Happy Valentine's Day

Happy V-day everybody!!

I'm officially unpacked and got internet (although it's pretty expensive :(). I feel a little better that I am connected to life back home. I felt pretty uncomfortable not being able to tell my familia that I was safe and sound in Kiwi-land.

Let me recap my adventures from the past few days. So Dickie and I got to the airport and hung out and said our goodbyes via free wifi (Thanks, Logan!). We were frantically trying to find the last two people in our party. One of whom, didn't have an easily visible facebook account, so we had no idea what he looked like. We were just gonna have to meet him the old fashioned way...So we met CJ who Dickie had had classes with, so we knew he was a cool dude. Then all three of us tried to figure out, in the packed terminal, who Geoff could possibly be. We finally met him on the plane where, in the last row, we all sat down and he goes, "oh hey, you guys go to Northeastern?" For the record, I sniped out "Geoff" before we even got into the plane. I knew it!

Anyway, the three boys, Dickie, CJ, and Geoff, were seated in the row in front of me and having a hilarious time, but little ol' me had to sit behind them with a terrified child and her nervous mother. The flight to LAX was fine...6 hours long and a ton of turbulence, but I watched MJ's "This is it!" and read my million magazines. It was fine. I just wished I had a window seat (or had been near a window at all) to see the lights of Las Vegas as we passed over. Oh well.

When we got to LAX, it was 11:30pm Boston-time so I hurriedly called my loved ones and said Sayonara before it got too too late to call. Our amazing NEU posse tried to find a place to grab dinner because, Thanks AA, we didnt get served anything at all. We found a disgusting mexican place and sucked it up and ate there. PS. My sweater still smells like gross burrito...

The flight to Auckland was also just alright. I handed out my Tylenol PM like it was tic tacs because we were all determined to sleep the whole way. Poor Geoff didn't sleep that much, CJ, well, he can fall asleep anywhere...literally, Dickie was conked out, and I contorted myself into some weird position and fell asleep for the first five hours of the flight.

When we landed in Auckland, it was very very hot, which was great! It was nice to feel summer humidity, but it was the start my of hair being uncontrollable. We grabbed the next flight to ChCh and saw the beautiful mountains as we were landing and, finally, we were there. After almost two hours of waiting for our taxi pick-up, we arrived at Ilam Apartments where we'll be living for the next 5 months.

First of all, the city, is FAAAAAAR. Crap on a cracker! I'm pretty pissed about that actually, it's like a $50 cab ride from Ilam to the center of city. Yuck. Also, Ilam, our little neighborhood is full of cute residences, but nothing really fun to do. Alsooo, beer and wine, which is made just around the corner, is crazy ridiculous expensive everywhere. Lame.

Oh! Duh, I forgot to tell you about my living sit. So my room is me, Dickie, Sara (from NEU) and Shaun from ConnColl, and an unknown 5th girl (I'll keep you posted on her identity). I was kind of disappointed at first when I realized that the people I was closest with were all living with me, but honestly, it's great! It was great to have someone to freak out with and be like, "OMG WE'RE IN NEW ZEALAND!" "HAVE YOU SEEN OUR BALCONY!?!?" "LOOK! MOUNTAINS!" as we were moving in...It's also nice to be like, "yah, you wanna grab dinner?" and not have the awkward, obligatory introductions as you walk and find your way around (especially after 30 hours of traveling and bad, restless sleep).

Anyway, we scoped out the best grocery store, Pak 'N Save, and Kmart (weird)...found an Indian Restaurant (!!), figure out which bus to take (also expensive), and yeah. I have a feeling I'm gonna be doing a LOT of walking. I can't believe the city is so far. From all my research the books made it sound like a nice little stroll into City. Like, say, Fenway area to Northeastern. Oh no...it's like walking from Brookline to the Pru. No gracias.

So you know me, I just wanna dance! No such luck...It's all british pub-style, which is fun (for a few nights) but I need some Sean-a Paul, some Lady G, some BEP...Oh well, I'll figure it out :) If I can find places to dance in Cairo, I can find places in ChCh.

The weather? It's huuuumid! My apartment is sticky, but it's pretty chilly outside. When we went to the store, I wore long jeans, t-shirt, cardi, jacket, and my jandaled toesies were not excited. I refuse to wear socks in the "summer." Burr...Again, oh well! I'll figure it out :) :)

I woke up this morning to my flat mates chit chatting and said, "Happy Valentine's Day!" and Shaun, who looks like a ConnColl version of Dave C. from Atown, said, "Grace, will you be my Valentine?" Kidding, of course, but still, I can officially say, I have a Valentine in ChCh. BOOM! It will be a great cloudy, chilly Valentines in ChCh today.

I'm off to the grocery to get some ... groceries :) Oh, and a phone, so Mom & Dad, dont you fret, I'll be in official contact soon!

So far, ChCh is nothing like I expected, but that's good, right?! Surprises. I'm not disappointed at all about the length to the city centre, or the expensive transportation. Lemons, lemonade. Or I should say, Kiwis? Kiwi-ade :-P

xoxo