Crazy at Wheaton

If you are still following this blog - kudos to you for remaining dedicated!  I have obviously been off of my blog for quite some time, and keep meaning to come back to it.  A lot has happened since I returned from New Zealand, so I'll try to give a quick update...

I spent my one month summer at home in New Hampshire (after returning from LA and then TX, respectively) working at the same store I've been working at for a while, aerie.  What was nice about this time is that my bosses actually started to respect me and even let me create a little charity project called "Support for the less fortunate."  I asked all of the employees to bring in the bras that they don't wear anymore (because of our fantastic discount), and collected about 35 bras that were donated to a women's/girl's group home in Dover.  It was a really rewarding experience.

Since returning to Wheaton, I have been involved in quite a lot.  I am the co-Captain of Dance Company and we had our auditions as usual.  This year, over 30 students auditioned and we only had the space to take 5 of them.  There was a lot of talent and I think this just speaks to the growing popularity and prestige of the Dance department at Wheaton.  I also decided that I wanted to join the multi-cultural and hip hop group called TRYBE, of which my roommate Rachel is the co-Director.  I auditioned with 55 other students and was one of the 7 that they accepted!

I am dancing for 4-6 hours per day, for 4-6 days per week and am loving it!  I feel like I am in the best shape of my life, although my knee is starting to bug me and I am trying to be careful of my muscles and body.  I have been having a blast on TRYBE and also have been working hard in Dance Company.

Last but not least, I applied over a week ago to the Wheaton selection committee with my proposal for a Watson Fellowship, a grant that seniors can apply for to do a project of their choice post-grad.  They announced the 12 students who made it through the first elimination process and onto the editing round, and I was one of them!  Sooo... currently I am in the library, attempting to edit my proposal.  Maybe I'll post the actual proposal or a more detailed version of what I'm applying to do, but essentially I want to go to many different countries around the world that use dance as a means of social and personal empowerment, and try to find the thread that connects them.  My countries have been changing since the first application, but it is looking like I'd be traveling to Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Samoa, and China.  The grant is for 12 months of independent study abroad in which I cannot return home.  It would be intense, but certainly an amazing experience!

Well that's about it for now... I'm going to stop procrastinating and edit my proposal :)  Until next time...

Alive and (almost) home :)

This will be a quick post, as it is almost 3 am in Houston, TX. I arrived stateside on June 30, and spent 6 days there frolicking with old friends. I made it to San Diego and Laguna to visit friends who have already graduated from Wheaton, as well as around the westside and south central LA to visit my friends from last summer. It was a whirlwind trip and I wish I could post pictures... but sadly my camera has been left in Jade (Chris's Prius), who is currently somewhere north of Napa Valley!

I've been in Texas for three days now, and although it has been almost 100 degrees, I have enjoyed the heat and seeing my family. I haven't seen my mother in over 4 months, and I haven't seen my grandmother and aunt in much longer than that. Tomorrow I am getting my first manicure of my life! (I KNOW, it's weird that I haven't had one before... I guess it was just never my thing... wasted money, in my opinion) We are also hopefully going to see 42nd Street, a musical that I have never seen and am very excited to see for free in an outdoor venue (Theatre Under the Stars).

I started and finished a novel, My Sister's Keeper, while here in Houston. It is by one of my favorite light-reading authors, Jodi Picoult. I love her work and was hoping to get to read this book before the movie comes out (Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, and Joan Cusack... can't wait!). It is nice to have free time to read and relax again!

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will see many of you in the upcoming months, if not next week or two. It feels good to be home :)

Hello again!

I don't have any new and exciting pictures, but this is from Mother's day when Meaghan, Britta, Maggie (not pictured, she was napping), and I spent the weekend with some friends of Britta's mother. She traveled here a long time ago, and has been friends with this woman and her husband ever since. They graciously invited us up to their beach house about an hour north of Auckland, and we had an AMAZING time. It was homey and really felt like being around parents/grandparents/family again! They also took us to an absolutely fantastic farmer's market on the way up, which reminded me of something you might see in California. All in all we had a great time with our surrogate "mum" on Mother's day!

Not much has been happening lately... I just had my one big final and hope that it went okay. I have spent the past few days studying (well, attempting to at least) and preparing for my sister's visit (!!!!). Last week, I had final performances for three of my classes, which resulted in four performances in two days - crazy! I also helped out with a show that some of my dancer friends were in. I got to essentially be the Assistant Stage Manager, it was pretty cool. I even got a head set! Ha, ha...

MY SISTER ARRIVES IN 8 hours! This is crazy! I have been planning all of the ways to keep her from getting caught staying here (we're not allowed to have overnight guests for longer than a night... oops?). My friends all pitched in and I managed to come up with an air mattress, a set of sheets (with baby sheep on them), and blankets for her - I did not expect this because it has been so cold here lately that I didn't think anyone would be willing to give up their stuff! I am really excited to show Julie around Auckland :)

I'll post more updates when Julie and I have pictures to share. I can't believe I'll be on my way to California in less than two weeks!

Pictures and Updates

Hello again,

Life has been busy, as it always seems to be for me. My 21st birthday was a success! My friends from Wheaton baked me vegetarian lasagna as well as a chocolate cake (with white and dark chocolate icing - mmmm!), and then later on in the week I hosted a "Halloween in May" party as my birthday theme party. It was a great time, and although my camera died before I could take many pictures, I'll be sure to get some from my friends to post later.

Although of course I'll be attempting to send thank-you cards to all of you who have sent me gifts, I thought I would at least mention how thankful I am to every person who thought of me on my birthday while I am away. It really meant a lot to me that so many people remembered me from across the world!

I'm going to add some pictures and captions from the past few weeks, because I think it will be easier than making you read books upon books about my adventures.

View from the top of a glacier in Mt. Cook, on the South Island.



View from the top of the Gondola ride in Queenstown, South Island.

Sydney Opera house at night.

Koalas at the Sydney zoo!

Alive!

Hello!

I'm sorry to have been so out-of-touch lately. No, I do not have swine flu. And if I hear one more person worrying about me... well I'm not sure what I'll do but just stop it! There have only been three cases of swine flu here (all friends of one of my Kiwi friends, they were studying in Mexico and are now being treated), and many more in the US. So don't worry about me, please!!

Two days ago, I managed to knock my "Klean Kanteen" (sort of like a Sigg water bottle, but better for the environment and the drinker) over while attempting to grab something for a friend of mine... onto my computer. Although for a brief period of 20 minutes my computer was somewhat useable, it is now completely dark and devoid of any signs of life. I took all of the parts that I could possibly figure out how to take out of the computer, and ran everything under a fan overnight, but to no avail. Oh, here's the kicker! My computer has a full warranty - including accident damage - but... you guessed it, this warranty is only valid in the country in which the computer was purchased in.

Just my luck, right! Well, I've been trying to see "the good" in this situation, which includes the fact that I can still get a new computer if I can get my computer back to the states (or when I return to the states). Also, I have gotten a lot more reading done for pleasure as well as class, and my room is now much cleaner than it had been in weeks. Catching up on sleep rather than spending endless hours talking on AIM and watching US tv shows from megavideo.com has also been a plus.

Alas, this is why I have been so out-of-touch, and why the photographs from Sydney and my most recent adventures have not appeared on my blog. I'm excited for my birthday (5 days! Well, 6 days til my REAL bday in the states), and have had some good times celebrating others' recent bdays as well.

Will post again when I have time, or a new computer...

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.

(If you don’t understand that reference, go watch “Finding Nemo” IMMEDIATELY.  No seriously.  Do it.)

Hello!  Yes, I am alive.  I know many of you (especially my parents) have been wondering about this.  I have been traveling the south island of New Zealand and most recently Sydney, Australia over my two week mid-semester break.  The south island was BEAUTIFUL, and I know you’ve already seen photos of the highlight – bungee jumping!  Mt. Cook was also gorgeous; we hiked to the top of one of the hill/mountains and had a spectacular view of the frozen glaciers surrounding us, as well as a magnificent rainbow on our drive out.

Queenstown was by far my favorite of the three places we visited on the South Island.  Christchurch was cool and very reminiscent of Boston, but Queenstown was definitely the most beautiful and exciting town we visited.  We took a gondola ride to the top of a large mountain (name?  no idea…) which we then luged down!  Luging was a really great time, although my hands were FROZEN after one run down.  I was of course the slowest of the group down the mountain, but I still had a great time J

After spending 5 days backpacking the South Island, Britta and Maggie headed over to Sydney and then to Cairns, Australia (near the Great Barrier Reef).  Meaghan and I headed back to Auckland for three days to entertain our mutual friend Julie, who has been studying in Wollongong, Australia and came to Auckland for a visit.  After these three days, we left Julie in Auckland and took off for our own adventure to Sydney! 

And boy was getting here an adventure.  Firstly, Meaghan and Julie had rented a car in order to drive around the Lord of the Rings film site (I graciously declined spending my entire Saturday on this journey…), so we had the car in the morning to drive to the airport.  I had been elected morning driver, and this was an experience in itself (remember, we drive on the wrong side of the road over here!).  Well, I made it almost all the way to the airport before I realized that my passport was still securely stowed in my desk drawer.  OOPS.  So, we turn around and drive to my flat to grab my passport, then race back to the airport.  By this time there is about an hour and a half before our flight to Sydney.

When we get through the line to check in and check our baggage, the man asks if we have a visa to travel to Australia.  I reply that we are only going to be there for 6 days, and he responds that currently to travel to Australia you must possess a visa no matter what.  He directs us to a line where we can purchase our $30 Visas (yep, that’s what that charge is on the credit card bill, Dad!), and we make it through in about fifteen minutes.  By this time there is less than an hour before our flight, and we rush to security.

Welp, you guessed it: more troubles.  We fill out our customs forms and jump in the security line.  After safely (or so I think) traveling through the metal detector, I am escorted to a desk where I am confronted with my pink water bottle, which to my horror is ¾ full of water from the trip to the South Island.  I hadn’t remembered even packing this water bottle, but I guess that is what I get for packing at 5 a.m.  I am told that I either need to bring the bottle over to the biosecurity section of the airport, or chug the entirety of the bottle.  Well, of course I choose to drink the stale, nasty water.  Meaghan attempts to help me, although this just results in both of us erupting in giggles over the ridiculous situation.  After drinking approximately 600 ml of gnarly water, we are released only to be stopped for a “random check” of Meaghan’s bag.  Finally, we sprint to our gate and find that our plane has yet to board… success!

Our flight here was relatively easy.  We booked through Aerolineas Argentinas, or as my dad called them “rubber band airlines.”  We were nervous about the quality of the flight, etc, but it was fine (minus the fact that everything was in Spanish…).

And now… SYDNEY!  I LOVE this city!  We spent our first day walking through the botanic gardens and taking about 1,000 photos of the famous Sydney Opera House.  There is a two-hour time difference between Sydney and Auckland, so I am now just 14 hours ahead of the east coast (or 10 hours behind, plus a day, if your mind works like that).  This has made getting in contact with people QUITE difficult, thus it hasn’t really happened much.

I’ll post more about Sydney when I return to Auckland (Friday for me, Thursday for you, assuming you are reading this from the east coast).  But I have been having a blast, and a much more relaxing time traveling with just Meaghan.  Goodbye for now!

BUNGEE!

I won't write much today because I am EXHAUSTED after spending 5 days traveling the South Island of NZ with the other three Wheaton girls, plus Maggie's friend Caitlin (who is studying in Australia).  We had a BLAST, although I don't think I got more than four hours of sleep each night.  Highlights of the trip included seeing the sights in Christchurch, hiking a glacier near Mt. Cook, getting caught in a BLIZZARD (what!?  since when does it snow in NZ?!), luging at the top of a mountain in Queenstown... and... get ready for it...

BUNGEE JUMPING!  Yes, that's right... I, Laura Peters, the one who doesn't like to go on roller coasters, jumped off a ~130 ft bridge, attached by my feet to a giant rubber band.  I guess you could say I'm trying to push out of my comfort zone :-P

Here are bungee pics, I'll add many more in the next few days.

We found Narnia!

This past weekend, all four Wheaton girls ventured out in a RENTAL CAR (yes, on the wrong side of the road and all!) to the Coromandel, about 3 hours southwest of Auckland.  This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on the north island... and it definitely was.  I'm not going to write much because I think my pictures will speak for themselves.

We stayed in a hotel/lodge place that we each paid about $20 USD for, a wonderful change from the sketchy ("dodgy") hostels we have been staying in other places.  This was our view, from the front and back of the lodge cabin.

    

We visited four beaches while we were there.  The first one was beautiful, but nothing compared to the three we saw the next day.  We ate dinner at a BEAUTIFUL Italian restaurant, and watched the sunset on the water.

The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 a.m. to get on a bus to Hot Water Beach.  This is a beach that has thermal hot springs underneath, so you rent a shovel for $5 and dig a hot tub!  The water was actually wayyy too hot for me to do much but stick a toe in, but my friend Maggie dug herself a hole and sat in it while the cool tide came in on top of her.  The sunrise on the beach was amazing...

Second journey was to Cathedral Cove, site of the second Narnia movie (I haven't actually seen it, except that one part where they come out of the cove into Narnia).  It was apparent why they chose this location.  We hiked about 45 minutes over a mountain/hill to the cove and it was totally worth it!  This was the first place where I really realized that I am living on a tropical island for a semester...

Protein

Since many of you have mentioned worries about my cooking/food consumption/vegetarianism (really pescetarianism), I thought I would post some (very exciting) pictures of the food I've cooked!  This is mostly exciting to my mother and sister, and potentially close friends, none of whom have ever really seen me near a kitchen stove or oven.  If you don't care, skip this post and go to the one where I hike a volcano.

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with cheese, toast, yog(h)urt.

Shrimp and vegetable stir-fry.

Salad with carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and falafel!  With yog(h)urt and milk.  Note the protein involed! :-P

... Anyway, just thought I'd post these lovely pictures to quell your fears that I will come back emaciated or missing body parts (apparently my grandfather knew someone who lost her eyesight after only eating rice).  Also, there is not much to talk about as Auckland has been rainy and filled with school for the past few days.  I'm hopefully going to Coromandel this weekend, which is where "Narnia" is!  I'll be sure to report when I return...

Volcano Hiking

Quick post.  Erin and Rachael, two of my four flatmates (Tennessee and New Jersey, respectively), went on a ferry ride with me yesterday to Rangitoto, where we hiked a Volcano!  It was inactive, of course, and the view from the top was absolutely spectacular.  I felt like I was on top of the world...  The hike took a little over an hour and then we walked around the crater which took another twenty minutes or so.  On the way back down Erin and Rachael went into the "lava tubes," which are small, dark caves.  Hmm... small, enclosed, dark space filled with spiders?  Not so much.  I watched their backpacks.

Here are some pictures!

Departing from Auckland

Stopping to take a picture about 2/3 of the way up.

Views from the top...

Rant on American exchange students.

Please note that if you are offended by broad generalizations or non politically correct statements, you should skip this blog posting and read the one where I hike a volcano.

So, Why I dislike Americans.  Well, mostly American exchange students studying in Auckland, but Americans visiting New Zealand as well.  For starters, most of them don’t even try to understand the native culture around here.  They’re far more interested in finding booze, tourist attractions, and Rugby games.  Granted these things are all relatively exciting, but most of the students I’ve met who are studying here are certainly not spending all of their money on things I deem worthwhile in a foreign country.

Next: They are loud.  Americans are SO LOUD!  I never realized this until I came here.  I am definitely not a quiet person.  In fact, at school people complain about how loud I can be (once my friend texted me to say I woke her up with my laughter from four floors away).  BUT… in a foreign country I certainly know when and where to shut up!  Some of these kids just haven’t figured out when is the right time to keep their mouths closed.

I find that every time an American asks a stupid, loud, or obnoxious question in my Maori class I realize that ZERO Kiwis have asked questions on the topic.  It’s always the Americans who feel the need to have something clarified immediately, rather than waiting to see if the issue will get cleared up in the next few minutes.

Now, onto the real reason for the angry title: what I really, really dislike are DRUNK American exchange students studying in Auckland.  There are two distinct instances that have occurred in the past few days, but there have been countless times that I have been embarrassed to be associated with the drunken American students from UoA.

The most recent occurrence was when I was out on a Wednesday night with two of my guy friends.  We had gone to a bar/club called Cassette that supposedly was going to have live music (it didn’t and we were disappointed).  We stopped at a place called Kebabs on Queen for some food on our way back to the dorm, when we encountered three students who were also from our flat.  They consisted of two boys and a girl, and were acquaintances with one of the boys I was with.  The trio proceeds to explain to us that they have thus far been kicked out of one bar and not allowed to drink alcohol at another because of their drunken/crazy behavior.  Apparently they had been yelling, “AMERICA… F*** YEAH!” everywhere they went, and when someone gave them a hard time about their actions their response was, “We’ll nuke you!”

Great, guys.  Real great.  But the story isn’t over yet.  We walk back to the dorm with the three drunks, and I am finally able to get to bed (I had class the next morning and had already been stressed about how late it was getting).  Forty five minutes later, the fire alarm goes off.  I’ll give you one guess as to who is responsible for this… Yep, the same drunken fools we walked home.  The girl of the trio had apparently kicked off her flip flop and somehow managed to break the sprinkler spout clean off of the sprinkler, exposing the spout and releasing tons and tons of water.  There was about $100,000 of total damage done, including a hole clear through the floor where the pressurized water exploded.

Unfortunately, my friend Meaghan lived in the suite below the incident.  Many other people experienced damage but her room was by far the worst out of all rooms in the suite below the incident.  Luckily she grabbed her laptop when she saw the water, so most of her belongings were salvaged.  Needless to say she is still not thrilled to have to be moved out of her room for the next week while the water damage is cleaned up.

When I arrived back in my room after the fire trucks came and departed, I realized that one of my flatmates’ doors was locked and that I hadn’t seen her outside.  I immediately remembered she had been drinking that night and went downstairs to get an RA to open her door.  When they opened the door to find her passed out in her bed, they decided they should leave because she was “responding” (aka making incoherent noises when they asked her to sit up and drink water).  So, guess who was left to babysit!  I fed her bread and made her drink water and go to the bathroom, and I went to bed.  I was tired of dealing with stupid drunken mistakes and I promised to check on her in the morning (she was fine).

All in all, I am disappointed in the American exchange students from what I have seen so far.  I can't believe that anyone would even act like this in their own country, but certainly in a foreign country I would expect 20 and 21-year olds to be a bit more mature.  This one group of morons has managed to not only upset 400 students in their own dorm, but also apparently many of the inhabitants of Auckland as well.  Not cool guys, not cool.

City of Sails

Stolen from Meaghan:

I need to make friends with a Kiwi who owns a boat (apparently 1 in 4 Aucklanders owns one)!

Classes and Weekend #2

The city of Auckland itself!  On a slightly cloudy day but I thought you would all appreciate seeing it anyway.  This was taken from Kelly Tarlton's (see bottom of post).

It dawns on me that some of you might be interested to hear about my classes :-P  I’m taking four – Psychology 311: Social Psych, Pacific Music and Dance, Maori Studies 190: the Kapa Haka, and Contemporary Dance and Choreography.  I get to do some dancing in the Pacific and Maori classes as well, but it is less intensive than the Choreography class.

I’ve had some bad experiences with Psych so far – not because of the class itself, but because of my own awkwardness/stupidity.  The first day of class, after seating myself in the center of a row toward the middle of the lecture hall, I realize that everyone in the room has a piece of paper (the course syllabus) that they took from the front upon entering.  I, of course, didn’t think of this before I sat myself smack in the middle of a row full of people, so I get up and brace myself to push by them all.  Another girl gets up as I do, so I don’t feel as stupid.  As we’re walking down to the bottom of the auditorium, she wavers slightly and I take my step an inch too big and I step on her heel.  As my foot hits her heel, she continues the movement of walking (e.g. lifting her foot off the ground), and her fabric flip flop rips apart!  The top completely dislodges from the platform of the shoe.  SO EMBARRASSING!  Luckily she was very nice about it.

The second day of class, I arrive in the classroom that I think I am supposed to be in and find myself with one other student.  She looks at me and asks if I’m waiting for Psych 311, to which I reply yes.  We realize that something is obviously wrong and leave the lecture hall so that she can text one of her “mates” in the class to find out where it is.  10 minutes later we realize that we’ve both shown up an hour early for class – Wednesday’s session is at 10, not 9.  Needless to say we both felt pretty stupid.  The situation actually worked out well for both of us, because I made a friend who showed me around the campus, and she needed the lecture notes – of which I had managed to print two copies of while trying to figure out the Library’s printing system.

The rest of my classes are pretty decent.  I look forward to Choreography class because I get to really dance, although even that hasn’t satisfied my needs.  I miss dancing for 2 hours a day in Dance Company!  Today I went to CityDance on Queen Street and bought a pass for 10 classes for $117.  If you do the math, that’s like 60 American dollars for 10 classes… which is VERY cheap for a studio like this!  It’s similar to Jeanette Neill, BDC, or Millennium for those of you who understand that… Basically, all of the classes are ‘open,’ aka you can walk in any week and take a new class.  Some are leveled and some are not.  The class I took today was called “Burn Boogie” and wasn’t leveled (Beg, Int, Adv).  It was a fast-paced hip-hop and aerobics class and it totally kicked my butt!  I could keep up with the hip-hop but I was definitely winded after about 3 minutes!  I’m definitely going to become a regular there.

I guess that about does it for classes.  For the sake of having pictures involved, I’ll explain our beach trip to Long Bay on Saturday.  This was an International Student event that we could sign up for.  We were bussed to Long Bay at which we were pretty much just set free for a few hours.  There was a BBQ (“Barbie,” and yeah I’m serious), which to Kiwis consists of grilling sausages and eating them with bread and mustard.  Luckily for me there were vegetarian sausages.  Some of the boys I’ve become friends with from my dorm hiked the Ocean Walk thing with me, to where we could see miles and miles of amazing New Zealand scenery.  I was truly in heaven!  Minus the sandflies (THEY SUCK.  They’re like mosquitoes but worse!), we had an amazing time at our beach day. 

Saturday, Meaghan, Britta and I headed to Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World.  The title is a little more exciting than the venue itself, but we had a good time.  It was basically an aquarium that also had a little ride that took its passengers around in a circle, where you could view penguins in an “Antarctic” setting.  We had a great time and got great pictures!  I was astounded at how beautiful some of the fish were.

And thus ends my adventures of the past week.  There is currently one working washer (of about 12) for a dormitory/apartment complex of 400+ students, therefore I am suffering greatly.  Hopefully tomorrow’s excitement will include getting lucky and finishing one load of wash!

Cheers!

Paihia and the Bay of Islands

                   

This past weekend I took a two day, one night trip up north to the Bay of Islands with Meaghan and Britta from Wheaton.  We took a tour bus-ish thing up, which took about 4.5 hours including stops.  On the way up we stopped at Whangarei Falls, a beautiful waterfall that was a little muddy due to some rain we experienced on the way there (actually, it was more like a cyclone, but I won’t get into that for fear of making my mother nervous…).  We also stopped at a beach (name?  I have no idea), where I of course had to have someone take a photo of me doing gymnastics/dance! 

Upon arrival at the Bay of Islands, which is a large bay in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand, we were promptly handed one free drink ticket as well as multiple “buy one get one free” drink tickets.  They sure do love to give Americans free alcohol in this country!  We checked in to our hostel, called the Pipi (yes, pronounced “pee-pee”) Place hostel, and went on a journey to see the water.  It was still a bit grey from the cyclone, so we went into a pub (the “Salty” something) and got our round of buy one, get one free drinks.  I had vegetarian nachos, which are definitely my favorite food to order in NZ – they’re amazing!  I certainly picked a good foreign country to be a vegetarian.

I won’t go into details, but needless to say these free drink tickets certainly added to the fun of the evening.  There was a pub in our hostel as well, and we spent most of our time watching (and yes, singing) karaoke and music videos on the large flatscreen TV.  Yes, I did sing karaoke.  No, I will not go into further detail.

The next day, the three Wheaton girls ventured out to Al Fresco’s (Alberto’s?  I have no idea) restaurant and had an amazing and cheap breakfast on the water.  We then decided to take a guided canoe tour led by a Maori man.  We spent 3 hours in a “Waka,” Maori for “canoe” with our guide who was CRAZY!  He was quite the character, but also full of information and stories about the Maori history of the Bay of Islands. He took us to the treaty grounds where the Maori and English settlers signed the big treaty thing that took place in the 1800s (I think it was 1840 but don’t quote me on that), and we also learned a bit about canoeing at the same time!  The Maori greeting involves touching noses and foreheads together, so we snapped photos of us doing this to the Maori spirit that protects the giant Waka on the treaty grounds.

 

At one point, the water was a bit rough and our boat seemed on the verge of capsizing.  Our Waka was constructed like a regular (gigantic, 7-person) canoe, but with two beams stretching out the left side, holding up an orange jet-ski shaped floatation device.  This was to help center our weight and keep the boat from capsizing.  Unfortunately, this only works if the seas are calm enough for the floaty thing to stay on/in the water.  So… our guide yells to me that he wants me to shimmy out onto one of the beams and sit there to balance our weight.  I respond with the appropriate “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” face, but was met with a serious glare that told me I better do this or my Von Zipper sunglasses might end up at the bottom of the sea.  I did as I was told and shimmied onto the beam.  It was actually quite fun to ride on the rocky seas while the others did all the paddling!  My weight kept the boat from capsizing and although our bags got pretty soaked, the group didn’t end up getting too wet (although as we were dismounting from the canoe, I managed to trip and fall into the water and completely drench myself – oops!).

Overall, we had a great time at the Bay of Islands.  Although I am a little sunburnt, the trip was certainly something I won’t forget for a while.  I’m glad I got to share it with my new friends from Wheaton!

Auckland -- First Impressions

G’day from Auckland, NZ!  Yes I have been here for 5 days and have not managed to contribute a blog post as of yet.  It’s been SO HECTIC since we arrived.  By the way, our “arrival” consisted of us getting picked up in a van from the airport and left on a street corner!  I’m not joking!  The woman from our program back at Wheaton didn’t send us any information about our living situation or even the name of the building we were going to be staying in, so we were pretty much clueless and on our own.  We walked into the building we were directed to, proceeded to wake up the orientation leader/residential advisor people who had been out til 4 a.m. (this was about 8 a.m.), and found our way into our new living spaces.

I’m living in a flat with 4 other girls.  It’s extremely reminiscent of the suite I lived in at Wheaton, although a lot nicer and more “grown up.”  Upon entering, you are in a long hallway, which holds each of our single bedrooms.  At the end of this hallway is an open living room/dining table that enters into the kitchen on the right.  We have one and a half baths (the second bath has a toilet and shower but no sink), couches, tables, oven range and microwave (no oven!  What the heck!).  It’s great and I already feel like I’m living like a grown up by buying and cooking my own food (although so far I haven’t really gotten past the pasta and salad mark, I plan on learning to cook while I’m here).

I have four roommates, as I said.  They are from Tennessee, Minnesota, Malibu (California), and New Jersey.  All of us are studying abroad here for a semester.  It’s kind of nice to come home to a group of girls who speaks (more or less) like me (Minnesotan has an amazing accent though!), and not to have to try to decipher the Kiwi jargon.  By the way, in New Zealand, there are kiwi fruits, Kiwi birds (the national bird), and also New Zealanders are called Kiwis.  The people of Polynesian descent who originally settled the island are the Maori.  I had my first lesson on how to pronounce Maori words today at a session I went to called “Living in Auckland.”  They taught us a lot of Kiwi slang terms and answered a lot of questions we had about the city we’re living in.

So, Auckland itself!  It is a city with 1.4 million people (of 4ish million total population of Auckland), but it definitely doesn’t feel like an American “big” city.  Although cars of course drive through it, the driving atmosphere is much different.  I still don’t think I’ve heard a horn honk, and no one is yelling and screaming (although the cars do drive somewhat recklessly).  We are living about three blocks from Queen Street, the heart of Auckland city.  We’re walking distance from food, an IMAX theatre, shopping, internet cafes (thank goodness!), and of course bars, pubs, and clubs!

It has been an amazing experience so far.  Auckland is a clean city with a much lower crime rate than large cities in the states, although we are definitely still living in the heart of a large city.  My 7^th story room overlooks other tall city buildings, but on one side through the buildings is a view of the harbor, and on the other side through the buildings is a great view of the beautiful sunset each night.

We haven’t started classes yet, although I did attend an Orientation for International students on Monday, and a 6-hour Orientation for Dance majors today.  I was pretty worried about the dance orientation because I am not a dance major but am hoping to take the same classes that they would take.  We had an orientation through the different buildings and an introduction to the different classes that the first-year students would be taking (I’m taking two or three of them, but the dance majors will be taking all 4 of the same classes as each other).  It was great to finally meet some Kiwi students!  Most of the girls I met today were 18, although I really liked hanging out with the postgrad student named Winita who I believe is around 22.  At the end of the day we took a class with a famous (in New Zealand) ballroom dance teacher, who taught us basic samba steps.  I was surprised to find that I was one of the better dancers in the room.  I guess dance is a lot bigger in the U.S., but I wasn’t expecting to be one of the better dancers in an audition-only program at the best University in NZ!

The Kiwi girls helped me order at Subway (Green peppers are called “Capsicum,” and people will look at you strangely if you say you do not want “peppers” on your sub!).  They also made me try L&P soda which is like a cross between ginger ale and citrus.  It was great!  Very light… kind of reminded me of Squirt, from Hawaii.  The food here is pretty good, because of the very large Asian population here there is great Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian food.  I’ve had a lot of Japanese food because I know what it is from spending time in Little Tokyo in L.A., but haven’t branched out all that much just yet.  I have been feeling randomly light-headed (maybe my body thinks I’m upside-down!), so I’ve been trying to stay with foods that are familiar for now.

I’m about to take a shower and finally do some laundry and decorate my room.  It’s been so hectic lately that I haven’t had time to do any of this.  Most of my free time has been spent doing errands like grocery shopping or spending a few hours each day at the internet café trying to keep up with emails and talk to my family and friends on Skype.  I got a call today letting me know that I just have to call in tomorrow to set up a password and I’ll finally have the internet in my room!  Thank goodness!

Plane Ride

Thanks to a suggestion from my aunt, I wrote down notes while I was on the 12-hour plane ride to Auckland. I was very worried about flying and she suggested this might take my mind off of that. Did it? Read on to find out! (Please see previous blog for disclaimer about lack of sleep and bad puns/writing…)

(I apologize for the lack of pictures in the last two posts. I'm still working on getting my own internet set up so for now I'm writing from an internet cafe).

HOUR 1 – BIG plane! I’ll be fine (I hope). I’m sitting in the aisle seat thanks to a gracious seat change by my friend Jay (from Wheaton). The plane is set up as 3-4-3, so I’m on the outside of a “3” row, on the right. We’re right next to the wing. There are lots of movies to pick from! I’m trying to save them for later. Woah, mint tea and lava cake are on the menu of choices for food?! For real?!

I’ve watched 2 episodes of Two and a Half Men now. Thanks to Uncle Rick and Aunt Heather, I have a rice bag behind my back that is making the ride MUCH more comfortable. There is a baby crying two rows ahead of me… ugh!

Food! It’s been a while so I’m gonna hope it’s HOUR 2 by now. I received seared tuna, salad, and sparkling wine for dinner (no ID check! We’re in international waters so I’m legal now!).

MORE food. We’re still in hour two. I now know why business men are so fat. Although this makes me wonder if I’ve ever seen a really fat businesswoman and I don’t think I have. So maybe that’s not correct.

I went to the bathroom and realized that I’m doing fine! I’m a little bit homesick/sad to leave the country, but I haven’t started panicking once yet.

HOUR 6! Just figured out how to track my flight. About half way there… I’m listening to the New Zealand mix my friend from Wheaton made me. Also, the map shows that we recently passed Hawaii.

HOUR 7 – Watching “Four Christmases” the movie. I haven’t slept yet, but I’m enjoying the movies and not panicking so I’m not going to complain.

HOUR 9 – Slept a little. Now I’m extremely sore from being stuck in such a small seat and sleeping. But, it’s breakfast time! Which means less than 3 hours to Auckland!

HOUR 12 – 2 episodes of House, bad tea, an egg frittata that reminds me way too much of my dining hall food at Wheaton… Very excited for land (and a SHOWER)! Thank goodness we’re almost there.

The Lost Post from Los(t) Angeles...

Okay I know that’s not funny. From here on out I’m warning all blog readers that I have been awake for WAY too many hours and thus making very bad jokes in my delirious state…

Life has been crazy since arriving in LA! I’m posting this from Auckland but I’m going to write a separate post about my time in LA and my time here (see next post for Auckland and plane ride stories). I had an amazing time in LA. I spent 3 nights and 4 days there, staying with a 26-year old friend from my internship last summer. She lives in a large-ish house with 4 guys, ages 24-28 (I think. There were so many of them that I often got them confused. I know 3 of their names, so maybe there were only 3. It felt like a lot of men… so I’m not entirely sure). Their house was always bustling with friends and activities, so even when I didn’t have anything planned I was highly entertained!

Lanterns from a random walk down Electric Avenue (I bet you all have that song stuck in your heads now!), and the Venice sign.

I spent a lot of time in Venice with the woman I lived with over the summer. She picked me up from the airport and also drove me around a lot. I had been missing her and her cats Nala and Tango so much since this summer! It was great to see all of them and spend some relaxing time in my old apartment. She also drove me to Millennium Dance Complex where I got to take a great hip-hop class! I also saw Shane Sparks who is a very famous choreographer and judge from So You Think You Can Dance as well as America’s Best Dance Crew. I was SO starstruck – couldn’t stop shaking!

I visited Inside Out Community Arts, the place I did my internship last summer, which was great. My boss had actually been to New Zealand a few years ago and showed me all of his pictures from the trip! It definitely helped me get excited to go there.

                                                                    

The girl I stayed with and I went to a place called Royal-T, which was an art gallery and cafe combined.  We found this piece of "art" inside -- it is a Port-A-Potty sized structure with a disco ball inside, and an ipod with "You Shook Me All Night Long" on repeat!  We had quite a lot of fun in this, as I'm sure you could have guessed.

After 3 days of seeing friends, roaming my old haunting grounds, the beach, and sun, I departed from the house and arrived at LAX International Terminal 4… Eek!

Hei Matau

Today I purchased this very touristy looking necklace for $20 online. I bought it on a whim because it popped up on my facebook advertisement. It is a Maori symbol called a Hei Matau and symbolizes safe passage over water. It has become touristish because surfers took the water part literally, and it has become a staple "surfer-dude" necklace. I bought it from a very legit-looking website that still carves them out of bone, unlike many of the mass manufacturers who produce them out of bone paste or even plastic. I still have some money left on the Visa Gift Card I received for working on the timeline and orientation at school (what do you mean 'under-the-table?!'). I've been trying to use that money for useful but fun things, which have so far included a charger and case for my digital camera as well as a case for my cell phone, in an attempt to preserve as much of my technology as possible while abroad. I thought the Hei Matau was a good use of this money for "fun," but also a nice symbol for my passage across the waters. According to some people, it is only good luck if someone else gives you one, but since I don't know anyone who really knows about them... I'll have to settle for giving it to myself!

People keep asking me if I am excited to leave, but really every time I think about the act of leaving, I get terrified. I don't fly well by myself, and the idea of 18 hours sitting in a seat on an airplane tends to send me into a mild panic attack. I am excited to arrive in New Zealand, especially since a trip to the U of Auckland website ended in finding a lot of clubs and activities that interest me - as long as I'm busy, I won't miss home as much (if I'm stressed, it'll feel just like home!).

For now, however, I have too much to do at home to think about the impending journey. I am still working a few days each week at the mall, and am hoping to go visit school and Boston before I leave for good. I've been trying to get things in order for my senior year, but just the thought of being a senior is stressing me out, so I haven't gotten very far. I am applying to live in the "Feminist Perspectives" theme dorm next year, and have yet to complete the application for that, as well as re-applying for my position as preceptor, and potentially applying to be an Orientation Coordinator for the fall orientation as well... Oh my.

Each time I sit down to write a blog entry, I expect something profound or exciting or political to spout out, but each time I realize... it's still just me. If I seem to write laundry lists of things, or babble on about uninteresting topics, I apologize. I'm trying to write this blog as much (maybe even more so) for myself, but trying to keep it intelligible enough for friends and family to drop by once in a while and catch up with my latest adventures. I hope I succeed...

Well, this stress ball should get some sleep before attempting productivity tomorrow. My next post will most likely not be until I reach Los Angeles, because I'm hoping to curb the boredom by doing things that are conducive to me actually making it to LA on time... which, unfortunately, do not include blogging.

I cut my hair! This is the only picture I have and it's prety blurry, but you get the idea :) Today a former boss (a very creepy older man) from the UNH pool saw me and told me "Wow! You look so different. Now you look like a million bucks!" I'm still not sure if I was supposed to be flattered or offended...



And, as promised, two pictures from a very successful Orientation and Welcome Back week:

[Insert witty first blog phrase here]

Laura's travel blog. Laura's travel... journal. Laura's travelogue (does anyone remember doing those in ms. salazar's class?!). In any case, it's a blog. And I'm traveling. You get the point.

Hopefully I will fill most of this with exciting pictures of me doing exciting things, but for now all I can supply is this adorable baby photo that I just found on my home computer. We were cute huh! (What happened?)

Although it might seem vain, if all of the people I expect to read this blog do, I'm catering to quite the large and diverse audience. I'll try to keep it PG. College-aged friends can always e-mail me for the dirt!

A BRIEF update on what I've been up to lately. I've spent the past three weeks at school, taking part in a musical ("My Favorite Year") and also helping out in Student Life with Jan Orientation. Highlights include creating a 100 foot (give or take?) timeline of human rights events, planning a successful Student Expo, and a crazy 80s dance party!

It was hard to leave today. I remember thinking in the middle of Balfour, "This could be the best semester of my life. And I'm leaving it." I had a mini panic attack on the way home, realizing how much I'm leaving behind. BUT. I know (I... hope) that this upcoming semester will bring even more than dance parties and extracurricular committments. And I think I'll be ready. Just give me three weeks.