Changes in Latitudes

So as of today (February 28, 2009), I have been in New Zealand for a week! I'm loving it here. My hosts are great, I love walking everywhere, I'm making more friends, and I'm getting to know downtown Auckland fairly well. Thursday night was "Pub Night" for the international students at the Uni at the Globe Bar downtown. I bumped into a fellow American on my way there; Hunter from Winston-Salem, NC. There were a few little competitions for prizes and one featured dressing up to represent your country. Americans took bronze and gold and a Brazilian girl took silver. The guy who won first place turned out not even being an American but he fooled all of us in his cowboy outfit. I made a few friends there as well who are from the UK, the Neatherlands, and Germany. Today is Saturday, 12:28PM local time. Starting last night we began getting leftover weather from a cyclone. We had rain last night and there's wind gusts up to 120 km/h. The weather report said it is su...

It's Fat Tuesday here in New Zealand so right now I'm listening to some New Orleans music from back home and my hosts made pancakes for dessert. The way they prepare the pancakes is with sugar and lemon. The pancakes are thin so you sprinkle some sugar on top and then some lemon juice and roll it up. Tastey rendition to my usual slapjack! We always manage to make dinner last at least an hour and a half long, which helps me not feel like such a slow eater compared to back home. Everyone is so relaxed and has no worries. It even began sprinkling but that didn't seem to bother John and Jill at all; they just lauged it off. I had to be up this morning at 7am in order to catch the 8am bus downtown for day 2 of orientation. We were welcomed once again with a Maori tradition getting called in by two women singing back and forth to each other from across the lawn. It began raining a little, but I was safe under a tent. An old Maori man spoke to us...however, it was all in Maori so ...

Today was the first day of International Student Orientation. Woke up in time to catch the bus at 8:30 this mo rning and it was a nice 45 minute commute to the Uni by bus (it's fairly expensive so I have to get a student discounted bus pass soon). A girl from South Africa got on the bus shortly after me and we became quick friends; her name is Ashley. We were welcomed by the Vice Chancellor and then Maori students from a local grammar school did a haka variation...the coolest thing I have seen here in New Zealand so far, and it will be hard to top! There were so many students; a mixture of International and Post-Grads. We moved into a building for "tea," which was just a variation of orange juice and some pastries. Lisa and I mingled with the students and met a Chinese girl and a guy from Greece. We then were instructed to proceed into a huge lecture hall..much larger than the halls at GVSU. There was a brief introduction and then the lady leading the orientation took a t...

I have decided that I am bad luck when it comes to cars. John and Jill decided it would be nice to drive Salina and I to our schools to take a look and we got just outside downtown Auckland when the car broke down! [I will note that I was not driving the car and all I did was sit in the back seat and buckle up.] The car engine started to overheat and John said that they just had the car in the shop just 4 days ago. John called a "towie" and got the car towed back home but only he could fit in the truck so the 3 of us girls (Jill, Salina, and I) waited about an hour to catch the next bus home. I am convinced that I am a jinx when it comes to cars now.

Auckland city skyline.--> So here I am. It is day 2 here in Auckland, New Zealand. I flew out from Detroit, MI on February 19th at noon and got to New Zealand on February 21st at 3pm (New Zealand time). The flight from Detroit to Los Angeles was 4.5 hours long; then from L.A. to Fiji was 11 hours (I think); and another 3 hours from Fiji to Auckland. I had an 8-hour layover in L.A., so Lydia picked me and Lisa up and we got to experience L.A. traffic and a cool fast food place called "In and Out." -- if you do go there, try "animal style." Blair also lives in the area so he skipped class and we picked him up. It was so cool hanging out with them for the short time we were in California. I can see myself living there; it's so nice! Bula! (Fiji greeting) We landed in Fiji around 6am local time. When we got off the plane we were temporarily outside. It's very humid but felt so nice compared to chilly Michigan. When ...

A bird's eye view of Auckland, New Zealand.