Rainy Day Activities

Yesterday Laura, Nina, Katie, Sarah and I decided to go to the Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. We were so excited because there is a free shark bus that takes you there, but unfortunately the bus was full so we had to walk down to Britomart (the main bus/train station in Auckland) and catch a not free bus. We were still excited though because we were going to see penguins and sharks and I have only ever been to one Aquarium before. It was definitely a cool thing to see but it was a very short experience and may not have been worth the $25, however, you only live once and I'm only in Auckland once (well we'll see...) and it was on the list of things to do while here. We did have fun taking pictures in a shark mouth and also seeing the different aquatic life animals that are special to New Zealand. Also, because it was raining there wasn't much else to do instead. After the Aquarium we decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch at a pub that claims to have the Best Fish N Chips in Auckland, I didn't order them due to my lack of interest in fish, but the other girls said they were the best they've had here, so I'm sure I'll have to take my mom and dad there when they visit. While we were enjoying our lunch the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building, this happened not once, but twice! Though it wasn't fun standing in the rain while the firemen came, it made for an interesting twist to our afternoon. My camera had died after the aquarium so I was unable to snap pictures of the firemen but it was quite the site to see.

I found Nemo!

Random Day

Today Lauren and I decided to do something fun for our Thursday of no class (well not until 6pm for me) and we definitely had one interesting day. We originally planned on going to the beach but due to the windy weather we decided to pass on that. We started our day walking down queen street and decided to have lunch with a homeless person, Lauren likes doing good deeds like this and I needed to do a selfless act for one of my classes. We had our friend Taylor join us just to be safe. We started our homeless scouting and found a man digging through the trash and figured he would be a great pick, but by the time we chased him down he already had lunch, so we had to continue looking for someone else in need of food. We found a man sitting on the street drawing pictures and he had a sign saying homeless and hungry so we decided that he would be a great choice. We introduced ourselves, his name was Andy, then we went to Subway and got him a sandwich, we then sat with him and enjoyed our lunch. He had some interesting stories and it felt good to do something nice for a stranger in need. Once lunch was finished we got the best cookies ever from Miss Higgins since Taylor had never gotten one, and we walked back home. Lauren and I decided we would attempt to go to the beach because the sun was now out, but after we walked FOREVER to the bus stop we changed our mind. On our way back, Lauren embarrassed herself by shouting "Whooo Indiana" to a lady who was wearing an Indiana sweatshirt. The lady looked at us strangely, then once we told her we were from the States, we had an awkward small talk ending with Lauren shouting "Go Midwest!" as we were walking away. It was definitely one of those "had to be there" kind of moments but the situation definitely made my day. :)

Weekend in Hamilton

Friday night, Kristine, Sarah and I took a four hour bus ride to a town that is an hour and a half away to visit our friend Nicole for the weekend. Our bus driver was a crazy one and managed to hit a sign on our way there. We were suppose to go to a rugby game while we were there, between the Chiefs and the Crusaders but Nicole had her information wrong so instead we had a very mellow weekend. Her Kiwi friends enjoyed making fun of our accents and taught us new New Zealand slang words and corrected us on ones we had previously been using wrong. One exciting thing did happen though, while we were out on the town on Saturday night we met an All Blacks player, Mils Muliaina, at the pub Shenanigans and took a picture with him. He was not very keen on taking the picture until we said we were Americans. (works every time) Now, we survived an only 2 hour bus ride back and are safe in Auckland for another week of school and new adventures.

Sister Time

Richelle arrived in New Zealand on the 5th of March and our adventures began. We were not planning on going out that night because she was tired and I had went out the night before for Laura's birthday and wasn't up for another night, but one of the RA's was having a party so we figured we would stop by. The room was crowded and hot, but Richelle enjoyed it because it reminded her of the college dorm party days. At this party, the guys I hang out with play this game called Finger Cup, which is this extremely scary and gross game which consists of everyone pouring their alcoholic beverage into a single cup and the loser has to drink the combination of the drinks (imagine beer, wine, hard alcohol and different mixers in one drink - thats the gross part, the scary part is the game itself on if you will win or lose) ....Richelle was that lucky loser who got to drink the cup. The people we were with wanted to go out to the clubs, and though we had not intended to, we went out and had a very fun night on the town with plenty of dancing. We didn't do much on Sunday, but later we went out for a nice dinner at Waterfront down in the viaduct. Monday I had class and Richelle watched some One Tree Hill episodes, and when I returned we went to Mount Eden for the sunset. Later that night, along with Tuesday were my birthday celebrations so I won't repeat all that, but it did really make me happy that Richelle was here for my 21st. Wednesday was our lazy day of recuperation and school for me, but Thursday we took a bus down to the Sounds of Sun Music Festival. It was such a beautiful day and a fun event. On Friday, we went to the Sky Tower, which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Though it was a short experience, it was beautiful to see Auckland from the highest point possible, besides an airplane. We also captured pictures of Mount Eden, since when we went to Mount Eden we captured the Sky Tower. After we left the Sky Tower, I was hungry and though all I really wanted was Taco Bell, we managed to find a Mexican Cafe. The food was pretty good, but no Vejars or Cafe Coyote and unfortunately not Taco Bell either. I also ordered my first legal Cadillac Margarita but was slightly disappointed. When we returned to the apartments I needed to work on homework, but Richelle went with Lauren to the Auckland Domain to see the gardens, it beat having to watch tv while I worked. Friday night was the Foam Party, which I must say was one of my most fun nights here. It was so much fun covering everyone in foam, and though Richelle had a Stage 5 Clinger following her, she still managed to have a good time. On Saturday we went to the Pasifika Festival and got matching sister bracelets and Sunday we went to Devonport so Richelle could get a little more color before returning to the States. We were planning on doing Karaoke on Sunday night, but due to everyone being sick or tired, we watched a movie instead, and stayed up until her shuttle came to pick her up at 3:30 am. I was so happy to have Richelle here and though there were times that the small, cramped and uncomfortable space caused some sister bickering, I wish she could have stayed longer. I felt as if I was not able to show her as good of time as I should have, but I hope she enjoyed herself here as much as I did.

Mount Eden from Sky Tower

Nervous about Mexican Cafe

FOAM PARTY

Devonport

Birthday Celebrations

On the eve of my birthday a group of us went to Mount Eden to watch the sunset for a routine Mount Eden Mondays, and afterwards a few came back to my room for my midnight celebration. I have met such amazing people while being in New Zealand and I am so grateful for the friends that I have gained through this experience. The girls that I have been hanging out with here include Kristine, Lauren, Laura, Nina, Sarah, Rebecca and Katie plus there is Nicole who went to the South Island, but due to the earthquake is now in Hamilton. (hour away from Auckland) Each of these girls have helped make my experience here more enjoyable and also my birthday one to remember. They all showed up at midnight and sang Happy Birthday even though most of them were quite tired, they left shortly after but it was a great start to my 21st. I woke up on my birthday day next to my lovely sister, Richelle and we started our adventures by making breakfast and mimosas. All of the girls along with a few guys I hang out with as well came over to share in the festivities. After breakfast a few of us went to Mission Bay to soak up the sun and continue to celebrate my birthday. It was my first time at Mission Bay beach. Later, we ordered 4 pizzas (we only needed 3) and everyone (guys and girls) came over to help me celebrate. Nicole had taken a bus to Auckland in order to celebrate my birthday with me even though she had class early Wednesday morning. Lauren and Kristine had bought me giant straws because they know how much I love to drink from them, along with a 'Birthday Girl' crown and a boa. Laura had gotten me the perfect hangover kit, a water bottle with advil attached and clever advice on the bottle to consider now that I am 21. So many people showed up to party and made my birthday that much better. I am so lucky to have been able to celebrate my 21st with such amazing people. I miss everyone at home and wish that my best friends could have been with me as well, but all in all I had a great birthday!

 

First Week of Class

Classes started on Monday and I have officially completed my first week at AUT, my schedule seems to be a good one, no too early of classes and no Fridays, which will make traveling on weekends easier but unfortunately my Thursday night class lasts until 9. I was originally signed up to do an internship as well as take two classes, but I decided to drop the internship and take up two more classes instead to benefit me more in the long run. The lady I was working for during the internship was really nice, but the work was extremely boring and did not interest me at all, so now I am taking 4 classes at AUT. I am taking 3 business classes and 1 class for a core requirement at USD. Besides just going to my classes and internship this week, there have also been lots of activities that AUT campus life has put on. Every day they BBQ food for free, its usually sausages and hamburgers (if they can really be considered a hamburger, I am convinced its not real beef) and also potatoes for the vegetarians, which I obviously pretended I was a time or two. There has been a carnival one night, where my dinner consisted of free popcorn and cotton candy. On Wednesday there was Bitchin' Bingo with a very interesting host and the group I sat with won 5 out of the 10 games, unfortunately I did not win. Last night was a free concert, some drum and bass band called Concord Dawn, it was definitely not my type of music but we tried to get the head bobbing dance moves down, however according to a Kiwi (New Zealander) we were with, we failed at the dancing but managed to keep him entertained.
This week was pretty boring compared to the last 3 but Richelle arrives tomorrow so I'm sure there will be many more exciting adventures ahead :)