In New Zealand

Kia ora!*

I have spent an incredible two months in New Zealand so far. It honestly doesn’t feel like it’s been two months and I do miss home, but not as much as I thought I would. It’s mid-semester break right now, and still cold for a FL girl. So let’s catch up shall we?

I flew into New Zealand July 1st. I landed in Auckland and got to venture outside to have my first breath of New Zealand air. Then, I boarded my final flight to Queenstown. The views from the plane were beautiful, especially when we flew near the mountains. It’s funny because New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the further south you go the colder it is, unlike in the U.S. So it was pretty cold and the airport was small, but had fun winter décor still up. The hostel was very nice and TEAN orientation in Queenstown was really fun. We got to travel to Milford Sound (where I saw, touched, and walked on snow for the first time!), explore the city, learn a Māori song and take a skyline gondola to a mountainside restaurant for dinner! We also had a free day where I went on a 4-wheeling tour that spent a lot of time driving through a river.

From there, it was a three/four hour bus ride to Dunedin. Dunedin is actually pretty big. The city center (a.k.a The Octagon) is only about a 15/20 minute walk from my flat**, but the residential areas sprawl a bit. I am on a slight slope, but there is a huge hill right past my flat so I’m thankful I didn’t end up on the other side of it. It’s about a 10 minute walk to uni*** depending on which class I’m going to and it’s been really fun exploring all the building at the central campus (they have buildings, property, and classes out and about the city). The University of Otago has a wide variety of buildings that don’t necessarily match each other like Rollins does. They also have a few 10-story buildings, which had me confused at first when finding my classes. Here, they call the first floor the ground floor and the second floor, as it is the first floor above the ground floor, the first floor. So my 3rd floor classroom is technically 3 flights of stairs, not two. I ended up just taking the elevator the first few weeks.

The first weekend we were in Dunedin, TEAN took us on a hiking trip through Unipol, which is the university’s gym/recreation center. They have trips students and non-students can sign up for like hikes, bike rides, rock climbing, etc. and even rent out gear for those trips or for your very own tramp****. So, they took us out to the Otago Peninsula, which was so cool. We got to see Lover’s Leap (sad but stunning landscape) and Sandfly Bay (there were seals!) and had a “Sausage Sizzle” where they had a small portable grill, cooked the sausages, and put them on bread. As I do not eat pork, I had a vegetarian sausage on a slice of buttered bread. It actually wasn’t bad, but I was still glad we had plenty of apples.

I also got the chance to look at some glow worms, go to Tunnel Beach, view Dunedin from Signal Hill, try a fancy doughnut at No. 7 Balmac, visit the Steampunk Museum in Oamaru, and see the Moeraki Boulders. Not to mention I live across the street from an entrance to the Botanical Gardens.

Well, I’m off to Wellington in less than two days in order to head up to Levin to visit some family friends in the north island, so I’ll cut my blog here so I can pack. Only two and a half months left of this incredible country. Hope you enjoy the [unfiltered!] pictures below!

*Means ‘have life’ or ‘be healthy’; a common Māori and Kiwi greeting
**apartment
***short for university; most people say it down here
****going on a long-distance walk through wilderness; moderate to severe hiking and/or camping; or just a trip somewhere that probably involves part of the above two definitions (i.e. backpacking, etc.)