Dearest friends and family,

Thanks for joining me once again. I am in New Zealand!!!!

My travel here was quite lengthy – I did spend most of a night at the Auckland airport – but overall smooth. One day of my life is on loan while I am in New Zealand because the time change was +22 hours from Hawaii to here. I am living in the future.

Yahoo! Made it to New Zealand! Overarching themes of this week were getting my bearings, being very glad I am living in UniFlats (that’s the name of the exchange apartments), and walking around the city.

First things first, these are the stomping grounds for the next few months :) Auckland is the capital, on the North Island. I am in Dunedin on the South Island.

Dunedin is a cute, student city which feels small (at least compared to Montreal, there’s only 100k people here). There are no lines on the roads for the pedestrian crosswalks and the cars drive on the left hand side of the road so I am still learning how to cross the road. It’s very hilly too. Baldwin Street has the record as the steepest street in the world. Also, they have reusable paper towels in the bathroom?! I’m here for it to be honest.


no lines for crosswalks
steep

Once I got to Dunedin, I took a shuttle from the airport to my ‘flat’. I lucked out so hard with my ‘flatmates’ (roommates), I think I like them very much. My flatmates are Benji (kiwi host), Rory (from the UK), Aidan (from the US) and by tomorrow the last flatmate will arrive. Safe to say, there are a lot of accents going on here. I am so glad that I chose a uni that provides student housing because it’s going to improve my experience so much! Basically I get to meet all the friends they make and people they know so I don’t think I’ll be alone much this semester (Rory is quite extroverted and knows like a billion people). Otherwise, it has so far felt very similar to how it feels when I was new to Montreal. During the first few days here, other than finishing my research project (if you know, you know), I have done a lot of walking around the city and exploring and sorting things out like buying things, getting a phone plan, finding the grocery store, etc. Also, our flat is only around 5-10 mins from school so that’s going to be a welcome experience!


I escaped my research project and finally began exploring on Saturday! The first thing I did was go to the nearby Botanic Gardens by myself (there’s a path through the gardens to get to the grocery store which I haven’t tried yet). They were splendid. I might have to start running just so I can go to them more often.

Also on Saturday, me, Aidan, Rory, and a few of Rory’s friends (including one with a car) went to Aramoana Beach. On the beach there was a parent and baby seal which I had been wanting to see! (^-^). I didn’t swim or go ‘sledding’ but I decided that I’m only in New Zealand once which is why the next day…

Heart on Aramoana beach
Sand sledding

On Sunday, a similar but different group of people (again, Rory’s friends) went to St Clair beach, which is quite popular. I went swimming in the very cold water (yayyy I’m so happy I did). We build this lil sand castle out of the crunchy sand and at one point, a pod of dolphins were jumping out of the water! This day was sunny, and quite fun. 7/10. People still feel quite like strangers, and things are more fun when they are your friends. After we got home we (the flatmates) decided to do a fancy little wine and cheese night, and our flat neighbors (also exchange students) joined at the end.


I am surprised how little I have felt overwhelmed. I am sure some mental breakdowns are to come, maybe about not being able to see everything I want to see, but for now I am enjoying the peace & quiet inside my brain. Thanks for following along.

Next up!

  1. Continue exploring & getting set up (hike Signal Hill, cook, get an 18+ card).
  2. More fun things and make friends and orientation week and make some travel plans.

P.S. here is my knitted hood I promised.