New Zealand!!!!
Where do I even begin?! Well, the simple answer is: I don't know where to start so over the next few posts I will tell of the odyssey that was getting to this beautiful country. Also, pictures will follow shortly when things settle down and I can sit and put it all together.
It was a a beautiful (cloudy) morning (ish) when we rolled up to the buzzing (empty) Fresno International (1 flight to Mexico) Airport. A quick puddle jump up to SFO and my compatriots and I hunkered down for our 7 hour lay-over, which consisted mostly of low-speed chases up and down the moving sidewalks in the international terminal. Naturally what's the only thing to do after a 7 hour layover? Delay the flight of course!! The plane, which had been sitting there all day mind you, had been under catered somehow and everyone was boarded with the exception of the last 10 or 15 people (my row) while more food was put on the plane.
Don't worry dear readers, that is where the troubles end! I've decided to only fly international from now on. If I'm going to Phoenix, I'll fly down to Mexico City first and connect because this is the only way to fly!! There is this magical screen in the back of the seat in front of me loaded with hundreds of movies. On that note, I highly recommend "The Counterfeiters", a German language film about a massive counterfeiting operation in Nazi concentration camps during WWII... but I digress. Flying international is wonderful and I thought you should know.
On a more current note, classes have started and I have now spent almost 30 hours wandering around the Te Papa museum here in Wellington. Most of this wandering involved doing research in this library hidden in the back of the top floor, which is actually kind of cool. There are these massive frame-less glass automatic doors that only open with a card key and there are original printings of Darwin's The Origin of Species. Other than that though the classes are pretty low key (or Quay here in the NZ).
There are two other schools staying in our dormitories (called the Weir House), one from GA Tech, who are like ghosts, and one from Lewis and Clark University in Oregon. We've actually only heard rumors that the GA Tech kids are here, but I stumbled on the LC students late on the second night and glorious ukulele/guitar/melodica/harmonica jams ensued for the rest of the night. I've decided that they are awesome.
There is so much to tell and so little time (I'm borrowing laptops to piece together this post) but suffice to say that I am alive and doing my very best to get into trouble (unless my mother is reading this, in which case I am sitting in my dorm room, doing my homework with my passport chained to my leg).
More to come soon!
Till then, Cheers!!
The Wayward Hoover
On a more current note, classes have started and I have now spent almost 30 hours wandering around the Te Papa museum here in Wellington. Most of this wandering involved doing research in this library hidden in the back of the top floor, which is actually kind of cool. There are these massive frame-less glass automatic doors that only open with a card key and there are original printings of Darwin's The Origin of Species. Other than that though the classes are pretty low key (or Quay here in the NZ).
There are two other schools staying in our dormitories (called the Weir House), one from GA Tech, who are like ghosts, and one from Lewis and Clark University in Oregon. We've actually only heard rumors that the GA Tech kids are here, but I stumbled on the LC students late on the second night and glorious ukulele/guitar/melodica/harmonica jams ensued for the rest of the night. I've decided that they are awesome.
There is so much to tell and so little time (I'm borrowing laptops to piece together this post) but suffice to say that I am alive and doing my very best to get into trouble (unless my mother is reading this, in which case I am sitting in my dorm room, doing my homework with my passport chained to my leg).
More to come soon!
Till then, Cheers!!
The Wayward Hoover
