Mission Bay

Last night was not as exciting as I had wanted it to be. The night started off with two of my flatmates and I going to "Burger Fuel", which is a burger chain in New Zealand. It was not as good as some of the American burgers I've had in my life but it was okay. On the walk back to our flat we stopped in a chocolate shop - which I am definitely going to to back to, and a coffee shop where I finally got some coffee, which was seriously delicious. Oh, how I miss coffee. I wish I had a coffeemaker in my flat so I could just make it here, but I really don't want to spend my money on a coffee machine so I may just have to do with finding the best cheap delicious coffee nearby and not drinking it as much as I'm craving.

After we got back to Parnell, a few of us started watching the first half of the third Lord of the Rings movie, which was okay, but I wasn't paying very good attention. My flatmates had led me to believe that they would go out dancing later (what I wanted to do), but LOTR was so long and my flatmates didn't want to go out to Queen Street since it was about midnight by the time the movie ended. Still not too late to go out here, but they were tired.. Four of us walked down the road to Juice Bar, but it was having a private event so that was even more of a bust. I was not very happy with my uneventful night. I am all for low key nights, but I'd had too many of them in the past couple days for the fact that I wasn't needing a low key night. Grr. I suppose next weekend or maybe even during the week.

I got up earlyish this morning, which was good because I got to skype with Andrea from the other side of the world! (Another Gustie and one of my best friends at school, for my family and whatnot who doesn't know.) Seriously, we're 12 hours apart since she's in Spain. We talked for almost two hours, I think? After we skyped, two of my flatmates, two other guys and I went to Mission Bay, which is the closest beach to where I live in Auckland. We had to transfer buses after the first one took us downtown to the Transport Center, but it was worth the bus fare since Mission Bay was beautiful! It was actually the first time where I have laid on the beach in my bikini and sunbathed since I've been here. (I have a pretty nice shorts tanline built up.) Three of us went swimming in the Pacific but the guys were jerks and kept telling me there was a 2-foot long fish swimming right below me. I still don't know if I believe them or not, but it did freak me out. Massive fish too close to me? No thank you.

It was fun to hang out with them, though. We left one of my flatmates at the beach since he was meeting someone else and the four of us walked a looooooong way down the road to get some food. I didn't end up eating since I have been going through a lot of my money in the past 11 days and I had food in my flat, but hopefully I'll get better about my money as time goes on so I can eat out when I want. I even started a budget sheet. (More like a budget post-it saying "only spend 50 bucks a week on groceries" because seriously, I have no idea how I spent that much money in so little time.)

Right now people are watching a movie outside but I am so exhausted that I knew that if I watched a movie I would fall asleep in the grass. I also really wanted some alone time, since that has been scarce lately and I need to recharge for tomorrow.

Because classes start tomorrow! Tomorrow I have my Sociology of New Zealand lecture and Italian Engendered Texts lecture. I don't have to be at the uni until noon, but I realized I still need to buy notebooks and whatnot, plus actually locate where my classes are, plus the half hour walk it takes to get there, which means leaving my flat around 10am tomorrow morning? Too early, but I'm sure by next week I'll be more confident and could leave at 11:15 or something. I just don't want to miss my first classes here.

I know my posts have been long but I haven't been very good about actually keeping a journal so this is my form of a journal (a summarized version of what's been happening) as well as a way for you all friends/family to know what I've been up to. So, I doubt anyone minds, but that's why these blog updates are probably going to be long and frequent. :)

Mission Bay!

this was on the side of a garbage truck

Rangitoto and more

The last couple days have been great. On Thursday, a group of us went to Rangitoto, which is this beautiful island situated off the shore of Auckland. The island is only about 600 years old, but it is so unbelievably beautiful. Such a fan. The seven (?) of us hiked up the mountain with a short stop to explore some lava caves - which were SO cool to go through. Unfortunately, my camera battery died while on the ferry to the island; fortunately, everyone else took bundles of pictures as well. It was amazingly wonderful, and I only managed to get the side of my neck (random) sunburned. I also swam in the Pacific that day, which was amazing, though I will admit the theme of "Jaws" was playing in my head. Yeah, not used to ocean creatures yet. But I made it through and was obviously not eaten by sharks.

Yesterday I ran a lot of errands - I got a sticker on my ID for discounts on the bus, got information on uni clubs to join, registered to use their rec center/take classes (pilates and zumba are some of the offered classes), got a tour of the library, and got a lot of groceries. Seriously, Nicole (the other IES girl who lives in PSV) and I went to this Asian supermarket where the fruits and vegetables were really cheap (I will also have to go back there to buy some tofu and seafood, as those were cheaper than Countdown as well), and then we walked to Countdown later to get some other foods - such as crisps (aka chips) and pizza dough. Mmm.

The last two nights I've spent hanging out with my flatmates, which has been really nice to get to know them and just hang out after tiring days. PSV had a charades night on Thursday as well, which was fun. Unfortunately my team lost. I then ended up playing two-person volleyball with one of my flatmates and another guy who lives in PSV. It's been very relaxing, though I'm ready to do hopefully do something a bit more exciting tonight.

Today two girl from IES (Meagan and Caitlyn) and one of my flatmates (David) went to Mount Eden, which is an old volcanic cone about a half hour out of my flat. The view of Auckland from up there was really cool! We also decided to spider-crawl down into the crater, which was really cool as well.

I'm starting to get used to it here - looking to the right first before crossing the street, not having to tip ever, understanding the slang better, and getting used to having a layer of sunscreen, and probably dirt, at almost anytime during the day. (I could go without the sunscreen and dirt 24/7.) There was supposed to be a bbq again tonight at PSV which means free food? I look forward to eating, I think I eat a lot more here than I do back in Minnesota. But then again, anytime I go anywhere, its' a long walk/hike in the sun, so there's that. But I know a lot of people went to this jazz festival somewhere faaaaar away, so if not, two of my flatmates and I are going to venture out and find food. Possibly fish and chips for me?

Picture time!:

Me, on the ferry to Rangitoto!


Hiking on Rangitoto


Lava caves :)

Nicole and I in the lava cave!

climbing out of the lava cave - yes it's blurry but I like it!

The group of us almost to the top of the island!
(in front of the crater) (I'm third from the right)

Panorama of one side of the top of Rangitoto

The side of Rangitoto that faces Auckland

Mount Eden sign, in the Maori name I'm guessing?

On the top of Mount Eden

The group of us on the summit of Mount Eden!

Climbing down into the crater

chill days are great too

Yesterday I didn't really do much that was exciting. I was supposed to go to the beach, but one of my flatmates moved in and we took a much-needed trip to get groceries which ended up taking almost three hours. It was exciting to buy my own food - but much more expensive than I thought it would be (given how much I actually bought). Food here is more expensive in New Zealand (for the most part), but I guess that's just something I'm going to have to deal with. The two of us had so many groceries that we got about two blocks and decided it was a better idea to just take a cab instead. Brilliant idea, it probably would have taken us an hour to waddle back to our flat.

When we got back to our flat, we watched the news on the earthquake in Christchurch, which was, and is still, pretty horrific. Apparently it has been decades since earthquakes have caused fatalities, and watching people being pulled from buildings and being reunited with their loved ones was intense. The news was on everywhere - I heard from other people that wherever they were where there was a tv, that it was on. New Zealand is such a small place that most people know of someone who is in Christchurch, so I know that has been especially difficult for some. My study abroad coordinator in Auckland was really shook up about the whole thing, and made it very clear that we were to all get cell phones ASAP because if something like that had happened in Auckland many of us would not have been connected. Anyway, apparently there were aftershocks all night last night as well, but there wasn't anything that happened in Auckland so no worries. Thank you for being concerned, but I am completely fine, as is the rest of Auckland.

Last night was pretty uneventful. Two of my flatmates had moved in by then (a girl form Vancouver and a Kiwi girl) so we hung out for a bit. I went over to a flat where people were playing pictionary but I was so tired that I left early and went to bed around midnight. Maybe I have delayed jet lag..

This morning we had an IES meeting with our abroad coordinator, Gael. Gael is the sweetest woman, and I have a feeling that she'll be like my New Zealand mom while I'm here. She gave us her cell phone number and instructed us to call her at any time (even at night if necessary) and she's doing so much for us. Anyway. Then a group of us went on a more organized scavenger hunt, which took us by the Harbor and then eventually to Newmarket - which is just next to where I live. I discovered the Asian Supermarket, and will definitely be retuning due to their cheaper prices (especially on fruits and vegetables).

The other two of my flatmates moved in today. So in this flat, there's me, the Canadian girl, the Kiwi girl, and a guy from South Africa/New Zealand and another Kiwi guy. They all seem nice, so that's good. :) My female Kiwi flatmate invited us over to hang out with some of her friends who live in another flat, and I might do that a bit later. I met some of her friends yesterday too, and I am such a fan of meeting Kiwis, even though I have to ask them to repeat themselves a lot right now.

The internet went out earlier so I was unable to skype with my parents but hopefully it'll work later. I've had a lot of time to blog lately, but I've had a pretty chill last couple days and whatnot. Tomorrow I think I'm going to go to Rangitoto, which is an island off of Auckland that has a lot of hiking trails and whatnot. It should be fun, I'm pretty excited.

Well, off to cook dinner! Sometime I'm going to have to get beyond pasta with sauce and scrambled eggs, but until then, off to eat pasta it is! :)

I am so excited to learn this

Yesterday I did end up going to the Japanese Lantern Festival, and it was actually really cool. There were tons and tons of people there (seriously, like MN State Fair amount of people) and lanterns all over the park. I went by myself but I actually ended up running into two other girls from my program while I was there so I hung around with them for a while. I drank bubble tea and had some fried Chinese noodles. There were even fireworks at the end, which followed some hardcore Japanese band that some people were moshing to. Interesting, huh. I ended up walking back to PSV by myself at 11pm, which I didn't particularly like because a) I had to walk up this giant hill, b) it took forever since I took the street instead of going through the park, and c) I was super paranoid of something bad happening, even though I had my phone and the street was deserted of people.

Today, we had our first day of International Student Orientation. Apparently there is an average of 5,000 international students at UofA at any given time - bigger than the entire student population of Gustavus. Weird to think about. There was a powhiri where I saw traditional Maori dance, called Kapa Haka. The video is of the last dance that they did. Seriously, if you can see, check out their faces! There were tamer Kapa Haka dances as well, but I seriously enjoyed this and am looking forward to learning how to do it!



After the dance, we went inside and had tea and sandwiches and then got a ton of information about international resources and events. I got lunch and then headed off to the city treasure hunt. The city treasure hunt was not super fun because it was raining and we walked everywhere and my knees were hurting. In my group was another IES girl, a guy from Singapore, and two girls from Sweden and Denmark. I was really excited about the Danish girl (she was from Copenhagen) but she actually got on my nerves quite a bit during the treasure hunt. She wanted to walk EVERYWHERE and was a control freak. Oh well though. She was fairly nice? And so was everyone else. I ended up going to the campus bar afterwards and just hung out and met a bunch of people. I met a girl who lives in PSV from Norway and we eventually walked back to PSV for the barbeque. The BBQ was okay (free meal!) and then I hung out in a flat (with almost everyone that was at the BBQ it seems) since it was someone's birthday, and met about thirty people over the course of 4 hours.

I think one of my flatmates may have moved in? Stuff has been moved around at least. So I'm hoping that I meet this flatmate tomorrow or something. It is likely that if this person comes back later tonight and I'm still awake that I will have a panic attack. No really, I will panic and think someone is coming into the flat to steal from me or something. (Thanks Mom and Dad for making me so paranoid all the time.) My biggest complaint right now is the intense fear I have of the cicadas which have invited themselves in through the open windows. :( I know they're harmless, but they're also about 2 inches long and two of them are inhabiting the hallway outside my room right now; I think another 4 or so are up in the living room. Seriously. Intense fear of them flying into me or for some reason being able to bite me. :( :( :(

Anyway, tomorrow I think the only thing I'll be doing will be going to Quiz Night, which is from 5-7 . Hopefully I'll register in time, it should be fun. Other than that, probably going grocery shopping (the fun never ends) and if it's nice I might go to the beach. My nose and forehead are peeling from my sunburn, but overall it's not bad.

I know I've said this, but I'm definitely not missing the MN blizzard. No way. Hope you're all staying safe though!

Some pictures from this weekend

The view from my balcony

Outlooking from the marae

7:30am

The marae from the outside

Ocean! Omaha Beach

In the Pacific!
(my burn looks like a tan in this picture, but I promise it's actually a bright red sunburn)

Auckland City Skytower at night!/downtown

IES orientation, Aotearoa

So we had our IES orientation the last couple days. We drove about an hour and a half north of Auckland (beautiful, may I add) to a marae (a Maori meetinghouse), where we spent Friday and Saturday. The welcoming ceremony, called a powhiri, was really interesting - we walked slowly toward the meetinghouse while a Maori woman called to us. Then we went towards the back wall and paid respects to the ancestors of the house and sat down on a bench. It was kind of humorous because the women were instructed to sit on a bench against the while the guys sat on this couch in front of us. There were 2 guys on the couch and almost 20 women on the bench. The Maori man who was welcoming us into his marae talked to us is Maori, and then repeated himself in English, and then his wife(?) sang a song. In the Maori culture, there is always a song after a speaker. Then one of the guys in my program explained to the leader who we were. Then we sang the chorus of "American Pie". Yeah. The chorus of "American Pie". It was awkward. (We sang a song that everyone knew..) Then we pressed noses with the leaders as our official welcome. Now we were welcome to stay in the marae. It was actually really cool to have this cultural experience so unlike anything I'd ever experienced.

We unpacked and ate lunch and then we split up into two groups. I was in group tahi (one), so we went kayaking first! It was AWESOME. I'd actually never been kayaking before, and despite the fact that by the end I was sitting in a puddle from splashing so much, it wasn't too hard. We kayaked around this little inlet by the marae, played a game, and then went in. Then we learned this traditional Maori song/stick game thing, which I am apparently extremely uncoordinated at. But it was fun. The rest of the night was pretty chill. We did in-depth introductions and ate dinner. We were going to go to this cafe, but more people wanted to watch a movie instead. I feel asleep about ten minutes into the movie. It was an exhausting day!

Waking up to natural sunlight was so cool. It was about 7am and since all of us were sleeping in the same room in the marae, most of us got up around the same time I think. Group tahi made flax flowers and fish (not very successfully though) and then we switched and I went snorkeling in the ocean!! It was so cool. I saw some pretty fish and dove down closer to the bottom and held a sea urchin. It was absolutely fantastic. Really, this is what I was doing for orientation?! YEAH.

We said our farewells at the marae and eventually headed to the beach. We didn't stay very long, though, which is good because I got pretty sunburned when we were kayaking the day before. My feet, thighs, and face are all pretty red. Clearly liberally applying sunscreen is not an option for this Minnesotan girl. However, I love what saltwater does to my hair - it gets wavy!

We got back to our housing a little around 5. The other two IES students who live in Parnell with me (and one of their flatmates) got food on our way over to a different apartment. Unfortunately, none of my flatmates have moved in yet, so it's a little lonely. They should be moving in within the next week, though. Maybe this means that I have at least one Kiwi flatmate? I don't know. Anyway, we got Japanese food (it was pretty good), and I bought my first drink! It was hot sake, but I didn't like it very much. We hung out at the apartments and then left to go dancing, which was fun. Downtown Auckland is a hopping place at night! People everywhere, and the skytower was lit up, which was really pretty. When I was in the bathroom I was talking to someone and this Kiwi girl told me, "whoa, you have such a strong accent!" I found that funny since I obviously don't think I have an accent at all, nevermind a strong one. It was a fun night.

Right now I'm sitting in my room, going through paperwork and looking up classes. I'm signed up for a sociology of Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand..), a dance technique class, an Italian women's literature class (taught in English), and a Maori dance class. We'll see how this goes. I'm going to need to go find the buildings my classes are in at some point this week. I also really need a cell phone still, and I need to go grocery shopping. I have no food in my flat right now. It's gorgeous outside but since I'm still burned I think I'll wait until a little bit later to go outside so I can avoid the sun's intense rays. Even though I'm wearing sunscreen. Also, there's a Chinese Lantern Festival downtown later in the day, so I'll probably go to that. I heard there's going to be fireworks tonight as well?

New Zealand is so beautiful, though. Seriously. I've taken about 200 pictures so far but the pictures don't do it justice. Everywhere is so green, the ocean is so blue, it has been sunny every day since I've gotten here, the people are so nice, and I love the ocean air. This country, what I've seen of it so far, is breathtaking. It's very hilly here (it's a workout to walk from my flat to downtown) but it's amazing. I am having such a wonderful time so far and I am so excited for everything coming up. IES orientation is basically done, but tomorrow begins International Student Orientation through the university, which is so awesome because then I will meet more international students! I want to join a club (possibly the tramping club)(tramping = hiking) and I think I'll get more information on all of that this week. I'm not homesick or anything which is most excellent. I feel really good being by myself here and I know already this is going to be one of the best choices I have made.

I will throw it out there that I am sitting in my room with my balcony door and window wide open with the sun shining in, in a tank top and shorts, and am warm. WARM. I do not miss Minnesota weather :) Love you all!


ps: For anyone who wants to send me letters or anything, and no pressure whatsoever to do so I just know a couple people already told me they were going to, here is my address:

Rachel Johnson
Unit 13
8 Claybrook Broad
Parnell
Auckland 1052
New Zealand

Day one: check

So, this is going to be short because my computer doesn't have much battery and I'm stupid and didn't think to check that my plus converter would only do two-pronged plugs and not three so I have no idea what I'm going to do when my laptop dies!

The flights over were pretty good - the one from Dallas to LAX was the least pleasant, but it was also crowded and loud and a little smelly. My flight from LAX to Auckland was HEAVENLY, though. I had a window seat and no one was sitting next to me, which means I had tons of space to stretch out when I was actually (for once) able to sleep on the plane! We were served dinner and breakfast, which were pretty decent for airline food. Flying over New Zealand before we landed was amazing. I had my face pressed up against the window and kept ooh-ing and ahh-ing. Probably looked like such a tourist. I took a ton of pictures, too.

I found other people in my program pretty quick after getting off my flight after soon after we were shipped off to our living arrangements. My flat is a five-bedroom flat, but only one person has moved in so far and I haven't met him/her. I felt super gross after being in the airport/flying for 26 so I took a shower - would have been nice to have a towel.. no worries, I bought one tonight. I hung around my flat for a while until it was time for the IES students (which is three, including myself) to leave for orientation. We took this super long walk through the Auckland Domain and I was very warm by the time we got to where we were supposed to be. And the cars here drive on the left side of the road, which totally throws me off when it comes to crossing the street.

Orientation itself wasn't too interesting, but they have to go over formalities and introduce themselves and whatnot, so whatever. After the introductions, they split the group up into two to give us a brief tour of the university. Some of the academic buildings are in houses - so strange, but very endearing. After the tour, the group went to a cafe and ate dinner. It was amazing, and I ate a lot. No seriously, it was about 11pm MN time, and I hadn't eaten in 10 hours. I was hungry!

After the dinner, the other two students and I decided to walk back, this time without a tour guide and on a different route, but we decided to walk through the park and got totally lost. At one point we were in the "forest walk", and eventually ended up by some abandoned train cars. It took about an hour to get back, I think, but it was really fun. And adventure number one is complete.

Right now I'm sitting in my room, really wondering when whoever else who has moved in already will get here. This flat has three stories, with two bedrooms on the 1st and 3rd floor and one on the 2nd floor next to the bathroom. (I'm on the 2nd floor - which also means that I have a balcony.) The living room and kitchen are in between the 2nd and 3rd story, and it's a really cute building. My room is kind of small, but I don't mind because it is just me and how often am I going to be spending in here anyway?

Tomorrow we're getting picked up at 8:15am to begin orientation - tomorrow we're going to a marae and go kayaking! Then we'll be eating dinner and I believe we're staying at the marae, which also means I need to pack for that. It's about 10pm on the 17th here (despite what my Central time-thinking computer says) so I need to pack and get ready for bed soon, as my morning will be starting early. Oh, and my body thinks it's 3am still. Well, maybe not that extreme. Maybe more like 2am.

Well this wasn't short. I hope you all weren't expecting it to be :)

Tacky tourism video

8. Days.

In 8 days I will be going to the airport, saying my final goodbyes to my parents, and getting on a flight to Dallas. Which then goes to LA. Which then (finally) goes to Auckland. I will be on a plane/in the airport for about 24 hours. Clearly, I need to bring a few books and make sure my iPod is fully charged. But still, 8. days.

I think it's good that I'm having a couple weeks to just hang out and get everything together. I've been spending time with my friends and family, getting everything in order (just said that), and (in the next few days) actually starting to pack. I should also probably clean my bedroom, because it still is a mess from moving back home. There have only been a few days where there was a walking path from the side of my bed to the door.. Anyway. These couple weeks have been going between being super busy and completely boring/uneventful, and I am so ready to have new experiences every day and actually remember what it's like to wear less than three layers of clothing and let my hair air dry (because it won't freeze in New Zealand, so no need, right?) I have been getting so much email from IES lately that everyday I get something new that reminds me of what is coming soon - today was the exciting task of printing out my HTH heath insurance card. Let the party begin.

I had such an immensely fabulous J-term, though, and so I am really sad about leaving. In the study abroad handbooks they tell you that coming back from studying abroad is really hard, as friendships will change, not just me. I know it's going to be really hard to see pictures of my friends up on facebook while I'm abroad or hear about endless hours at tech week and be bummed that I won't be there to join in. I know I'm going to get really homesick, but that's what skype was made for. And maybe [super expensive] air mail? I'm preparing myself for homesickness, but hope it won't hit me for at least a few weeks. With all of my amazing orientation activities and the thrill of being all on my own in someplace new, I'm sure it won't happen right away. How could it?

But anyway, I am so, so, SO excited for this adventure. Today my mom and I went out and got me a raincoat, a lightweight fleece jacket, a few swimsuits, some hiking socks (yeah!), and put some waterproof hiking boots on hold (legitimately don't think I've owned hiking boots since my pink and purple ones I had when I was 4). All of which are items I would not normally purchase, at least in February. I have a long list of other things I need to get - actually buying the hiking boots for one, getting a Let's Go! New Zealand book, a plug transformer and converter, travel size toiletries for the first couple days, and the list goes on. I also need some closed toed semi-nice shoes for going out, as my foot shape has changed since my surgery and the ones I have don't fit anymore, as well as some good walking shoes. Yeah, I'm going to become an outdoorsy person once again. I'm pretty pumped about that.

Eight. Freaking. Days.

Finally got my housing

This is where I will be living in New Zealand.

It wasn't my first choice, but it looks cute and hopefully I will be with other IES students and not just post-grad New Zealand students. One can hope!