I arrived a day earlier than most of the people on my study abroad program so the first day I wandered the city trying to get my bearings. It didn't work... I still don't really know where I am going and I walk around with a map since my phone in New Zealand looks like my very first phone - no google maps for me! Its a stupid phone and very very far from a smart phone. That night I had dinner down on the harbor with some other people who also arrived early. It was not a bad place to be!
The second day I moved in to where I will be staying for the semester. There was a short orientation in the morning and a group lunch, then it was time to go buy all the things we could not stuff into our suitcases, and some storage units for the rooms. Everything in Auckland is pretty much on one main road, Queen street. You either walk up it or down it, as in uphill or downhill. I prefer down. A group of us had bought extra Ikea type storage and had to put it on a cart and push it up Queen street to where we live. It was quite a sight, and we had to bring the cart back down Queen street to get our ID's back from the store. If our accents did not already give us away as Americans, these shenanigans sure did.
My third day was a little less walking but I had to put together the storage units and that was a job in and of itself. I now know for sure that I will never be a carpenter! That night we had a group dinner in a restaurant that had lamps and chairs hanging upside down from the ceiling. All the restaurants in Auckland have very unique and cool atmospheres.
Monday was the first day of classes and in the afternoon a bunch of us went to the school club fair where I signed up for the canoeing club, tramping (hiking) club, and photography club. I felt like a freshman again because everything was so new and exciting. Here is the release form I signed for the canoe club (its really rafting). Read it all the way through, it will make you day. Just another day in New Zealand...
When it came time to go to my first class I had to give myself an hour because I had no idea where I was going and I got lost and had to ask for directions twice, which for me is not too bad. I think the most interesting thing I learned was that classes are actually called papers here. That one took me a minute to figure out and I was a little confused at first. I still wonder what they call papers for their classes... There a few sayings that have caught me off guard. I think the best one was when some said to me "sweet as", which means cool. However, my response was "sweet as what?" They just stared...
Today I had two more classes and had to figure out buying books, which is infinity more complicated here because they are not all in one place. But I have officially figured out how to get to all my classes and I am starting to get back into the groove of school again, just on the other side of the world. More to come after the weekend!
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