I'm here finally! This is my official second day in New Zealand! I landed yesterday at Palmerston North at 8 in the morning and started my adventure. Fortunately I met a girl on the flight that was also from the US and going to study at Massey. We informally decided to stick together as we began to explore.
We first got settled into our rooms. I am living in a flat just off campus in a placed called Atawhai Village. It's basically an apartment with five bedrooms, a bathroom, a toilet, a kitchen, and a common room (it also has a washing machine). The room I am in is very big for a single and has everything from a bed to a sink. I also have a really large window which looks out into our backyard! I was afraid when I first heard that I was living here that I would be put with only grad students or a family, since that is what it caters to, but I am living with all international students so far (our fifth roommate hasn't moved in yet). Two of the girls are grad students from Canada and somewhere in Asia (haven't officially met her yet) and the other girl is an undergrad from Germany. They are all really friendly and I think we will enjoy each other's company.
After we got settled, Erin and I took the bus into town and started to look around. It's just like a city with all the stores and restaurants, but not quite as big. We stopped at subway to eat our first meal since breakfast on the plane at 3:00am and then went to get groceries. I am, for the first time, feeding myself so I have to budget and choose wisely. Lesson number one: when you don't have a car, refrain from buying two weeks worth of groceries in one go. It was very difficult to get back to the bus stop and even more difficult to find my way back to Atawhai Village, especially when you get lost. Plus, the village is on a mini-mountain next to campus so I have to walk up a very steep hill in the woods to get to it and you can imagine with 40 pounds of groceries it took me a while. What's really cool here is that when you go grocery shopping you have to bring your own bags otherwise they charge you for plastic bags. How ecofriendly!
In the evening we made spaghetti dinner and I got to know one of my roomies a little better, and then proceeded to crash at 7:30 in my newly made bed. Slept for about 11 hours, which is the longest time I've slept in a very long time. Today I think we will go back into town to buy cheap cell phones and go around campus to find our way before orientation starts tomorrow.
For all those wondering New Zealand is 16 hours ahead of the East Coast in the US so while it is 8:30am Wednesday morning here, it is only 4:30pm Tuesday afternoon at home! Crazy!
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