The First Week: Part One

Welcome to my blog, friends and family! I wanted to get this up sooner, but I've been busy setting up my new life in Auckland...Hopefully, I can keep this pretty up to date with stories, pictures, and other ramblings as time goes on.

Here's what's been happening so far (I forgot a lot of it already, but luckily, I was documenting everything in my diary):

My plane took off from Los Angeles on Friday night and landed in Auckland at about 6am on Sunday morning. I was in the air for about 12 hours, I think...very confusing...(By the way, the host from The Amazing Race was on the plane with me..)



After landing, and customs, I was shuttled to a hostel about 15 minutes from campus since my housing wouldn't be ready until the next day. I basically had a day to kill. Mostly, I wanted to go to sleep, but it was only noon, and I wanted to get on NZ time as quickly as possible. I decided to try and find the campus since it was (allegedly) quite close and easy to find. If you know me at all, you know I was born without a sense of direction. So I walked around for a few hours and saw many things, but never found the campus (frustrating!). I probably should have been worried about getting horribly lost, and I did at a few points, but mostly I was just tired. I forced myself to stay up to 9pm before gladly going to bed. The last thing I did was write in my diary, "I can not believe I am in New Zealand."


Here is the view Auckland from my window at the hostel:





















The next day, I was determined to get into my apartment. I had decided that a hostel could be very fun if backpacking with a friend, but it's not very fun all alone with a lot of luggage.

The building I am living in is very international, and mostly undergrads. It is really close to campus which is great because I have to walk everywhere. My apartment has 5 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room. When I got there, two of my flatmates Michael (Russian, attending Georgetown U) and Tsetska (from Holland) were already moved in. Later, we were joined by Jesper from Sweden, and the fifth room is still unoccupied. A word about Michael: Within the first 5 minutes of talking to him he commented that I did not curse, and that led him to ask me what my "vices" are. (I thought that was kind of funny since I have decided to live vice free--no drinking, smoking, drugs--even as medicine, caffeine. At Biola, it was the caffeine that brought me notice, but here, I am a freak of nature!) But it was good, because it led to a discussion about my being a Christian and Michael being a non-practicing, mostly non-believing Jew. We'll see what discussions and events transpire as the semester goes on. One last thing about roommates, for now: they are all here for one semester, so I'll have the apartment to myself in July til the new batch of roommates come for second semester. Hmm...sounds like the perfect time to visit, eh?

Here's pics of my small room in the midst of unpacking (can you spot Clawdette, or Curious George?):





The next few days were consumed by the business of getting set up in my apartment, getting my schedule settled, finding my way around, attending orientation events, and reading. I had a lot of free time, so I would often take a book, walk to various parts of the campus, and then find a shady spot to the read. Also, a lot of the orientation was aimed at undergrads so I skipped whenever I felt like it, which was often.

The University of Auckland is right in the center of the city which is pretty much like any major city in the world. I have seen Dunkin' Donuts, Wendy's, Burger Kings, Borders Books, and several Starbucks. It's a far cry from the rural scenes promised in Lord of the Rings. Auckland reminds of Seattle or San Francisco with all of its hills and proximity to the ocean (look it up on a map if you don't know where it is--I am learning that Americans are an embarrassment when it comes to geography). The architecture is a mix between classic and modern buildings all jumbled together...The campus is the same way, and there are a few really pretty spots for reading or relaxing.
These are pics of Arthur Park--it's right in the middle of campus and I have been going there to read almost every day. It' still summer here, so the days are long and the weather is very nice. I was reading A Severe Mercy (by Sheldon VanAucken), and then Mansfield Park (by Jane Austen) and I loved them both.









This is the Student Commons Building--it's huge! There are a few restaurants, a doctor's office, a pharmacy, offices, computer lab, bookstore, and who knows what else. It's always a busy place in the middle of the day, and this picture is useless to convey the busy tempo that presides...



Other nice parts of campus:
I went in search of the chapel and found this quiet little corner that I liked...






When I did find the chapel, I noticed they have books on loan, and one was Blue Like Jazz (by Donald Miller) which I have been wanting to read for a while. Sadly, when I went to read it, I discovered that there was a horrible printing error and 20 pages were missing and another 50 were repeated out of order. Oh well..I think I pretty much got the gist of it anyway...

Random Sites in Auckland:






This is a fountain in the middle of a plaza in the heart of the city...




...and this is the anarchy symbol someone drew on it! It wasn't me, I promise!



An antique store had its door open and it was overflowing with amazing stuff!






This is Lisa, from Boston. We met at the airport and hung out for an afternoon..










That's all for now... More updates, and pictures to come!