Amazing weekend! :)

This is my last bit of procrastination before getting back to the grind and preparing for a demanding week of school. Yes, I do actually go to school, and we DO actually have work... I might just now be realizing that.

This was one of the best weekends I've had so far in NZ, and I certainly wasn't expecting it to be. We'd all been getting kind of bogged down - homesick, tired of the same group of people and a little bit of drama. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and expand my horizons a little this weekend, and I'm so glad I did.


On Friday I went to an Auckland Blues rugby game with my friends Hunter and Dean. Dean's a Kiwi, and Hunter's an American - I met them both through a friend who studied here last semester. They go to University of Auckland, the "other" uni here. I hung out with the boys all day, bar-hopping, and then we met up with a group of backpackers and took the train to the game. I can't say I understand much about rugby, but it was fun to watch everyone else get into it, and nice to see the stadium. We ended the night at what's probably the nicest Denny's in the world... not an incredibly competitive field, but it was nice to get pancakes and hashbrowns and feel like an American.

Saturday, my friend Kacey (a fellow Trojan) rented a van, and 9 of us piled in for the drive to Piha beach, about 40 minutes away from Auckland. It was a beautiful beach, and one of the best (but also most dangerous) for surfers. We rented a few boards and took turns fighting the waves. There was a huge rock formation, called Lion Rock, that we climbed up for great views, and the sunset was really amazing. The sky was so blue, even after the sun went down, and looked great against the pink clouds. It was a relaxing and refreshing day, and no one wanted to come back to the city.

Today has been less productive than expected... but I have a long week or two of schoolwork ahead of me, before the 2-week midsemester break. I got a lovely care package from ADPi that warmed my heart. Miss you all!!!

Catching up...

Sorry Mom, that it's been so long since I updated... the school weeks fly by here, and we try to catch up on either traveling or resting throughout the weekends. Two weekends ago, 5 of us girls took a roadtrip to the Coromandel Peninsula, just a few hours from Auckland. It was our first experience driving in NZ - Beth handled the driving quite well - and our first attempt at beach-camping in NZ. The latter didn't work out as well. We met up with another group of Australearners who had staked out a camping spot (camping-prohibited, actually) on Cook's Beach, so we set up tents and thought it would be a beautiful place to wake up to. I'm sure it would have, if it hadn't been pouring down rain when we woke up! Our tents had puddles in them, and trying to take down and pack up in the rain just got everything sandy and soaking. Camping fail, but it was funny.


We drove around without much to do for a while, since our plan had been hiking and beaching for the weekend. At the visitors' center in Whitianga, we read about a spa called the Lost Spring, with warm-water pools outside. Three of us went to spoil ourselves at the pools, then spread out like homeless people inside the spa, using their showers and drying our clothes under the hand dryers. We felt pretty fabulous afterwards.

We decided we weren't hardcore enough to attempt camping again, what with all of our things still being wet, so we booked two rooms at a hostel, rented bikes, and explored the area some. The rain had let up and it was nice to explore the little beach town. We woke up the next day to some pretty clear weather, and hiked to Cathedral Cove (where Chronicles of Narnia was filmed). We went to Hot Water Beach after that, which is a really cool area with hot springs underneath the sand, just a few feet away from the ocean at low tide. You can rent spades and dig your own jacuzzi. We were less talented at this, and dug until a group left their pool, so we stole it. It was crazy - the water was either boiling hot, or cold. Nice to relax, but pretty muddy!



Last weekend was pretty chill - we went to the beach on Saturday, and watched Kenneth, our academic advisor, perform with his band at a pub that night. We've been to two of their shows and they're pretty good, although quite the odd mix of 30-something men. Sunday a big group of us went to One Tree Hill, which is about half an hour bus ride from downtown Auckland. It's a huge park, with fields of sheep, trees, areas for picnics and grilling, and a big hill in the middle, with an obelisk and amazing views. We hiked to the top --- conveniently my camera battery died when we got there, so I'll have to go back and take pictures, but it was nice to be able to just take everything in without trying to capture it on camera. It was a beautiful place, and really fun with bikers, runners, dogwalkers, all hanging out in the same convenient area. Definitely taking my mom there when she comes to visit.


Not up to much this weekend, besides thinking about the few projects I have coming up. Probably staying in to do HOMEWORK, which has been a pretty foreign concept so far in NZ. Getting excited for my mom, Luika, and Gayle to visit in two weeks! Planning a trip to the South Island, which should be amazing. Starting to miss a lot of things from home, but I know the time I'm here will fly by and soon enough I'll be back to the grind in LA. xoxo, m

Just some pictures of my life...

Bubbling hot springs in Rotorua














View of Auckland skyline















AUT Tower (part of my campus) with the Skytower on a foggy day
















Cathedral Cove, where Narnia was filmed

surf surf surf nom nom nom

My title basically sums up what we've been doing over the past couple of weeks: adventure (i.e. surfing) and EATING! Wayyy too much eating, but hey, we're on vacation :)
My friend Mandy and I have been on a sushi bender lately (my total was 7 times in 7 days, and the count should start again this week), and we've also discovered a favorite gelato spot with interesting flavors. Combine that with immersing ourselves in the culture of fish and chips, kabobs, White Lady (= Chano's in Auckland) late at night, and the pizza place right downstairs from our flat... well, it's good Auckland is hilly and we do a lot of walking!



In between eating, we do manage to get some exercise. On Saturday a big group of us went for a day-long surf school. It was at a beautiful beach with some pretty big waves. All I really learned is that I am NOT cut out to be a surfer... but I'll be in really great shape if I keep trying! We're still sore from the day of trying to fight against the waves. It was hard and exhausting but a lot of fun.



We went on a free trip to the beach with our apartments on Sunday - Takapuna, a beach I hadn't been to yet. The water and scenery was beautiful, but the beach was full of seaweed. I was also EXTREMELY sunburned (yep, suffered my first NZ sunburn from surfing), so I hid under clothing for most of the day. It takes such a short time to get burned here... apparently there's a hole in the ozone layer over NZ. Skin cancer...my kind of country. We also went out to brunch when we got to Takapuna (we'd been talking about good breakfast food for weeks) and had probably the best meal I've had here so far. I had a smoked salmon scrambler on a croissant, and the other girls got eggs benedict, french toast, and a mediterranean breakfast...mmm...

Last week was sort of a joke of a first week of school. One of my classes (called papers, here) didn't start until this week, and my tutorial didn't meet. I only had class on Monday and Tuesday, then proceeded to have a five-day weekend. Which I could definitely get used to. We shopped some, slept a lot, and hoped school wouldn't get any harder. This week I definitely had more class, and although they're probably easier than classes in the US, I will have my work cut out for me. Most of the grading here is based on projects and a final exam, so you really have to keep up to avoid cramming at the end. All the teachers expect around 10 hours a week of studying from us outside of class - ahh!

I had my first computer science tutorial today, and to my surprise I LOVED it. The teacher is a jolly old man from Britain who is really more interested in our learning in general than the tech stuff we're supposed to know. I do already have 500 words due... but just about me and my learning style. He really engages us and likes participation, and I'm in a class full of first-years, so I think I'll be ok!

We're heading out to Coromandel Peninsula this weekend, so I will update and post pics after that! xoxo

We forgot we came here for school...

This may not come as a surprise to many of you, considering we often forget we're at school when we're at USC, but I've been out of school for so long, doing so many fun things, that it was a weird reality check when we woke up yesterday morning and had to go to CLASS!  Luckily the class schedule isn't too demanding -- I only had one class yesterday, a nutrition class that I think will be really interesting.  Today I don't start til 1.  I'm taking a Maori leadership class that comes highly recommended, and an International Business class this evening.  On Weds and Thurs I have the lecture and discussion section for my Computer Science class... ahh.  We'll see how that goes!  

So the actual time you're in class isn't a lot at all, but all of our teachers apparently expect TEN HOURS A WEEK of work outside of class.  For each class.  That's a lot.  My mom seems to think that's normal for college kids, but I certainly haven't done that throughout my educational career yet...

Some other exciting things that have happened since I've been here, that I didn't really mention before: the program introduction in Rotorua was really fun and a really nice way to enter the country.  There were about 50 of us together in Rotorua, and it felt like camp, with basically all of our time scheduled - it was a really quick intro to everything Kiwi.  My favorite, of course, was the sheep show, where we got to see basically a pageant of about 20 different breeds of sheep, got to see one sheared, and I got to go up onstage to feed a baby lamb!!!  Basically heaven.  I did some other brave (for me) things while we were there, like Zorbing, which is rolling down a hill in this big rubber ball, and caving.  We got to wear wetsuits and squeeze through really tiny openings in the Waitomo caves.  The caves are full of glowworms, which look like stars when we all turned off our lights and just looked up.

On our second night in Auckland, I went out to dinner with a few friends and we wound up RANDOMLY running into these guys in a band.  Sounds cliche, I know, we didn't even believe half of what they said at first.  But look up Midnight Youth - they're pretty legit!  We chatted with one of them, who told me they're playing at SXSW in Austin, and then the rest of the band showed up and we slowly figured out that they're #2 on the charts in NZ!  We've now seen their music vids on TV, and last night we went over to a bar on the University of Auckland campus to see them perform.  The bands who opened were questionable, but we all really enjoyed MY!  It was a really fun show, and fun to see guys we sort of "know" up there.

I'll try to post pics of my school or my apartment soon.  The apartments are pretty nice, and are literally a block away from the center of campus.  Each unit has 5 rooms.  I'm living with 4 Americans and 1 Kiwi.  Meaning we're going to have to work even harder to meet the natives!!!  But I like my room mates, and it's like dorm life, where we just run upstairs to find the rest of our friends.  

Need to get ready for class now... feel free to email me and update me about what's happening at home!  I really miss everyone a lot.. I can't believe I've only been here a little over 2 weeks!