First day of class

Hello again! Since the last time I updated I have

a) Gone to the beach
b) Properly unpacked
c) Attended my first lecture (Greek Mythology)
d) Found bubble tea and yummy food places!

We went to the beach on Saturday (the 26th) with a big group of international students and one girl from New Zealand. It was about an hour away, at Wanganui, here's a map for those of you who are interested:

Cool right? It was a pretty dismal day when we got there but eventually it heated up and the sun came out. First we went to a farmer's market where a lot of us got super delicious crepes and then sampled free goat cheese and other stuff. I didn't take any pictures of that, which is a shame, as a lot of the food here is really delicious. Then we went to this lookout point where we could see the whole city. Pictures!

First we went through this elevator that was built into the hill, Lonely Planet said we should go, and we were not too keen on walking up all of those stairs. There's a little dude I saw on the way to the elevator, weird, right?

 This is us as we went into the elevator. That's Tifah closes to me and Michelle getting excited.

 Once we had made it down the creepy echo-y hallway.

 Yay elevator!

 Me inside the elevator. It was far less sketchy than we were expecting.

 That's the war memorial lookout thing that we climbed up. Almost 200 stairs I think.

 Lookout of the town and the river.

 Once we made it to the beach! Eventually it was a bit sunnier. The cliffs are made of clay, so they fall down pretty easily. A nice Kiwi told us that and that the tide was coming in so we should move before we had to swim back. Nice guy.

 My feet in the ocean.

 This was before the guy told us it was a bad idea to wander along the beach.

 Once the sun came out!

 Classic me shot, thumbs up and squinty.

 Then we went to this reserve place, apparently they had kiwis but they're nocturnal so it didn't really matter. They had fences and stuff around the property to keep out predators.

 The house that's on the property. It's from 1906.

 Pretty flowers were everywhere, we decided to go for a walk along the grounds rather than stay in the garden area.

 Tree hugging, another classic.

 Cows! Moo! They were really cute and kind of afraid of us. Pity.

After all of this we went back into town to get food. We didn't eat here, but I was shocked to see another Magic Wok existed. Shout out to the 865 for sure. 

Just got back from my math and history class. Math went as expected, I should probably review some so I don't look like a complete fool tomorrow if he asks us questions, but whatever. Aside from math, most of my classes seem pretty easy, just two essays each and a final. Final exams here count for 60% of our grade, so that's kind of stressful. It's been a pretty calm day otherwise. 

Earthquake?

There's been a pretty big earthquake in Christchurch earlier today, it's quite strange because I've met a lot of people from there. Right now the death count is 65 people, it's really sad.

Today we had team building exercises with the first years on campus. Everyone I met thought it was super random that I was studying math. Also, they told me I was really old. Ironic how everyone in Asheville thinks I'm really young and then once I'm here I'm old. Figures. So basically we played dodge ball and other games like that with our assigned orientation teams. After that most of the students went to learn about adjusting to university, I skipped that because I figure I've already learned how. Everyone I met thought it was awesome that I'm from the US, though most of them have never heard of Tennessee. Did I mention how people say "Sweetas" all the time? Maybe it's "sweet as". It means "great" or some other form of positive assent. Hrm, I keep thinking they're saying sweet ass, maybe I'll just go with that.

Nothing else too exciting going on right now. Tomorrow I'm going into town to find books maybe and then a good place for lunch (possibly bubble tea). I'm already getting more tan (yes!) which reminds me that I need to get sunscreen. There's no ozone here, I guess, so the sun is super strong.

I'm going to read I think. I hope everyone is doing well!

Orientation

Today we had our first day of orientation and it was sooo busy. We started at 10 and ended around 7. We did, however, tour the farms around campus. Apparently there are about 5000 acres of farmland surrounding Massey where they have lots of teaching arenas for the pre-vet students. We also saw some sheep (classic) and a rotary milking machine (first developed by Massey). Here are some pictures! I'm still trying to meet new people and find a core group of friends, but it's hard since the semester hasn't started yet. I still haven't met a Kiwi my age, so I'm really wanting locals to get back to school so I'm not just hanging out with Americans in New Zealand.

 I thought it was appropriate that my first picture in New Zealand is of cows. 

 It's like a continuous milking machine. Crazy.

 Those are filled with wool.

 Baa

 These are the hybrid sheep.

Do you see the dog?

Welcome to New Zealand

Hello all. Today I made the 28 hour or so journey to New Zealand! Luckily there was only one delay (courtesy of Delta, as usual) but that didn't keep me from making my flight. I was pretty nervous right before leaving the country, but some encouraging words from the wonderful people in my life made it much easier. It was in the San Francisco airport where I first began hearing the accents from local Kiwis, it was so exciting. After touching down in Auckland I went through customs and then moved to the domestic terminal of the airport. We boarded the plane without going through any sort of security, it was strange having an airport that trusted you. Once we touched down in Palmerston North the real information overload began: campus maps, meal plan information, keys to residence halls, etc. I met a few girls that were on the same flight as me and they are super nice. One of them, Ashley, went with me to go shopping for towels, hangers, and that sort of stuff. We went to Kmart! Can you believe it? Maybe that's how Kmart stays in business, they're just popular in other countries. We then came back to get dinner at the dining hall and I'm pleased to admit it's pretty good. I would have a better update, but I still haven't slept and I'm very tired, I've almost been awake for two(ish) days, so I think I'll sleep.


Things of note: Yield signs here say "Give Way"
Most of the people in my dorm are grad students
There are lots of ducks on campus
No squirrels!

Beginning of the trip!

I leave tomorrow at 8 in the morning to drive to Atlanta to begin my trip! I just finished packing and my bag is a few pounds under the limit weight. Not sure how that's going to work on my way back, but I'll deal with that later. Hope everyone is well! I'll update more once I have things to relay...