Auckland Update

Hey guys! 

Sorry for the lack of updates, but since I've been back from Thailand my life hasn't been very update worthy!  Anyways, I moved into a new flat in Auckland about a month ago, and I'm loving it way better than my housing situation last semester.  Here's the characters that I live with:
Andrew - born in Poland, lived in South Africa until he was 14, and then moved with his family to New Zealand.  He's pretty good to have around the flat but is still a little weird.
Kasper (the friendly ghost) - is Danish and really strange.  He means well though.  Both of the guys that live here are kind of messy and it's always the girls cleaning up.
Maddi - a 19 year old from San Diego (!!) here for the year just like me.  She goes to school in Seattle though.  She's pretty awesome and even though she's a lot younger I still get along with her.
Kelsi - she just turned 20 and she's a Kiwi.  Definitely my favorite of the flatmates.  She's just like me personality wise and I think I've gotten along the best with her

Aside from my new living situation, school is going pretty well.  My degree at UCSD will only let me take one Psychology class outside of San Diego (which I took last semester), so this semester I'm just taking easy/interesting classes to boost my GPA.  I'm taking film studies, advertising and society, drama on stage and screen, and history of the French Revolution.  That last class actually counts for some general education back home, so at least something this semester counts!

I've been keeping pretty busy at school (we are already in our fourth week!) mostly because all of my friends left at the end of last semester.  I'm sure I'll meet more people, but it's been hard! Is till have a few Kiwi friends from last semester though.  The other night was my friend Jessica's 21st birthday so we just went into town.  I met an All Black at a pub that night too!  If you guys don't know, the All Blacks are the national rugby team for New Zealand, aka the team that will be playing in the world cup.  I'm getting so excited for it!  They say about 100,000 people are coming to New Zealand just for the event, and a majority will be in Auckland.  PARTY.  Hopefully I'll get to go to a game or two. 

Anyways, sorry for the boring entry.  I didn't put any pictures up because I haven't done anything super exciting yet.  I'm going on a trip to the South Island in about two weeks, so that should be really fun! You can expect a more exciting post then.  I miss and love you all!!

The Land of Thai!!

Hopefully you are all anxious to hear about my trip to Thailand!! I just need to start off by saying that it was by far the greatest trip of my life thus far. I'm a little bit saddened - actually, a LOT a bit saddened! - that my friend Mehgie and I could only stay for ten days.  All the reason for me to go back!!

A view of Singapore from atop the Flyer

Our adventure started at approximately 8:30 AM the morning of our departure flight as we gathered our belongings from my new flat and drove ourselves to Auckland International Airport.  We then boarded our first flight of the day - Singapore bound!  This was probably one of the worst flights I've ever been on..but it was cheap, so I'll try not too complain too much.  Anyways, it was a twelve hour flight during which we weren't given and food OR drinks! Needless to say, Mehgie and I were struggling.  As soon as we landed, we headed straight to the foodcourt, where we had the best Subway ever! LOL. Since we had a 13 hour layover in Singapore, we decided to take advantage of it and left the airport to go into the city for a little bit.  Singapore was so cool and beautiful!  I would love to go back there someday.  We started off our night by taking the train into town and taking a ride on the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observatory wheel.  After that, we just walked around seeing the city lights and sights - from the helix bridge to the Merlion!  After wandering for a few hours, we made our way back to the airport to take a brief nap before checking into our flight to Bangkok.

Wat Arun

Our first weekend in Thailand was to die for.  We stayed in "Old Bangkok", where a lot of wats (temples) and the Grand Palace are located.  Not going to lie, we pretty much spent our first day napping since neither of us had slept in two days, but once we got our rest in we were nonstop!  We ate breakfast and dinner every day at our hotel (for 5 bucks a meal, why not?) and explored Old Bangkok during the day.  On our first day we attempted to visit the Grand Palace, but we were unaware that Saturdays are religious holidays there, so we couldn't get in.  Instead, we took a tuk tuk tour of the city, seeing the Golden Mount among other Buddhist temples and constantly stopping at suit shops and jewelry store.  Later, we went on a longboat ride through the river and ended at Wat Arun, another really cool temple.  It was ridiculously ornate and beautiful - probably the coolest temple we visited while we were there.  The next day, we went to Bangkok's largest market.  I couldn't believe how huge it was!  Just aisles and aisles and aisles of souvenir, jewelry, and silk stands, all brought together in the middle by endless street food carts and fruit stands.  I could have easily spent a whole weekend in that market - we got so many one of a kind things and for dirt cheap to boot!

Almost at the top of the Golden Mount in Bangkok

Monday morning and off to Phuket we go.  Phuket was so much fun!  We stayed in an area called Patong Beach.  This was probably the nicest hotel we stayed at (for $15/person/night!) and it was jungle themed. YES!  We took it upon ourselves to venture through the main street for the

A VW turned bar

remainder of the day, less of a street and more of a seemingly endless strip of bars.  Since we were there during the off season, we assumed the nightlife would be dead.  Oh boy were we wrong!  What seemed empty and deserted during the daytime turned into a bustling cluster of drunk tourists and party goers at night...I can't even imagine how crowded the streets are when it's tourist season there, because it was packed enough as is!  All in good fun though.  The next day we started early with an elephant trekking tour about 30 minutes outside of Patong.  a "safari jeep" picked us up and drove us to our destination,  where we rode and loved the elephant, dipped our feet into a fish spa, and learned all about Thai culture.  Then we headed back into Patong for our final night in Phuket and decided to get the ultimate Thailand experience and see a ladyboy show!  It was wonderfully entertaining, with the ladyboys dressed up in cabaret outfits and lip syncing to some classics.

fish spa!

We took a ferry out of Phuket to an island called Ko Phi Phi.  This is where I truly fell in love with Thailand - I've decided that when I go back (because I definitely am!) I just want to spend most of my time island hopping.  We stayed on a narrow strip that separated two separate sides of the island and had two completely different bays within a five minute walk of each other.  Since this area was so narrow, there were no roads, just unevenly paved walkways with random tents and kiosks set up every which way between the buildings.  The beaches were absolutely amazing, the bluest of waters surrounded by cliffs of jungles - oh how I need to go back!  We decided to head out for a beer at night.  We didn't know where to go, so we just decided to follow the music once we left our hotel.  The music led us directly to the beach, where bars had laid out home made stages onto the sand to make their own dance floors, there were guys with fire putting on shows down the entire beach, and bars having contests like limbo and jumprope with a string of light! this environment sealed the deal for me in Phi Phi, just total beach bars.  We spent the rest of our time in Phi Phi doing pretty much the same thing - which was amazing so I'm not in the slightest bit complaining!  Basically just got our tan on, walked around perusing the shops, and ate amazing food!

sunset in Ko Phi Phi

To wrap things up:  we had no trouble whatsoever during our entire trip!  We weren't hassled to the point of annoyance and we never ran into any sort of trouble.  We got pretty lucky with the weather considering it was monsoon season - it pretty much only rained on us in Bangkok at night when we weren't really doing anything anyways.  The people were soooo nice and helpful (for the most part), friendly, and always gave us a good laugh.  Our cab drivers to and from the airports tried to teach us some Thai to get by, though we struggled with the language.  Last but not least...the food!  I don't think I can ever eat Thai food again, A) because it will never be as good and B) because it will never be as cheap!  We ate out every meal and never spent more than 5 or 6 dollars (even if we got beers!).  Anyways, the trip was absolutely amazing..if any of you get the exotic travel bug like I have you MUST go to Thailand (yes Mom, Grandma and Katie even YOU can handle it!).

SORRY

Hey guys!  So I officially suck at blogging and I have not updated in months.  YIKES.  Anyways, consider this entry to be my new dedication to blogging about my every adventure.  I'll try to fill in the blanks over the next couple of days as best I can.  I figured that since I'm staying here for a year (!!!!) I should probably keep you guys more updated.

Frolicking in Australia where two beaches meet!

Nothing too exciting has been going on here in Auckland since I came home from Easter break in Australia (I'll make a post about this as soon as I can).  I've been busy with school work and catching up on all of my classes to get prepared for upcoming finals.  But just so you guys know, I am having a blast over here.  This doesn't mean I don't miss you all dearly, because I do!

My first couple of weeks!

Hey everyone!  Sorry for such a delay in getting this thing up and running.  As you can imagine, I have been very busy with two orientations (and a little traveling in between!).  So, let me apologize in advance for what is sure to be a long post.  Now that I am settled in my New Zealand dorm, I should update this regularly! Now I'll just start from the beginning:

The flight was long as! (By the way, "as" is a kiwi term to add onto adjectives to elaborate on something)  I was really bored most of the time, but luckily I don't have to endure that long of a flight for another couple of months!  I met two girls who were on my flight that were part of my program and I got really close to both of them in the first week of orientation.  Their names are Tara and Renee; Tara is staying in Auckland with me so I'm glad I already have a friend here!

Adjusting to New Zealand doesn't seem like it should be that hard at all.  Really, the only thing different is that the cars drive on the left side of the road and everything here is way more expensive than back in the states.  I was excited to finally be going somewhere where the exchange rate worked out in my favor, but I quickly learned that even after adjusting for the exchange rate I'm going to have to budget more than I thought.  Also, I did not anticipate that the weather would be so temperamental.  It is blisteringly hot one hour and the raining the next.  I am not used to having to reapply sunscreen so often either.  If I don't use at least SPF 30 and I go out in the sun for as little as 20 minutes, I will have a hideous burn.  Other than that, the people here are really nice and the supervisors of my program are extremely helpful.  I was kind of bummed that I made a bunch of friends during my orientation that were going to different uni's, but I still have a good group here in Auckland and people to stay with when I travel the country!

After my orientation I began my tour of the North Island with a bus company known as the Kiwi Experience.  As a lone traveler, I was a little nervous, but I soon realized that nearly everyone else on the bus was in my shoes.  Unfortunately though, there was an extreme overflow of people on the bus and eight other people and I got put in a small nine-seater van for the first couple of days.  In the long run, this didn't bother me at all because i became really close with the people on that bus and we're already talking about planning a reunion trip!

Mercury Beach!

Our first day, we drove from Auckland to a place called Mercury Beach, which was absolutely gorgeous!  I have never seen water so blue in such a tropical setting.  There were islands everywhere out in the distance and not too many people on the beach.  In the simplest of terms, it was perfect.  After our first beach stop in Mercury Beach we drove to another beach, known as the hot-water beach.  At this beach, there is a tiny area where the tectonic plates of the earth create friction and heat rises to the sand, so people can dig up the sand and make their own hot baths essentially.  You really had to look for the hot areas though, for we had to dig in about ten different spots before getting hot water.  And when I say hot, I mean it was HOT (or hot as!).  At one point, the sand was boiling ever so slightly.  I could barely sit in it because I was afraid of getting burns!

The next day, we went to a place called Rotorua.  It was not the best smelling place, the entire city just reeked of a scent which words cannot describe.  Thankfully, we didn't spend much time there.  On the way to Rotorua, we stopped at some old gold mining caves where cart-tracks were still laid down and there were tunnels going every which way from a couple hundred years ago.  There were also parts of the caves that were absolutely pitch black.  This was actually my favorite part because when there was no light, it allowed us to see hundreds of glowworms on the ceilings and the walls.  This was spectacular to see, and it meant that I wouldn't have to pay to see them later in our trip.  Also on the way to Rotorua, we stopped in Matamata, AKA Hobbiton, where they filmed Lord of the Rings.  We didn't get to see any set stuff (there was an added fee if you wanted that tour) but we got to see the sign and a Gollum statue!

Our next stop was a little town with population 36, called Waitomo.  Waitomo is famous for their glowworm cave tours and caving excursions, neither of which I did, for I wanted to save my money for other adventures.  There were lots of people that skipped out on these though, so I had company.  On the way to Waitomo, we stopped at a place called Agroadventures, where one of my friends Jess and I did a speedboat thing.  It was really fun, the boat went from 0-100 kmph in 6 seconds or something ridiculous like that.  There are also only 7 licensed drivers in the world!  I also had my first New Zealand pie on the way there.  It was absolutely delicious (I got the butterchicken pie) and the bakery we stopped at had so many options! I think I may have found my new favorite New Zealand food. 

Our next stop was Lake Taupo.  I was especially excited for this place because we were staying here for two nights, which meant that there would be loads of things to do.  At 8 am the first morning we were there, I put on a giant red jumpsuit and got ready for a skydive!!!! I fell from 15,000 feet which meant about a minute of freefall and then a good amount of time gliding in a parachute enjoying the beautiful scenery.  It was hands down the best thing that I have ever experienced, the feeling of freefall is unlike any other!  Later that day, Jess and I also impulsively signed up to do a bungy jump!  My body was on an adrenaline high all day.  We jumped over a beautiful river from 47 meters in the air.  I was definitely way more scared before the bungy than I was before the skydive.  Funny how things work out that way.  But it was still really fun and I received a discount coupon for a second jump if I ever make my way back down there!!



Next stop was a little tiny town called River Valley.  We stayed at an "adventure hostel" right on the river which was awesome for swimming and playing volleyball.  I also did white water rafting while we were there (on the day of my birthday!) which surprisingly wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be.  we were on the river for a full three hours before we made it back to the lodge and went over a lot of fun rapids!

Dressing up for a tranny party for my bus driver's birthday in River Valley

The day of my birthday we left River Valley for Wellington, New Zealand's capitol city.  I was pretty bummed that we didn't get to spend much time there (we arrived at 6:30 pm and had to leave at 8 the next morning), but that just gives me a good excuse to go back!  Not only was it my birthday that night, but it was also my and many other's last night with the Kiwi Bus (I was going back up north while most of my friends were going on to the south island).  Needless to say, that night was quite the celebration.  I was happy that I had found people to spend my birthday with, and surprisingly it was one of my best birthdays ever despite turning 21 in a country where that age is completely insignificant!