On June 23 I spent the day with Alice, one of the first Kiwi friends I made :) Our plans for the day included dinner, movie, followed by bubble tea! We had dinner at this vegetarian place called revive (2-for-1 coupons FTW!). Then we walked down to the cinema for Night at the Museum 2:Battle of the Smithsonian. Alice kind of loves American things, and thus had a lot of fun pointing out the things around DC she had seen :P After that we went to Hulu Cat for bubble tea. All in all a good day!
The place was so cute!
Mmmm.
Hulu cat.
Mmmm.
Hulu cat.The next day Audris came over so we could watch Twilight (I wanted to see what all the hype was about). How did I feel about the movie? It was okay...I can see the appeal...and I'm interested enough to watch the next movie, but probably not in the theater. She had also brought over her guitar so that we could play some music (me on violin). It was my little
brother's birthday the next day, so I had the idea to record something on my laptop for him! Our attempt at "Drowning" by the Backstreet Boys failed, so we did Love Story, probably his #2 song. Haha I felt really bad though that day cuz Anneke hates Twilight and Taylor Swift... We only did one take cuz by that point it was time for her to go home :( You can't really see it in the picture, but she gave me a kiwi finger puppet that is REALLY adorable and makes me really happy.Then I had my last two exams the next two days in a row...
On the 29th I had dinner with four other friends from the IES program at the skytower! I'm a person normally afraid of heights, but I didn't find it scary atop the skytower...probably because bungy jumping cured me :P
Wheee standing on glass!
After that we went back to Alyssa's apartment were everyone was anticipating the upcoming episode of Desperate Housewives. Most people on the IES program were leaving the next day and it was the last time we could hang out, needless to say, it was a bit of an emotional night of goodbyes :( There are plans to visit though, so it's all good :)
About an hour later I left with Erin for the Kiwi Asian Club cocktail night, basically an end-of-semester party. It was the last time I'd be able to see all the KAC-ers so of course I had to go! Despite being a little sick it was still a lot of fun and really nice to see everyone after a looong month of exams!
The following night I was supposed to leave for the 3-day FSA skip trip, but decided not to go because I still wasn't feeling too well. Sad I had to miss it, but it was for the best because it took a good week before I felt back to myself...I'm sure the cold weather and snow wouldn't have done me any good. That being said, for the last week I still made it out a few times, but just for relaxing things :)
About an hour later I left with Erin for the Kiwi Asian Club cocktail night, basically an end-of-semester party. It was the last time I'd be able to see all the KAC-ers so of course I had to go! Despite being a little sick it was still a lot of fun and really nice to see everyone after a looong month of exams!
The following night I was supposed to leave for the 3-day FSA skip trip, but decided not to go because I still wasn't feeling too well. Sad I had to miss it, but it was for the best because it took a good week before I felt back to myself...I'm sure the cold weather and snow wouldn't have done me any good. That being said, for the last week I still made it out a few times, but just for relaxing things :)
Farewell Dinner the next day with some KAC peoples!
Farewell dinner with church music group!Everyone thought Sheila (first row, middle) and I were sisters haha
It was super sweet of them to organize these final get-togethers. I sure miss them! :)
On Wednesday, Bettina, Sam, and Anneke thought it would be nice to take me to see a few places I hadn't been able to make it out to.
Needless to say there were many Kodak moments.
First, we went out to Titirangi for lunch. When people say they are going to the "bush," this is where they mean (not this cafe, Titirangi - there were just trees and trees and trees and more trees).
Then we were to the Arataki Visitor center which overlooked the Waitakere Ranges.
LOVE the whole photo frame/picture concept :D
Mm scenery.
Map...red dot is where we were, clear across to Piha beach was our next stop.
I like this picture a lot. I dunno why.
More Piha.
Piha again. Apparently Xena and Hercules were filmed here. And the singer from System of a Down has a house here!
On Wednesday, Bettina, Sam, and Anneke thought it would be nice to take me to see a few places I hadn't been able to make it out to.
Needless to say there were many Kodak moments.
First, we went out to Titirangi for lunch. When people say they are going to the "bush," this is where they mean (not this cafe, Titirangi - there were just trees and trees and trees and more trees).
Then we were to the Arataki Visitor center which overlooked the Waitakere Ranges.
LOVE the whole photo frame/picture concept :D
Mm scenery.
Map...red dot is where we were, clear across to Piha beach was our next stop.
I like this picture a lot. I dunno why.
More Piha.
Piha again. Apparently Xena and Hercules were filmed here. And the singer from System of a Down has a house here!Thursday was the day that Jeremy and his friends Coby and Dennis flew in from Australia. Their 10-day stay in New Zealand overlapped with my last couple days, so we made plans to go to Rotorua. We left Friday morning in a pretty sweet campervan, and the 4-hour drive didn't seem so long. Got in around 5, found the i-Site and decided what we wanted to do for the next day.
It was already dark by 6, and we were pretty tired so we had to do some good planning since we had to leave for Auckland by 3pm the next day.
The first thing we did was go to "Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland." Since Rotorua is a big geothermal area, we couldn't not go to a geothermal park. There are a number of them, but this was once we had seen online so we chose that one. While we were walking we ran into a
German student who had been to several of them, and said that the Wai-O-Tapu one was the best in his opinion. So that made me feel better haha. One of the sights there was the Lady Knox geyser, which went off everyday was 10:15am. After we saw that we made it to our next stop, Zorb!!
Ok so Zorbing is basically where you roll
down in a ball down a hill like a hamster. How someone thought to do this? I'm not sure. But props to them, because it is SWEET.
They had two options: water and no water. After some debate on which would be better, we decided to do the water one...we all had our bathing suits (aka "togs" in NZ) anyway. So happy we chose to do that one! The hot water in the ball felt so NICE and the ride down hill was a mix between a rollercoaster and a water slide (read: AMAZING). It was over in a matter of seconds, but definitely a highlight of the trip :) I wanna do it again!
The last thing on the agenda was a visit to Rainbow Springs wildlife park to see a KIWI! A whole 4.5 months in New Zealand and it wasn't until my second to last day that I would see it! Needles to say it made me infinitely happy and now my life is complete
Me and Alice!
KAC-ers!
The Three Amigos!
But anyway, I am so incredibly happy I took the opportunity to study abroad. I'm pretty much in debt to my parents, but I had so many great experiences, and met so many wonderful people that it's more than worth it. Once I graduate and find a job I'll pay them back! AND send them to New Zealand so they can see how great it is ;)
-------
Even though this blog was intended for just my New Zealand travels, I think I'm gonna keep writing in it, for my sake, and for any NZers who might wanna know what I'm up to ;)
Love to you all :)
It was already dark by 6, and we were pretty tired so we had to do some good planning since we had to leave for Auckland by 3pm the next day.
The first thing we did was go to "Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland." Since Rotorua is a big geothermal area, we couldn't not go to a geothermal park. There are a number of them, but this was once we had seen online so we chose that one. While we were walking we ran into a
German student who had been to several of them, and said that the Wai-O-Tapu one was the best in his opinion. So that made me feel better haha. One of the sights there was the Lady Knox geyser, which went off everyday was 10:15am. After we saw that we made it to our next stop, Zorb!!Ok so Zorbing is basically where you roll
down in a ball down a hill like a hamster. How someone thought to do this? I'm not sure. But props to them, because it is SWEET.They had two options: water and no water. After some debate on which would be better, we decided to do the water one...we all had our bathing suits (aka "togs" in NZ) anyway. So happy we chose to do that one! The hot water in the ball felt so NICE and the ride down hill was a mix between a rollercoaster and a water slide (read: AMAZING). It was over in a matter of seconds, but definitely a highlight of the trip :) I wanna do it again!
The last thing on the agenda was a visit to Rainbow Springs wildlife park to see a KIWI! A whole 4.5 months in New Zealand and it wasn't until my second to last day that I would see it! Needles to say it made me infinitely happy and now my life is complete
After that we made our way back to Auckland in time for a last farewell get-together organized by Bettina. It was really nice, as more people were able to make it out than I expected (considering that figuring out transport is always a pain). Bettina, Sam, Anneke, and Belinda were there, as were some KAC friends, a couple of Anneke's friends made it out, and Jeremy, Coby, and Dennis stayed as well :) It was a fun night, consisting of Singstar and food. I'm pretty bad at Singstar by the way :( I can't help the fact that my voice refuses to go above a certain volume!
Family!
Me and Alice!
KAC-ers!
The Three Amigos!I have to admit that it got to be around 1:00am or so, and everyone had left but I still wasn't packed. However, with the help of an expert packer I was in bed within an hour resting up for my (supposed-to-be) next day travel.
-_-
The next morning I arrive at the airport, go up to the counter, show them my passport, yada yada yada, but lo and behold, there was no record of me in the system. PANIC. I got out of the check-in counter, talked with the information people for Qantas and Air New Zealand. Nobody had a record of me! GAH. I had to call my mom to get it sorted it. The whole episode lasted maybe 45 minutes? I felt pretty bad because a handful of people had come to the airport to see me off and I was holding them up :( Finally we figured out that my flight had been moved to the afternoon of the next day.
**Note: I know that it filtered through that I had simply just gone to the airport on the wrong day! This is not true! In hindsight, I should have called to confirm the flight, but in the past few months, every time my itinerary had changed I received an email with the updated times. The company never sent an email with the most recent information, i.e., date change. I later thought that maybe the email had gotten lost, but then realized this was not the case. For each flight, the company calls you to confirm the flight is actually happening -- when I got back to the states and listened to my voicemails on my U.S. cell number, the voicemails left from the airline were indeed from the most recent itinerary I had received, meaning, the wrong itinerary.
So we went back to the house, and I had a whole day to kill. I decided to take one last walk around Auckland to take some pictures, and met up with Alice to watch the Hannah Montana movie (don't hate!).
The next day at the airport I was slightly nervous when I went up to check in, hoping everything would go smoothly this time. It almost did. There was a momentary glitch. My first flight was correct, but the following two were wrong. They had me going from Auckland --> LAX, leaving on the 6th and arriving on the 6th (time change), but then my flights from LAX --> SLC and SLC --> CVG were said to depart on the 5th...which is impossible. After 20 minutes they were able to sort it out, and luckily cut out one of the flights, so it was AKL --> LAX, LAX --> CVG, which made me happy. Let airports to deal with, the better (less risk of me falling asleep at the gate and missing my flight). Bettina, Anneke, Zingy, Alice, and I sat around a table until it was time for me to hit security and make my way to the gate.
-_-
The next morning I arrive at the airport, go up to the counter, show them my passport, yada yada yada, but lo and behold, there was no record of me in the system. PANIC. I got out of the check-in counter, talked with the information people for Qantas and Air New Zealand. Nobody had a record of me! GAH. I had to call my mom to get it sorted it. The whole episode lasted maybe 45 minutes? I felt pretty bad because a handful of people had come to the airport to see me off and I was holding them up :( Finally we figured out that my flight had been moved to the afternoon of the next day.
**Note: I know that it filtered through that I had simply just gone to the airport on the wrong day! This is not true! In hindsight, I should have called to confirm the flight, but in the past few months, every time my itinerary had changed I received an email with the updated times. The company never sent an email with the most recent information, i.e., date change. I later thought that maybe the email had gotten lost, but then realized this was not the case. For each flight, the company calls you to confirm the flight is actually happening -- when I got back to the states and listened to my voicemails on my U.S. cell number, the voicemails left from the airline were indeed from the most recent itinerary I had received, meaning, the wrong itinerary.
So we went back to the house, and I had a whole day to kill. I decided to take one last walk around Auckland to take some pictures, and met up with Alice to watch the Hannah Montana movie (don't hate!).
The next day at the airport I was slightly nervous when I went up to check in, hoping everything would go smoothly this time. It almost did. There was a momentary glitch. My first flight was correct, but the following two were wrong. They had me going from Auckland --> LAX, leaving on the 6th and arriving on the 6th (time change), but then my flights from LAX --> SLC and SLC --> CVG were said to depart on the 5th...which is impossible. After 20 minutes they were able to sort it out, and luckily cut out one of the flights, so it was AKL --> LAX, LAX --> CVG, which made me happy. Let airports to deal with, the better (less risk of me falling asleep at the gate and missing my flight). Bettina, Anneke, Zingy, Alice, and I sat around a table until it was time for me to hit security and make my way to the gate.
Final pictures in NZ....until next time ;)
But anyway, I am so incredibly happy I took the opportunity to study abroad. I'm pretty much in debt to my parents, but I had so many great experiences, and met so many wonderful people that it's more than worth it. Once I graduate and find a job I'll pay them back! AND send them to New Zealand so they can see how great it is ;)
-------
Even though this blog was intended for just my New Zealand travels, I think I'm gonna keep writing in it, for my sake, and for any NZers who might wanna know what I'm up to ;)
Love to you all :)
0 comments:
Post a Comment