Off and Away!
"Congratulations! Today is your day! You're off to great places! You're off and away!"
Well technically my day was two days ago, but Dr. Seuss still nailed it; I really am blessed to be off to great places. I want to remember all these great places that I visit on this trip and so I started this blog. Maybe (hopefully) other people will enjoy reading about my travels as well since I'm already positive it's going to be a wild ride. 12 weeks of just a girl and her suitcase, I sure hope I'm ready.
My trip started off well enough making it to Houston followed by Auckland with not only me, but my bag as well. The group arrived in Auckland around 6am New Zealand time to try and catch an 8am connecting flight to Wellington. It turns out this is definitely not enough time to pick up your bag, go through customs, recheck your bag, and make it through security once again. Out of the 70 group members scheduled to be on that flight, 69 of us missed it. Our program director made the flight and left us all behind so let's just say we caused some chaos at the Air New Zealand kiosk that morning.
Leaving a traumatized Air New Zealand agent behind, we all made it to Wellington by late morning which was much better than I expected. The university we are staying at in Wellington is Victoria University which is conveniently within walking distance of downtown. After we were all given room assignments (I'm having flashbacks to freshman year dorms), our afternoon was left unscheduled. The first thing I did, which would surprise few who know me, was go for a run to explore the surroundings nearby. My conclusion was that the surroundings were incredibly hilly (think San Francisco). On a less exhausting note, I ran past the Wellington Botanical Gardens and the Wellington Cable Car, both of which I had read about online. Luckily I had the chance to do both later in the day.
Post run, a group of us headed into Wellington to explore where we would be living for the next 6 weeks. We spend much of our time following the gorgeous waterfront. Looking out over the water, I could see the South Island's mountainous peaks (Wellington is on the southern tip of the North Island) and I was even more amazed that this is where I'm going to be getting an education for the next 6 weeks.
Well technically my day was two days ago, but Dr. Seuss still nailed it; I really am blessed to be off to great places. I want to remember all these great places that I visit on this trip and so I started this blog. Maybe (hopefully) other people will enjoy reading about my travels as well since I'm already positive it's going to be a wild ride. 12 weeks of just a girl and her suitcase, I sure hope I'm ready.
My trip started off well enough making it to Houston followed by Auckland with not only me, but my bag as well. The group arrived in Auckland around 6am New Zealand time to try and catch an 8am connecting flight to Wellington. It turns out this is definitely not enough time to pick up your bag, go through customs, recheck your bag, and make it through security once again. Out of the 70 group members scheduled to be on that flight, 69 of us missed it. Our program director made the flight and left us all behind so let's just say we caused some chaos at the Air New Zealand kiosk that morning.
Leaving a traumatized Air New Zealand agent behind, we all made it to Wellington by late morning which was much better than I expected. The university we are staying at in Wellington is Victoria University which is conveniently within walking distance of downtown. After we were all given room assignments (I'm having flashbacks to freshman year dorms), our afternoon was left unscheduled. The first thing I did, which would surprise few who know me, was go for a run to explore the surroundings nearby. My conclusion was that the surroundings were incredibly hilly (think San Francisco). On a less exhausting note, I ran past the Wellington Botanical Gardens and the Wellington Cable Car, both of which I had read about online. Luckily I had the chance to do both later in the day.
Post run, a group of us headed into Wellington to explore where we would be living for the next 6 weeks. We spend much of our time following the gorgeous waterfront. Looking out over the water, I could see the South Island's mountainous peaks (Wellington is on the southern tip of the North Island) and I was even more amazed that this is where I'm going to be getting an education for the next 6 weeks.
Wellington is an eclectic mixture of a city that is difficult to describe, but think San Francisco meets costal European town. Houses are nestled all over the mountainous terrain and modern artwork is everywhere. Seeing artwork in random locations such as jutting out of the water, on the sidewalk, or nestled amongst the rocks was certainly an interesting if unexpected experience. Below is a beautifully painted piano that we came across that was simply waiting for someone to play it.
Once we were finally able to pull ourselves from the waterfront, we strolled through Cuba Street which was full of a wide variety of ethnic cuisines and shops. Not to be outdone by the waterfront, Cuba Street had a bucket fountain (see below, it's awesome) as well as many musical and theatrical performers.
Instead of walking back up, we instead decided to take the Wellington Cable Car to the Wellington Botanical Gardens that I ran by earlier today. The cable car gave a beautiful view of the city and is historic to Wellington. The botanical gardens are probably my favorite part of exploring Wellington today. I was far too tired to explore the gardens completely today, but I was able to relax on the grass with a stunning view of Wellington laid out before me. Only a 5 minute walk from where I'm staying, I'm going to be lucky enough to study and work on my homework with views like this.
After a day, well days actually, this long I am very tired and jet lagged, but beyond thankful to be here. I'm off and away to an incredible start and I can't wait to see what the coming days bring as classes start.
~S
