Murphy's Law

I'm finally home, but during my journey here, pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did.

I got up from my comfy gigantic hotel bed in Sydney on time and made it to the airport for 8:00am. Had to pay $135 for my luggage being too heavy, which sucked but I had to just bite the bullet because I wasn't going to take stuff out. Went through customs again (this would be the third time already for this trip. By the end of my almost-three-day-journey it would be five times I had to suffer in those long lines).

So I got on my plane to LA. I got an aisle seat, which was actually great. You don't wanna be stuck on the inside for a 12 and a half hour flight, especially when there is nothing to see out the window except Pacific Ocean for the entire time anyway. I watched four movies, one of which was the first Lord of the Rings, and in between movies I was reading The Hobbit. I guess you could say I did things a little backwards. But it was cool to see LOTR after I lived in New Zealand and took the tour, because I recognized a lot of the places that the scenes were shot in, so that was fun.

^EMILY BEING FRODO FROM THE SCENE BELOW

ME, EMILY, AND SOME GERMAN GIRL HIDING FROM THE BIG BLACK HORSE THAT RIDES OVER

EMILY AND I PRETENDING TO BE GANDALF AND ... THAT OTHER GUY. SORRY. I AM SO BAD WITH MOVIES.

So the trip from Sydney to LA was long, but tolerable. Once I got to LA was when things really started to get bad.

I had to pick up my luggage and bring it to my next flight and check it again. All 100lbs of it. I got it and lugged it around trying to find where I needed to be. I stopped and asked for help from the HELP DESK, which was anything but helpful. They told me to take an elevator and go outside and walk to terminal 5, which I did, and it was so far away and it was hot out and I was getting sweaty and tired and once I got there, it turned out terminal 5 was not even where I was supposed to be. I wandered around a few other terminals before asking for help again, and this time the person sent me to terminal THREE, which was the wrong terminal ALSO. After asking for help a third time, I was directed to take another elevator to level 3 before doing this that and the other, but when I got in the elevator, it only went up to level two. So I took it up to two, and just happened to stumble upon Virgin Airlines domestic departures, which was what I was trying to find all along. So thanks to nobody, I found it, after 2 hours of dragging my luggage all over LAX.

So I got in line to check my luggage and get my boarding pass. There was only about 5 people ahead of me, but for some reason I stood in that line for about 25 minutes. Once I finally got up there, they told me I wasn't even in the system. I didn't have a spot on that flight. I guess when "they" (V Australia, I guess) changed my flights because of the ash cloud, they never ACTUALLY changed my flight from LA to NY, so I was stuck there with no flight home. Their flights were all filled at that point, too, so I couldn't even get on any of them. I had to figure stuff out with a bunch of retarded airline employees for 2 hours before they got me a flight to NY on a different airline: Delta. Ironically enough, I had to walk all the way back to terminal 5, the terminal I was sent to in the first place.

Once I got there I had to argue with more dumb airline people about how I was NOT going to pay AGAIN for my luggage being too heavy, since I already paid to get it all the way to NYC, and it wasn't my fault or even my choice that I changed to their airline.

When that was over, one employee just told the other, "you don't have to do anything just throw the luggage in there with the rest" ... and I stopped him and said "are you sure? it doesn't have Delta tags....." and he said it was fine and threw it in there with the rest. I was just glad to get rid of it after 4 hours of dragging it around, but I had a bad feeling.

My 6 hour flight across the country wasn't bad. I had a window seat but I just used the window to sleep against for most of it. It was cloudy so I couldn't see much of anything if I stayed up, anyway.

I arrived at JFK and was greeted by Brendan!!!! Exciting! Then we waited and waited and waited at the luggage carousel for my luggage which of course never showed up. Talked to more stupid airline people who probably took the title as 'dumbest.' They were telling me that I was supposed to provide THEM with the information of where my bags were, and I was supposed to give THEM receipts and tags and numbers that their co-workers never gave ME because they thought they didn't have to, even though I told them they probably should have. Very very stupid. So Delta told us it was Virgin's problem, and Virgin told is it was Delta's problem. Brendan and I took the airport train all the way to the Virgin terminal, to talk to them, and they were, of course, just as stupid. They said since I didn't take their flight, they had no information on my bags. Basically no one was responsible for my bags, even though someone got paid because they were over weight. Hmm. So mid-complaint I spot my bag on the virgin carousel, for the flight I wasn't even on. My bags and I took two different planes. Brendan and I scoffed them up and got the heck out of there.

I never would have found them if Brendan and I didn't do the footwork ourselves, once again, no thanks to anyone else.

So I got home and was greeted by nice "Welcome Home" posters and banners at both Brendan's house, and my house.

WINSTON AND HIS NZ SHEEP BIRTHDAY PRESENT I SENT HIM FROM QUEENSTOWN!!!

MY ROOM!!! COMPLETE WITH MY CUTE PUP!

It's weird to be back only because it isn't that weird. I kind of feel like I never left, but I have a big 4 month chunk of time here that I skipped. I didn't think my jet lag was that bad until I arrived at the mall way early in the morning and wondered why it wasn't open. In Wellington right now, it doesn't get light until 8am and gets dark at about 5:30pm, so since it was nice and sunny I figured it was the middle of the day. Wrong. It was 10am on a Sunday. I considered sleeping on a bench in the mall until the eyebrow waxing place was open, which was the reason I went there, but then I remembered it isn't acceptable to sleep on a mall bench. I've spent far too much time in airports lately.

So I wandered around the mall for about an hour waiting for the place to open up, and I realized that it is going to be really hard for me to adjust to walking on the right side of things. Driving on the right was not weird at all, but walking on the right is really hard for me for some reason.

Little things like this pop up now and then: How I can't tell what time of day it is, or I want to sleep on a bench in public, or walk on the left side. Or how when I open my front door I still expect there to be a Christmas tree there. Just weird little things.

I haven't been able to enjoy summer or my time home yet. At all. I haven't seen any of my friends. I haven't had a Dunkin' iced coffee yet. I haven't even really left the house.
Pretty much as soon as I got home I came down with a really bad case of strep. Probably from the plane. I've been laying around being miserable for three days now. Yesterday I even spent the day in the hospital getting morphine and fluids through an IV because I couldn't even swallow at all. I'm slowly getting better and I have some pain pills now to help me tolerate the pain enough to get some fluids down and keep the temperature away.

In other great news: I found out my job is paying $1.25 LESS than it did last year. Awesome.

Despite the stressful and endless journey home, the sickness, and the ultimate bummer: the fact that I'm no longer in New Zealand, I'm still happy to be home, and I figure it can only go up from here.

Oh, and now that I've had the grand screening of my bungee video so that I could see my parents reactions in person, I'll try to upload it and post it here.

See ya!

Sketchy in Sydney

HOTEL MIRROR PIC

I am in a sweet as ballin' hotel in Sydney, Australia. Loving life.

Well now I'm loving life. I wasn't loving life earlier today when I had to leave Wellington. Let's just say: the cab driver who brought me to the airport offered me a tissue.

My hotel!

MY VIEW

All that and $50 worth of food: free :)
Shout out to the ash cloud.

* * *

So I just got back from wandering the sketchy ghetto-y streets of Sydney. I mean, Sydney isn't sketchy and ghetto-y, but no matter what city you're in, you don't wanna be wandering the streets outside of your hotel-near-the-airport at night by yourself, I don't think.

I was trying to meet up with Nick but I failed. I didn't get to the hotel until around 7:45, and I was supposed to meet him at the Opera House at 8. I was starving though and couldn't get through to him on the phone or on facebook, probably because he was already there waiting for me. I got settled in a little bit, ate something, and asked the front desk how to get to the Opera House. The directions seemed easy enough. I figured even if Nick had given up on me since I was so late, at least I'd still get to see some of Sydney. So I ventured out of the safe and warm hotel and into the streets. On a scale from 1 to sketchy, it was not a 1. I walked down this main drag for so long and never found the street I was supposed to turn off onto. Finally I decided I gave it enough effort, was too sketched out to continue, and turned around. Like two minutes later I saw the train go by in distance. So I changed my mind and didn't want to give up yet. I walked in the direction of the train, through a park. When the path I was on stopped being well lit, that's when I really gave up for good. The park was pretty well lit though so I found a bench by the water and sat on it for about two minutes trying to "enjoy" myself, but I was just wicked jumpy and scared.

On the walk back I saw a huge wild pelican swimming under a bridge I was crossing. GIGANTIC AUSTRALIAN PELICAN!

Here are some pictures of my Australian adventures. lol.

I'm bummed I didn't get to meet up with Nick but at least I gave it an honest effort.
Off to L.A. in the morning. Longest flight ever. I still can't believe this is all happening right now.

Now I will cry myself to sleep that I'm not in New Zealand anymore :(

A Night in Sydney

ASH CLOUD

So my last day in Wellington is coming to a close. But so much is going on I can barely focus on the fact that I'm leaving!

The ash cloud from the volcano in Chile has been messing up flights in New Zealand and Australia all week. Some airlines haven't had one flight come in or out at all. Virgin Airlines was looking fine up until they gave me a call today.

Instead of my flight looking like this:
Departure at 7:00am Friday the 17th
Wellington, NZ --to-- Brisbane, AU --to-- Los Angeles, CA --to-- New York, NY
Arrival at 7:00pm Friday the 17th
Get the shuttle to Hartford at 8:30pm
Get picked up in Hartford like 3 hours later by parents and pup and brought home.

It will instead look like this:
Departure at 4:00pm Friday the 17th
Wellington, NZ --to-- Sydney, AU
Stay in a hotel in Sydney for the night
Departure at 10:20am Saturday the 18th
Sydney, AU --to-- Los Angeles, CA
8 hour and 15 minute layover
Los Angeles, CA --to-- New York, NY
Arrival at 11:45pm on Saturday the 18th
No shuttles that late so I'm getting picked up by Brendan in NYC.

I am trying not to be bummed about this, and for the most part, I'm not. I get to stay in Australia and explore it a little (for free) which is sweet, and I've also never stayed in a hotel all by myself before so that's kind of fun. I'll have a big bed and a TV. I am pretty bummed that I don't get to experience like 40 straight hours of the same day. I would have left here at 7am on Friday and arrived home at 7pm the same day, after traveling for like 36 hours. I was actually pretty excited for that. I'm also kind of annoyed that I can't just get home and I have to drag out this big long trip for another whole day. It's kind of tough on the mental state. But I'm seeing the silver lining. I get to see my friend Nick who's studying abroad in Sydney, too. Which is wild. We're gonna meet up at the Opera House. One minute I thought I was going home to America, the next I'm meeting Nick at the Sydney Opera House at 8. This is my life.

So yes. Today was my last day and it was just a blur since I was all caught up in this flight stuff. I ate breakfast at Wholey Bagels next door, and then spent some time on campus finishing up my portfolio, getting it bound, and handing it in. It looks so professional! I spent a little time after that walking around town with Alexis as she shopped. It was a really nice day out. Came home around 4:00 and that's when the whirlwind began. We made our last trip to Burger Fuel for dinner in which I FEASTED on a huge burger, fries, AND a shake. Yumyumyum I'll miss you Burger Fuel. After that Alexis and I walked off some of the calories by the harbor and sat and admired the nighttime views.

I am going to miss so much about New Zealand it's unreal. Sophie asked me what I'm going to miss the most and I said she was going to think I was crazy but I think it would be the hills. The hills make everywhere have a magnificent view. A lot of houses in Wellington are basically made of windows because of this. It'd be a crime to live in a house with a wall blocking a Wellington view. There is a house by Oriental bay that has entire walls made of glass so you can see straight into their living room.
I'm also going to miss the harbor, the fact that it's a 10 minute walk away. I'll miss my spot at Oriental Bay. I'll probably miss walking through Parliament to get my groceries, even though I sometimes think it's a hassle when it needs to be done. Obviously I'll miss all my friends. I'll miss the big, square, yellow buses that are not intimidating to ride on. I'll miss the accents. As much as I complain about it, I'll miss the Stafford house. I'll miss the heck out of the Botanic Gardens and the fact that I can catch the cable car right up to them whenever I want. I'll miss being able to walk to any place I need to go, including rugby games and movies. I'll miss Verve cafe. The clear water, the mountains, the trees, the good air. I'll miss being a foreigner. I'll miss Courtenay Place and Cuba Street and Lambton Quay. I'll miss Tim Tams and pineapple lumps and peanut slabs. I won't even realize half the things I'll miss until I get home.

But now I don't feel like I'm going home. I'm distracted. I'm going to Australia, not home.
I can't believe this day is here. I really can't. It hasn't hit me. It's not going to hit me until I'm gone. Or at least in the taxi to the airport. Oh my god :(

Packed Up

:( :( :( :( :( :(

It was really easy to pack everything up, physically I mean. It all fit. Makes me think I am forgetting a ton of stuff, but that can't be possible. All my things are right here.

sad sad sad very sad.

* * *

So Tuesday, yesterday, I woke up at 8 to shower, get ready, and make that solo road trip to Castle Point. My shower was one of those showers where you don't want to get out because you know as soon as you do you're going to be freezing. I managed to get out eventually but I realized I was really tired and not in the mood to walk across town in the cold all by myself to find the rental car place, or figure out all those negotiations for the car, or fork over a ton of money just for a day trip. So I decided against it. I slept a little later instead, got a coffee and scone for breakfast and ate it by the water, then ventured over to my usual spot at Oriental Bay for what may have been the last time, hung out at Verve cafe for a bit with Alexis, and then later that night went to J.J. Murphy's to watch rugby and drink some beers with Boo. It was an average day, but I love average days when I'm living in Wellington, NZ. I'm sure it would have been phenomenal at Castle Point, the weather was great. I guess in the end I just didn't have the motivation to go alone.

Today I packed.
I'm sad to leave but the process of packing wasn't that sad. Just annoying. Packing is very annoying. It's done, though. Yipee! My room is barren :( So weird. I can't believe tomorrow is my last day here.

Sorry for the lack of exciting updates/pictures lately. I am just spending time with my friends and trying to soak in New Zealand as much as possible before I get shipped off. And once again, just like in the beginning, it feels like I can't open my eyes wide enough to see it all.

Here are a few more randoms. Enjoy.

Four Months in New Zealand

This is not how I thought I'd go out. I have been weirdly swamped with work. It's not the kind of swamped I feel at home when I have 4 papers to write and a presentation to finish and an exam to study for. I only had a few things to do. A few papers and one exam. I had grand plans to study and finish it all right away! Straying greatly from my procrastinator roots. But for some reason all the work stretched over so many of my days, and I just handed in my last paper today, with only three days left here in New Zealand. THREE DAYS. Oh my god. I still have to do a few finishing touches on my creative writing portfolio, get it bound, and deliver it to my teacher, too.

Speaking of my creative writing class (one of my favorite topics) I just checked my e-mail and got a nice message from one of my fellow creative writers wishing me safe travels and that she'll miss me at that party they're having this Friday. How nice of her to send that. Another reason why that class was my favorite class of all time.

So it's 1:00am and that officially means I have been in New Zealand for exactly four months... and a hell of a four months they've been.

I am truly truly truly sad to leave. It's starting to get real. Especially tonight when (after our pancake and VT maple syrup dinner) I asked Alexis what I should do and she said "well you could start packing.."

There are people at home I can't wait to see, and a job I really need to get back to, and a tan I need to get in that summer sun, but I still wish I didn't have to leave New Zealand. I spent so much time planning and anticipating this trip and now it's almost over. I never really thought about how it'd be over. All the friends I've made here are going to be scattered all over the WORLD in a couple more weeks. It's unreal. I'm going to miss it here so much.

On a happier note, if all goes as planned I am renting a car tomorrow morning and heading to Castle Point which I mentioned in my last post. Driving on the left for the last time.

Wahhhhh I can't stop thinking about how I have no time left here :(

Sorry for no pictures. Here's a few randoms.

SCULPTURE IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS
you stand in it and listen


JUMPIN' THE NEVIS ... 134 METERS!


EMILY AND I AT RIVENDELL DURING THE LORD OF THE RINGS TOUR

JUNE 9TH?!?!?

June 9th?!?! When did this happen!?!

So school is over and I thought I'd have a lot more time to do whatever I wanted, but I've been slaving away at my creative writing portfolio for days!!! I didn't expect for it to be THIS much work! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though! I'm going to finish tonight, write another paper/study for a final tomorrow, take the final Saturday, and have Sunday-Thursday do be freeeeee in New Zealand and do whatever I want.




Sara Alexis and I wanted to do the Tongariro Alpine crossing sometime during these two weeks off, but we underestimated our work load. We would have had to rent a car and stay in a hostel for that and I guess we just don't have time for it. We're also all very low on funds.


I might not give up on the road trip all together, though. I am hoping to visit Castlepoint sometime during those freedom days. It might be a solo trip though. Look how beautiful it looks! It might replace my favorite beach!!

I MUST GO

So instead of being depressed about all the things I "missed out on" during this trip (omg that makes me cringe) I'm just thinking of them as things left over to do next time I'm back.
-camp in Abel Tasman National Park
-hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
-see Milford Sound

MILFORD SOUND

I love New Zealand!!!!!!!!!!

Sara, Alexis and I took a tour of Parliament the other day. We live right next door to it so we figured it was about time. I thought it would be boring but necessary, but it turned out being really fun. It was about an hour long and mostly about the buildings themselves rather than the government. Parliament is an awesome place! I wasn't allowed to bring my camera. My favorite part was when they took us in the basement to look at the crazy earthquake shock system. The whole building of parliament is basically floating!

ALL THESE PICTURES ARE FROM GOOGLE. LOL.

Alright well it's time for a dinner break and then to finish my portfolio once and for all! Cheers!

P.S. I changed the name of the blog to Down Underer, because that is more accurate. I doesn't have the same ring to it, though. I might change it back.

Belated birthday shout out to my fellow study abroader and Pig Hunter SARA CRISP!!!!!! Happy Birthday!!!! (again)

Swimming in the South Pacific

I finally crossed off "jumping off the wharf" from my Wellington to-do list. Granted it was 3:00am, raining, and in the middle of "winter." I think it was perfect timing.

Funnest night in Wellington since I've got here. And that's sayin' something.

No pictures of the event exist, but here is where we jumped: