It's huge, and apparently there's a bigger one across town. There is just so much to choose from and so much color. I didn't buy much because I'm leaving town for a few days, but I did  buy some kiwi fruit, apricots, peaches, and peacharines, which is a hybrid of peaches and nectarines. As we were walking to find some breakfast, I got the shit scared out of me. I looked in this bank, and thought I saw a bank robbery happening. There were people lying on the ground and men pointing guns at them. I had absolutely no idea what to do, and then I got nervous that they were going to see me. After having a heart attack, I then saw the sign in the window that said 'filming inside'. What a way to scare someone.

 I then roamed around the city a bit while the other girls went to mass. I finally got around to doing some laundry. I am so thankful I have it in the house because I would not want to lug it up and down that hill. Mary came over later to start planning our trip for this week, but everyone's internet pooped out so that was a bust, but we just hung out around the house for the rest of the night and grabbed dinner somewhere in town. While talking to the girls, it came out that when I was little I just wanted to work at Baskin Robbins, and what does Nicole say? "I can totally see you working there!" Thanks Nicole. I guess I'm not destined for greatness.

So today, we finally planned our trip. The place we were looking at going, all the hostels were full for the week, so we are heading to New Plymouth, which is where we will be staying for three nights. During the day we'll be spending our time at some black sand beaches. I'm super excited. After getting everything booked, we headed into town to grab a few things. Of course we walked into a shoe store, and after being here less than two weeks I of course bought a pair of shoes, but they were only 24 NZ dollars, which ends up being around 18 US dollars. I even wore them out of the store. We then hopped on the cable car to avoid the never ending walk up the hill to go hit up the pizza place again because it was Monday. We then met up with Devon and Sophenia for a movie and some gelatto. It was a really clear night for stars up on the hill and man oh man do the stars here twinkle. I never really noticed it at home, but it gives Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a whole new meaning. I just finished up some packing for this week and am on the hunt for a giant mutant mosquito that seems to like my room. She keeps appearing out of nowhere, and my ceiling is too high for me to even try and reach her. Until next time...

Kia Ora,

Laura

New Room

Kia Ora! So yesterday we had to go back to school to do enrollment. I was stuck there for three hours. They don't have a very efficient way of doing enrollment, but I got all the classes I wanted. I am taking a landscape architecture studio, Colour, Pattern, and Light, Intro to Practice and Management, and The People of Polynesia. It should be a good semester. I hope. So about my roommate taking my room, well I got it back. I know you're all thinking I was really mean about it, but I can promise you I wasn't. So yesterday afternoon we switched rooms, and now I have the most amazing view ever.

I told you it was amazing. I get to see all that from my bed. Anyways, so I have a new favorite lunch. A ham, cheese with chives, and avocado sandwich. It is the most delicious sandwich I have ever had. And then a kiwi fruit on the side. The kiwi fruit here is absolutely amazing. I just want to keep eating it. We have to say kiwi fruit instead of just kiwi because then you might be talking about the bird or the people, and you don't really want to tell anyone that you had a kiwi for lunch.Until next time...
Kia Ora,
Laura

Living Life at the New Zealand Pace

Kia Ora! So we've been warned about the service here at restaurants. There is no tipping here because the employees make a pretty good wage, but because there is no tipping, they don't really feel the need to give you fantastic service. Not really my style. For some reason this also means they take longer to do everything. Anyways, six of us ventured out last night to find some food. It took us a while to decide on somewhere because everything is so expensive, and we're all so cheap. We finally decided on Coyote's, which offered a range of food options. So initially they bring you a bottle of water and some menus.Then they decide to give you a good half an hour to decide what you want. Well probably not half an hour but it sure seems that way when you're already starving. When they finally do come get your order its definitely a half an hour if not longer to get your food. We've all decided we need to go out  before we're hungry. So the food finally comes and we're all chowin down like there's no tomorrow, and they never come back to ask how your food is or if you need anything else. They may stop by once. So we all finished our dinner and are waiting for our plates to be cleared and to get the check. And we're waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. Our waiter finally comes back to get our plates and asks if we want dessert or if there's anything else we want. We say no and hope that means the check is coming. We watch him walk away and go do something else. Stupid us, we still keep waiting for the check. After a good ten minutes we finally walk up to the bar to pay, which is exactly what we were supposed to do. We're all pretty sure that they knew we were Americans and wanted to see how stupid we could be. It worked. We then walked up the gigantic hill and worked off all our food. We then went to hang out at one of our friend's houses, where we learned from his Kiwi Mate all about the service issues and how to pay for your bill.

Today was a fantastic day of orientation. So exhilarating. Not really. Boring, boring, boring. They throw so much information at you that you'll never ever need to know. But I got to take a campus tour of the campus that I won't really be on. How exciting, but we got free lunch. However, I'm super annoyed. Over Christmas break I had to enroll online for classes, but it was more of a pre-enrollment because I don't actually enroll until tomorrow. Well today I went to pick up all my information, and they have no record of my online enrollment. Super annoying. So of course I had to fill out the exact same thing all over again. After all the excitement, I went back home and hung out with some of my flatmates on our back porch. Then I ventured over to Mary's flat, which is on the other side of the hill. Poor Mary has an awful awful room. She paid for single, but has to walk through another girl's room to get to hers. Her room is basically the size of a walk-in closet. There is room for a desk, her bed, and a bookshelf. That is literally it. Anyways, Nicole, Mary, and I headed downtown to do some grocery shopping because Mary still didn't have any groceries. So we stopped to get some Thai food, which was delicious, but again it took forever to get our food, but we knew enough to go get our own check.We then ran to the grocery store where we unexpectedly met up Emmi, Devon, and Aaron, some of our AustraLearn friends.

After exploring the grocery store, we headed home hoping to find a way around the steep hill. we found one that was a little less steep, but a little longer and added a lot more excitement. As we're walking a few people in the group heard a loud thud, and then we all heard screaming and crying. Somebody got hit by a car, or at least that's what we think it was. We wanted to go help, but it was a bit ways up another hill, and we could see a small group of people in the road, and then cars stopped, and we heard the ambulances coming. Even though we weren't doing anything to help, we all felt the need to stay until the ambulance got there. I sure hope they're okay. The drivers here are kind of crazy, and pedestrians do not have the right of way, especially if there is no traffic light. It also reminds us all to look right and then left because they drive on the other side of the road. Anyways, then we all headed home, and Mary, Nicole, and I decided to research some trips for next week before school starts.We looked at Fiji, some island off of New Zealand somewhere, or Milford Sound. We're still deciding. After that I hung out with my roommates. Helen and I were being nerds and discussing architecture, while she looked through my portfolio. She's only a second year, so she's super excited about all the things I know and can teach her.

Side note: You can see Orion's belt from the southern hemisphere, but it is upside down. We all have been so confused on why we could see it because we knew the stars were different, but I just looked it up and it is visible here until late summer. So it should be disappearing here pretty soon. Until next time...
Kia Ora,
~Laura

No More Suitcase!!!

Kia Ora! These first few pics are some that should've  been in previous posts.

So yesterday was supposed to be Community Day, which was supposed to mean heading out to Whakarewarewa Village, which is a Maori villagve, to do some community work such as painting, planting, weeding, and/or raking. Well it started out by seven of us missing the bus. We were supposed to leave at 9:20. We walked out at 9:15 and the bus was already gone. We couldn't believe they left without us. They always count, and seven is a lot to be missing. So someone called the guide, and they came back to get us. When we got to the village, we got a tour. There are twenty-five families that live in the village. This village sits on an area full of hot springs. Some of the families have had to leave their homes because suddenly hot water will erupt through their floor. The springs are gorgeous. Some of them are so crystal clear and blue that you just want to dive in, but the temperature is around boiling. They even use these springs to cook food. There was a bag of sweetcorn sitting in one of them.
After the tour, we were supposed to volunteer. Apparently they didn't really have anything for us to do, plus the ground is too unstable for all of us to be in some places. So instead we took a nature walk and picked up trash. We then had some lunch. I had a meat pie, which I was a bit nervous about, but it was awesome. I would describe it as solid chicken soup in a flaky pastry.
We then had most of the day off until dinner time when we went to the Tamaki Village for a living Maori village experience. This was an awesome way to end the Culture and Adventure Program. On the bus ride there, our driver picked a chief. When we got there, our chief along with three others had to stand before the Maori people, who danced and were kind of scary. One of the warriors then laid down a silver fern, which is New Zealand's like national plant, one of the chiefs then had to slowly move forward to pick it up. This was to see if we came in peace. After that the Maori people were very nice. They had small houses set up around the woods where they would talk about things such as their food and tattoos. We then got to see outside oven where they cooked our dinner. After that, they put on a performace of cultural music and dance. It was so awesome.I just loved it. It didn't even matter that I couldn't understand. We then were lead into the dining hall for the hangi, which is their feast. It was pretty much like Thanksgiving. There was chicken, beef, potatoes, New Zealand sweet potatoes, carrots, bread, salads, fish, mussels, and I'm sure I'm missing something. One of the boys talked me into trying a mussel. I seem to have a really hard time swallowing such large amounts of food. I seriously couldnt' swallow it all at one time.And then I tried chewing it, but half was down my throat already, and then I thought it was all going to come back up, but I finally got it all down. Of course it was all photographed, but on someone else's camera.

Today we had to get up a little before five to catch our plane to Wellington. Finally. I finally know where I'm living. Its called Te Kotahinga at University Hall. It is a duplex way up on of the hills. I have a Kiwi Mate, which is a New Zealander who's here to help show us around. Unfortunately, everyone else is an American even though its International housing.Oh well. One of my roommates from this past week lives downstairs. So when we got here, we already had rooms assigned. I was supposed to have this awesome room, but one of the girls who got here before me decided to take it. Of course I said something to her about it, but whatever. My room isn't too bad. It's actually bigger than I thought, and the view is pretty awesome.
So all those beautiful hills I recently talked about, well they're still beautiful, but now I have to climb them to get to my house. It is absolutely ridiculous. I have never climbed such a steep hill in my life. If I don't lose some weight while I'm here, there's a problem. The only good thing about the hill is the view. Its amazing. It looks down to the harbor and the rest of the city. My Kiwi Mate, Helen, took us grocery shopping today. Problem is that the cheapest one is really far away, and you can't buy much because you have to carry it all back. I thought my hands were goinjg to fall off. This definitely didn't make the hill any easier. We then went for another walk to see where orientation is tomorrow, but then kept on walking all the way around the city and down to the waterfront. While I enjoyed seeing the city, I thought I was going to die of exhaustion, but at least the heat isn't as bad down here as it was up north.

Until next time...

Kia Ora,

~Laura

Hot Springs, Boats, and Caves, Oh My

Kia Ora! I'm writing this sitting outside after dinner because the weather here is so beautiful in the evening. So the last two days have been absolutely amazing. Sunday was adventure day. We previously signed up for adventure packages. There were options such as rafting, zorbing, some agriculture thing, and then the one I picked, Fire and Water. We started out at a hot springs park. We walked a good 3 km. These pools were so cool. Some of them were bright teal, neon green, orange, and then some yucky looking ones, but still amazing nonetheless. There were big craters and lots of steam, and of course it smelled like rotten eggs due to the excessive amount of sulfur. We then went to see a geyser errupt. It was discovered by prisoners around 100 years ago. They had found the hot water and decided to bring their dirty clothes there to wash them, but when the soap interacted with the water, there was quite the explosion.
We then headed to a different city for a jet boat ride. The boat fit 12 people plus the driver. We went speeding down a river, and he would twist and turn the boat so you thought you were going to hit rocks and trees, but just in the nick of time, he would swerve away. The best part was when he would whip us around into a 180 or 360 degree turn in a matter of like 2 seconds. He then took us to the bottom of a beautiful waterfall.
After grabbing some lunch, we headed to Rainbow Springs, a New Zealand animal park. The animals weren't huge or anything, but they're all New Zealand animals. They even had redwood trees in the forest area. Leading up to the end were signs for the Kiwi, which is New Zealand's national bird or animal I'm not really sure. But they're really funny looking birds, and way bigger than I thought. Unfortanely they're nocturnal, and I was unable to take pictures of them. After a hot day spend in this ridiculous sun, a few of us headed to the aquatic park right behind KiwiPaka to cool off.
Today was caving day. We had three choices of trips to go on. Unfortunately, I didn't get the one I wanted because there were only ten spots, but I think all of them would have been cool, and mine was amazing anyways. It was called Tuma Tuma Toobing. We had to put on these really thick wet suits that were so hard to pull up. Then we put jackets over, boots, and a helmet. They were just a little hard to walk in. So we had to slide into the cave through a really tiny space. We then proceeded down some rocks and had to swim through some deeper water. We got down to around 70ft below ground and were down there for 2 and a half hours. It was really hard to climb some of the rocks with those wetsuit on and your boots full of water. At one point, we got on inner tubes and the guide had us turn our lights off and grab a rope to pull us through an area where there were glow worms. So cool. For those of you who don't know, glow worms are maggots. Yuck. They live for around 9 months and then cocoon themselves, turn into something else, mate for 3 days, and thend die. During the 9 months they eat around 5 times, and because they have no way to poop the food out, it all mixes with chemicals and makes them light up. It literally looks like the cave has its own stars. As gross at is, its amazing.
We then had to climb through this tiny tiny tunnel. I literally thought I was going to get stuck. There were definitely a few moments of panic. We had the option later to go through another tiny tunnel. I politely said no thank you. We even stopped in a larger area for a snack. Chocolate fish and some hot orange drink. After making it to another large area, the guides told us there was a tunnel that ran along the wall, and that we needed to turn our lights off and crawl through there in the pitch black. He referred to it as the "birthing tunnel" in case we didn't remember the original. It was kinda scary not being able to see anything. I kept bumping into the girl's butt in front of me. Oops. After crawling through some more cave, we hopped on tubes again in a chain so we were holding onto each other. We then floated through a river like area to see tons and tons of glow worms. As a group we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. After crawling around some more, we had to climb up a ladder to get out. So glad we got to do that.
I don't think I could ever get sick of the country roads here. The landscapes are so unreal, they almost look fake at some places. It is really hilly here, and they 're so pretty, but they're full of sheep and cows. It makes me not even want to sleep on the bus, and for those of you who know me well, that's pretty amazing.
I pretty much still feel like I'm just on vacation, which I sort of am right now. I'm getting kind of antsy to get down to Wellington even with all the fun we've been having. It sucks living out of suitcase, and Wellington looks like such a great city. Until next time...

Kia Ora,
~Laura

I Hope You're All Wearing Underwear

Kia Ora Everyone! (that means hello, goodbye, thank you, youre welcome) Made it here safe and sound after a long day of traveling. Starting out at CWA the x-ray machine for security was down, so they manually searched everyone's bags. It took quite a while to get through. When I finally got to LA, I had to walk outside and hop on a shuttle to get to a different terminal. I got on the wrong one...oops. I realized I was on the wrong one when I could no longer see the airport and we stopped at a transfer point and the voice said destinations such as Santa Barbara and other cities. So I quickly hopped off and asked how to get back.

The flight from LA to Auckland was around 12 hours. Way too long to be sitting in one spot, but the movie choices were good, staff was nice, and the food was delicious. We had to sit at the airport for a good two hours waiting for everyone to get through customs, and then took a bus downtown. Unfortunately our hotel rooms were not ready yet, which meant no showers, and let me tell you none of us smelled very good. So we had an information session, got cell phones, and had some free time to walk around. So at an intersection, everyone crosses at the same time wherever they want. Diagonally, straight across, it doesn't really matter. There is quite a mixture of American and Asian things here. Tons of American shops and Asian food, and almost everything is translated into Japanese. The second our rooms were available a few of us immediately went to take showers. The rooms were great. More like a small apartment. Then we had dinner down on the waterfront and had the night to ourselves, which included walking around town and a stop at the liquor store because nobody goes to the bars until way later.

This morning we took our bus to Rotorua. The drive here way amazing. The scenery is beautiful. We stopped in a small town called Matamata or something. Its where they've filmed a lot of The Lord of the Rings. While I'm not a fan, I took some pictures for those of you who are. We then drove the rest of the way to Rotorua, where we are staying at KiwiPaka. It consists of a lodge, chalets, and camping. The girls have 4 to a chalet, which is just a room with a loft and a bathroom. The boys are stuck in the lodge, which is basically just a bedroom. They have to use the communal bathroom and showers.

Later we got to learn the Haka, which is so freakin cool. The rugby team here, the All Blacks, perform it before games. It's very spiritual and about protection and compassion for your loved ones and ancestors. Its performed in the Maori language, and you pretty much yell as loud as you can. We learned all the words and the actions along with the history and what it all means. We then got to put on the traditional costumes and makeup and performed for one another. This is where the title of my post comes in. While changing into costume, the girls were seperated from the guys by a curtain. We then hear the male leader say to the guys, "I hope you're all wearing underwear". We all froze and weren't really sure what to expect. There was more guy thigh there than I ever wanted to see. There were a range of styles, but they were basically wearing furry loin clothes and nothing more. Hilarious. Anyways, performing was really fun and a great way to get started here.

We have our nights free to do what we please. Tonight for me that included dinner here at KiwiPaka and then a walk into town. However, most everything is closed at night. We did find an ice cream shop, and it was fantastic. And everyone is a little pink today. They actually have a burn time, which can start around 7 minutes. They've been urging us to slather ourselves in sunscreen, which I have. I got tan, but no burn. Also, its crazy all the different lingo they have here, that I don't understand yet. Everyone's favorite is 'sweet as'. It just means cool, all good, pretty much anything positive. Anyways, internet is super limited right now, so I might not post again until I actually get to school, and I'll post pictures later.

Packing? But I Don't Leave for Another Two Days

For those of you who don't know, I'm heading to New Zealand for five months to study at Victoria University of Wellington. I leave this Wednesday, and still have way too much to do and haven't even begun to pack. Hopefully I'll start later today. After leaving CWA on Wednesday, I'll fly to Minneapolis, then to LA where I will meet up with other students who are going to New Zealand, then to Auckland where I'll be doing a Culture and Adventure program for a week with other students studying abroad. While we sort of have an itinerary, I'm still not exactly sure of everything that will be going on this week. I'll let you all know after it happens. After the week is over, I'll be heding down to Wellington where the  university is located. Wellington sits near the southern tip of the North island. I have orientation the day after I get there, and then I have no idea because school actually won't start for another two weeks. I think a lot of exploring is what's in store for those two weeks. I also was assigned a buddy, meaning a current student or alumni or lives in the city. My buddy's name is Stacey, and she is from Indonesia, and she's also studying landscape architecture. Hopefully I'll be meeting her during that break. As of right now, I also don't really know where I'll be living. All I know is that it is a flat or house on campus somewhere. I  might have four roommates or twenty. Guess we'll see what happens when I get there. As of right now, it all still feels completely unreal, but I'm ridiculously excited anyways. It might start to feel real once I'm sitting on the plane, if not then, for sure when I get to LA and meet everyone else. Well, I need to get my butt in gear and get packing.