Best Friends Down Under

Three of my best friends from home decided to make the journey and visit me here in New Zealand and though we didn't leave Auckland, we managed to have quite the adventures. Morgan arrived on Friday morning and we spent the day exploring Queen Street. Morgan was introduced to her first Miss Higgins cookie and fell in love. At night one of my friends here had rented out a VIP room at a club called Pyramid so Morgan and I went out on the town. She had her first Scrumpy, which is a hard cider that costs about $10 so it's very popular among the NZ students. We didn't do much on Saturday and then on Sunday Caitlin arrived to join us. We walked down to Britomart and caught a bus down to Mission Bay since it was a nice day out, not nice enough to lay out but nice enough to enjoy the beauty of a beach. Monday and Tuesday I went to Hamilton to visit a friend one last time, but the girls came back to Auckland and took a ferry to Devonport. On Wednesday one of my friends here was having a day party, so Caitlin, Elly and I went to K'Road to explore some shops, pick up some alcohol for games and then got Morgan and joined the party. It was a very fun day and afterwards we went out to town to enjoy some of the "not-so-classy-but-fun-clubs" on a Wednesday night. We had a lot of fun, however, waking up to let Reann in at 9am on Thursday was not so fun. We went to the Auckland Zoo that afternoon and Caitlin certainly enjoyed the giraffes. Later that night we went to the Ice Bar, which is a bar made of ice and you receive a complementary drink among paying the entrance fee. It was a lot of fun, and we continued to venture off to other bars and dance the night away. Friday we took a ferry to Waiheke with some of my guy friends who know a cop that lives there. We just stayed with him and enjoyed hanging out at his place because the weather was icky. The next morning, the girls tried their first pies. Morg, Reann and I ordered a potato top pie which was a mince pie with mashed potatoes covering it, and Caitlin tried the butter chicken pie. We enjoyed ours much more than Caitlin did, but it was an experience to say the least. After we took a ferry back to Auckland, we started to get ready for the Paint Party on Saturday night. We wore all white and by the end of the night were covered with a mixture of colors. It was an interesting experience, but the crowd had a few dodgy people. Sunday I had to work on my paper due for Wednesday, but Morgan and Caitlin went and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Sky Tower. We had planned to go to Taupo with my roommate Elly, Monday through Wednesday, but due to some complications, we ended up staying in Auckland. Monday we went to watch the sunset at Mt. Eden, but unfortunately the cloudy skies made it hard to see. The girls still enjoyed seeing the view from there, even if it was quite the hike. The next two days were spent just hanging out and going out but nothing too note worthy. The girls left on Thursday morning, while I forced myself to study for my exam that I just finished. I am so grateful to have had my best friends be able to make the trip and though some days we did nothing, it was such a fun time. My parents arrive on Sunday and then it's a week of traveling, then back to the States.