First Two Days in Auckland.


<--Me at the airport in Fiji.

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 we got inside the terminal we were greeted by Fijian musicians singing welcome songs and then they moved over to the gates and sang farewell songs. The terminal isn't very big at all so there wasn't much walking we could do but we still enjoyed Fiji for the 4 hours we were there.

The flight from Fiji to Auckland seemed pretty easy on United Airlines. Lunch was pretty good :) Landed in Auckland around 2:20pm local time. We were picked up by a driver sponsored by the Univeristy. There was another foreign exchange student from China in our van and the driver had a good sense of humor. Got to my homestay around 4pm and was welcomed by my host parents (John and Jill) and my "foreign exchange sister" Salina (a student from China).

John and Jill have a cat, Thomas, very lazy cat. After some tea and chatting we had some Indian spiced grilled chicken, rice salad, and salad haha. We were eating out on the deck with a great view of the hilly area but it started to sprinkle a bit and 5 minutes later it was sunny again -- much like Michigan weather. I tried to get used to the local time a lot easier by making myself stay awake til 10:30pm local time...so about 4:30am back home.

Slept a nice 9.5 hours and watched some rugby on TV while John and Jill were at church. When they got back we went to the local shopping mall and I got my money exchanged from USD to NZD, then bought a cell phone for local use and a converter to plug in my computer and other appliances. It is now 3:35pm and the sun is shining and tomorrow is my 20th birthday AND first day of orientation!!

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