The Windy City - Wellington!

So, I was basically dropped off at my flat alone on a Tuesday, and my flat mates were not expected to arrive until the weekend. Luckily, I had made some friends that are going to another university in Wellington, and we had made plans to all meet up that night. I also have a friend, Ken, who has been living in Wellington since July, so I met up with him later that night and met some of his friends. Since then, I have been trying to meet as many people as I can and take advantage of not having classes. My flat mates include: Kelsy – 23, American, engaged; Marie – 20, Swedish; Hammish and Jemma – 18, Kiwi. Hammish and Jemma are from Dunedin (South Island) and know each other from home; they are turning out to be quite the entertaining pair, and I have had a lot of fun getting to know them and their friends. Even though our age difference is definitely obvious sometimes, it has not really been an issue (maybe that is because for the three weeks before I left my only social network was Jessica and her boyfriend and best friend hahaha –what do you think Jess?). I will just give a brief summary of a few of my adventures in Wellington:

Last Sunday, Ken drove me all along the coastline, and it was incredibly beautiful – I took about 100 pictures. We went to Breaker’s Bay, which was probably my favorite stop, and watched a bunch of surfers and boogie boarders catch waves. We also hiked up Mt. Victoria (a huge hill that runs along one side of Wellington), and discovered that we could have driven to the top once we reached it…haha. There were 360 degree views up there – I could even see my flat! It was a really great day; unfortunately, all of my pictures from it some how got deleted, but we plan to go out again sometime this week and hopefully get some of those pictures back! (you can imagine how devastated I was).

I had my first Kiwi grocery shopping experience. It is about a 15 minute walk from my flat, so just imagine carrying groceries to last a week – not fun. However, we did find a mini CostCo-like store closer to our flat, so my flat mates and I plan to make a trip there today.

Ken and his roommate Randy had their birthday party at the bar Randy works at, and the theme was Cowboys and Gangstas (random, I know). Ken told me I had to dress up as a cowgirl because I am from the South, so I bought a cowboy hat from the $2 store (that’s right because everything is more expensive here, that is their version of the dollarstore). I find it quite interesting that my first time wearing a cowboy hat was half way across the world, but I am here for new experiences right?

I also went to a rugby game at the same stadium that the national team, the All Blacks, play at during their season, but the game was between the Wellington team, the Hurricanes, and another national team. It was definitely exciting to see a professional rugby game in person because the only ones I have seen are Brendan’s and Keegan’s games – by the way I am so glad I have two cousins that play so that I was not completely oblivious as to what was happening!

I went to the national museum, Te Papa, yesterday with a couple friends. It is huge! We probably only saw ¼ of it, so we plan to make another trip soon!

Overall, Wellington is a really neat city; you can walk pretty much anywhere you want to go, and even though it is big, I still manage to run into people I know every time I go to town even though I really have not met that many people. There are cafes everywhere you turn, and the two main shopping districts are FULL of shops. There are hills with little houses tucked into them on either side of town, and the harbor is about a 15 minute walk from my house – beautiful! I start classes tomorrow, so I will update soon!