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 :)