July 30th: Day 34

Thursday, I was still in shock that I was actually in Australia. It had been a life long dream of mine and I couldn't believe I had actually made it! Since there are 6 of us in a room meant for 4 people, Hannah and I slept on the floor last night. It wasn't so bad, but you better believe I am NOT sleeping on the floor tonight!!! We woke up relatively early (8 am) which made it 10 am in new zealand..thats a pretty average time for 6 college kids to wake up! The sun was shining and we couldn't believe our view of the city from the balcony of our hotel room. We all put on our swimsuits and walked to the beach! We all layed down towels and went right to sleep. I went to sleep on my stomach for about 2 hours, so my back was burned when I woke up...Apparently it is easier to get sunburned in this part of the world! Unfortunately I woke up because all of my stuff and I were being washed away by a huge wave that washed up! I opened my eyes and all I could see water rushing back into the sea and taking the route straight over my towel. Everyone else but Hannah and I had gotten up and moved to higher ground about 15 minutes earlier. Hannah says she doesn't even remember being washed away by the wave...and we clearly got up and moved all of our stuff. When I sat up, my purse, t shirt and shoes were being washed into the sea. Luckily Phil rushed to go get them all. I was pretty mad, but after I moved I layed back down to go back to sleep, and then I remembered I had my camera and passport in my purse! When I opened them, they were both soaked. Well the passport not so much, but my camera was definitely messed up! I went back to the room so that I could try and dry it out. I ended up showering and relaxing watching TV (that is after I got my camera working of course!) and then I headed back to the beach. On the way I stopped at Red Rooster, this fast food restaurant that is like chick-fil-a, but it is solid red, and has a giant chicken out in the front. I sat on the beach with Phil and Hannah and then we headed back to the hotel to sit in the hot tub. In the hot tub we met some American marines...they were really nice and we thought it was very ironic how many Americans we meet while we're travelling around the southern hemisphere. Another chill day in Australia!

July 29th: Day 33

I was so excited at work Wednesday, I could hardly sit still. I was leaving at 12:30 to catch a flight to Australia. It has been a life long dream of mine to go to Australia...and now it was all coming true. After 3 hours of work I left to go catch the shuttle and meet everyone at the airport. When I got to the airport I remembered that I forgot to apply for a visa to Australia. I litterally spent the next hour running from one side of the airport to the other trying to find a computer so that I could apply for a visa. When all of that was settled and I finally made it, I rewarded myself with smoe Burger King! haha I saw Lara, Phil, Kristen, Hannah, and Sabrina all sitting at the gate already and we were all so excited to have a weekend away from New Zealand, cold weather, and our horrible apartments. During the 3 and 1/2 hr flight from Auckland to Gold Coast I watched 17 again and I suddenly remembered how much I love Zach Efron. He is a really great actor!! I haven't seen very much High School Musical stuff but I'm assuming he is good in that too. We flew with Jet Star which was a little iffy to start with...there was music playing on the loudspeaker the entire time we were taking off and the plane didn't look very well put together but their flights are so cheap around the southern pacific region. When we finally got to Gold Coast I was so excited. It was dark already, about 8 pm. We got a cab from the airport to our Marriot resort!! Lara's dad is GM at his Marriot hotel in Florida. He actually just got GM of the Year of all Marriots and he was able to get us a great deal!! This was not just a Marriot hotel or anything...this was a legitimate resort, with a lagoon, fish in the pool, a salt water pool, 2 hot tubs, a restaurant, spa, gym, a fresh water pool and the best breakfast buffet in the whole city of Gold Coast.

July 27th & 28th: Days 31-32

Work both days! Just doing more stuff for the festival, but Wednesday I am leaving early from work and I am catching my flight to Australia!! I am so excited...and Lara, one of the girls going with us got us really nice rooms as the Surfers Paradise Marriott hotel in Gold Coast!! Her dad works for Marriott and he got us a really great deal..You can actually scuba dive in the pool. Its a salt water pool with water falls and gratos that you can swim through. There are tropical fish swimming around in the bottom and you can scuba down to see them. There is also a fresh water pool with sand!! I am so excited about this weekend..And about leaving work early tomorrow! Although I found out Khaki died today, I didn't realize how good of friends I have here in NZ, there were all very comforting, including my roommate Sabrina. She is so sweet, I'm really exciting she's going to Australia with us! Its going to be Phil (nicest, cool guy I've met here in nz), Lara (Marriott dad girl, super super nice), Kristen (really sweet, another sorority girl...haha, Lara's roommate), Hannah (the most fun girl here), Sabrina, and I going to Australia tomorrow!!!!!! :) See you in a few days!!!!

July 26th: Day 30

This morning (Sunday) we got a local bus and went down to island bay….we were headed to Red Rocks to see Fur Seals. We didn’t realize that it would be the most beautiful day of our lives. I’ve never seen such beautiful beaches with the sun hitting the water making the prettiest shade of bright blue I’ve ever seen in my life. The green of the plants almost put me in a trance. The sun was so pretty shining on all different colourful surfaces, but my favourite part was the waves crashing against the rocks creating the most beautiful white splashes of water. The waves were huge, definitely the biggest waves I’ve ever seen…and after 3 hours of walking and stopping every 30 sec to take pictures, we finally looked over and there was a seal, resting right near the path. When we started to take closer looks we realized that there were seals all over the place, they were just hard to spot because they were laying all in the rocks. It was difficult to spot them but once we did there were about a hundred of them laying all over the place. They were about 5 feet long and very fat. They made sounds just like you would expect from a seal. It was just so neat because none of us had ever seen a seal just laying in their natural environments, only in zoos. As we reached the end of our walk, and before we could even turn around to head the other way, something weird in the sky caught my eye, it wasn’t a cloud but it was white, way up but in the distance. A big gust of wind came and cleared the clouds and we realized that they were mountains of the south island way off in the distance. It’s so strange because the north and south islands on NZ are separated by about 35 miles of water. The fact that we could see the snowy mountains was amazing, it was very rare, and only on the clearest of days was it possible. This was truly the most amazing day of NZ, and for the first time, I actually had my breathe taken away several times. In the picture below, if you look closely right aboce the rocks sticking out of the water, you can see the snowy mountains of the south island!!!

July 25th: day 29

Saturday morning we woke up and we knew we had a Lord of the Rings tour at 1:30…but I desperately needed to buy some new pants, so we went and shopped around looking for stores. When I finally found some we headed back to the hostel for some lunch and then our Lord of the Rings tour.

BACKGROUND: Lord of the Rings was filmed in NZ; most of the outdoor scenes were shot in Wellington. Although I am not the biggest fan of Lord of the Rings, I have seen all 3 movies and I am familiar with the story. I am going to refer to Lord of the Rings as LOTR from here on out also, because I refuse to keep typing Lord of the Rings again and again. And warning, a lot happened this day, some neat stuff, some you might not be into, I guess read and find out…if it starts to bore you, you can move on.

Our guide picked us up at about 1:20 pm. He was really friendly, a young guy of about 28. Our first stop was on top of a nearby mountain where we could look out at all of Wellington and the bay.

After that he took us to our first LOTR tour spot. He showed us where Frodo (1^st movie) and the other hobbits are standing on a road, the wind starts the blow and Frodo can tell that someone bad is coming for him, he says “I think we should get off the road” and then go and hide under this giant tree trunk. Although the tree trunk was fake, since they had to make regular size humans look about 3 or 4 feet tall, but we got to stand on the road where he says that line and re-enact that scene. The tour guide even took our picture standing there. He took us to a few other places on the mountain like an opening in the top of the hill when the guy on the horse just stands there for a while and then rides off. Next we went to a rock quarry where Peter Jackson (director of LOTR) created two of the castles in the movie.

After the quarry we saw Rivendell, which is where the elves live in the forest. Their town of Rivendell is so beautiful but not it’s just a forest. Since it is a national park, it’s basically just some trees but then when the guide started showing us movie stills, we began to see where the same trees stood there and where Orlando Bloom did a photo shoot that pretty much made him famous. Well this movie really made Orlando Bloom famous, but regardless…I don’t know what the big deal is anyway, he’s not that cute, Viggo Mortensen is way cuter in this movie. Then we did something that I can cross off my bucket list, which is walk thru a rainforest. Although it wasn’t a tropical rainforest, it is a temperate rainforest, it looks the same it just doesn’t have all the same animals and plants. This particular rainforest was 40 min out of Wellington and it got twice the amount of rain as the actual city of Wellington does. It was so neat but there was absolutely no sun on the forest floor, the pictures I took were awful because there was no light. I have always wanted to visit a rainforest, and I finally got my dream fulfilled. We also found out that the movies Jurassic Park, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and 10,000 BC was filmed in Wellington also. That tour took up the rest of the day and there wasn’t room for anything else. It was one of my favourite days of all time.

July 24th: Day 28

This morning when we woke up we really had no plan; we just set out to walk around. We walked around the city until we finally found the Te Papa Museum. I wasn’t that into it, but Sabrina and Holly are both marine biology majors so this was like getting a million dollars to them. I have to admit some of the stuff was really neat; we got to see the colossal squid. There have been two giant squid found in the world but the biggest was right off the coast of New Zealand and it’s housed in the Te Papa Museum. The museum was free so that was a plus for sure. Downstairs was mostly science and learning (I hate it) and upstairs art and clothing and history (which I love). The squid wasn’t as big as I thought it was going to be, but I guess if you think about it, a squid larger that an NBA star is a pretty big deal. Sabrina’s boss that she works under for her internship actually helped discover the colossal squid. He was even in the video of the scientists pulling it out of the water. After Te Papa we rode the cable car up this mountain to look at the botanical gardens. It was raining and it’s also winter so I feel like maybe it wasn’t the right time for a botanical garden tour, but never the less we went. While we were there I threw my leg up over this wall to retie my shoe and I tore my pants!!! It was awful and so uncomfortable. Worse than that, I found this neat statue and I was running over to it to get a picture with it and I slid in the mud and fell down. I slid probably 3 feet. I was filthy dirty and I promise that my butt is probably bruised. By the end of the day, walking around in the rain in my torn, muddy jeans, I was ready to just relax. We grabbed some dinner and then decided to go to the movies. I was ready to see something funny or exciting, we actually went to see Transformers but it was sold out, so Sabrina really, really, really, really wanted to see “Drag Me to Hell”. I hate scary movies and I told her that I refused to see it. I would rather go see a movie by myself. But then by the time we got up to the front of the very long movie line, that was the only one left. So I went to see it and it turned out to be the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen in my life. There were talking goats, the main actress was awful, and it had probably the worst ending in cinematic history… (I might be exaggerating but it was pretty bad).

July 23rd: Day 27

I couldn’t sit still at work today because I had a flight out of Auckland at 9pm to Wellington. Wellington is the capital of NZ and it is supposed to be very, very pretty! I am so excited…the flight was only an hour from Auckland to Wellington. It was kind of foggy, but when we showed up, and had no plans for getting from the airport to the hostel we found a shuttle outside. This shuttle was apparently the only one of its kind in NZ. It was solid gold and the man driving had long white hair and a moustache that was dainty like a French person might have. He had a French accent and the inside of the shuttle was covered in sheep’s fur. There was sheep’s fur on the ceiling, floor, walls, and even the seats…it was so funny. And such an experience….when we were all settled in, he turned on the 20” flat screen in the backseat with Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. As the Thriller video took up most of our time we finally got to the hostel.

July 20th-July 22nd: Days 24-26

Monday:
Another day at work, except we had a meeting during lunch and I was given the responsibility of getting a few airlines (Air New Zealand & Qantas) to join in a partnership with DOCNZ as sponsors. I also had to get in touch with 2 Degrees Mobile, which is mobile company here in NZ. My boss Alex, also put me in charge of contacting the film makers, which is neat because I have recently been in contact with some of the great up and coming film makers. Although they are all documentaries, there are some that have made it pretty huge in the film business, such as "Food Inc.", "Farrah's Story", and I am currently trying to find who the heck is in charge of the Michael Jackson documentary?????? After work I watched 300, definitely one of my fav movies of all time, and went to bed early (mostly because I never go to bed early and I thought I should get a jump on this upcoming week).
Tuesday:
Another day at work, its fun..but sitting in an office chair all day, is not my favorite, I am starting to develop an upper back pain that keeps me up at night...(and I am pretty sure I'm still only 19 years old?!?) I've had to take tylenol (nz version...can't pronounce or remember how its spelled) before bed each night. Thats not fun at all. After work Sabrina and I went down Queen St. and I finally took some pictures of Auckland (to be posted) and got some Gelato! The guy that worked at the Gelato place asked me where I was from and I said Texas....he said "Oh where in Texas?" and I said south of San Antonion..he said I'm from Austin and then held up a Longhorn symbol, and I explained to him that I went to Tech and he wasn't allowed to do that! haha and then I told him I was joking...kind of. (this pic is of Sky Tower, the one we had dinner in a last week, and the tallest building in the southern hempishere)I found this store that I am desperate to go to called Global Culture, they have shirts in there with the neatest NZ souveneirs, and shirts that say "Sweet As", which is the NZ version of "cool" or "sweet" or just "alright" or "okay!" haha
Wednesday:
This weekend I am headed to Wellington which is where they filmed most of the Lord of the Rings movies. So after work I went and rented Lord of the Rings...so Holly, Sabrina, and I could watch it and get a refresher course. We get to walk through the forest to where some of the scenes were shot!! I'm so excited!!! They give you props to reinact the scenes and explain how everything is done! We also found this really neat light house near Wellington called Cape Palliser.The light house is so cute with red and white stripes... There is a colony of fur seals there that just roam free and live at the bottom of the cliff. They said you can walk right up to them and take pictures...I am so excited!!!!
We leave on Thursday (tomorrow) and come back on Sunday!!! It is going to be a really neat trip...Wellington is the capital of NZ so it should be very cultural and political. The giant squid is also in Wellington at the Te Papa museum...That will be neat to see...although I won't be that into it, compared to Sabrina and Holly who are both Marine Biologist majors and their internships are finding things in the sea on a boat and sorting and identifying them....sounds like a blast (blank expression).

July 19: Day 23

This morning I woke up pretty early...(about 9:15..I thought it was early) and my roommate was already gone. I was going to take the ferry over to Devonport. So I decided to go on a lonely adventure! It was so beautiful..just a little city in the bay that looked back at Auckland. There were some shops and a museum. I had lunch and headed back to Auckland. I took a nap at about 3 pm and then about 4 I headed down Queen St to see if I could find some good souveiners. I know I'm still here for 3 more weeks, but the next few weekends I will not be in Auckland and most everything is closed after I get off work...so its nice to have a shopping day! When I came back Sabrina (my roommate) and I started planning a trip to Australia for 2 weekends from now. I had remembered that Phil wanted to also go, so I went and asked him and he got everyone together and we planned a trip!! I am so excited! We decided not to go to Sydney on account of its just another big city. It would be really neat to see the Opera House...but I guess I'll just Google a picture of it.
We are going to Gold Coast which is surfers paradise. I know its winter time here but it is a lot warmer in Australia than in NZ. It is supposed to be in the 60's and 70's. There is ATVing, a kangaroo farm, surfing (of course), snorkeling, and hiking. I am so excited..we are leaving on a Wednesday and comming back on Sunday, so its not just a 2 day trip!
This trip is going to be absolutely unbelieveable...and I am so glad with technology today...I haven't had to document it all by hand..I hate hand writing things (sad, I know, blame modern technology I guess). Some girls have been writing in journals and they don't do it for weeks at a time because it takes so long..this is nice because I don't have great handwriting and I think quicker when I am typing...
Sorry just a thought I had about not having to write this all down...because we all know there would be no written account of my nz trip.

July 18th: Day 22

This morning was so nice...I finally got to sleep in for one of like two times since I've been here!! Its nice, but also when you are in New Zealand...if you spend too much time in your room you feel as though you are missing out on something. I went shopping for some ALL BLACKS gear for the game I went to tonight. The All Blacks are the New Zealand rugby team and they are playing the Wallabies (Australia) tonight.. Its a pretty big game since they are such big rivals...I also did some shopping down Queen St and I bought a dress..I should really be buying clothes for recruitment but its kind of hard since everything here just doesn't look the same as in the states. Its such a different style. At 3:30 pm we all boarding a bus to Mt. Eden..kind of like the outskirts of Auckland. Thats where the game was going to take place. We were all so ready for the game to start and it was so exciting!!!! Lots of people dressed in ALL BLACK (pun intended) and a few Aussies... I got to see the team do the Haka...famous ritual dance...before hand and it was awesome.. I don't understand rugby but it was really fun to watch!! We just cheered when everyone else did and went along with it... Everyone from NZ is really helpful so they were willing to help us understand the game.. (I still like American football better!! The fans are so much better).. After the game we met a lot of nice people. Everyone in nz knows everything about the states, so when they ask where you are from they usually mean what state?? So I've started just saying "Texas". Its so funny to hear people's response...One person asked if I had a gun with me..One guy asked if I had my horse here in auckland, one person asked where I was keeping my gun right now...and an old man tonight asked if I brought my cow or not. They are always pretty shocked to hear that I actually do live on a ranch and my family has cows, horses, and guns!! haha People seem to love the westerns so they picture us all running around on horses with tumble weeds all over the dirt roads.. and if not they ask if I live in houston.. We finally made our way back home and safely returned to our apartments..

July 17th: Day 21

This morning was insane...we woke up and walking down to the harbor...a van came and picked us up to take us to the bungee jumping site.. I woke up thinking "What the heck have I signed up for??? This is a horrible idea." I even looked up the percentage of people that die each year doing it.. It has the same risk as driving at 100 mph...2 in every one million people die.. Before hand everyone was freaking out..I was really unsure but I paid and made the trek up the bridge. I was one of the last ones to go...(which is surprising considering they go by weight...they weighed up and called us up there one by one. I was the second to last to go...and I was so scared....watching everyone else go, they were all pretty afraid...but I was petrified...we were so high above the water....it made me want to cry. They got me all strapped in to go and walked me out to the launch pad...as I was walking I was fine and then I looked down once I was at the edge and I started screaming and telling the guy how I didn't want to go anymore...he yelled at me a little bit telling me that I wasn't allowed to look down...it was an awful situation. I straight up said I didn't want to go anymore..i didn't care if I got my money back or anything...it was way to high..I have never been so afraid in my life... It was easily the scariest moment ever. I walked away and felt a little wimpy that I was the only one who didn't go, but in the end I am so glad I didn't.. I don't want to do something I'm not 100% about. Everyone who did had an awesome time but I walked away such a happy person. Everyone was like, I don't blame you...the hardest part for everyone was jumping..and I felt like jumping off was going to be my biggest fear...but I just couldn't climb that mountain...and honestly I don't think I will ever go back into that situation again. Most of the people have already gone skydiving and I think I could do that. YOu have a professional strapped to your back...and that professional says you are going regardless of anything you are thinking...plus you don't have a falling feeling in your stomach because you are going so fast. I am going to try it in a few weeks and I am pretty excited!! I was pretty shaken afterwards but once we were back on land I was over it...I went back to the room and took a nap... Tonight we went to Sky City and went to dinner. Sky City is in Sky Tower which is the giant saucer looking tower in the middle of auckland. Its the tallest building in the southern hemisphere....we went up and had an excellent dinner at the orbit restaurant. It spins just like the one in San Antonio or Dallas.. it was a beautiful night for dinner and we were all there to say our last goodbyes to Aaron. Aaron is the only other person who goes to Tech thats here...its kind of funny because no one else here goes to the same school. (the pic is of Aaron giving his goodbye speech) Overall it was a great day...even though I didn't bungee...I got farther than most people...I put on the harness and climbed the bridge!!!!! Whether that sounds lame or not...I am going to look at it that way...because if someone asked you to go bungee jumping...would you say yes?????

July 16th: Day 20

This morning I went back to work and it was my best day at work yet!! My boss told me all about what I would be doing (as in much more meaningful projects)....He told me all about a really neat viral marketing campaign he is going to do that he wants me to help him with. It is a campaign called "Save Documentary" and it is basically a fake campaign about the government having control of information in the future...and not allowing citizens to tell the truth thru documentaries. It will be a youtube campaign with secret agents from the future that have left a video telling us (the past) about the government not allowing anyone to make documentaries because they now control everything (such as the movie industry) they are warning us about not letting this happen and to save the documentary! It is going to be a really neat thing and it will be something that I can actually take back with me and say...this is what I've done. I went to bed early because tomorrow (friday) I am going bungee jumping off the auckland harbor bridge...NIGHT!

July 13th-15th: Day 17-19

Monday I went to work today and I was miserable all day! I was so sick all day...after work we all watched the movie Australia in Kristin and Lara's room. I love that movie but I was so tired!

Tuesday I woke up and didn't go to work. I was so sick. I went to the doctor and basically found out I had a really bad cough. I went back and went to sleep for practically the rest of the day!

That night a few of us went to Sky City to eat something, since I hadn't left the room all day.

Wednesday I woke up and still didn't feel good. I got an email from my boss saying that it would be better if I just didn't come in, and that I can just come back on Thursday for work, when I felt better. I had a lot of time sitting in my apartment realizing that this week of my life has been so extremely exciting!! haha

July 9th-12th: Day 13-16 - Rotorua

Thursday night we finally got to Rotorua at 11:30 and it was about 30 degrees.. Everything was closed down, we had no idea where our hostel was and we were freezing. We finally found it and had ruled our sleeping in the nearest doorstep to keep warm out. We booked a hostel named Cactus Jacks...which I found to be quite humorous. Everything was western themed, from the bathroom looking like a bank from an old western. To our room looking like a jail house. Friday morning when we woke up, we headed into the park to look at all of the geothermal activity. It was so cool to just be walking down the street and have steam rising from the boiling water underneath us. We did a lot of walking Friday but also a lot of fun. We found a playground in the park, which was a ton of fun! 
We had made plans to go zorbing but by the time we got around to getting on the bus, it was close to 5, which is when everything shuts down here, since it gets dark at 5:30. Back at the hostel, an American themed party was going on (I have no idea why?!?) and there was no way I was going to dress up...I am an American. There was a lady in a statue of liberty costume; a guy in a mullet wig, a cut-off shirt and shorts, and boots; two girls wearing nothing but red white and blue bikinis (keep in mind its freezing), a couple of new zealanders, and us...the Americans. We said we brought our accents to the party.  

Saturday was much more exciting. We woke up and had a van pick us up and take us to River Rats Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking Company. We had made plans to kayak Rotorua Lake. It was so fun and freezing cold. After that we got on the bus to go Zorbing...just in case you missed it, zorbing is the sport of rolling down a hill in a big plastic bubble inside of another plastic bubble. The outer layer is filled with water so that the inside bubble does not roll. These things are huge, big enough to fit four people inside. There is a wet option which they say is the only enjoyable way to go, you have water on the inside so that you are slipping and sliding around, but not flipping. The other option is to be strapped in a dry one while flipping with the bubble as it rolls down the hill. By the time we got there I was the only one willing to try it. When I saw those people rolling down the hill and come out at the bottom, they all looked like they were experiencing the 1st stages of hypothermia, with expression on their faces that said DON'T DO IT.. We took some pictures and we were out of there. That night we had a Maori Experience, where we go and watch some of the Maori customs and the Haka. (the Haka is a famous dance that Maori  warriors do...the Auckland rugby team does the haka before every game to frighten their opponents. It is very intimidating to watch and they are famous for being the best at it!)                                       

 We also ate Hangi, which is basically meat and potatoes that is cooked underground. While sitting at dinner, there was a mother and her 3 children at our table

. There were two little girls and the youngest was the cutest red headed, blue eyed b

oy I've ever seen. We got to talking to them, and they happen to be doing the same tour we were doing after our Maori experience. We were doing a Kiwi tour, where we got to see the Kiwi birds. I walked around with the two little girls the entire time. They were halarious, and little girls with New Zealand accents are so cute, because they sound s

o sophisticated. Liani and Shawna were their names they kept me entertained the entire time!!

The next morning I wasn't feeling so well from being in the cold the entire previous day. 

We went luging Sunday morning which was fun but it got me even more sick...I kno

w it was because we were going down a mountain on a luge with the win

d whipping in our faces and while breathing freezing cold air. The luging was a lot of fun, and I happen to see the same little girls from the night before there. They were a lot of fun and they wanted to ride with me, but there comes a point when the mom probably thought I was such a creeper, always hanging out with 9, 6, and 4 year olds...haha. We had to wait for the bus for nearly an hour, so we had 10 minutes to make it to the bus once we got back to town. We had to sprint to the bus terminal which was no

t helping my asthmatic situation. We finally got back to Auckland at 8 and I went straight to bed! 

July 8th: Day 12

Kia Ora!! (HELLO!!) Another day working....it was raining and I didn't have my umbrella...so that was fun...haha. After work today I went to the Warehouse...its like Wal-Mart...only worse. It's always an experience to go to the Warehouse. One lady that worked there told me that mirrors were on aisle 58 & 59...and after about 2 min of impatiently looking for any aisle in the 50's I asked another lady...she was like, we don't have an aisle 58..they are over there on aisle 24...whatever. When I asked for tape this really REALLY friendly middle eastern looking man got really into it, I think he was a tape enthusiast. The conversation went something like this:

"Excuse where is your tape?"
"What kind of tape would you like to have?"
"Just to hang something on the wall."
"Well do you want one or two sided?
"One sided please."
"Clear or masking tape?"
"Clear is fine."
"Just a single one or a pack of them."
"Just one..."
"Big or small tape?"
"Small I guess, I just need a little bit."
"Good, because we only have the small. Let me show you right over here..."

I also needed a new pillow, when I switched rooms I had just one paper thin pillow..I'm not picky about pillows but this was awful. I shoved 2 large towels in the bottom of it last night to give it a bit more substance, haha. Since it gets dark at 5:30 by the time I got there it was 6 pm and nighttime was kicking in. I brought my backpack to carry everything I bought home with me (you have to purchase your plastic grocery bags separately, weird...I know). It was really funny because my backpack looked so full walking home, but it was light as a feather because I had my phone, wallet, and a large pillow jammed in there. When I got back I did laundry which was an experience...it was $12 NZ dollars to do two loads...about $9 US. I hung some maps on the wall, I have a candle (smells awesome...although i don't know if we're allowed to have them), some pictures of Ryan Reynolds I found in a magazine hanging up...the room is starting to feel much more homey and welcoming. Well I'm headed to Rotorua tomorrow after work for lots of fun things this weekend...NIGHT!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

July 7th: Day 11

Tonight we all watched One Tree Hill (apparently all the other interns are hooked on it and have been watching all of the seasons on DVD). Also I am so excited because Holly, Tyler, and I have planned a trip to Rotorua for this weekend. We can go four wheeling, zorbing (rolling down a hill in a huge plastic bubble), see geysers, and learn about Maori culture. The hostel we are staying at is called Cactus Jacks, which I think is so funny!!! Everything is western themed...its going to be awesome! I am so excited for that adventure. Our bus leaves at 7:40 pm on Thursday and we will be gone until Sunday at about 7 pm...

July 6th: Days 10

Sunday when I woke up I realized I hadn't really seen Auckand yet from a tourists point of view...so I went out and looked around. I found a ton of cute stores, a movie store, and a pharmacy type place where I can get good makeup and hair products!! I was really excited!! haha On my way back from my explorations I saw Aaron, Phil, and Hannah, who had just gotten back from a ferry trip to a nearby island. They invited me to go and watch a movie with them....so later we all went down and watched the Bourne Ultimatum...which I've seen probably and a thousand times. Also I hate being on the 17th floor because everyone else is on lower floors...4, 5, and 7!! So I went and asked the front desk and they said a room opened on the 8th floor!! I'm so excited. So Monday I got to move into my new room. It still kind of smells bad in the kitchen but I have a roommate.. She's an asian who is going back to...I guess Asia...somewhere in a few days. Work is still the same, except I met the other intern from France. Last week he was on vacation in the south island. His name is Romain....ironically he lives on the 9th floor of the same apartment building. He speaks very broken english, but its nice to have another intern that can sort of help me along with how things work.

July 3rd-5th: Days 7-9 - Trip to Waitomo Caves

WAITOMO CAVES

So Friday and Saturday we went black water rafting...it was so fun, but the water was freezing. We woke up Friday morning and headed down to sky city bus stop, where a charter bus took us to Waitomo and dropped us off in front of our hostel. We went to the black water rafting company and they said the next tour wasn't until 3 pm...so we had about 4 hours to waste. We took the 15 min walk into town and found a little pizzeria and then took a tour of the cave museum. We learned all about glowworms which are worms that live in the top of the Waitomo caves and light the way down the twisted pathways. I couldn't wait to start our rafting tour. At 3 we showed back up to the rafting company where we proceeded to put on our wet wet suits. They were already freezing and soaked from the last tour. As we put them on we all looked like penguins and it was pretty hard to move. To top it off, literally, we had bright blue and yellow helmets with lights on them. We headed down into the caves which was a creepy experience because we were actually standing in a creek that was headed down into the ground. Inside it was freezing and so extremely cold. There were a few parts where we could just float down the river, turn our lights off on our helmets, and just sit back and watch the glowworms on the ceiling…it was a pretty awesome experience. Afterwards we got a hot shower, soup, and a bagel…kind of random I know but there isn’t really a reason for anything they do in New Zealand. We stayed at a hostel named Juno Hall that night, woke up the next morning and took a walking tour up this mountain and we were able to look at the entire Waitomo area. We were so lucky that it wasn't foggy for probably the first time ever!! We headed back to Auckland about 12 and got there about 2:30pm. It was the fourth of July so all of the other interns were going to dinner and then out to celebrate. We ate at this really nice Asian food place right up the street and then headed out to a few different places where all they played was Michael Jackson music. (We danced to thriller back at the apartment just to remember...and we weren't so bad. So far Michael Jackson seems to be the theme of my entire trip to New Zealand.) The FIBA U19 basketball tournament is going on in Auckland and Hannah, Laura, and I meet a few players from Canada. They were really nice, funny guys….but its really late so I better get to bed.

July 2nd: Day 6 - Done With First Week of Work!!

Another day at work....but my last one day of work for the week!!! So after today we're headed to Waitomo Caves in the morning. I'm pretty excited. I ended up hanging out with all of the other American interns last night, and they were so fun! Early morning tomorrow...better get to bed.

June 30th & July 1st: Days 4 & 5

Day 5
Another successful day working for DOCNZ… After work another intern, Holly, came to my room and we made plans to go Waitomo Caves Friday and go cave repelling and black water rafting. My only hesistation is that the bus leaves at 8 am Friday morning…I hate early mornings...but I guess I'll survive. I also got to meet all of the other American interns, they all seemed really nice! We hung out and went to dinner. There are just so many of them...its going to be hard to keep track!!

Day 4
Today was my second day of work and my first time to really see the sun. I woke up and it was finally okay to use the fridge since it had been airing out for about 12 hours. I’ve got the bus system down now, so I won’t have to leave at 8:40 to be at work by 9:30!! I could actually work today since the internet was working, so I spent 8 hrs looking up films and their contacts to invite them to submit their films for the festival next March. After work I made some pasta in my now clean kitchen and went to bed early….I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll do something exciting after work, since I’ve finally caught up on sleep…

June 29th: Day 3 - First Day of Work!

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, obviously too afraid to go back to sleep (I might not wake up to my alarm). I called my mom, got dressed and set out to figure out the bus system. When I finally asked someone where the office was and figured out how the heck to find DOCNZ (Documentary New Zealand International Film Festival, who I am working for), I was so relieved but was about 30 minutes too early for work. While I waited the receptionist Kelly showed me around. She was so nice and friendly it hurt a little. I decided we all need to have a little bit more of Kelly in our personalities...haha. The internet was down until 3:30 so there was really nothing I could do until then. My lunch break was of course Asian food which is 90% of the cuisine and the population here in AucklandI hear the rest of New Zealand is not this way). Also, my supervisor is gone for another week and a half traveling in South America...so I'm hoping tomorrow will be more productive. When I got back to the apartment the elevator was broken...I was so ungrateful for my asthmatic background, but very thankful for my inhaler waiting in the my room on the 17th floor. Oh yeah, did I mention I climbed 17 flights of stairs tonight.....twice. Oh and as it turns out....I don't have a roommate...yeah she doesn't exist...there was just old rotting food in the fridge.. :( gross.. Anway I talked to Lacie earlier on the internet for about 2 hrs and I am so ready for bed. Night!!

June 28th: Day 2

Well I woke up this morning at about 9 to get ready for church...and it was raining uncontrollably outside. I also didn't realize the extreme amount of exercise I got last night walking around for 4 hrs up and down the hills of the Auckland streets. I could barely get out of bed. The church service was good but the music was sub-par. It is so funny to listen to everyone's accent's...by the time we got back to the apartment I had give up on the umbrella (its SO windy) and I was soaked. A hot shower was much needed. OHHH...I forgot to mention...my blog is called Haere Mai which means "welcome" to a group of people in Maori language. The Maori are the native people here in New Zealand. Tonight we went to the Warehouse, an even cheaper version of a superstore than Wal-Mart. Then we headed over to FoodTown to stock our oh so fancy apartment "kitchenette's" consisting of the rankest smelling fridge in the entire southern hemisphere, a sink, microwave, and two burners, a mug, glass cup, 3 knives, and 2 forks a bowl, and about 15 plates. When I returned to the apartment and opened the fridge, as I started to look around, all of the food in the minifridge expired last January...disgusted I started to pull a Lori and throw everything in sight away. I unplugged the fridge to let it defrost and sprayed it down with Clorox. That was several hours ago...its a work in process. Going to bed now, first day of work tomorrow!....also the toilets don't flush the other way...total myth. Learned that the first day I was here!!! Disappointment.

June 27th: Day 1 - Arrival in Auckland

HELLO! I finally got to Auckland today after a very long 15 hr plane ride. There was too much fog for us to land in Auckland so we stopped in Fiji for about 2 hrs to get more fuel...I wish I could of just stayed in Fiji, it was beautiful. The weather wasn't too bad once I got off the plane in Auckland...just really foggy. I got to the the apartment which was awful; dirty, smelly, and small. The other bedroom in the apartment was locked so I am assuming my roommate is gone for the weekend... due to the large amounts of food in the fridge, which would make anyone's gag reflexes react. When another intern got off work he showed me around the city. I had a kebab sandwich and gelato ice cream later on...It gets dark about 5:30 pm so it felt REALLY LATE by 8o'clock. We found a church called the "Baptist Tabernacle" to go to and we're waking up in the morning to check it out. I am so tired, I've absolutely got to go to bed...