~~~I~~~

Nau Mai, Haere Mai 

... and greetings from the other side of the world! I do apologize for the delay in getting this blog started. It has almost been one month to the day since I said my temporary goodbyes to Anchorage and began my journey to New Zealand. It feels as though it has a very long time since I first arrived, and at the same time, I can't believe it has already been a whole month! Our first three days involved an orientation held at a YMCA outdoor center about 45 minutes outside of Auckland and more activities than I can probably remember! tramping (hiking), archery, rogaine (Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance- ie, orienteering), kayaking, tour of a winery/vineyard and wine tasting, visit to a natural hot springs, a pōwhiri (traditional/ceremonial welcome) and overnight at a marae (sacred Maori meeting house), a trip to the Auckland Museum and much more. [side note- our international student orientation at campus involved another pōwhiri (we actually have a marae on campus) so I've been through two!] the YMCA kitchen staff kept us fueled with delicious kai (food) - I think we literally took breaks for kai about every hour and a half each of those 3 days. all in all, orientation was a blast, but it was lovely to finally get to Wellington and be able unpack without worrying how I was going to fit everything back into my suitcase again :)

 

the Shire?! nope, just a view of the Puhoi river we later went kayaking on

 my Rogaine team after finishing (we didn't come in last, I call that a win!)

kayaking with Liz down the Puhoi River

learning the Poi, a dance traditionally performed by Maori women involving rhythmic swinging of balls attached to strings 

learning the Haka, a dance traditionally performed by Maori warriors before a battle

my orientation group and our hosts at the marae

lesson in Maori #1

Kia ora 
As some of you may already know, Kia ora is a common greeting used by the Maori, the native people of NZ. A bit like the "aloha" of Hawaii, it's used for 'hello', 'goodbye', 'thank you', and more. Pronunciation-wise, you say it fast which slurs it quite a bit- sounds more like 'kiora' when spoken aloud. 

Nau Mai, Haere Mai
another greeting, but the translation is closer to 'welcome' or 'come'
used by many local businesses on signage as well as at the entrances of marae


stranger in a strange land

google tells me I am approximately 7350.43 mi away from home in Alaska, and about 7293.03 mi from what has been my home in Bellingham these past three years. sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm that far away- walking around in the city, you might hardly notice it. Well, save for the Maori greetings on shop signs, having awkward "which way do I go to avoid colliding with you?!" confrontations on the sidewalks when you forget to walk on the left hand side, and nearly getting run over by traffic when you look the wrong way down the street for cars. It was NZ nature that finally truly brought home to me that I'm on an island halfway around the world- going on our first 'tramping' (hiking) excursion the morning we landed in NZ- the beautiful land around Auckland (see very first picture) with rolling hills as green as the the ones I imagine Ireland to have, the different flora, the bizarre but fascinating call of the Tui (my new favorite bird)

 the Tui, my new favorite bird :)

Wellington as a city- at least the part I frequent, very close to the city center- is quite easy to get around on foot. Other parts of the city- particularly some of the residential areas- can be extremely hilly. On a bad day, the extreme wind + rain combination can make walking around pretty horrendous, but overall we have had more sunny days than not. 

 

Wellington on a nice day

Part of the Massey Wellington campus and my dorm, the "Cube" (the cube-like building on the right)

  

All of my classes are very enjoyable and going well- I am learning lots about the Maori culture/worldview in a class called Critical Studies B, having very interesting philosophical discussions/working on fun photography projects in Perceptions: Images, Objects, & Spaces, reflecting upon the different components of my cultural identity in Cross-Cultural Communication, and am also doing a psychology class as I was always interested in taking one, but buzzed through my Graphic Design major quickly enough that I never had the chance at Western to do so. Classes here as less focused on busywork- no points for attendance, no small assignments- and more focused on discussions of all the readings you're assigned, with two or three major assignments to be completed for each class throughout the semester. Classes consist of one or two lectures each week and usually one 1-hour tutorial (seminar) each week, or a 2-hour tutorial every fortnight. Whereas in America, we are used to calling almost every teacher in a college setting "professor", here, most are 'lecturers' or simply 'teachers'. 'Professor' is a term reserved for only the most senior of academic staff.

more misc pics

3am showing of Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows pt. 2 at the Embassy, the theater owned by Peter Jackson and where the premiere of RotK was held

pretty kitty from a trip to the Wellington zoo

 shy giraffes :)

pelicans are big. and SCARY.

zoo attendant I have affectionately nicknamed 'the meerkat man'

setting sun over Wellington

As it is nearly one thirty in the morning now, I think I will end this post here :) hope it makes up in some part for my procrastination in starting the blog, and I will try to update more frequently in the future!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a comment below and I will try to answer/address them in my next update :)

~Anna