CREW 257 "Classroom"

I finally remembered to bring my camera to creative writing class this morning! Unfortunately, it wasn't the brightest or clearest morning, so the pictures only half-way convey how beautiful of a view it is. Of course.

On a clear, sunny day you can see big green mountains off in the distance, and everything is much more colorful. It's gray today. Which made it just that much harder to wake up and make the two mile up-hill walk to class after only 5 hours of sleep. At least everyone liked the piece I stayed up until 3:00am writing.

Anyway, here I finally present to you: 16 Wai te ata Road, Creative writing non-fiction workshop classroom!!! Ta daaaa

^ view from my seat today.

You can kind of make out the mountains in the distance. Maybe I'll bring back my camera and go early another day so I can capture the real essence.

Pirate Hooker

It hasn't been a good day in New Zealand paradise.

I got my nose ring changed into a huge pirate hooker hoop. I dislike it. I already e-mailed Lucky's in Northampton for help. I'm hopping they give me some info on what size the ring was that they gave me so I can go back and ask for that size. Yikes.

Also I found a big hole in one of the pockets of my trusty purse. Boo.

This update is more of a diary entry than a real update.
I'm sorry folks. Today just wasn't my day.

Emily's Visit

I got a text from 2 degrees, my phone company I have here:

"This week we announced that 500K NZers have made the move to 2degrees. You're 1 of them! Thanks for your support. Everyone now knows someone who is on 2degrees"

I'm one of them! I'm a real NZer! 2 degrees told me so! Usually I ignore and am slightly annoyed at these texts, but this one I cherished.

Every day that I’m here I start to realize more and more how hard it’s going to be to leave. Wellington is starting to feel like home to me. That became especially noticeable when Emily came this week. I had so much Wellington pride. Plus when I was in the airport waiting for her to arrive, I was almost sick to my stomach imagining that in three months I’ll be back there with my bags packed, waiting for my plane out of here. That is most definitely going to be a tough day.

But let’s not think about that! Let’s think about the sweet road trip I took this week! There aren’t any huge exciting stories to tell, but it was definitely a successful and fun trip. Alexis Sara and I picked up the car on Wednesday morning and headed to Martinborough, wine country. Driving on the other side of the road was fun and easy to get used to. Plus our Nissan Sunny rental car was a surprisingly smooth ride for the fact that it was the cheapest car possible. We ate breakfast at the Village Café when we got there. They had the best presentation of a Chai Tea Latte that I have ever experienced. It was rainy but that barely took away from how beautiful New Zealand is. We didn’t go to any wine-tastings or walk through any vineyards partly because of the rain and partly because they weren’t even doing them because it was harvesting week. Martinborough was way to tiny to spend the day in so we left after only a few hours and went looking for a “chocolate factory” in the next town over that we heard about, that ended up being just a tiny, really expensive chocolate shop. After that we headed to the Paua Shell Museum which ended up being more touristy than anything I could have ever imagined. There really is pretty much nothing between Wellington and Taupo besides New Zealand countryside. After the museum we drove to the shore to try and see some seals. We ended up in tiny towns with no one in sight. I got a really weird vibe driving on the drizzly coast with majestic mountains and hills and big crashing waves on the beach but no one around. We turned around once we hit a natural road block in the form of a river, and headed back to Martinborough for dinner in a strange but delicious “western” style restaurant. …Like cowboy and Indian western. With club music playing. Hmm.


We made it home with a few hours to spare before we had to pick up Emily at the airport at midnight. I took advantage of the hours by sleeping through them, since sleep was not in my future. The plan was to drive all night to get to Taupo in the morning for jet boating, and drive all night we did. It was easy to stay up and drive because I was super excited for the adventure and to have Emily here. Plus, thank the Lord Jesus, my friend Simon hooked me up with an adapter so I could play my iPod in the car. That pretty much made the trip. Without it, New Zealand radio stations are few and far between.

We parked and “slept” in the car for about 45 minutes when we arrived. Fatefully directly across from the jet boat place (we didn’t realize this in the dark but were pretty impressed with ourselves when the sun rose). I didn’t sleep. Maybe I was just too wired from the two huge red bulls I drank, or just overcome with excitement about seeing the sun rise after what felt like millions of hours of darkness. I wandered around and took pictures instead.

Jet boating was a blast. We went down the Waikato, the largest river in New Zealand, and stopped along the way to have some little info sessions, it was beautiful, naturally. We were dropped off to walk around and look at the geysers and mud pools and it was pretty awesome. SUCH a nice day, too. I couldn’t have dreamed for better weather. On the jet boat ride back we went fast. did crazy spins, and got close to rocks and trees. Emily, Sara, Alexis and I laughed the whole way. Good times.

Oh, I got a free rugby ball out of it, too! Our tour guide found it in the river and gave me it. Free New Zealand rugby ball! Winning!

Speaking of rugby, I went to my first practice last week. It was a lot of fun. The girls were all nice and I got a good work-out out of it. I could definitely see my skills improving by being on the team and playing with people who have played their whole lives. It’s $90 to play however and I’m not totally into it because I’m afraid of getting hurt and ruining the rest of my time here. Don’t tell my teammate Boo, but another girl and I plan to just play as long as we can without paying until they make us stop. I’ll get my New Zealand rugby fix for cheap and get out before anything bad happens.

So back to our adventure: After jet boating we drove into downtown Taupo for dinner, which was pretty nice. Taupo is still not too big of a place but it was bigger than all the other towns we had been driving through.

The ride back to Wellington was perfect. Afternoon sun with the windows down. Beautiful views. Good music, good times. We got home and immediately crashed after more than 24 hours without sleep.

Friday morning I had my favorite creative writing class while Emily wandered around Wellington in search for the beach. It was another perfect weather day. I thought maybe I might have been exaggerating back when I said how nice the view from my creative writing class is, since I’m not from around here and I’m not used to the beautiful views, but during our break one of the Kiwis in my class said “this might be the best room in the entire city.” I was glad to be in there. I still keep forgetting to bring my camera but hopefully I’ll remember this week.

After class Emily and I took a Lord of the Rings tour! It was awesome, we had a perfect day for it. Just us, four Polish women and one Croatian, all coming from a conference at Te Papa. They were fun. We stopped at a bunch of spots where the movie was filmed, and the tour guide had little laminated posters of the shots so we could match it up. We also got to hear a lot of behind the scenes stories, like how Peter Jackson went to Wellington Rugby games and used recordings of fans yelling for the battle scenes. The place where they filmed Rivendell is actually named Rivendell now, and all the rivers that flow into the Wellington reservoir are from there, so all my drinking water is from Rivendell! Cool! I still haven’t even seen the movies but when I do it’s going to be really exciting to recognize the places. We had a little break for muffins and coffee outside of Rivendell and then headed back.

Emily and I went out to dinner Friday night at Tulsi, an Indian food restaurant, and then hung out on Cuba Street for a bit before heading back to Stafford and having a low key night hanging out with some friends. On Saturday we woke up relatively early and did some shopping, before stopping for the quintessential Wellington eating experience: Burger Fuel. We both got the “El Camino” - A huge burger with lettuce, cheese supreme Doritos, melted cheddar, aioli, re-fried beans, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole. My favorite. After that Emily caught a taxi and soon was on a plane flying back to the States. That crazy girl.


Click here to see my entire facebook album of pictures from the roadtrip. I hope that works.

So Absinthe night last night was nothing special. I had a good time with my friends though and spent today relaxing. Alexis and I went out to eat at an Italian place and had a hilarious candle lit dinner. Lots of laughing occurred and our loud American conversation drowned out the Louis Armstrong and Elvis Presley playing in the background.

Now it’s time do some reading for my longest day of the week, Monday. Maybe after I’m done I’ll start planning for my next big adventure to the South Island on my two week break in April! Bungee jumping will be involved.

Oh yeah P.S. my dehumidifier came. The state of my room is improving slowly but surely.

Virgin Airlines

I know it's been awhile. I've been busy busy busy road-tripping, doing school work, and showing Emily around Wellington! I don't have time right now to do a really good update but I wanted to post the pictures I snagged in LUSH today!

Look how cool it is in there!

( ^^ those are shampoos!)

For the time being I will leave you with the exercise I wrote for this week's creative writing workshop. Perhaps my full update tomorrow will be spectacular, seeing as I'm drinking Absinthe tonight. It's regarded as the muse of artists and bohemians, and is one of Picasso, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde and Hemingway's favorites! Things are gonna get weird.

"Virgin Airlines"

At 4:30am, I sat with a freshly showered set of puffy morning eyes in the back seat of my mom’s car, running on only an hour or two of sleep. My parents were driving me to Hartford to catch a shuttle to JFK in New York City. I had spent the last night uncomfortably, as my boyfriend and I shared our last hours together squeezed on top of my cot-sized bed. We tried to stay up all night and cherish our last moments before I left to New Zealand for the semester, but we fell asleep - well he did anyway. He snored into my ear loudly while my legs ached to stretch. My arms were awkwardly tangled together, and I self consciously breathed into his face. The bed was not built for two, barely built for one.

In the middle of waving a final goodbye to my parents, the shuttle driver slammed the door closed between us. I was a bit annoyed that he would cut such an important moment in my life short like that. I reconciled that he obviously didn’t know this was to be my first big trip, my first plane ride. My first time out of the country; First time out of New England. The fact that he didn’t bother making small talk on our two hour trip to the airport oddly got him back on my good side.

When we arrived at JFK I rolled my luggage through the automatic doors. Excitement fluttered through my body and was climbing up my throat, begging to escape in the form of some embarrassing shriek. I managed to keep it in. It would have been nice if that bottled up excitement had a longer shelf life though, because after checking my bags I had eight hours until it was time for me to board my plane. Eight hours. I shifted from bench to bench and tried to sleep away the time, but failed. I looked around at the other people in the airport and tried to imagine what sorts of important things they had to catch flights for. I wondered if anyone looked at me and thought the same thing. I wondered if anyone could tell I was such a travel rookie.

What an interesting feeling, though. Knowing, as I sat there with only a backpack filled with books and journals, that all my personal belongings to live for five whole months were neatly packed into two suitcases that I no longer had to think about until I arrived on the other side of the planet. What a weightless feeling. Bobbling around in some sort of middle area between my stationary life in Massachusetts, and the rest of the world.

When I finally got to board my plane, I realized I had the window seat; A blessing. I took pictures out of my tiny submarine window. Pictures of the wing of the plane, still grounded. Pictures I would later, after twenty-two hours of flying, be bored to look at.

Game Changer

So I made a big mistake and thought that Emily was arriving tonight at midnight, but she's really arriving tomorrow at midnight.

Whoops.

I was pissed for a little while that my perfectly jam packed road trip wasn't going to work out exactly, but Alexis and I quickly devised an alternative plan, and with a few phone calls everything is okay. We are missing out on hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (and a few extra hours of sleep,) and going to Martinborough wine country instead. Tomorrow night we'll be back in Wellington to pick up Emily and then the real road trip begins!

I can't wait to pick up the car tomorrow morning! Sweet as road trip, bro.

LUSH

I spent the first half of my day surrounding myself in good smells … probably subconsciously to escape my smelly apartment. One of my roommates makes stinky food and doesn't do her dishes. Yuck. Anyway, it initially started out as a trip to the Te Papa museum for coffee with Alexis before starting in on our homework, (the café in Te Papa has been the only place I’ve found that makes coffee the way I like it) but of course we ended up making several stops along the way at different stores.

LUSH is my new favorite place. It’s a handmade cosmetic shop that has piles and piles of different soaps and scrubs and bars, and they’re all freshly made! The set up is so cool. I want to buy everything in there! I asked if I could come back and take some pictures for my blog but the girl working said no. They like to keep it a secret. I might just go back another day when someone else is working and act oblivious and snap some shots. I really can’t explain how cool the place is without some pictures. The face masks are displayed in metal bowls over ice (since they’re made fresh and need to be kept cool) with slices of papaya and almonds and other things on the side. There are just heaps of brightly colored bars, each unique and not quite perfectly the same since they’re hand made, piled up on top of each other on cool white square dishes.

They have BARS of shampoo. A new concept to me. They smell so good though and they’re supposed to be really good for your scalp! I wanted to buy one today, but I bought “Handy Gurugu” instead, and I thought I’d come back another day for the shampoo. I have to ration my Lush enjoyment so I can spread it out over my whole trip.
The Gurugu is “helpful, heavenly, herbal hand cream with natural shea butter from our friends in Ghana.” Yum yum yum yum yum it smells so good and makes my hands so soft!

I also got this "Q10 Toner Tab" which I am displaying beautifully in a shell I picked up at the beach yesterday :) The tab is "gentle and skin soothing with Lavender, Chamomile, and Vitamin Q10." You pop it in a bowl of boiling water and hold your face over the steam before washing your face. That'll be interesting and fun.


I actually heard about Lush a few years ago when I recieved a secret santa present from the store, but I was told it was only in Australia and New Zealand. That is false information! There are Lush stores in the states! Go to them!!
There is a store locator on the website: www.lush.com

Obviously by this point you can tell that my train adventure didn’t go down today. I realized I had too much homework to do in preparation for Emily’s arrival on Tuesday night at midnight. Rental car and Jetboat are booked! Can’t wait!

Sweet as Saturday

Hello hello!

My week went well as usual. Classes were alright, creative writing was awesome, did some shopping (more like browsing), and a lot of walking.

St. Patty's was on Thursday and it was okay. I had a pretty good time and it was fun to finally be able to go out with my roommate Sophie, since she's usually working, but we got stuck in the Big K because it was raining and the line for Molly Malone's (obviously the place you'd want to be on St. Patrick's day) was really long and my friends didn't want to stand in it. I tried to make the best of the night anyway, but when I saw two Kiwi guys wearing Celtics jerseys and got excited and told them I was from Massachusetts. They were less than impressed and were extremely and unnecessarily rude. Just the icing on the cake for that night. We headed home after that.

Friday night I hung out with Boo and we got awesome fish and chips on Aro Street. After stuffing ourselves, we headed to a flatwarming party at my buddy's house which was a good time.

And that brings us to today which was Saturday, and what a great Saturday it was. I woke up at 9:00 and hopped on a bus with Sara and Alexis to go to the beach. They had their mind set on Scorching Bay, which is apparently one of the best beaches around. We didn't end up there though... the buses are pretty hard to navigate I guess, but I was up for anything. I figure any beach is NZ is pretty amazing. I was right. The beach we ended up on was gorgeous. We were pretty much the only ones on it, too, which was nice.

I carved my initials into a driftwood tree, checking off one of the things on my to-do list while being here in New Zealand.

Some other things I just wanted to mention:
-Guys bring flowers on dates here in New Zealand. All. The. Time.
I saw it happening for the first time and thought it was the cutest thing ever. I saw it happening for the second time and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I saw it happening a bunch more times and still thought it was the cutest thing ever, but I've come to realize it's just what you do on a date here in NZ. Not just for special occasions! I like it!

-The US is scary.
In my creative writing class we got on the topic of California, and a few Kiwis agreed that they hadn't seen much of CA, but what they had seen of it was the airport, and they were terrified. "The policemen had guns!!!" .... .... Yep. They did. That seems totally normal to me, but policemen don't carry guns here in NZ. No one carries a gun here in NZ. No one even owns a gun here in NZ. (Brendan is your mind blown yet?) My mom told me before I left that Wellington was on list of safest cities in the world. I bet New Zealand in general is just the safest place in the world. It feels like that at least. People don't own guns, there aren't any dangerous animals, no deadly bugs, no snakes at all! No wonder everyone is so relaxed.

So tomorrow is Sunday and I think I'm taking a solo train ride adventure. Just hoppin' on some train at the trailway station down the street and exploring some other place for the day. It's only $13 for a full day pass to ride the train to and from as many places as you want as many times as you want. I'm in.

Happy St. Patrick's Day From Down Unda!!!

Pork Chop Dinner!!!

The highlight of my day today was my pork chop dinner. I looked forward to making it all day, and it came out just as good as I had imagined it would! I'm gonna be a pretty good cook by the time I get back from NZ... in fact, I might go as far as to say I already am one!
The one thing I need to master is timing. I'm not to good with that. My pork chop was done long before the mashed potatoes were tonight. Hmmm. I'll learn.

Here is a picture of my dinner in the process:

White wine reduction and heavy cream for the sauce! Yum!!!

And here is the final product, plus Sophie's fingers intruding:

That's a lot of apple sauce!

It was so delicious! I am once again very proud.
I'm also proud of the breakfast I made this morning! Mango peach and beet root salad! Lookit!

Foodfoodfoodfoodfood.
Sometimes I forget this blog is about my adventures in New Zealand and not just what I eat every day.

Anyway today was a nice day. I didn't do too much. Went shopping on Lambton Quay a bit and then went up to Uni for one class.
(I learned today that in New Zealand, College = High School, and University = ...University, or College. Every time I've mentioned "college" to anyone during this trip, they've though I was talking about high school. Whoops)
I came back and cleaned the entire bathroom for the second time (Sophie are having a problem with our stinky slob of a third roommate), showered, cooked my delicious meal, and then hung out, chatted, and laughed with Sophie and a few of my friends down the hall while I did my nails. Overall a very good night.

St. Patrick's Day approaches and I am very excited! There are a few Irish pubs downtown that apparently party pretty hard for the holiday!

I still longingly await the arrival of my dehumidifier.

I can't wait for my road trip next week so I'll actually have some real adventures to report about.
Until next time!!

Perfect Evening

Making pork chops (Sean Santos recipe), drinking Kim Crawford, after dinner I'm doing my nails, hanging out with my friends, and drinking more Kim Crawford. What a nice rainy evening.

This is more a twitter update than a blog update. More later.

Tim Tams

Tim Tams. Bite one corner. Bite the opposite corner. Stick one end in milk or coffee and suck it through. Cookie fills up with milk or coffee. Eat it. Yum I love New Zealand.

Weekend Recap + Some

Thursday I decided get up early and I took advantage of the good weather since I know it isn't typical of Wellington. I walked to Oriental bay, my go-to beach, and worked on my tan, before taking a little meditation break on these cement blocks that jet out into the water on the left side of the beach. It was amazing. Even though there were others on the beach, when I got to this spot it was like I was the only one there. This is why Wellington can't be compared to any other city.
Let's just think about this: I live smack dab in the middle of a huge city.. but I woke up, took a short walk, and spent my morning HERE before class. What? I love it.


Friday I had my creative writing class, which was once again amazing. I forgot to bring my camera and get a picture of the view/room. I'll get one this week! Everyone liked the piece I brought in and read. Very encouraging! Everyone else is so talented in there. I really love it.

After class I spent an hour or so in the Botanical gardens reading. So relaxing. Such a long walk home in sandals though. I was not well prepared.

Friday night I spent far too much money out at the bars, so I figure it is worth posting a few pictures of my fun. I won't be going out for a few more weeks after that spending spree..

Yes, that's rugby on the TV behind me! Love it!

Saturday was low key and relaxing. We had planned to do some kayaking and go to the beach, but those plans were quickly derailed by the tsunami warning we had here after the earthquake in Japan. (By the time the wave reached NZ it was only a 30cm rise in water level. Still a good idea to stay away from the water.) So, instead of kayaking, a few of my friends and I went to campus and downloaded some TV shows, a nap was taken, and Alexis and I wrapped up the night by taking a night-time walk around the harbor and going back to my apartment to make mashed potatoes and watch Planet Earth. I'd call it a success.

Sunday, today, was exhausting but great. I did so much walking. I woke up and walked to the farmers market and did some fruit and veggie shopping, then I walked to the Warehouse to pick up a few things I needed, and then lugged everything all the way back to the Stafford house. By this time I was so hot so I called up Alexis and we headed all the way out to the beach, pretty much retracing the long walk I had just taken. It was an ideal beach day. After hanging out there for awhile I went grocery shopping and lugged all my groceries home the long way and wanted to die of exhaustion by the time I got home. I must have covered at least 8 miles today.

Then I made an EXCELLENT dinner! A variation of my favorite dinner back home: Spicy Thai Tofu. I used chicken instead though, since it's cheaper than tofu here, and I forgot to buy spinach. It tasted awesome, though. I'm very proud. I was going to make mango and beet root salad for dessert but I just ended up eating cookies. I'm going to make that tomorrow instead. I was inspired by the burger they serve at Burger Fuel here that has mango and beets on it.. they go so well together! Who would've thought?!

So Auntie Lisa, Auntie Sherry, and all you other wine lovers out there... look what I got!!!
Kim Crawford Unoaked Chardonnay on sale for $10.99 today. That's about $8.25 American.

I also bought a dehumidifier for my super damp room. I don't know what it is about my room in particular but it is more damp than anyone else's. When it rains, the windows get so much condensation on them that I can't see out of them and puddles form on the window sills. My rug feels almost wet when you walk on it, and my bed always feels damp like I'm camping or something! I've been trying to ignore it but I'm afraid it might start getting moldy in here if the rug is always damp! Ew! I complained to the landlord RD people but they just said "keep your windows open." Tried that. So I thought a little dehumidifier would definitely improve my experience. It should be here in 2 weeks. Can't wait.

I also bought a new quilt. I splurged because I figured my one from home is getting pretty old so it'd be worth it because I'll use it for a long time. The duvet I had originally was not my style, I just had to buy it because I had no bedding when I arrived. I could have survived with it, obviously, but having a nice room to come home to is pretty important to me so personally it's worth it. My room is shaping up a bit. Here's a before and after from when I first got here until now.Raggles is wearing the same outfit in both pictures. ... How embarrassing!

Oh! Also, I forgot to mention I went to a Tramping Club meeting on Tuesday. It seemed really awesome. There were rock climbing trips for all ability levels, big hikes (tramps), and all kinds of things offered. They said their biggest and most awesome trips were planned during holidays, so I thought "sweet, maybe I'll just go on a big tramping club camping/hiking adventure on my two week vacation in April, and that will save me a lot of money and I won't even have to do any of the planning!" .... that seemed like a great idea until the end of the meeting, when they started listing everything you need to have to go on these hikes; All kinds of expensive equipment and clothes that I don't have. I mean, I'm sure I could pull it off if I really wanted to; Hunt down some bargains, borrow things from friends. I'm just not that into it I guess. I just don't think that's where I want to spend my money.

So now I'm off to do some reading for class before bed and then a new week begins! Tomorrow marks a month since I've been here in New Zealand. I have loved every minute of it so far. I think it's time to venture out of Wellington though and go on some bigger adventures. I can't wait to see where I end up :)

Kia ora!

Not much to report on over the past few days other than cooking lots of good food and getting tempted by pretty much every shop on Lambton Quay. Emily's visit approaches and I spent tonight outlining our two-day road-trip adventure with Alexis and Sara. We're renting a car, driving up to Tongariro National Park to do some big treks, and then we're heading up to Rotorua for an extreme jetboating adventure, and then maybe Zorbing and anything else we want to fit in on our drive back down to Wellington! I can't wait to drive on the other side of the road!

Some of the Emerald Pools in Tongariro

I've been without a car for more than three weeks so far! I didn't even really realize it until the other day. I guess I've transitioned into a city girl pretty smoothly. I barely feel like I'm in a city in Wellington sometimes, though. So many trees and mountains and views. I said it once and I'll say it again: I love it here.

Oh, speaking of cars:
It's weird to see someone driving from the left side of the car...
It's weirder to see a child speed by while sitting on the "drivers side."
I did a double take yesterday.

Speaking of weird:
Shout out to Brendan.

Alright well I have a bit of homework I should get done. Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice and I only have one class from 4:10 - 5:00! I'm thinking it's a beach day! Maybe I'll finally go jumping off the wharf into the harbor and cross that off my list of "things to do in NZ."

In closing, I present to you a poster I found at the Te Papa museum that I feel artistically encompasses my transition from American to New Zealander.

"Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke"

New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell is a “renegade pop artist,” offering new perspectives of pervasive imagery. In the above piece, Mickey to Tiki Tu Meke, he creates a clever transition between two cultural icons. This lithograph is in the Christchurch Art Gallery in New Zealand.

P.S. Thank you everyone for the comments! I didn't realize I was getting them until the other day.. didn't mean to ignore you all! I read them all and I'm really happy people like the blog! I'll update as much as I can!

Sunday Catch-Up ... Ketchup...

Where to begin? It seems like a lot has happened over the past few days!

I finally have something exciting to say when people ask me how my classes are going now that I've attended my phenomenal creative writing class on Friday...

The class is 9:30 to 12:20 on Friday mornings, so this Friday I dragged myself out of bed despite the pouring rain and wind, and headed out to catch the bus up to campus. This class is in a building I had never been to before, so I left a little early to find my way... and it's a good thing I did. I got off near Wai te ata road, right where I needed to be, and thought "oh how nice, just a short walk. I won't even be out in the rain for long." Wrong. I walked down, looking for 16 Wai te ata road, but conveniently discovered that the buildings were numbered up to 13, and beyond that was just a big athletic field. I walked the length of the (hilly) road 3 times before finally running into someone who I could ask directions from. The fact that I could barely pronounce the name of the street didn't help much. By this point I was kind of panicing about being late to class, soaked from the rain, sweaty, and had a bad blister bleeding through my sock, Curt Schilling style. The directions I got were too complicated for me I guess, because I still couldn't find it and walked up and down the road twice more. Finally I ran into another person who helped me find it. Wellington is mad hilly and a lot of the buildings up on hills are actually accessed through little paths and staircases that are hard to figure out, and that was the case. When I finally arrived my luck had changed because I walked into the coolest class imaginable.

First of all, the "classroom" is just kind of a big living room of this house which has two walls that are almost entirely windows, floor to ceiling, that look out over the entire city and harbor. Amazing atmosphere. Secondly, the class only has 10 other students... a big change from my other two classes that are lecture centers filled to capacity. I'll take this opportunity to brag about how for every person who made it into the class there were 4 others who didn't. (A ten page portfolio was required to apply for the class). I'm pretty proud of myself ;)

Anyway the professor is cool and the other people are really talented. We had to write a bit and read our work to the class; A good way to break the ice on the first day and get a sense of everyone's style. Another cool thing is that we get a 15 minute break in the middle of class, and there is a kitchen we can use to make coffee, tea, or snacks. After break everyone is sipping out of borrowed, mismatched mugs. It's really laid back and different from any other class I've taken. I'm really excited about it. I'm gonna go early next week and get some pictures of the "classroom" and the view.

On to an ever popular topic of my blog: food.

This was dinner last night:

:) Yum.

Today I woke up super early and went to the farmers market by the harbor. It's worth it. Overwhelming amounts of fruits and vegetables for really cheap. Look at my beautiful purchases! Can't wait to cook this stuff up! I'm making some stir fry with beef or chicken tomorrow night for dinner!!! It's funny how pretty much everything seems to be in season at the same time here in New Zealand. There were peaches right next to the butternut squash.

In other news, I attended an event where I finally met my "buddy" Simon (a New Zealander pen pal I've been paired up with) who ended up being really cool. He invited me to a party he was having at his place that night (Friday) so I went and brought a few of my friends along, too. His house was way up in the hills and when we got there the view of the city at night was incredible. I was really glad to finally get to a party full of kiwis and not majorly made up of international students. Him and his friends were really nice and we all had a really good time. We went to a few bars and clubs, and ended up getting burgers at 3am. Success.

Oh also, another new experience: Booze provided and flowing freely at school functions. The drinking age is 18 here so it's different. They didn't cheap us out either... Everyone was feelin' pretty good by the time they left the international welcome dinner. (It was right after the buddy event).

So last night Tim and I hiked up to Boo's new place and hung out there for a few hours before getting completely drenched on the walk to the bars/home so we just called it a night. Boo is a friend of mine, and a fellow rugby teammate from home who was studying abroad in Christchurch and just transferred to Victoria after the earthquake. It's so crazy to have someone you know show up in the same city as you on the other side of the planet.

...

Phew! Long update! Time to make some late lunch and continue my relaxing Sunday with some serious chill out time.

Rain

Wellington rain/wind won the war against me tonight. This picture doesn't even portray how soaked to the bone I am. I have a lot to say, I'll write more tomorrow.

Happy New Zealand birthday to my illustrious and industrious boyfriend Brendan Brown <3

Blog Make-over

Looks nice, huh!

So March 3rd 2011 treated me pretty well.
After going out and dancing the night away last night for a friend's birthday, I slept pretty late but still managed to have a fun and productive day. Speed-walked it to Oriental Bay for noon where I caught some rays on the beach and stuck my toes in the South Pacific before heading to campus for class at 4:10. If I was a real kiwi that sentence would have sounded more like - "I headed up to Uni for my paper." Classes are called papers, and school/campus/college is just Uni. Always Uni. Uni Uni Uni. Class was fine. Quite the hike up the hill for just a 50 minute class, but I like the exercise. I've already lost some weight :) The forecast for the next few days looks like rain anyway, so maybe I'll take the bus tomorrow. $2 from my building to Uni... it's worth it when it's raining horizontally.

Right now my washing machine sounds like it's about to blast off in the other room. These walls are paper thin and that thing is LOUD. Another little fact about NZ.. they aren't big on dryers here. The ones they have aren't very efficient and it's greener, cheaper, and just more common to hang your clothes to dry. I have a drying rack in my room. My clothes are a little more stiff than usual at first, and doing laundry takes a little more effort, but it's not a big deal. I'm embracing the culture! ;)

Since I don't have any pictures for today I'll just show you the rain boots and rain coat I should probably invest in. Cheers!

Earthquake Info

Click here for a little info on the earthquake I just felt.

Windy Welly

Welcome to March everyone! I've been here all day!

So I guess the first two weeks of my stay here in Wellington had "exceptionally nice" weather, so it has come back down to average, which is still nice, but it's very very windy. I almost got knocked over on the way to class today, honest. I still wore shorts and a short sleeved shirt and was hot by the end of the walk to campus though. I love summer in March!

Did my weekly grocery shopping today and picked up, drum roll please: ... STEAK!

Not only was this the real dinner I've made myself in New Zealand, it was the first steak dinner I've EVER made in my life. I was a vegetarian for five and a half years and completely missed out on the 'learning how to grill and cook meat' stage of life. They came out pretty well done... whoops. They were good though! ..and of course the zucchini I made to go with it was cooked to perfection :) I was so excited. My flat (I'm trying to use kiwi words when I can) smelled so good and it was so fun to cook.

Here is my competed meal:

The Pinot Gris didn't go with the meal at all but I still felt fancy drinking wine with my steak dinner.

Other than my exciting dinner, things have been a bit low key the past few days.. probably because classes started.
Everyone keeps asking me "how are classes?!?!" but it's only been two days and I've only been to two classes. My consensus so far is this: Nothing too thrilling, but there is definitely potential. I'm not worried about the work load. I kick ass at writing papers (which are a huge chunk of my grade in every class) and I actually think I prefer having one GIGANTIC, IMPORTANT test at the end rather than scattering smaller exams all over my semester. I'm pretty confident.

This is my schedule:
It's blurry but it'll do. The lectures (called "papers" here) are short and only meet a few times a week, but then there are the "tutorials" where the large class is split into smaller groups for more one on one time with the lecturers. I'm pretty happy with my schedule. I didn't have a choice, really. Those were the only classes I was approved for. I usually try and get my classes done in the morning but I'm always up for a change :)


OH MY GOD I JUST FELT AN EARTHQUAKE.
.....................................................................................
Everyone stay calm! It was tiny. I just ran around my hall and everyone is out of their rooms like "!!!!!!!"
What an experience! What an experience to have just as I'm writing in my blog and can report it immediately! To calm down my mother (if that is even possible) my RA just told us that Stafford Hall is one of the safest buildings to be in in Wellington during an earthquake. Stafford, Parliament, the Library, and Te Papa museum. Plus I'm fearless. Everything is okay.

Well now I'm too excited to write anything else. Until next time!