The Start of Something Good...

So I'm finally all settled in to New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud. I don't know if I've ever had such a great first impression of a country- even in the pouring, freezing rain. The country is absolutely beautiful- not only the landscape and scenery, but the people are great, the attitude fits mine perfectly, and their outlook on life is such a fresh of breath air! The fact that they were the first country to give women the right to vote made me guess they'd be different, but I didn't realize how much so. When Kate told us that citizens never want to hear about politicians' private lives, etc. I was so.... excited? I love how everyone here loves their country too- I know that I'm not exactly gung-ho America, and I know lots of other people feel that way. However, Kiwis truly appreciate their country, as they should. They definately sense America kind of invading and infiltrating their citys and towns, and they don't like it- as they shouldn't! My orientation leaders threatened to kick us off the trip if we ever went into a Starbucks. That's my girls!

Anyways, back to my program.... when we arrived in Auckland, my luggage failed to show up. Somehow I knew that was going to happen, especially after almost missing the connecting flight in LA! The goal of that first day was to keep us all awake until 8 pm to get over the jet lag. We walked around the city for a while and checked out where the America's Cup races took place in 2003, and got some lunch etc. Then we drove to a beach and a big extinct volcano and walked around there. Afterwards, we went to this Underwater World and got to check out some sharks, penguins, sting rays and the like. It was a lot of fun... then we went to a "gourmet pizza place" for dinner and had everyone's first beers (excpet for Fran and I, who hit up a bar during our lunch break in the city).

The next day we took the bus to Rotorua, a small tourist town south from Auckland. On the way we stopped in Hobbiton- the place where the Shire in the Lord of the Rings was filmed. Then we went to the Agrodome where we saw a farm show, and then to Rainbow Springs to see trout, kiwi and tuatara. The bus then took us to our hotel, which was waaaay nicer than the one we stayed at in Auckland! We finally got a break from the orientation and got to explore the place on our own. A group of us went and got some dinner, and then we all met up at some hot springs which were right next to the hotel. They were sick! They were natural (and smelled horrible- like sulfur) and there were pools at all different temperatures. The fact that they were labeled in Celsius didn't help though. After the pools a bunch of us went to a pub to watch the All Blacks rugby game. They lost unfortunately, and we called it a pretty early night.

On Sunday we took the bus to a geothermal park and watched the Lady Knox geyser erupt. I was expecting it to be this great big natural thing, but they dude just threw some soap in it and the whole thing erupted! Kinda cool, but kind of a let down as well. The bus then took us back to the hotel and we got a few hours to get some lunch. Then we took the bus to a zorbing park. Zorbing is basically getting inside a MASSIVE plastic clear ball (probably about 12 feet in diameter) with two other people, filling it with warm water, and rolling down a big hill. Only in New Zealand, right? Because the government pays for so much, basically no one ever sues. That leads to a lot more cool activities! Unfortunatley it was raining that day, and FREEZING, so standing around outside afterwards was tough. That night we went to a Maori Village and experienced a traditional Maori welcome- it was nuts! I thought it was really cool- what a crazy, awesome culture. I hope to learn more about them while I'm here. After getting back to the hotel, a group of us chilled in the lobby and drank from the bar until like 1:30 am- our latest yet! It was great though, because we all got to know each other a lot better. We have a really great group, it sucked to have to leave a bunch of them in Wellington!

So that brings me to Dunedin, where my school is. We didn't get in until about 3 in the morning, so waking up for international student orientation at 9 was not easy. When I woke up I met the other guy living in my flat, Derek. He seems really cool- he's from Denver and he is SUPER into snowboarding. I hope that he remains as cool as he seems at the point. My other flatmate is Chad, who is a hilarious guy. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun together- we're already calling ourselves a married couple.

The past few days I've basically been shopping for necessary (and unecessary) stuff, hanging out with new friends, and registering for classes. I don't have a whole lot left to say- I'm not used to "blogging" and I'm about all blogged-out. More later though!