A day on our own

Kia Ora!

So on our first night in Auckland, Cayla and I ordered our first beers in a restaurant. Being that we are not 21, it was kinda a big deal and we were very excited about it. And for once, I didn't get carded! Apparently here I don't look like I'm younger than 18, which is a change for once. We had really great pizza at the Turkish Cafe, open 24 hours before heading back to the hostel. We attempted to go out that night but unfortunately failed miserably in our search for a bar or club.

The next day was our last day before our orientation began on the 4th. While we originally picked the hostel thinking we could walk to Grafton Hall where we were staying for orientation, we ended up getting a cab. It was worth it in the end since we then had enough energy to go on an adventure. We did a walking tour out of my Lonely Planet New Zealand guide and walked down the very popular Queen St. It had a mixture of old european architecture with some really crazy geometric modern buildings. As we travelled downhill towards the ocean, I began to think of Auckland as a mix between NYC (because of all the little stores lining the street) and SF (because it is quite hilly). Our escapade finally led us to the harbor which reminded me a lot of Long Beach harbor because of the many sail boats and yachts. It even had restaurants set up in a similar way as Shoreline Village.

After an exhausting walk back uphill to Grafton Hall, we had a delicious dinner and began to meet some of our fellow EAP people. EAP is for all the UC kids that are studying abroad in New Zealand. We planned on going out after dinner, but the sun doesn't set until a bit before 9, so it ended up being extremely late when we finally began to head out. We were out till 1:30 before we finally headed back in.

Today we started orientation with a breakfast early in the morning. We then had an introduction and split up based on our university locations. After chatting up all the fellow Lincoln University and Canterbury people, we had tea time. Tea time is quickly becoming one of my favorite new zealand things, though I feel like it could be more useful in the afternoon. Its around 10-10:30 and there are scones, fruit, and of course tea. Basically, we do a lot of eating, and I'm enjoying it a lot. After tea time, we heard some information about the outdoors of New Zealand. A lot of it consisted of various tramping (hiking) locations and other similar outtings. We heard a bit about various sports in New Zealand, (xc was not mentioned) and it made me wish I had enough room in my suitcase for my soccer cleats. We currently have freetime before a lecture on "Do we speak the same language" about the slang of New Zealand, and then we are having a BBQ, which are fairly common in the summer (southern hemisphere is in summer right now). Soon, Cayla and I are leaving to hike to Mt. Eden to have a view over all of Auckland. Can't wait for the BBQ after that.