I am in New Zealand!! I have been for nearly a week now, and I still have to keep reminding myself of that fact!
I apologize for the delay; I only just got to Dunedin, the town where my University is, last night. ISA, the study abroad company I’m with, planned this amazing bridging cultures program (BCP) for the first couple days of our trip, so I’ve been running around the North Island living large with 30 of my new closest friends!
My flights from Indy to LA and LA to Auckland went pretty smoothly. I arrived in Auckland early Thursday morning and took a breather most of the day. I didn’t get out much because what was supposed to be a one-hour nap turned into five hours (whoops! Didn’t get much sleep on the plane). I did make it to the supermarket, however, which was a cool experience! Countdown is their equivalent of Kroger in the Midwest. Anything dairy here is pretty expensive; a gallon of milk is $5 NZ, and so is a half gallon of ice cream.
The next morning was time to meet the ISA group! A bit of jet lag brain meant that I ended up wandering around downtown Auckland with all of my luggage at one point, but thanks to some friendly Kiwis (New Zealanders) I was able to locate our hotel and meet up with the rest of the group!
We spent the day getting to know each other, exploring downtown Auckland, and taking care of necessities like buying a SIM card, etc. That evening, we got to experience some of the culture of the Maori, New Zealand’s indigenous people. It was a pretty awesome experience; we participated in a hongi, the traditional Maori greeting where two people press their noses and foreheads together. We also got to sing a traditional Maori song, play a game that teaches Maori children the basics of warfare, and partake in a hangi dinner. So grateful that we were invited to participate in this! If you’d like to see videos, please check out ISA’s facebook page!
That evening, a large group of us decided to walk down to the harbor. The views did not disappoint!
I’m going to try to post the next couple days of the BCP soon! So many awesome adventures I can’t wait to share!
Ray of Sunshine Travel 