Baaa..New Zealand

Settling in
So I've now been here about two days, explored, started to settle and it is AWSOME! I keep feeling a little restless though, like I want to get out of town some and explore. There are so many places I want to see and I can't wait to meet more people and make more friends, especially Kiwis but I keep reminding myself that I just got here and I have time. Its not much like my experience in Italy at all for some reason. This place seems to energize me whereas Italy kind of exhausted me. Maybe its a little because I have grown and changed and the place itself obviously -they do speak English.

Flat and Roomates
My flat is great, I wish they did this in Richmond. We have a great main room downstairs and everyone gets their own fairly spacious bedroom and 3 to a bathroom. You could fit more people in here even. Its just a really comfortable and fun way to live. And there are other students all around. I'm slightly jealous of my flatmates on the other side of the flat who have a better view of the road and beyond, but then again it is much louder for them. My window faces another flat and I'm waiting for the people next door to move in so I can make friends and maybe at some point string a telephone up or something. You know with the cups and string. All of my roommates seem cool so far, we're missing one. We actually don't have a Kiwi, but there is a girl from Poland, and her and her friends are pretty cool. Two of the other girls are from Vermont. Molly, across from me, is pretty cool, she reminds me vaguely of Anna Stuart. I have spent some time with Jenny today out walking around. She is from Salt Lake and goes to school in Hawaii. She seems very down to earth and sporty so thats nice. Also upstairs is Mary from Poland and Kendal who is from Vermont. She's pretty cool too I think. She's pretty into environmental stuff and lived in an environmental co-op last year which is cool. I think we probably have things in common. last night kendal and jenny and I were all here so we all made dinner and are hanging out together which is nice. I am feeling like our flat is more homey, then we hung out with some other American students next door.

Money
I've been working on decorating and being crafty, and I've been walking a lot, all over, which is tough when you're carrying things from the center of town. I think I've done well though so far. They have pretty much everything we have, and the way we would have it. The exchange rate is still pretty awesome, like 1.90 NZ dollar for every US dollar. Which evens out kind of or becomes just a little less for most things. Everything costs more, but because of the exchange is less. Food is kind of expensive out I guess. And somethings are really inexpensive. I don't know psychologically because on the one hand things cost more initially looking at them and I'm like whoa that's too expensive. But if I think of the exchange rate, its like everything is on a half off sale and it makes you feel like its a great bargain. There was a market the other day that was fun. Lots of crafts and things.

Dunedin
I could easily live here. I feel that already and I never felt that way in Italy. I feel comfortable here and like I fit in almost immediately. Even visiting England and Ireland I felt kind of like an outsider. Its a beautiful little town. The buildings aren't too high so you can see some of the rolling mountains most places. I haven't been to the beach yet but I'm thinking this week sometime. The buildings are old mixed with new. Its well lived in, by college students. But its by no means dirty or unkempt. There are gardens and green playing fields around, and the weather has been about perfect. Its a little cold for summer to me, but in general a great temperature. I had shorts and a sweater on today. There was warmth in the sun and a light breeze to cool you off. Everyone walks and rides bikes around it seems. There's a casual soft sort of feeling to the pace of life, we'll see if that changes when the rest of the students get here. I guess its a bit charlottsvillesque. It also reminds me of a brief time I spent in Boone North Carolina.

The People/food
The people are great so far. They generally smile and have a friendly thing to say. I like the accent a lot. Its not so haughty and proper as British English, but not as distinct maybe and rugged as Australian. I'm still learning the slang. People wear casual things, most anything goes I think. I even saw some people walking around downtown without shoes today. I've actually met some kiwis just walking around in stores. A lot of students work there for the summer. I talked to one girl for 10 min or so. You know how in our stores how people casual ask "how are you" and its pretty acceptable to be like fine and walk away. Small talk to get you to feel comfortable and buy things. Well people here are like "how has your day been so far" and you're like, "well pretty good" and then they keep talking to you, ask you follow up questions. I told some people I just got here and they wanted to know how my trip was and where I was from and how I was liking it, and when I asked they told me where a good place to eat or a good grocery store was. We talked about what they were studying somtimes. Its just kind of funny. Food has been good sofar too. I mean they have american things, I went across the street and got a pizza from pizza hut last night. They also have lots of selections with Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food here. I've been just trying random things which seems to be working. We had lunch out on the main street in this little sidewalk cafe that was really good today.

I think I'm doing well here so far. Kind of opposite of Italy, rather than feeling like I need to be patient with myself I'm finding that I need to be patient with everything else kind of. Theres so much I want to do, I dont know what to do. I just need to stop worrying that I'm going to miss something and go with whatever opportunities come up I guess. I have lots of places to go still in the city but i put up a few pictures of my explorations so far. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin have a great day everyone!