New Zealand, Same Girl.

ramblings

2009-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

it's kind of annoying how dominate america is in the world when you're trying to live in a different culture. you really can't escape "what america is up to" at all. everyone knows what's going on all the time, it's the new age of global technology dontcha know?
of course, facebook doesn't help, everyone's status updates all whining about obama and the cowboys and blah blah blah. sucks that im addicted to it.
i have made some advancements in simplifying my life though. i have no cell phone, it got stolen "in da club" like a month ago so i just said screw it.
so, no phone, no car, minimal responsibilities and a lot more walking. so that's good, right?
my diet here has been terrible for the most part. living with boys doesn't help. i swear there's a stack of pizza boxes to the ceiling in our kitchen. the boys are really proud of it. (the boxes aren't mine, but that's what i'm around) and everyone loves the cookies and junk food and stuff here. so thats been a rough environment for trying to stay healthy, but i am definitely doing much better and it has to do with the weather getting sunny (more fruits, veggies), and one of my new good friends from san francisco that i've been hanging out with more. she has a very similar lifestyle to my austin peers and i find her company a refreshingly good influence. also i am excited to have a friend living in the middle of san francisco, as we have agreed to exchange visits with each other (it's my goal to change people's minds about texas one at a time).

this week is super stressful for me because i have 7 pages due tomorrow and 14 pages due friday and stuff for amnesty i need to do and im not getting enough sleep. i am so looking forward to next week when i can relax and have time to go to the gym and read whatever i want to at the beach all day. yes please! in the meantime i'm living off of nibbles of sushi and lattes while hammering away between classes until i pass out at about 2 am, and then wake up and do it all over again.

seriously though, two swim suit seasons in one year is bullshit. speaking of, my favorite words to hear in a kiwi accent are bullshit, children, danger, and twenty-seven. i'll try to tape and example for you, that will be fun. next week though.
also on my to do list is sending post cards to the kiddos i nanny for back in austin. remember when you were little and you got something in the mail? it was like christmas morning. or it used to be, anyway. i used to complain that my parents got way more mail than i did, so they started sticking their junk mail into my little mailbox i had on my tree house.

i think that facebook is going to mean the end of high school reunions. if you want to know what anyone you want to school with is up to, it's not hard to find out. we'll see if my prediction is right.

okay, back to writing about don't ask, don't tell.

All Blacks and Art Shows

2009-10-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

Howdy! Well, I am sitting in the library with 11 books stacked to my left which all need to be gone through and stripped of information relative to my research projects...so instead I think I'll blog.

This library is awesome. It has huge windows all around and right now as I'm typing, I have a panoramic view of Wellington and the sun is setting over the harbor with the mountains behind. I like New Zealand, who could get research done here?? I think I will bring my family to this library as part of their Wellington tour.

I've been a somewhat busy girl lately, I went to an All Blacks game since we last spoke, and that was immensely entertaining. We played the Wallabies (Australia) and massacred them, so it was a smashing success. Though I do think that the crowd around us was somewhat annoyed with the band of drunk American hooligans I was with (boys). It was a good time, but good lord, if ever there was proof of the American stereotype, it was that evening. I still love them anyways.

And no, mother, I was not drinking myself. So in the battle of state representation, Texas came out classy as ever. Here are some pictures my friend Kevin Holland took until I can get home and add some of mine (his are better anyway).

Entering in style:

The Hakka. Remember I showed you a video of it a while ago?

The last nail in Australia's coffin.

Remember that you can click on images to enlarge them.

I also have recently gone to a big Wellington spectacle called the World of Wearable Arts, which is an international competition where artists literally create art that people can wear somehow, out of all sorts of materials and concepts. This amazing show is part fashion show, part art show, part theatrical performance, part Cirque de Soleil, and allllll amazing. Couldn't take pictures of it, but here are some of the art highlights:

This gown won the grand prize, and was an entrance from a carpenter in Alaska. The entire outfit is handcrafted out of WOOD. Amazing.

People on all fours, as human chairs:

See? There's some really great stuff, it was a lot of fun.

Hope you're all enjoying the arrival of Fall. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Summer and my family!

me, now.

2009-09-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

i am annoyed because the internet at school is actually moving slower than the internet at my house. also because there is a mustard stain on my (new) black cardigan and i don't remember eating mustard. sketchy.

yesterday was a wonderful day because it was warm and i spent some of the afternoon in my front yard reading on a blanket, listening to music, and poppin grapes with my friend alice. i have missed sunglasses.

good news, sort of. steve does not have the swine flu. the doctor said it's a tonsil infection. i'm still skeptical because i have extensive experience with tonsil infections and never have i ever been the way he is. he hasn't really emerged from his room since, what. sunday night? poor guy. and yes, mother, i have been washing my hands.

you know those stupid little like myspace bumper stickers with their infinite wisdom? you know that one that says, "today is a gift, that's why they call it the present." yeah, you probably have it on a pillow somewhere.

i'm really bad at that. like, i am a forward thinker and a planner. i have spent my whole life thinking about what's next. in high school, it was belgium. in belgium, it was college. in college, it was new zealand. etc.

my family is coming for my birthday and for christmas. i haven't told you that yet have i? well, i am a pretty lucky girl. they'll get here the 15th of december and leave new years day. and i can't wait, i really think about it all the time. and i think that that's okay if that comfort gets you through the day sometimes. but they're going to be here december 15th whether i dwell on it or not. and i'm going to be back in texas before i know it whether i spend all my time day dreaming about it or not. (amount of school work has a direct correlation with amount of day dreaming, by the way). i have never been good at generally living in the now. maybe none of us are. but i'm trying. it's certainly easy when i'm doing some exciting new zealandy adventure thing, but it's having that attitude everyday that i need to work on. just a thought for the day.

also, it is my little brother's 18th birthday, hey trav! you don't read my blog but i still love you!

and i'm pretty sure that this dress was specifically made and designed for me. anyone want to donate 300 dollars to the "stuff i don't need but really do" fund? no? sigh.

photos from flickr and anthropologie

Smile, it's Monday!

2009-09-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

So today was decent, for a Monday.
Slept through my first class, but I didn't feel nearly as badly about that as I probably should have.
Also, they think my roommate, Steven, has Swine Flu. I will keep you posted and try to keep my distance.
Guess what? Only 3 more Mondays and then I am finished with this semester. That's nuts. Their semesters are 12 weeks long. That's it! So short! I wasn't sure what I'd do with myself between the dates of October 15th and January 8th when I leave, but I'm really hoping that a trip to the Great Barrier Reef works out, and that I'll get to finish a couple books for pleasure, so I'm looking forward to it.

Today I startled myself somewhat. As I was passing a man walking down the street, I noticed that he had a huge smile on his face. He wasn't on the phone or walking with anyone, he was by himself, smiling really big. I found myself wondering if he had a mental disability.
Then I realized how sad that is, that we're all so caught up in what needs to be done and the tasks and annoyances of the day, we find someone who is very happy for no apparent reason to have something wrong with him. I decided that I needed to work on smiling more.
So until next time, think happy thoughts.

south island trip

2009-09-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

okay, i know, i suck. i would say i've been busy, but i haven't really been. just neglectful.
soooo SOUTH ISLAND EXTRAVAGANZA!

this is me at the southern most point of the south island, Slope Point. i am hiding behind that tank to escape the gale force winds. i literally laid down into the wind and it held me up. that was crazy. i have also never been that close to antarctica.

this is liam, one of my travel buddies. he's from new york.

this is me being contemplative and new zealand being beautiful. both of us just doin our thang.

this is me in queenstown, which is a particularly beautiful part of new zealand. this was on our
drive up the hill to the slopes.

once we got up to the slopes, we got to play in the snow. this is my snow man. we did not get to ski. that's alright. also, no, i have not cut my bangs since i have arrived.

this is me on one of the super round boulders on this beach. these boulders are on the front of my "rough guide to new zealand" book. they are cool looking.

see how cool they look??

this is in penguin country. stay tuned for a fun surprise.

surprise! penguin!

we fed these ducks at the dunedin botanical gardens

dunedin also happens to be home to baldwin street, the....
the steepest street in the world! ta da! 19 degrees, baby!

nugget point, absolutely beautiful!

new zealand also has rain forests.

milford sound is one of the natural wonders of the world.

it is truly a magical place.

me at milford!

thats queenstown in the left corner, quite a place for a town! my friend aaron dolan took this picture. also, liam mccartney took the top photo.

i hope you liked the snapshots of my trip, it was wonderful! i did chicken out of bungy jumping though, if you're wondering. oh well. also, i will be coming home to texas in january now, rather than july. didnt get my working visa or the classes i need, so i will see you all in the winter!

Relaxing

2009-09-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I have so severely neglected this blog. I even almost forgot my password at sign in, it's been that long.
It was a wonderful trip and the reason it's taking me so long to update about it is that I'm waiting for my travel mates to get their photos so that I have photos of everything to show you.
In the meantime, if you have facebook, you can see mine.

This morning is Father's Day here in New Zealand, so a big Kia Ora to all the dads out there!
I'm on my way to finally check out the Methodist Church downtown, and then to the Farmer's Market (a Sunday ritual) and then I've been invited to share a Father's Day lunch with David's family.
Also I think I'm going to see "The Ugly Truth" tonight with some friends. Have you heard good things?

Anyway, I promise to be back soon with lots of trip stories and pictures. For now you'll have to make do with this little guy sleeping on a rock. We walked right next to him and didn't even notice him until, well, we did. Adorable, isn't he?

xoxo
Maggie

study breaks

2009-08-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

it's funny how just when you think your life has changed, you spend two solid days staring at a blank microsoft word document and berating yourself for being so unmotivated, and then when the clock hits midnight you scoot through your research paper downing coffee and just letting the words come to you. turns out, school's not really that different here.

then again, we'll have to wait and see if i get a decent grade on a paper that was thrown together at the last minute. then we'll know for sure.

thanks for all your concern, i am feeling better now. usually i shrug off being sick because i am a busy girl, but this time i actually emailed my teachers, canceled all my appointments, and haven't left the house in two and a half days. i'm really serious about getting healthy, partly because i got my dad's infamous "health comes first" talk (the man's got a point, though), and partly because i'm going to these places, among others, on saturday...

lake te anau...

yes, ROHAN...

omaru (home of the rare yellow-eyed penguins)...

dunedin...

queenstown (where i have committed to bungee jumping because i have no real reason to live anyway. plus, if you're ever gonna do it, that's the place.)...

and milford sound, one of the seven natural wonders of the world...

i hope you enjoyed my road trip preview. now go enjoy some oatmeal. it's the secret to a long life.

xoxo
maggie

Weekend in Taranaki

2009-08-17T23:19:00.001-07:00

it's not lucky for me that i have strep throat. but it's lucky for you if you've been wanting pictures. let me take you through my weekend with my lovely friends!

we drove from wellington to new plymouth about 5 hours up the southwest coast, i have mapped it out in white for you. behold:

this was our chariot which rode us into the weekend. the party bus of champions:

here's a look on the inside, full of happy campers:

this is what mount taranaki looks like, it's very beautiful:
unfortunately, due to weather, this was our view of it:

sooo we headed to a museum in the center of the city full of ancient maori tribal relics. how scary would it be to be locked in there at night? very.
they also had some pretty art in the museum:
after the museum everyone went shopping, and i decided to go walking along the water. i watched the waves crash onto the rocks and listened to radiohead and bjork for about an hour, it was a really peaceful afternoon.

then that evening some of us headed out to the rugby game, which ended up being a tie and was a highly enjoyable game. i shared fish n chips with my friend liam and we were very happy about that.
also, the stadium is apparently sponsored by some bread company, or so i've been told, and they threw loaves of bread out to the crowd during halftime, like, you know, instead of t shirt guns? just chunking bread. david caught a loaf and made a french fry sandwich. which i thought was weird, but he seemed to enjoy it so that's what matters i suppose. please note that the rays of light were added by me in editing for effect.

luckily, on the second day, the sky cleared for a short time and we were able to see how lovely it was there:
also, we got pretty and went out to paint the town red. this is elizabeth, emily, me, and lauren. they're some of my exchange friends!

we stopped at this pretty lookout on the drive home:

we also stopped at dawson falls, a gorgeous waterfall:

this is me in the van, ridin' dirty. i just thought i would remind ya'll how cool i am just in case it's been too long for you to remember.

have a great day, everybody! and please don't take for granted your ability to swallow. you miss it when it's gone.

*photos (without permission but on good faith) by may tobar, emily rogers, aaron dolan, liam mccartney, and emma nichols

Monday on the Couch

2009-08-17T04:43:00.001-07:00

I will try to update in the next couple days with some photos from our trip this weekend and let you know some more about that, we had a great time.

Right now I'm quite sleepy and I just wanted to stop by to say hello to you all and let you know that I miss you dearly.

I suspect that I got food poisoning from an ever so sketchy Chinese takeaway place on the drive back yesterday as I have had a terrible day and a half of feeling like death. So I stayed home today and successfully hid from my responsibilities underneath my thick blanket.

Anway, I'm resolving to start taking better care of myself. It's no wonder I'm sick, I've been abusing my poor body since I arrived. I need to sleep, exercise, and study more. I need to go out, drink, and eat junk food less. So that is the plan. I kind of wish I could stay home again tomorrow because the rest has been wonderful and I really want to make sure that this thing goes away, but I ought to go to my classes (only 2 though) and then I have my appointment with the hand specialist which I shouldn't miss because if I don't get a proper brace on this finger soon it might mean surgery (yikes!) so send out good thoughts that I might survive the day.

I hope you all had a great weekend, though, and I think that if you didn't, or if you're sick like me, you might want to listen to "Sweet Darlin'" by She & Him because it's a cute little song and it might make you feel better.

Also, congratulations to my friends Drake and Jenna who got married this weekend, and also to my dear friend Caitlin who finished her summer in Yemen with stunning success. Lots of love to you all.

picture by Blanca Gomez

From the Soul, Ya'll

2009-08-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

I don't have class until about 1 so I'm sitting in the computer lab browsing through my Rough Guide and it's getting me pretty pumped for trips coming up. The mountain I showed you is either called Mount Egmont or Mount Taranaki. I'm not sure because my book says that the actual mountain is Egmont and that the region is Taranaki, but I've heard everyone call it Mt. Taranaki, anyway, we're going to walk around it I guess and that should be cool.
Speaking of walking for no point, hiking here is called TRAMPING. New vocab for you. Tramping involves less prostitution than it sounds, and people are actually pretty hardcore about mountain scaling here.
I should point out that I am not a tramper; I am an afternoon stroller.
I'm bringing this up because last night I skyped the 'rents and was talking to them about how glad I am that I joined the Amnesty group because I think that being involved helps everything a lot. Most of the Americans, if they've joined clubs, seem to have gone for the Tramping Club which is a group of people who hike up mountains on the weekends (I didn't join this because my weekends have already been committed to shaking my tail feathers at the club). But what's funny is that after the first weekend of the tramping club about 85% of everyone dropped out because it was waaay too intense (apparently the leaders were tools as well). This led to the start of the "Gentle Tramping Club," a collection of Americans who essentially can't take the heat. We are planning to scale down the 3 day tramps to afternoon hikes and throw in a couple bottles of wine and a picnic maybe. I'm looking forward to our first outing in the near future.

I'm nervous about going to test drive a car this afternoon which I'm so nervous about because I didn't want my first time to drive a car on the left to not be in my car. I'm hoping I don't smash up someone else's vehicle or I guess I'll just have to buy it. But I'm torn because I think the 2 week break trip is going to be costly, so we'll see what happens, I can't spend too much.

Also, yesterday I bought All Blacks tickets, going to a game vs. Australia in September with my flatmates, I'm pretty excited about that. If I DO have a car by then, I think a southern style tailgate is in order.

Friday I have to go to see a hand specialist because of Charles Martin and my mediocre sporting skillz. The 4th of July cookout at Andrew's house 2 days before I left Texas included an impromptu football game, and I made (dropped) a catch which slammed into my ring finger on my left hand (important one AYE BRO!) <--(that's how boys in New Zealand talk), and I thought I just jammed it, but it's been 6 weeks and it's still crooked. My flatmates said that I should get it fixed or nobody will marry me ever because it's such a repulsively crooked finger. That's how they are. Anyway, I stopped in on the physical therapist on campus and he did some bendy tests on it and said that he thinks I have a torn tendon, and he made me an appointment with a specialist. Hope that goes well so that I don't have to look retarded anymore.

Also, I've been oddly obsessed with a rapper named Young Jeezy lately. I didn't know I had so much gangster in me.

Sorry that I don't post pictures much anymore, it's because I always feel like updating at school so I never have them, but I promise to catch you up on my pictures soon, pictures of creepy finger also promised.

Cheese and Whine?

2009-08-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

I wish that the time difference wasn't there because it's annoying that I can't skype people too late in the afternoon without waking them.
I'm a little stressed out today because:
1.I skipped 2 classes for really no reason. (I'll be fine without being there, I think, but it's lazy and uncalled for).
2. Paul Shelton (a great friend from home) is coming to Wellington for a week to visit before he heads further north to do farming. This would not be something stressful as I was quite ecstatic to hear the news, but I realized today that he is arriving 2 days into my 2 week break from school, and I was planning to be gone traveling the south island during that time, so I might not even get to see him which is heart breaking because seeing someone from home is something I think I could really use right now (it helps with the homesickness so much, seeing Kelsey Wilkinson in London during my last exchange was exactly what I needed at the time and was so great).
3. I still don't have solid plans for the break and everything being up in the air is rather bothersome.
4. I'm trying to buy a car but I'm too freaked out to go test drive and get inspections done on my own and begging other people to go with me is something I do not like doing. Why am I buying a car if I'm too scared to drive it? stressss
5. I miss home and because of being busy and poor time differences, calling is difficult. New Zealand is so wonderful, but Texas will always be home and I love my friends and family there so much. The homesickness is being eased by the amazing company I keep here in New Zealand, most of the people I've met have been so great and helpful. Plus, David has become like my brother and his sister Emma and I have grown extremely close as well. His parents have basically adopted me so I've been really lucky to find a second family in Wellington, it makes it all so much easier.
6. I haven't been to the gym in a long time. Must go tonight.
7. Started a research paper which means school is real. Bummer.
8. I think I'm out of things that are stressing me out... listing things always helps though so I feel better.

Tomorrow I am going to look at a car (and another one on Wednesday I believe) and then I have an Amnesty meeting to review all of our work from Freedom Week last week. Last week's activities really went superbly. I tabled a lot on the quad at school and sitting at a table talking to people about Amnesty is a really effective way to meet people, I'm glad I joined Amnesty right at the height of its activity because I think I've met a lot of people through it. Friday night we hosted a concert with like 5 reggae fusion type bands, and we were really nervous because nobody was buying tickets in advance, but then over 400 people showed up and it was incredible! I danced a lot, so that's always good. Anyway, it was 10 bucks a ticket so I know that we raised a LOT of money. Yay!

This weekend I'm going on a road trip with a big group of people to New Plymouth, I don't know what to expect really but I'm about to crack open my Rough Guide (half priced from when Intellectual Property went under, sad) to read up. Check it out, it would be really beautiful:

I hope you all have a great week!

update// My ipod died on the way to the gym and theres nothing more boring than a musicless treadmill, so instead I just explored the neighborhood a little more (which is in itself a workout with the crazy hills here) and I enjoyed it very much. Annie Hall in its entirety being on Youtube and the chicken cashew masala with rice that I'm making both also have me in a better mood.

Rice Crispy Dreamin'

2009-08-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

First of all, happy 29th anniversary to my parents! I'm very glad that you decided to get married and that you are still married, and I hope that I will be able to find what you two have because it's absolutely beautiful. Love you both.

Well, it's a ridiculous hour in the morning for me to be up and blogging, but I volunteered to show up at school this morning at 7:30 to put fliers in the lecture halls for Amnesty.

I'm really happy I found a group here on campus because they've got a lot going on and I really like being involved with something besides just school and binge drinking (that's a joke. really.).

This week is Amnesty's Freedom Week across the world and so we're busy all week raising awareness about child soldiers. This Friday we're hosting a big reggae concert at this venue downtown called Bodega to raise money for Amnesty, so my Friday is planned and that should be fun. Also some of the members are dressing in full camo all week with the theme "I wear camo so kids in combat don't have to" which is a neat idea for grabbing attention but I did not volunteer to do that because I'm too vain and uncommitted to the cause...?

Whatever, I got up BEFORE THE SUN to put up fliers!

Today is the bake sale, and last night after a lovely dinner with my friends David and Emma's family I whipped up some rice crispy treats, an American staple. I grabbed the only bag of marshmallows that I could find at the super market and they were pink and white but I was just like "whatever. these will work." Come to find out that they are raspberry and vanilla flavored and that they don't even have just regular old sugar and fat marshmallows! Gross, who eats berry flavored marshmallows? That's wrong.

So long story short, I spent most of the night trying to get melted marshmallow off of me (I don't even know how it got all the way up my sweater sleeve) and the kitchen, and the final product is an odd pinkish flesh tone and tastes slightly of Children's Motrin, but it'll do.

That's sort of what they looked like except with no sprinkles and way less pretty.

I have had a sore throat the last couple days so I'm heading to the doctor this morning at 11. I stopped into the health center this morning to make my appointment and I asked for a couple bandaids to give me some relief from my new shoes and she said, "we can't give you bandaids." What kind of useless doctor's office doesn't have bandaids? Anyway, hopefully I'm not tragically ill, but I'd be lying if I said that having an excuse to watch movies all day and eat tomato soup (for which I have a new found love) wasn't appealing. I got these cords yesterday that hook up my laptop video and sound to our TV so I don't need a DVD player I can just play it all through my computer to the television. Neat.

I have some good pictures from my rompings this weekend which I will share with you when I get home, but I'm in the library right now so I'm unable to add them at the moment. You'll just have to wait.

P.S. I can't believe I'm missing Shark Week. Make it a great one for me!

2:38 p.m.

2009-07-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday which means that in Texas it is Sunday, and I just want to say to all of you hungover college students (or perhaps adults, I'm not judging) that you should get yourself to the nearest breakfast taco place and consume as many as you can. Do it for me, thanks.

Really, I should just open up a breakfast taco stand here, I'd probably make a killing as that is something seriously missing in this town.

My weekend was nothing super exciting to blog about, to be honest it was pretty much a blur of alcohol. I'm paying for it today though and am determined to get my body back in working condition this week by chalking up the vitamins, hitting the gym, and eating nutritiously in general. I did, however, pull myself together enough on Saturday afternoon to head down to Oriental Bay and take a walk along the shore as the sun was setting. That was lovely, there were lots of seagulls and big sail boats coming into port in front of a landscape of mountains, quite picturesque. My ipod added a pretty sweet soundtrack of Cafe Del Mar which accented it brilliantly, so that was time well spent. I really love this city, it's got everything. Besides a taco stand, but I already addressed that.
That's a picture of Oriental Bay. You can tell I didn't take it because of how good it is.

If you're wondering, no, this blog entry has no structure or focus. I just finished my biology test early and I've got an hour to kill. I finally got my student ID today so I guess that makes me officially a real person. Hmmm.

Oh, I know, I will tell you about New Zealand television, you're interested in some of the culture differences, right? We'll start with TV because I'm American.

New Zealand, I guess thanks to their high tax rates, cranks out a LOT of public service announcements. The domestic violence ones are particularly intense/uncomfortable, and make it awkward to carry on a conversation in the room after the screaming and the beating. I realize that these are perhaps effective and a good strategy, but they're really good at bringing me down. Come on people, stop beating each other up so I can enjoy Who Wants to be a Millionaire in peace. I'll see if I can find it for you.

...I can't find it online, but take my word for it, it's depressing.

Speaking of, they say that domestic violence in New Zealand goes up 200% when the All Blacks lose. That's one of those statistics that is hard to react to because it's terribly sad, but so ridiculous that it's hard not to laugh. Don't laugh though, or you're a bad person.

I seem to listen to a disproportionately high level of country music when I'm overseas. Alabama's "Song of the South" has been a favorite lately. It's funny how the stuff you hate becomes nostalgic enough to attract you as time goes by.

I thought that today was going to be a bad day when I woke up because I seriously didn't want to when my alarm went off this morning. And then I had to cram for a biology test which I had forgotten about because I still haven't bought a calendar, and blackboard wasn't letting me on to access the lecture slides, and it was raining. But then blackboard started working and it stopped raining and I did pretty well on my test. So I changed my mind, today is a good day.

Also I have a chicken nuggets date with my roommates tonight. They're actually going to get 12 dollar all you can eat pizza, but I'm not really into pizza at the moment so I'll just get some chicken.

Oh, pizza. The main pizza place here is called Hell's Pizza and their logo is like this devil guy, and all of their pizzas are named after one of the seven deadly sins, which I find to be a very clever marketing strategy.

My favorite, and the most popular, is lust. It's weird though, it doesn't even have pizza sauce on it, it has BARBEQUE sauce. How weird is that? So weird. But surprisingly delicious. Try it at home sometime.

Oh- here's something that annoys me, the sinks here. This is what our sink looks like:

Hot on the left, cold on the right. This is the worst idea I've ever encountered because you have 2 choices, scalding or freezing. There is no "warm" faucet. So when I wash my face I cup my hands and fill them with freezing water and then add a little bit of scalding water in an attempt to get a decent compromise. If I designed sinks I would make faucets with adjustable temperatures. And I'm sure there is some reason behind these annoying sinks, like they're eco friendly or something. I haven't looked into it, but they suck.

Anyway, sorry that this post doesn't have any of my snazzy photography or fun media additives, and that it just consists of my random stream of thoughts, but I'm not on my computer so I don't really have anything more to offer you.

Cheers!

Rugby and Road Trips

2009-07-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

The second part of my weekend was as lovely as the first part. It began Saturday night when I went to a local pub to watch the All Blacks game with some neighbors.
The All Blacks are New Zealand's rugby team, and they were playing Australia, and it was a VERY big deal. The pub was absolutely packed. That was one of my favorite things I've done, just because there were so many people and everyone was so excited and into it, and even though I didn't really have a clue what was going on it was fun to yell when everyone else yelled. It was like being a part of an important cultural aspect really, and I felt very lucky to be able to be there and enjoying it with so many locals. The All Blacks are known for doing the Haka before each match, which is like a traditional Maori (I'll talk more about Maori later) dance. Anyway, it's badass. And it's really neat because it's completely unique to here and it gets you really fired up for the game because it's so intense and the other team just has to stand there awkwardly as the All Blacks like yell at them and just be really cool. I was glad I wasn't Australia, also because they lost. Here's the HAKA for you.

The next day my friend David and I went on a day road trip up to Palmerston North and I got to see some of the New Zealand countryside for the first time really. Here, I've got photos!
David drives a convertible which was PERFECT because it provided a great open view of the beautiful countryside. Unfortunately, it was very cold so we looked ridiculous bundled up in a convertible. Good thing we still supa' fly.

First stop, Paua museum and factory! This is a shell unique to New Zealand that is popular in jewelry. Ooh Aah.

Then we kept driving along the mountains, the snow capped mountains were breathtaking.
Second stop, Bruce Wildlife Reserve. This was a really fun stop, we went for a walk through this reserve and it was sort of like a mixture between just a mountain and a zoo. It was like pretty trails through the woods and every once in a while there would be a closed in space with native birds, and that was cool because then you got to see them all, like this one...

Also, we saw KIWI BIRDS there! I couldn't take pictures of them, unfortunately, but my they were simply adorable. I think it's so great that they are the national symbol, they're such neat little animals. We saw eels too, they were cool but kind of gross/scary. We should still preserve them though.That's the trail that takes you through the Reserve. Pretty stunning.
The next stop on the journey was the Tui brewery! Remember when I talked about Tui and how it was my first local beer? Well the brewery was a neat little stop in a tiny little town.

Also, they have a cute ad campaign where they make a statement and follow it with "yeah, right." This one seemed picture worthy.

This is an epic picture of a windmill farm that was on top of the mountains in front of us as the clouds rolled over it, it was so beautiful.
Towards the end of the trip the scenery started really taking it up a notch.

There's me trying to get in on some of the pretty.
It was a spectacular weekend, clearly. I know that it ended a few days ago but I haven't been up to much since, mostly school and school. I did, however, join the Amnesty International chapter and we have a big benefit concert coming up in a couple weeks, and I went to a great open mic night to hear some poetry and music. Life is good, isn't it?

Beach Days

2009-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been an amazing wild ride; I did so much and I have a lot of beautiful photos to share with you, but it's going to take a while to get it all blogged out, so I'll do it in patches.

Saturday was a fantastic day, particularly because the sun came out and I am a big fan. It's been so cloudy and rainy that the sunshine did my spirits a lot of good. Not that I had been down at all, I just missed the sun terribly. So Saturday it was beautiful and I got my fill of vitamin D and was a happy camper. It's funny how happy the most basic of things can make you.

After going to see my friend Peter play basketball all morning, I went on a drive with my friend David to the other side of the bay. We went along the beach and had ice cream and met people and just generally had a lovely Saturday afternoon, here are my favorite photos from the day (remember you can click on any to enlarge it).

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

family matters

2009-07-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

happy birthday, daddy (and uncle tom!)

love you, miss you, and i can't wait to see you!

School's In!

2009-07-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Everything has been going well lately, moving right along into my second week in New Zealand. i have switched out one of my classes "Culture and International Relations" because, though it sounds enthralling, the whole first lecture was this philosophical talk about how "boundaries are only in your head." Which is fine, but we don't have to talk about that for an hour. Also the professor was Scottish (but not the hot kind) and quiet and very difficult to understand.
So I dropped in on "American Politics" and the first lecture was going over what the 50 states are and why there are 50 stars on the flag, etc. So I signed up for it immediately. This is because:
1. I am admittedly very very lazy.
2. I won't have to worry about doing well in this class and I can spend my time enjoying New Zealand and doing other cultural things and not in the library.
3. It's "Modern American Politics" really so it will be nice to have an update in class about Sotomayor and other such happenings so that I don't fall too much out of the loop from home.
4. It's not on Fridays.

So my classes are

New Zealand Politics

Modern American Politics

Gender and Policy
^^This is a sociology class and I LOVE it. It is by far my favorite class. Right now we're talking about the difference between sex and gender and how much of our gender roles are biological and how much is from socialization. We've also been talking about the intersex population and feminist movements led by men. I raised my hand in class when a Canadian brought up some feminist group of men in her town who are doing programs to discourage violence against women. Which i think is spectacular, but I don't think you can call it a feminist movement really. If the goal of feminism is to empower women, then the movement can't be driven by anyone but women without it negating its own point. It's not a feminist point of view to claim that women need men to protect them from other men, it's just paternalistic. I said that in class, I am THAT girl. Oh well. It's fun. And I sit next to a really cool guy and we talk about Stevie Ray Vaughan and Austin.

Biology of Conservation
^^This class has its pluses and minuses. The plus is that we talk a lot about species native to New Zealand and that can only be found here and I find that endlessly interesting (did you know there is only one kind of poisonous spider in New Zealand? And no snakes). Another plus is that it's a first year class so it's pretty easy and I think I'll do fine in it which is thrilling since it's a biology credit. The minus is that I spend the whole class on the verge of bursting into tears and leave super depressed. We talked about poaching around the world today and saw this video made by the Planet Earth people where they had these evil people who set traps in the rain forest and leopards and monkeys get their paws and hands stuck in them and they either die of infection or they get gangrene and their hands fall off. So there are these chimpanzees in the forest trying to survive with missing hands. Why are people so awful? It just really makes me mad how entitled we all are and how everyone has this egotistic mindset that God made the world FOR man and that everything in it is only in it to serve us. Get over yourself, we're just a small part of it.

Oh, here's a picture of the main road that goes through campus, Kelburn Parade.

On a lighter note, I just want to point out one difference between our cultures which I have found to be delightful. Kiwis commonly use the word "naughty" in its original sense in many of their day to day conversation. It makes me laugh every time because it's so awkwardly adorable. For example, I was having a conversation with the guy next to my in sociology about plagiarism and I told him that I plagiarized an entry into an essay contest when I was in 4th grade (true story) and he was like, "No way, you're a naughty girl."
HOW AWKWARD AND WEIRD IS THAT?! But it's not really because he just means "that's wrong" so it just ends up being so cute.
That's all, and here's a picture of me with my second beer in the country.

Cheers!

FOTC

2009-07-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

"Formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo"
If you are unfamiliar with Flight of the Conchords, they are a comedy duo from New Zealand who have become huge in the United States and worldwide with their HBO show. Both Brett and Jemaine are from Wellington and went to Victoria, and 2 nights ago when I was walking downtown on Cuba Street with some friends, Brett passed us!
Here's one of my favorite clips for you to enjoy.

Manholes and Markets

2009-07-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

The last couple days have been lovely, getting back into Wellington and settling into somewhat of a routine. I'm blogging from my bed right now, even though it's 4 in the afternoon. One must be proactive in remaining thawed. It is so cold here, like, I am ALWAYS cold. The winds come up from the South (where there is nothing but water and then Antarctica) and are so icy, they just cut through your clothes. Then you go inside and thanks to single paned windows, no insulation, and no central heating, you're just as cold as you were before. Showering is the most comfortable part of my day, but getting out of it in this freezing house is quite miserable. I have a feeling I'll be bitching about the weather for many months to come.

Here's a fun fact, the manhole covers here have pretty designs on them. I took a picture for you at the cost of my pride as all my friends started making fun of me for taking pictures of the ground, so I hope you enjoy it.

Today was my first day of school, which went very well. I was planning to be a super nerd and have my friend Liam from New York take a picture of me in my "first day" outfit in front of the school, but I forgot. None the less, here is my school, Victoria University:This is the Hunter building where i had my first class, POLS206: New Zealand Politics. This class has me sort of scared. It's a second level class and I have absolutely no knowledge of the New Zealand political system or background, turns out it's quite complicated. But the professor, Nigel Roberts is incredibly knowledgeable and has been Television New Zealand's election night commentator in past elections and he's friends with Gordon Brown and stuff, so I guess I can trust that he knows what he's talking about. He's British though, so no troubles understanding his accent. Actually, none of the lecturers are very difficult to understand because they're all educated at very high levels and annunciate well. For this class, however, we are required to attend meetings of Parliament (Wellington is the national capitol) rather than attend any outside of class labs, and after a semester long analysis of the New Zealand constitutional structure, our final assignment is to write our own cconstitution for New Zealand. So as long as I can survive this class, it should be interesting. It's actually one of those classes where you have a feeling you're about to learn an insane amount. I hope I retain most of it.
My second class was a Biology Conservation class which was alright, very basic things about biodiversity, but kind of boring. And it's 4 days a week. Sucks.

This is the view out of out window at night, it's simply stunning. I love to turn off all the lights and have some hot tea by the window.

On Saturday night I went to one of David's friends, Lau, birthday parties. It was a party for his 21st which in New Zealand is a huge deal (even though there is absolutely no legal tie to the age). His family had rented a venue and there was an open bar and caterers and everyone dressed up and people made "roast or toast" speeches about him. It was quite a reception. Here are some shots of his friends making fun of him and the finger food.

Then after the official party we went to a pool hall downtown which is completely beautiful called Hotel Bristol. We hung out there for a while and then I headed home about 2. On my way out (completely sober, if you're wondering) my boot gave out and I totally fell on the huge wooden staircase. My body has been hurting since. I have a huge contusion on the left side of my bum (that's a scary word for bruise that I learned) which I had anticipated, but what's odd is that I'm unable to lift my right leg very high off the ground. Putting on socks has become difficult. I may have pulled something, I don't know, I'll get it checked out if it doesn't go away. Luckily, only 2 people saw it and they were very sweet about helping me up, so humiliation was minimal. Which is good because I don't want to tarnish my reputation as a smooth operator. Here are David's lovely friends whom are quickly becoming my own:

Then the next morning I got up early and trekked (through the wind and rain) to the farmers market downtown. That was totally worth it because I got lots of fresh produce and it's all delicious and was so very cheap. Apparently Wellington is the farmer's last stop on a multi town tour for the week so it's the best deals. I got spinach, green beans, apples, oranges, onions, pears, bananas, and garlic. Then I went to the grocery store and stocked up on everything else I need for the week and I feel so much more established now that I'm able to make my own (healthy) meals at home.

Don't ask me what those are because I have no idea. But they were next to radishes so I'm going to guess some type of root?

Speaking of home, let me introduce you to two of my flatmates, Matt (left) and Steven (right) of Virginia.
They're great roommates and we all get along very well. Plus they're here if there's a bug to be killed, etc. Today is Matt's 21st birthday so there should be either a cake in the making or a dinner, I haven't decided which but I ought to do something. Either way there are people coming over tonight to hang out. I'm glad my birthday isn't on the first day of school, how rough.

David's family invited me over for dinner last night and I gratefully accepted, his parents made a lamb roast with delicious vegetables including pumpkin, which was unexpectedly fabulous in a roast, so I took note of that.

His parents live up in one of the suburbs outside of town and it's totally gorgeous. We went to this lookout point near his house and it was so pretty, but difficult to enjoy because of the gale force winds. Observe:

I'll leave you with fauna. I don't know what it is, but I'd name it a dooly. What would you?

Rolllll With the Punches

2009-07-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

User tip: You can click any picture to see a HUGE version of it.

On my third night in Wellington I decided (along with some comrades) that a more in depth cultural study was called for, so we hit the bars.
My first beer was called a Tui, named for a native New Zealand bird. This is that moment and my good friend David who is an important character for this blog.
David is a Kiwi attending Victoria University who just finished a year exchange at UT in Austin where we became friends. David has been great and helped me out so much. Showing me around, introducing me to his friends and family, and just being so so nice. I have found Kiwis in general to be delightfully welcoming. It's so easy to feel at home with such warm hospitality.

David's friend is in a band and we went to catch them at a small venue downtown called "Happy" which was really neat. This whole city seems so cute and trendy. Met some interesting people there and then we all went out together as a group. Here is an awkward no-flash night time semi artsy photo of their show.

So, long story short, the only legal form of identification they'll accept here are New Zealand IDs and Passports. I threw my passport nervously into my purse, and it was taken out of my purse sometime around midnight at a bar called "X-Base" right next to a backpacker hostel.
Nobody turned it in, and so it was all sort of turning into a nightmare because I (thought that I) knew how much of a pain in the ass dealing with that was going to be. So I woke up the next morning, praying it was all a dream, and then made some calls to the bar, the police, the embassy, and the parents (who were super cool and supportive, as always).

Here is an actual photo of me realizing my passport is gone. I don't know who the asshole is who took this, but I'll share it with you.Side note: buffalo plaid is SO in here. Everyone wears it! Way to go, Maggie!

Now, this is where the story starts picking up and important elements fall into place to ensure success.
I (being the genius slash world traveler that I am) had made no copies of my passport. I happened to finish orientation and enrollment at Victoria the previous day, however, where they had made a copy of it to keep in their records.
Our water was shut off because of construction, and so I skipped a shower, grabbed some gum, and headed out at about noon. In the next 2 hours I:
-went to school, cut the huge line of Asians signing up for classes (I don't know why it was Asian day) and got the busy ladies to make a copy of that copy for me.
-had 4 passport photos made (showerless, hair thrown up, and after having been racing across town on foot. oh man, they are sexy).
-filed a police report
-returned to 2 bars we had been at the previous nights to double check
-ducked into an internet cafe and booked 2 tickets to Auckland for an hour later that afternoon (even though the American Embassy is in Wellington, the Consulate is in Auckland, go figure).
-bought and consumed a sandwich
-hopped in a cab to the airport

I had a good conversation with the cab driver from Fiji on the way there about how when you travel you never know what's going to happen and you have to be able to just roll with whatever punches come. He was a wise driver.

I just happened to have another friend named Francesca who is wonderful, and she lives in Auckland. So I skyped her ASAP and arranged to stay with her. I was feeling really good for someone who just potentially had their identity stolen, because I wanted to go to Auckland anyway, I had the week off until school started, and I was really excited to see Francesca and meet her friends.
So I arrive in Auckland andFrancesca takes me out to her pretty house in this insanely beautiful hilly green area (I wish I had pictures of it, but I kept putting it off. I do have this one).
Her mom cooked us dinner and I was thrilled because
1. I was starving and
2. It was my first real Kiwi meal (my father will be happy to hear it was, in fact, lamb).
Here is Francesca excited about the bok choy and wishing I'd stop taking pictures at awkward times.Thumbs up for good home cookin! YES!

I was so thankful to be at her home and sleeping in a warm bed. And whats more is that she has matching pajamas and this awesome pet named Max whom I aptly referred to as "Alien."

Here I am in traditional Maori war clothes after my hunt for the elusive "Target Dog" native to Northern New Zealand. Sort of.

The next morning I took the bus into the city (enjoying the Kenny Rogers they had playing the whole time....?) and spent all morning at the Consulate filling out paperwork and listening to people trying to come to the States be interrogated and then rejected. They even told one guy he wasn't allowed to come ever! That was depressing, and I felt lucky to be American because I can go whenever I want. Which is lucky because I like it.Auckland is really a nice city though. Looks like Seattle sort of if you ask me.

Then I had lunch by the ocean with Stacey who was an exchange student from Auckland in Belgium with me while I was there, and that was wonderful and neat to catch up.

Last night I went out on the town with Francesca and her friends (who were all very hip and stylish) and so that was really fun and once again everyone was completely sweet and welcoming.

All in all, it was a fantastic "lost passport" experience and I am so thankful for Francesca, David, and everyone who helped me make my bad luck into such a terrific weekend.
Cheers.

haere mai! welcome!

2009-07-06T22:20:00.000-07:00

So the last couple days have whirled by, and it's all a bit foggy because of sleep deprivation. But they have been fantastic, nonetheless. The city is really amazing, it's so beautiful. It's got sort of a California feel because there's green everywhere you look, there's coastline, and everywhere you walk seems to require hauling up a ridiculously steep hill. Seriously, these hills are going to take some intense getting used to, but at least my ass is going to be killer when I get home. Yes.
Even the architecture looks much like San Francisco, the homes are designed quite similarly. So as I walk around I start to feel like I'm in the States but just some crazy beautiful north western part of it, and then I see a bird. The birds here are what make me remember how far away I am. They're all so interesting and exotic looking.
This morning (after falling asleep at 8 last night) I woke up at 6 thanks to jetlag. I made some Dunkin' Donuts coffee that I'm glad my mom threw in my suitcase last minute, and went out onto our back porch where the sun was rising and there were all these small fascinating birds. This is what one of them looked like. He kept fanning out his tail and closing it so it's like this big flashing light in the trees. This the view from our porch at sunrise. It's very cold in the morning, but it was so serene.

I had a strange dream last night that I was hanging out with friends in Austin and someone said,"Hey Maggie I thought you left for New Zealand yesterday. What are you doing here?"
and I said, "Oh I don't know" and I woke up and I had no idea where I was until I realized that I had, in fact, gone to New Zealand the previous day.

Today was orientation for international students so I met people from Ethiopia, Germany, Finland, and all over. That was really fun because they discussed cultural differences to know about, and apparently the verb "to root" is a slang term for "to have sex with" and so saying that you "root for ____ sport team" is an awkward thing to say and should be avoided.
The coolest part of it all, though, was a bus tour around Wellington, they took us around town and then up to the top of Mount Victoria right outside of the city where I had to following stunning view of this beautiful city.

Tonight I am having dinner with my neighbors (basically a street full of houses containing American exchange students) and then I'm going to brave the cold to join David (a kiwi i met in Austin) and his friends at a bar for some quiz game they're doing. Should be fun and I'm excited to hang out with some locals.

The Long Haul

2009-07-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

I’m writing now from the number 2 terminal in LAX (the most poorly planned airport I’ve ever been in, impossible to navigate)and I’m about to face boarding for my god-only-knows-how-long flight to Auckland. Which I’m not thrilled about because I got impatient just on the 3 hours ride to LA. Groan. BUT it is 4^th of july and as we were flying into LA at sunset, you could see hundreds of fireworks exploding over the city. That was fantastic and I will fly on independence day in the future. Also, i had to exit the airport and catch a bus to change terminals (stupid) and then go through security AGAIN. And I couldn’t tell if the security guy was harassing me or flirting with me or what. But he took my passport and kept saying that it wasn’t me, and I kept saying it was, and then he was like, “oh born in Japan?” and tried to impress me or test me with a little Japanese, to which I replied that I didn’t speak Japanese and that I was only born there. But all through arguing with me he was grinning at me and then he told me that it was a great picture of me and told me to have fun. And this was the guy whose job is to see if you have metal on your body, he wasn’t even the passport check guy. Sketchy as helllll.

Then I was famished and ran into the most overpriced burger king I’ve ever been to in my life and headed to my gate. The international terminal is by far my favorite terminal. I’m listening to so much French around me because we’re right next to the AirFrance gate. Oh I miss it, but the little kiwi flight attendant over the loud speaker’s voice is super adorable, so that’s nice too.

Thanks everybody for the well wishes before departure, you’re all wonderful and I’m looking forward to seeing you all again when I return. I’m going to run and change my voicemail message now before I don’t have service for the next 12 months. See you on the other side!

Okay so I’m now sitting at my gate from Auckland to wellington and I’ve got some time to kill so I thought I’d jot down how crazy everything has been. Got onto my flight to New Zealand (which ended up being 12 hours rather than 18 like I had thought, lucky!) I had a window seat which ended up being useless since it was dark for the entire ride. So, I wish you could have met this guy I was sat next to. He was this crazy old man who talked to himself FOR TWELVE HOURS. And he smelled. You know how you look at some old people and you just make a mental note to never smoke ever? This guy. He couldn’t figure out how to work the tv, and I tried to help him a couple times but most of the time he just watched mine over my shoulder with no sound. And he didn’t have much of a grip on the idea on personal space. The first 4 hours I was debating with myself how to get him to stop sleeping on my arm, but then I just kind of got used to it and didn’t care. He also had on this crazy hat with all these signs hanging off of it about how he is a world traveler and listed how many times he’d crossed oceans and how he was a “world champion and proud of it!” he also had cards he’d Xeroxed with the same information about him being the “world’s amazing working man” that he left on the tables and seats and stuff. At one point he started repeating to himself, “we’re wretches. Wretch. We’re wretches. Wretch.” It was a hell of a long flight. i have had about an hour and a half of sleep in what, the last 40 hours? I don’t even know. I have lost track of time and entered this weird zombie state (which I had anticipated). It’s down here out the window but it feels like 4 in the afternoon and I’m all flipped around. Good news is it’s about 50 degrees in Auckland and it feels lovely. I know because I accidentally gave myself a self-guided walking tour of essentially the entire airport. (I finally swallowed my pride and went to the nice old lady at the help desk and she said, “oh you’re in the wrong airport. Go to the building next door.” Great, Maggie. I made it to my gate though, obviously, and had about 20 minutes to kill so I decided to seek out some breakfast. I came across a little coffee counter, but all they really had were these weird lemon cupcake things so I just opted to skip food and have some coffee (4 dollars for what can’t be more than 8 ounces, thank god for the exchange rate).

Anyway, I’m trying not to let this whole entry be a bitch fest but I’m wearing new boots which are totally blistering right now because of all the airport circling (with approximately 100 lbs of luggage in my hands to boot!) and I’m exhausted and grumpy and this whole day has been one huge pain in the ass.

To be a little positive, here are some things I’m thankful for:

1. Sneaking my coffee past customs (suckers!)

2. Neither of my first 2 flights crashing to the ground. Always a plus.

3. How attractive the boys seem to be here so far.

4. The sun is out!

5. No missed flights!

6. Cofffeeeee

7. I’M IN NEW ZEALAND! AHHH!

Alright, actually this is amazing (that's the view from our window) and scratch all the whining. I love it! Updates soon!

Pure New Zealand

2009-07-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

This is a hell of a long commercial, but it's got some breathtaking images of NZ. Take a look!

Ready or Not

2009-07-03T00:43:00.000-07:00

"In this great future, you can't forget your past."

Since it is 2:45 in the morning, it is technically Friday, which means that I am technically leaving for LAX tomorrow afternoon. Then on to Auckland and finally Wellington where I shall be residing for the next 12 months of my life. Eeeek.
Everyone's been asking me the same question, "Oh aren't you excited?!" Of course I'm excited, I knew I would be. What I did not anticipate, however, was how nervous I actually am. Very, very, very anxious. Sometimes when I'm driving or sitting in a restuarant or washing my face, my stomach starts to twist into knots and I remember how absolutely scared I am.
Which I find very odd because
A. I was never nervous before parting for Belgium
B. I really don't have much reason to be, because what I went through last time was surely much harder than what I am facing because of the lack of language barrier, my 17-year-old naivety, and host families.
But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that Belgium is precisely why I am so nervous. Because I went through that and I know what 12 months away from home is like, and how hard it can be. I remember those days where I just laid on the floor and wished so hard to be home, if only for a few hours of precious familiarity.
It's not that I'm nervous about being there, it's that I'm nervous about what I'm going to miss here.
Today I finished packing all of my things that I don't need today and tomorrow morning, and then I headed to the post office where I paid $60 to ship 200 red Solo cups to Wellington. I didn't have room in my bags and I need them for "The Great American Beer Pong Tournament of Champions" which I will be hosting shortly after my arrival. (Over 30 or just out of the loop, click here). You can't find these red cups in New Zealand, nor can your find beer pong, so I thought that this would be an excellent way to proclaim my arrival to the country. I'm going to be Wellington's Van Wilder. Not really though.
Then I went to Dallas with Travis and my parents and had dinner with some family. That was very much enjoyable and I will miss my family. I'm preeeetty lucky.
I spent the late evening with some very good friends, and said goodbye to some who were leaving today for Austin. The goodbyes are tough and I've never been very good at them, so I was kind of down after that. I dropped Ben off and then I was cruising around my neighborhood a little bit, on the empty dark streets with the windows down. The cool breeze and Bob Marley combined to provide the perfect environment for a summer night.
"No Woman, No Cry" started to play, and as I stared ahead his reassuring repetitions of "everything's gonna be alright, everything's gonna be alright" were exactly what I needed.
Bob Marley is always right. We're all going to be fine. Life moves and it's beautiful, and it takes us places we never anticipated. But I think that right now, I am ready for this next chapter, and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. Won't you join me?