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Back in New Plymouth

When I was in New Zealand for the first time in 2003, it was to do a fieldwork exercise for uni. I stayed with my friends Denise and Ross and their little daughter Ellie for six weeks in New Plymouth in the Taranaki Province, and it was really great.

Now I’m back with them – they’re now a family of six and I’m having a blast spending time with them all. I’ll be back in Wellington Friday night, again in the youth hostel, where I’ll have internet access again. Until then I hope all of you reading this are doing well! *hugs*

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Kia ora from Aotearoa!

Have made my way over LA and Auckland finally to Wellington, where I got picked up by another international student from Victoria University. She dropped me off at the YHA, where I’ll spend a couple of nights before (hopefully) taking a little trip to New Plymouth and visiting Denise, Ross and their family before coming back for the weekend.

Tomorrow I’m planning on dropping by the Vic International offices, to ask about the orientation next week. Other than that I’m pretty much dead on my feet – I think I’ll go lie down for a bit once my internet shuts down. I’d been kind of hoping to find a Starbucks with free wireless, but the walk I took while they got my room ready proved unsuccessful (although I found a place that serves very yummy waffles), so I’m currently paying for wireless access at the hostel. Which is fine, except that I really should be able to check my email regularly the next few days, until I get everything organized. Ah well, I’m sure it’ll work, one way or the other… *crosses fingers*

And yes, I’m rambling – my brain’s about to shut down. Have I mentioned that I loathe long-distance flights? So glad I won’t have to take any for a while…

Edit: Also, the time difference to Switzerlad is currently 12 hours – wow, I really could not have gone farther away, could I?

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Twitter Updates for 2007-11-03

  • On the plane to LAX, was able to check my lugagge through. Already miss bronwyn. #
  • LAX – and here I thought it’d be easier to leave this country.. There’s a ginormous line for a security check, oh joy! 🙂 #
  • Arrived in Auckland. Yet more fun with customs.. Connection to Wellington in an hour. #
  • Have arrived in wellington, am now looking for starbucks in hopes of free internet. #

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Leaving San Jose

This afternoon I’m leaving California – Bronwyn and I just came home from lunch with Molly and her husband Jon, and Jon’s going to drive me to the airport in a little while (thank you!). This morning we went to the mall so I could buy a DVD, a journal and two pairs of tennis shoes – it was a lovely surprise that Bronwyn got the day off work, as we hadn’t really been able to spend much more than weekends and evenings together. I’ll miss her so much! *hearts*

The highlight of my time here was probably the Halloween party organized by Corli (one of Bronwyn’s friends) and held here in the apartment building. Everyone was dressed up, including myself (as a hobbit lad, including ears, foothair and a pipe, courtesy of no less than four people donating costume parts *g*), and I’ll be sure to post my photos soon, as we were all very pretty!

Other than that I’ve been to San Francisco (I seriously love that city!), and here in San Jose to the very interesting Egyptian museum (which has a very cool replica of a rock tomb as its main attraction), to The Tech (which has fun hands-on exhibits as well as an IMAX cinema) and, with Bronwyn, to the Winchester Mystery House, the weirdest house I’ve ever been to, with stairs that lead into ceilings, windows that lead nowhere and doors that lead into thin air… Also, Bronwyn’s flatmate Kathy took me to Santa Cruz on Halloween. It was already dark when we got there, but the whole town was out and about celebrating, so it was a lot of fun.

Overall I haven’t really done all that much, but I’ve met so many awesomely nice people: Molly, Jon and their son Zach, Kel, Corli, Ronnie, Glen, Avi, Mira (in San Francisco, which was great fun – such a lovely lady!), Kathy and her brother Kris (who took us to dinner in the Apple cafeteria, which made my Mac lovin’ heart happy) and several more. Thanks to all of you for making these two weeks special – most of all of course my darling Bronwyn! *hugs*

Now I’m quite nervous about going to New Zealand – I really dislike long distance flight, and I’m just hoping that things will go smoothly once I’m in Wellington. The people from Victoria University are supposed to pick me up and drop me off at the youth hostel, and I have to find out the whens, wheres and hows of moving into my residence hall and the orientation week for international students… Yes, definitely nervous, but I’ll be sure to check back with you guys when I’ve arrived!