|
|
TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
|
|
Hi everyone!
Alright, time for another expansive update. So, I’ve been back in Auckland for a little over 2 weeks now since my South Island road trip sadly had to come to an end. Upon our return to N. Island, a lot has been going on. Lets see….international orientation was fun. There were a lot of school sponsored events similar to those we enjoyed doing our UC specific orientation. We had beach BBQ’s, pub nights, quiz night, international cuisine night (yummm), and all sorts of seminars and workshops about getting acclimated to Auckland, traveling in New Zealand, etc. It was a great week and I had tons of fun and met a lot of very cool people. So, when orientation week came to a close, classes began! For all of you have been in class since the beginning of January, you can stop hating me now, because school has officially started. My classes all seem great, though we have only made it through the first week, so time will tell. I am taking 2 political studies courses (Toleration, Persecution, and Expression, as well as Tabloid News and the Media), a theology course examining the impact of missionaries and Christianity upon the native Maori culture and expansive introduction to Maori history), and my final course for the semester is Gender and the Culture of Everyday Life. So I am back to hitting the books and studying from time to time ; )
Now, onto more exciting things. Outside of class there have been many great events taking place in Auckland recently! There is always something to do here, which is an exciting turn of events from Placerville! A few of my favorite activities thus far include: The Starlight Symphony and Orchestra (complete with laser lights show, fireworks, and performances from NZ bands), The Chinese Lantern Festival, attending an Auckland Blues rugby game, and visiting the Aucland Zoo. The Symphony was amazing. It was this huge annual charity event that people actually fly into attend from all over the S. Pacific. Thousands of people showed up to enjoy the wide variety of music, which included your typical classical orchestra compositions as well as many popular hits from the last several decades of various rock and pop songs, all covered by famous NZ artists and bands in conjunction with the orchestra. It was the most amazing composition of music and we all had an amazing time! Not to mention the incredible fireworks show for the grand finale, which blew me away. Needless to say it was a memorable event.
The Chinese Lantern Festival was also very cool. In honor of Chinese New Year there was this huge lantern festival in Albert Park with all sorts of cultural performances, TONS of Asian food (really – multiple city blocks crammed full of food venues) and, of course, hundreds of beautiful lanterns that were a spectacular sight after sunset.
The Auckland Blues rugby game was a blast. We got great seats and could really see what was going on (even if none of us understood the rules – we are working on it though). It is such a high intensity, fast paced and aggressive sport that it is a lot of fun to watch. So much more entertaining then football! Anyhow, the fans were so into it and the atmosphere was a ton of fun. We went with a big group and everyone had a good time just taking it all in and watching the Aucklander’s go crazy for their team (we won BIG, by the way, so that was nice).
The zoo was also very cool (the first real zoo I’ve ever been too. Somehow the Folsom zoo just doesn’t cut it anymore). We saw tons of amazing animals including Galapagos turtles (which are absolutely massive) hippopotamus, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants, lions, chimps, spider monkeys, giraffes, zebras, tigers, and…..LIVE KIWIS! Finally, I saw one! In captivity, but it was still satisfying. So that was a fun.
Well, that’s really all for now. Other than just hanging out and exploring the cities day and night life, nothing else major going on right now. We have our mid-semester break coming up in a month, so tentative plans for another road trip are in the making. I’ll keep you posted!
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).