Well hello there! I am delighted to see that you have found your way to my blog. Let me just preface by noting that I am one of those people who gets really into something initially but usually loses interest or time somewhere down the road and I am expecting this to impact the frequency of my blog postings. Nontheless, welcome! So what has sparked a non-blogger to alter her ways and enter this html based world? To be honest, I think that fact that I had the option of customizing my background with these nifty polks dots had a lot to do with it...that and the fact that, as the title suggests, I am New to New Zealand.

On July 2nd, at 2PM eastern time, I departed from Philadelphia on the 6 hour plane ride to San Francisco and thus initiated my 5 month study abroad experience. The trip did not start off well as a person assigned the middle seat in my row did not react well to my refusal to swap my window seat for hers. After my lengthy layover in SanFran, I, along with what seemed like every high school band member of the state of California, boarded a 12 hour airNewZealand flight to Auckland. While I feared that, with a seat number ending in K, I would end up in the middle of two rowdy high schoolers tossing a football overhead, the flight was actually quite pleasant. Somehow, I ended up in a window seat next to a nice high school band couple who managed to limit their PDA. The upside of flying with a marching band is that the there is no room for screaming children. This flight also intruduced me to the beyond friendly diposition of New Zealanders. Once I stepped on the plane, I felt the warm glow of the flight crew and noticed how they genuinely cared about your experience on board. Unlike the previous flight, we were served two meals, dinner and breakfast, both which were served in non-plastic containers along with wine and other drinks (picture is coming). Once in Auckland, I rushed through customs and thankfully spotted my bag in the baggage claim almost immediately. While going through security for the umpteenth time at around 6 in the morning NZ time, I bumped into a fellow Otago student who was traveling to the University on an earlier flight. So far, I have not run into her again, but perhaps during orientation. As I waited in the tiny terminal to board my next flight, I ended up conversing with a student from India on his way Australia, where I would be staying for only one day in order to see a wrestling match. He had a heavy accent so I'm not entirely sure if I caught everything he said but, he was extremely friendly and we exchanged e-mail addresses at his request. At 8AM NZ time, I grabbed my aisle seat on my final plane ride to Dunedin. After briefly stopping in Wellington, I finally arrived in Dunedin, my home for the next few months, at 10:45 AM NZ time on July 4th. I then met up with the taxi driver who was scheduled to transport me from the airport to my flat. I gaurantee that you would never find a NYC taxi driver as delightful and chipper as this one, who told me about his life and love of sports as he showed me around the city.

Eventually, I ended up at my flat, 2a FORTH STREET, DUNEDIN 9016 NEW ZEALAND (this is so not a shameless plug to try and encourage people to send me mail) where I was greeted by flatmates Ebony (my kiwihost), Andrew, and Liz. Coming from the palace known as Bryn Mawr, I was expecting a downgrade in my living arrangement however, much to my surprise, I actually really like my room. The room is fairly spacious, with a double bed, two large windows, and a porch. Pictures will be coming soon so you can see how my dots have crossed the international date line. On the flipside, the entire flat is absolutely freezing as it is winter down here and Dunedin is not familiar with the concept of central heating. This morning, I could see my breath as I ate my breakfast. Today, our last flatmate, Thatcher, arrived. Out of the 6 of us, 4 of us are Americans and one is from the UK. So far, I've met mostly Americans, including someone who grew up in Haverford.

I know that I have spent a while going on about logistics but, there hasn't been much going on yet sinc orientation doesn't start until tomorrow. On my first day, Ebony drove us to the Wharehouse (a discount type store reminicent of Walmart) and the Pack'n Save food store. The following day, I wondered around Dunedin with a flatmate in search of rainboots (or gumboots as they are known in NZ) and groceries. I am regretting not bringing my pastel mead notebooks with me since all office supplies here are extremely pricey (I have a bit of a fettish with office supplies, so this was a bit of a problem for me). Unwilling to shell out 20 dollars for a binder, I settled on some flimsy, unstylish notebooks. It has only been a few days but, I am already hooked on Tim Tams, a NZ chocolate cookie which, as our kiwi host demonstrated, can also serve as a straw. Since Cadbury chocolate originated in Dunedin, I have stocked up on several of their products. I did also score some American food at the 4th/5th of July party I attended. Yesterday I woke up and walked up several unnecessary steep hills until I managed to find the University Flats office where I picked up my bedding package and then struggled to drag it back to my flat. The rest of my time has been spent trying to decode NZ slang and getting over jet lag (a task which some of my flatmates are attempting to move along).

That's pretty much it so far. I'll keep you posted on how orientation goes. Here's hoping that I will overcome jet lag tonight (an improbable feat seeing as I am currently feeling under the weather)!