Thats all folks

Well, im home now. My trip is over, kicked.
Thanks for reading, if you want to talk to me, my email address is captainb@gmail.com, but only if i know you please.

BYE!

Almost home

So, im in LA, the plane ride was fine...oooh wait, no it wasn't.

Sam and Gareth took me to the airport for a 9:45 flight, it was a little sad but i was fine, infront of them at least. So i get on the plane and it takes off a little late, maybe 10:15pm. Not a huge deal, we have supper, it was good, then about 3 hours into the flight, the flight attendant comes on the PA with this announcement "Ladies and gentlemen, im afraid i ahve some bad news, some rather serious news" at this point my heart was beating into the seat infront of me "a gentleman in our business has become very ill and we are going to turn around and head back toAuckland, its a matter of life and death" 3 hours in, that means 6 hours of flight wasted. So the plane was turned around and we got back to Auckland at around 2am NZ time. The EMT's come on the plane but were not moving very fast, which i think means that some time in the 3 hours, the guy died. Yeah, death flight. We manage to leave Auckland (again) at about 3am and i arrive into LAX at 7pm, almost 5 hours late. My 12 hour trip ended up taking a total of 17 hours, clearly, Auckland didnt want me to leave.

How crazy is that! But now im in LA and i dint sleep at all last night, stupid jet lag, but its nice to be home, it is. I'll be in LA til Saturday night then Back to Boston to begin reality.

I may Blog again, but once i get back to Boston, thats it. Later!

As the strokes say...

This is it. Im leaving in about 6 hours.

I know im going to get home and all you are going to say “So, how was your trip?” and I really have no idea how to answer that; it was great, it was brilliant, it was sweet as, it was life changing and existence affirming. I saw things that I couldn’t see anywhere else. I drove cross country, I lived in LA, I saw volcanos in Hawaii, I lived and studied in New Zealand, I climbed a glacier, I drank legally, I drove on the left side of the road, I was a backpacker, I experienced kiwi culture first hand, I turned 21, I was on my own.
I have a new family now of students and teachers and artists and readers and workers and young people and old people and locals and travelers. I am older now, I know more about myself as an individual and about people from other places, I know what I like and what I don’t like, Im starting to figure out who I am and what I want to do. There are too many people who made all this happen and I want to thank them, brace yourself, im doing this more for myself but you know you’ll read it anyway:

Thanks first and foremost to mum and dad for letting me go.
Thanks to Ben and Sue for keeping me sane from 7000 and 10,000 miles away
Thanks to Summer for being my other
thanks to Eric, Jon, and Sean for being my secret boyfriends and keeping me in endless laughter
thanks to alyssa for letting me stay with you
thanks to krista for driving cross country like a freaking champ
thanks to the kiwi boys for making me feel at home
thanks to Gareth for toughening my skin and making me smile
Thanks to Sam for reminding me how cool the bass is and for driving to the airport
thanks to Andy for handling stuff back home and being a venting spot
thanks to my kappa girls for checking in
thanks to the boy for coming to visit, I still cant believe you did
Thanks to all the butler kids for adopting me the first night
thanks to all the BU kids for not letting me forget home
Thanks to everyone who read my blog, I didn’t keep this for nothing

I know im missing people but im a little overwhelmed right now so don’t take it personally. Ill add later on, oy, I gotta go do stuff.

down to it.

So, things are wrapping up pretty fast, I have my last final tomorrow morning, Art history. I studied but im not concerned with a grade because i really dont expect Emerson to accept it for credit anyway. There are no art history courses offered at emerson and i doubt they would know how to handle a new class infiltrating their system. Whatever, they have issues.
IM LEAVING THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!
sorry i just freaked a little. I told you all that i would be home from New Zealand in about 10 minutes. I know you all are bored of my astoundment of time flying, but i really cant believe how fast this has gone. Im really going to miss it here, brace yourselves for a retrospective blog sometime tomorrow or wednesday morning. Oy.

Tattooooo

This afternoon, i went with my friend Jon to get a tatoo. Dont worry, i didnt get one, though it seemed very tempting. His turned out totally rad.

Jon's tattoo

Summer Lovin'

So Summer is leaving tonight, and im sad. This semester would have been a lot different if I had never met her, probably a lot more boring. So here is my thank you, Summer Breeden.

Remember that time where you're whole program infiltrated my apartment the first night you got here? Thanks.
Remember Rangitoto? thanks.
Remember that time where we made muffin pancakes? thanks.
Remember that time where we figured out we could eat a whole package of any of the following: seaweed crackers, mint cookies, tim tams, meal mate crackers, nutella or nutella substitute? Thanks.
Remember that time we nearly died in the back of The Beast because of the fumes during easter break? Thanks.
Remember that time we went to the south island? Thanks.
Remember that time we ate ourselves sick at the food festival? thanks.
Remember BBQ's and pool with the kiwi boys? thanks.
Remember lies and thievery? hehe, thanks.
Remember village sky city cinemas? thanks.
Remember our dinosaur tree? thanks.
Remember muffin blobs, cornflake things, and crepes? Thanks.
Remember web comics? thanks.
Remember crater'd hokey pokey ice cream? thanks.
Remember jazz and salsa? thanks.

Remember all those other times...? Awesome.
Thanks babe.

Not much doin'

So, i feel like i need to post, but mostly becasue i like to keep my adoring fans happy, not because i necessarily have much to say. Things are really beginning to fuzz down, exams are being taken, people have begun to leave, my fridge is slowly getting emptier and emptier, its sad i think. The past 3 nights Summer and I along with a gallery of others have been going to Esquires coffee shop down the street, its the only place open late (24 hours late). We sit on couches and "study", watch bad music videos on the cafe TV and drink expensive coffee. There is always at least 5 people we know there doing the same not doing much, and we tend to roll back into railway at around 12am or later. Its a good time.

So much awesome

So last night so much awesome filled my being. Summer, Sam (a kiwi boy) and myslef went to The Occidental, a belgian cafe becasue we heard there was live jazz on the weekends. We got there at around 7:30, got some drinks and hung around. After about an hour, we got a little worried that that band wasnt going to show, so i asked the bartender, and of course, we got the time wrong, the duet doesnt start til 10pm, but it was ok caue we were having fun just drinking and talking. So at 10 this lounge duet sets up and begins to play, it wasnt really jazz but it was lounge music which was really nice. The woman had a beautiful voice and the guy playing the guitar was great. They played all the right songs and looked like they were enjoying themselves as much as we were. It was one of those times, ya know? Something I am totally going to do when i get home. BUT the night was far from over.
At around 11:30 the three of us headed over to Wildfire where every saturday there is a live salsa band hosting a Latin Heat night. It was so much fun to say the least. We met a few friends from railway there and at first, we were just dancing with eachother. After a little while i was courted by a nice latin guy asking me to dance. I didnt realize how awesome it is to dance with someone who really knows how to dance. So basically the rest of the night, Omy, my salsa partner and I mamba'd, salsa'd and chacha'd. This is totally something i am making an effort to do when i get home.
We rolled back into Railway at around 3am after an amazing night, man i love this place.

You are all in trouble...

Hi, does anyone actually read this? Can someone comment so i know these are being posted on the world wide web and im not just talking to myself? Thanks.

Schools out for...oh wait no its not.

I dropped the boy off at the airport a little while ago, it was a little sad but i will be home in 2 weeks, so not too sad. The past 12 days flew by, i cant believe how fast it went but now reality steps in because I have a final tomorrow that I have not studied at all for. Ha! Im a good student i swear. I should be studying right now but i have major ADD and i cant seem to make myself do anything, I just want to go to bed. Hmmm. I cant believe that i will be in LA in 13 days and then home again home again in 17 days, remember when i just got here? Yeah, time flies. Ok i suppose i should go review some information. Oy. I miss everyone.

Party Party

So yesterday was my 21st birthday and it was fabulous. Well starting at midnight, Summer made me open my presents from her (well 'made' is a strong word) and this girl is amazing, she got everything right. In the real morning the boy gave me a teapot so i dont have to drink tea out of a bowl anymore. A little later on Summer and teh boy made me french toast for a birthday breakfast, which was so good, bravo for french toast. The middle part of the day was spent walking around outside because it was the first beautiful day in weeks, obviously, it was my birthday. Then at around 5:30 we went to dinner. Summer, the boy, my roommate Allison, our friends ryan and Alexandra and myself all went out to an amazing brazillian restraunt called Wildfire in the viaduct. There is a crazy set menu there and for like 30 bucks the waiters just keep bringing you food. We had about 8 different kinds of meats and veggies and drinks and it was so good and then we all felt like we were going to die afterwards cause our stomachs were full to the brim. But not full enough for cake, cause Summer is my girlfriend and she got me a cake with a pirate ship on it. And it was amazing. A little while later, Summer, the boy and I went down to Esquires coffee and got some tea. Back at the railway we watched Indiana Jones and went to bed. It being tuesday, there wasnt much happening at any of the bars, but tonight we are going to head up to The Bog, my favirite bar in Parnell, im excited.
Thanks again for all the emails and instant messages!

Birthday festivities!!

Now I'm Legal...

ITS MY 21st BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!! thank you for all the emails and instant messages, i love you guys.
Its funny, i thought it wouldnt be a big deal cause Ive been "legal" since i got here, but its still freakin' awesome to be 21, haha!
I'll write more tomorrow about festivities, its still the morning.
I miss everyone but ill be home soon.

I'M 21! I'M 21! I'M 21!

Bay of islands

This weekend Summer, the boy and I drove up north to the bay of islands, more specifically to Pihia (Pee-ha). Yesterday morning (saturday) we woke up, had some breakfast then walked over to pick up our white Honda sedan from EZY rentals. We thought we'd be on the highway in no time but alas, we got lost in Auckland and wasnt on the right motorway until an hour later, it was a little frustrating, but only because i hadnt had any coffee, but by 10am we were heading north on Rte. 1. Its about a 3 or 4 hour drive up to Pihia in which time, through off and on rain and raidio signal we saw some beautiful countryside, many small towns and a crapload of cows and sheep. It was a very good time. I had called ahead to book a room at the Saltwater Hostel (which in my "Lets Go" guide was described as the "only 5 star hostel in New Zealand") for a checkin time at 4pm but we were early. So with a couple hours to kill we jumped back in the car and headed west to see the oldest and largest tree in new Zealand, a 2000 year old Kauri tree called Tane Mahuta (the maori god of the forest) to say the least, it was big. Not like titanic big but big enough to warrant unexplained and uncontrolled cursing. It was pretty amazing. We headed back to Pihia before it got to dark and rainy, the sunset was beautiful through the rain clouds and over the green hills, im glad the boy got to see some of the real New Zealand. When we got back to the hostel we went next door to the bar and got some dinner and watched the rugby game, it was a fun night, but i am getting sick so we went back to the room and relaxed. This morning called for a 10am checkout, so up we got and stuffed my nose was, i hate being sick. But i was distracted by a delicious breakfast on a deck overlooking the Bay of Islands, a very beautiful way to start the day. We were going to go up to 90 mile beach but that would have taken and extra 6 hours so instead we took the long way back to Auckland. We cut across and went down the west coast. it was a beautiful sunny day and a great ride back. We got back to Auckland at about 3:30pm and now im doing laundry. We still have the car for the night so we might find a restraunt that we havent been to, one that would necessitate a car. Hope you are all well! thanks for reading, enjoy the pictures.

Pihia for the weekend

Rain, rain, go away...

So sunday at 5am, Summer and I left railway and headed to the airport in a car borrowed from a friend. Way more convenient than hailing a 70 dollar cab. With only 1 wrong turn we got to the airport to pick up steve. Everything went smoothly; the plane was on time, the airport wasnt crowded and, like a movie, we were brought back together after nearly 6 months. UNFORTUNATELY, becasue the weather gods hate me, its been raining so for the past 4 days we have been stuck either inside or at class. I had to go to my classes this week cause they were all exam review. But today wasnt so bad, we rented a car to drive up north this weekend which should be loads of fun, pending the weather of course. and tonight we went out to dinner at The Playhouse, a kind of pub restraunt then to the movies to see Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which was great and definitely reccomended. Tomorrow i am determined to tour auckland a bit, so maybe to the Domain and then through parnell. My friend Alex wants to go to this great restraunt called the Belgian Beer Cafe, so thats for dinner tomorrow night.
I am a happy girl.
And i'll be home in 25 days.
Though I'm still not sure how i feel about that.
And i just remembered i have to write a big mass email for the month of May, damn.
Thanks for reading!

Boy oh boy!

I am going to get the boy at the airport in...11 hours.

Wrap Party

Last night was the wrap party for "Crossed Streams" the BU boys movie. It was a very good time, here are some pictures.

Wrap party

update

hey all, sorry its been a while, nothing really has been going on. I had a nice weekend, hung out with the kiwi boys, wrote an art history paper and read 2 novels. On monday we finished shooting the BU boys movie, then today we watched all the uncut footage, its really funny. They wont get to edit it until they get back to boston at which time i am hoping for a big premier. Speaking of big premier, I saw Star Wars tonight. My thoughts are mixed. Someone should talk to Mr. Lucas about his dialogue writing skills but i figure the budget was big enough that it was fun to watch. Not as painful as my friend the judgemental movie reviewer in LA said it was. It was fun and left me nostalgic for the originals. This is my last week of real lectures, and next week starts the reviews followed by a sutdy break then finals, i cant believe that the semester is almost over, this has gone by so fast. I have mixed feeling about coming home. Dont worry, i still will, but it will be harder than first expected. But for now i must go to sleep. goodnight, thanks for reading!

take 3

Tonights filming was much shorter because, it being thursday, a day to go out and party, the foyer filled up pretty fast. Before that, however, i played the part of crowd control, keeping people out of the foyer so the needed "empty foyer shot" could be filmed. I did a good job, people listen to you when involved with a movie...its wierd, but cool. We will finish shooting after the weekend. Woohoo.

Actiooon

Its still raining and it still sucks quite a bit though today was redeamed by the second day of shooting for the BU boys movie. We began earlier that yesterday, a mere 10pm and shot my scene first. I really love all this stuff, i was almost a film major but the head of the department at emerson had wiccan tendencies...so i told him to piss off. In my head.
So we did about 7 takes of my scene, i got to talk all science-y like i was smart and read science magazines. I was in the scene with two guys, ben and jesse. We had to walk across the long foyer, stop and sit down then get up again and walk. It was tough, im not going to lie. I stuck around incase the boys needed any help which is why it is now 2:40am and i am not asleep. This movie is both quick and witted, i cant wait to see it as a final product.
Making movies leaves me happy, or just being involved with a production makes me happy. I wish I knew more about it, maybe ill take a production class...OH WAIT, at emerson you can't unless you are a film major...arrr. I think tomorrow is a day off, but ya never know. Tomorrow is wednesday and i have class, so i should probably go to bed.
Sleep well America.

Cinema

Starting tonight my Boston University friends Eric and John are filming a movie in the railway. Eric is playing the part of Writer, director, actor while John is cameraman, director, actor. Shooting began tonight. I played the part of gaffer and grip, tomorrow i play the part of "becca". There is a cast of thousands (or like 20 people). The movie takes place in the grand foyer of the Railway campus, a beautiful location of which we found out tonight technically costs $5000 to shoot there, oops, dont tell anyone who works here...
Tomorrow we are shooting my scene as well as many others, and shooting will go late into the night. I love this stuff and i will write more about it tomorrow.
It's starting to rain here as promised by the Kiwi's. Remember the first couple weeks i was in LA...with all the rain...lets hope its not as bad though i think it might be.
13 days til steve gets here.

Living

I caught myself living today.
I was walking to class wishing I was asleep as i do every wednesday morning. Smiling and listening to my iPod, enjoying the 15C (60F)degrees which i love, feels like october. So I walked across the street, past the bus stops and the music school and into the cafe that is attached to the Human Sciences building. The girl who is there everyday smiled and said "trim flat white?" before i could take my headphones off. I said "what", she returns "trim flat white, like usual?" I smiled and said "yeah, thanks, like usual". I stepped back to let the next woman order and beamed with happiness. I made a mark. I live here and im living here everyday. She gave me my coffee and a wish for a good afternoon.
Thanks. See you tomorrow.

Happy mothers day

It's Mothers Day in New Zealand and i want to wish my mumma a very happy one aswell as grandma cause i know you are in NY and you will probably read this before you read your email.
Don't forget to wish all your mums a happy mothers day, after all they did go through a lot of pain to get you here. Appreciate them. I do.
New Zealand is still amazing, i went to a BBQ last night with the pirate and his mates to one of their houses, a lot of fun. Played crazy card games and watched rugby. Not going to lie, i may not understand all the rules but i am slowly becoming a fan. The joke here is that New Zealand has 2 rugby teams, the All Blacks and anyone who plays Austrailia. ha.
I bought my actual ticket home yesterday. I had the one to fly into LA but i bought my ticket to Boston. June 26th everyone, and for all you Emersonians, expect some kind of Bennigans hoohah. I am craving the Benny's.
Have a good weekend all.

PICTURES!!!

Alright, are you ready? Here they are, my pictures from my mid semester trip to the south island, all separated out into albums for you. Arent I nice? Enjoy!

Wellignton, picton and Able tasman national park
Barrytown and Franz Josef
Knifemaking in Barrytown
Glacier hike in Franz Josef
Haast and Queenstown
Te Anau, Milford Sound, Invercargill
Dunedin and Christchurch

Pictures

hi, i know its been a while but im working really hard to get these pictures up. There are so many. I went away this weekend for my friend Weslley's 21st birthday, about 4 hours north of Auckland. It was such a good time, i love my kiwi friends.

Ok pictures; would you rather i put all the albums in one post or separate them back into their coresponding posts so you can reread about them then look at the pictures? they should be up by tomorrow.

Oh i just realized i have to write that big long mass email for April, oy. ok i gotta go to class. Bye!!

Dunedin and Christchurch

So we Left invercargill at around 9:30am, a little later than the usual 8am boarding but Prince had to pick up some other people. So while we waited, summer and I got some delicious breakfast at the hostel. The drive to Dunedin wasn't very long but it was stretched out with a couple stops along the way; some hooker sea lions, a petrified forest (the oldest in the world) and some lunch, btu we got into Dunedin at around 5:30, too late for a cadbury tour so we just walked around the city. Dunedin (da-nee-din) is the seond largest city on the south island and the kind of city that i could live in. When Invergargill split off from the region known as Otago, Dunedin got all the gold that was found there. They put all this money into the cities cathedrals, universities, and other big buildings, the place is just beautiful. We got there a little late and it was raining so we couldnt see it in its daytime prime but there were tons of cafes (my style) and restraunts and theatres. It is a great city. The Place we were staying, called the Leviathon hotel was kind of creepy, not in a the walls are dirty way but in a The Shining kind of way. Summer and I explored the winding hallways and scary staricases all the while freaking eachother out more and more. We were a little burnt out from bar hopping in Queenstown (still) so we wdidnt feel like going out on the town so we stayed in and hung out. The next morning(today), bright and early once again, we hopped on the bus and began our looong drive to Christchurch, about 5 hours, it was a very sleepy bus, but we did stop to get breakfast at the beach which was home to the natual phenomena of spherical boulders, thats exactly what they are, crazy boulders washed up on the shore that are perfect spheres. We got to christchurch, the largest city on the south island at around 3 and hung out for a bit, explored teh city, which i liked a lot but is like any other city, reminds me a lot of boston with its old churches and houses and back streets and stuff. We got a $6 dinner which was excelent and then went to the bar in the hostel. Tomorrow our flight back to Auckland leaves at 3:30pm to get in at 4:30 at which time i have to write a paper before i leave again for the weekend. Its our friends 21st birthday and he is having a bash up north. Should be fun.
All in all this trip was amazing. I met wonderful people, made some great contacts all over the world, saw some of the most beautiful scenery i will probably ever see and hit every part of New Zealand that i wanted to.
Pictures will be up by early next week i promise, i took sooo many, so brace yourself, but i will separate them out into different albums. Talk to you all later, thanks for reading!

Te Anau, Milford Sound, Invercargill

So Sunday we had to be up bright and early to get the new Stray Bus, 8am out of Queenstown. We woke to beautiful snow covered mountains; it was the queenstown i saw in pictures and here I was, leaving it. But at least I wasnt getting back on the crap bus, this time Summer and i boarded a proper Stray bus with Prince, our new driver. He is way better than Dodgy Dave. Good music is always playing, he is funny and not in a stupid tour guide way, and every morning he playes us some Adam Sandler, more specifically the song "at a medium pace" (for those of you who know this song, not necessarily one to wake up to but funny nonetheless) He definately evokes a posotive additude in the bus. So we left Queenstown and headed to Te Anau to book our Milford Sound cruise. Our hostel was in Te Anau but we wouldnt go there til later. The drive to Milford sound was amazing. Towering snow capped mountains, huge lakes, stretched fields, it was just beautiful. If there is in fact magic in New Zealand, i have no doubt it lives in the Vally of 1000 falls. This place sneaks up on you once you've passes through the 1k tunnel through a mountain. you are in darkness for about 3 mintues but like a tidal wave of grey stone and emerald forest the valley envelopes you. Water falls everywhere, not the huge rushing ones but hundreds of little ones falling from every direction down towards a curvey road (used for a lot of car commercials), it was just gorgeous. About an hour later we pulled into the warf where we were to board the Milford Monarch for a 2 hour cruise through the Fjiords. Like i expected, beautiful once again. Just so grand in size it was intimidating. We saw some dolphins playing in the wake of the boat while we enjoyed our complimentary coffee and tea. We headed back to Te Anau and realxed for the night in a hostel the Stray guides refer to "hotel le Wank" because everyone gets their own room. We made dinner, watched Kill Bill and went to bed.
This morning we woke up to freezing temperatures, i mean its been cold but it has been hanging out in the mountains, this time it was under our feet. We drove to Invercargill, the southernmost city in New Zealand. Its a really cool place, the architecture makes it so. The buildings look like they have been taken from every part of the world and every part of time but they are filled with common shops. The dairy looks like a bright yellow mexican church, the bank looks like a blue texas saloon, there are shops that look like they could be in the victorian era (but they are brightly colored aswell) its just a very cool looking town. HOWEVER, it is anzac day today (like veterans day) and everything was closed. So Prince took us down to the wharf for spectacular 360 degree views, we hiked a bit through a forest and around the coast, people tried the world famous bluff oysters and then came back to the hostel to hang out. Summer and I got a late lunch/dinner and now im here. Tomorrow we are going to Dunedin, but im not sure if we can go to the cadbury factory because we are getting in kind of late.
sorry this is so long, there were no computers in Hotel Le Wank. Talk yo you all later!

Queenstown

Queenstown is a party. I have had so much fun here just doing all kinds of stuff. As I mentioned before this is the extreme sports capital of the world, however i am way too much of a whimp to partake in any such activities. But they were available. Days have been spent exploring, walking around, eating amazing food surrounded by amazing scenery and just relaxing. Highlights included taking a gondola ride (the worlds highest at 450 meters) over the city and then luging down the side of a mountain, so much fun. We we entertained ourselves by bar hopping at night. There is this one bar that serves mixed drinks in teapots,its very alice in wonderland, and we went to the bar where they shot a scene of The Lord of the Rings (when the hobbits are in the Prancing Pony). Hanging out with new friends, mostly the brits we met; Nick, ian, james and jonathan have kept us sane. And taking in the scenery from every part of the city, it is really amazing here. I would explain it much like i imagine Aspen to be, a small city with great nightlife surrounded by towering mountains, really really beautiful. I am having a great time here but it is time to move on. Tomorrow Summer and I leave for Te Anau where we will take a boat cruise (not a naked boat cruise like last time) through Milford Sounds, I am so excited, it is going to be overwhelmingly breathtaking. Tonight is St. George night at the hostle bar so i am off, talk to you all later!

Haast and Queenstown

2 nights ago we had a breif stopver in Haast, its another tiny town. There isnt anything there really but the hostle we stayed in was nice and The Scots, the irish, Summer and I played Poker. Not sure if i mentioned the scots and the Irish yet; we become friendly with these 5 guys,Gus, Mel, Al, Mark, and Doug, they are all traveling around the world. Very Jealous, but now i have connections in europe, sweet. We arrived in Queenstown last night. Already i love it here, can you see a trend with the places i go? I can. Its a small city, one of the most visited places in the world, only 1200 people actually live here, but it gets over a million tourists a month i think, something crazy like that. We are stayijng a a very nice hostle called the Discovery Lodge right on the main street. This is where we are using our 2 extra days, so we arent going to leave until sunday, goodbye Dodgy dave and his dodgy bus, hopefully we will get a real Stray bus this time around. We havent really done much yet, couple bars last night, and a little shopping today. I will blog more when more happens. Later!

Franz Josef

hi all, i am in Franz Josef, a tiny town about half way down the west coast of the south island. It is such a cute little town, reminds me of vermont a little. It consists of one main street surrounded with rainforests on one side and huge mountains oin the other side. We arestaying in the rainforest hotle, a really nice place with a bar and a restraunt. Last night i hung out with Nick, our english friend from the ferry over and some of his friends from his bus. It was a really fun night.
The main attraction here is Fox Glacier, its the biggest glacier in the southern hemesphere and i hiked it. Not only did i hike it but i took a Helicopter to it and hiked around it. This was pretty much the most amazing experience ive ever had. We got to the glacier around 3pm and hiked for about 3 hours. I was on the glacier for sunset and it was incredible. Its hard to explain but ill try. Picture a glacier, bluish white ice staggering high and low with crystal clear water flowing in every direction. Now put this glacier inbetween 2 green mountains, huge green mountains reaching up higher than you've ever seen. Now stagger more mountains behind those, each getting higher and higher. Clouds hover below the peaks of the closest mountains and let the sun filter its rays onto the glacier. Every way you look your eyes meet a new color, blue under you, green to the sides, white higher up and pink and yellow coming through the clouds. Pretty amazing huh.

wellington, pictin, Able Tasman National park and Barrytown

Hi all! Im alive and having an amazing time in the south island. Im just goign to get into it casue i only have a limited amount of time on tehi computer, i apologize in advance for tyhe typos. So Thursday Summer and I flew to Wellington to stay the night and catch the ferry to pictin the next morning. We get into Wellington at around 4:30 and taxi'd it to my friend Daves house. It was so nice to see dave, I havent seen him since the summer. Dave and his Girlfriend Rochelle have the cutest apartment, Summer and I decided they are very grownup. That night we walked around Downtown Wellington and in a matter of 2 hours the city had wom me over. Everyone here asks me how i like Auckland and my answer is always, Auckland is a great city and i loved more before i went to Wellington. So we got some food and chilled out, it was a nice relaxing night before our adventure, too short a visit by far but iwill totally be abck, a huge thank you to Dave and Rochelle for putting us up for the night. So the next morning We caught the 9:30 ferry to Pictin, it was a 3 hour boat ride fo beautiful proportion, there are many pictures. We rean into a kid we met the night of the live show, he was doing a south island tour through another company, but it was a friend on the boat. We arrived in pictin at 12:30 and was piced ip by Dodgy Dave, the Stray bus driver. A really nice and enthusiastic guy. and a good driver, dont worry mum. So the first day was going to be Pictin to Able tasman National Park. The drive was bautiful, mountains, ocean, vallys, cows. It was beautiful, found myself smiling a lot. We get to ATNP at around 7ish and checked into Old McDonald's Farm (seriously, thats what it was called) and signed up for activities for the next day. That nigth we hung out with the other backpackers in the kitchen/lounge for a while then at around 9 we headed down to the local (and only) pub where a regge/maori band was playing, it was a great night filled with hippies and happy backpackers. The next mronign we woke up early for our half Day Catamaran ridse around the park...BEAUTIFUL. We had tea and coffee on the boat and just relaxed and took in the scenery. The boat dropped us of at a beach and we did a hour hike back to the hostle by 12:30. We hopped on the bus and headed for a 2 night stay in Barrytown. The only thing in Barrytown is the pub/hostle we are staying at...and Steve's house. Last nigththe guy who ran the pub asked summer if she wanted to work in exchange for free room for the 2 nights, so she did, it was really funny. Today we went to steves house and made knives. Yup, i am a steelsmith and i made my very own knife, from scratch, fordged it in the fire and everything. It was such good fun and this guy steve, who was about 60 was the funiest guy ever. Lunch was proveded by his wife and a after knife making nightcap provided by steve, a home brew of 70% alcohol called White Lightning, we were warned to bring mixers. Anyway, it was really good fun and i have my own homemade knife. Tonight at the pub was a roast for all of the backpackers, delicious. Sorry this was all so quick, im saving yuo all from a novel at the end of my trip. I am meeting a lot of people on the bus, people from everywhere, and i am getting a severe travel bug, i just want to keep traveling. All tehse people ive met have been traveling for months and months all over the world, its inspiring. Well tomorrow we are off to Franz Joseph to climb Fox Glacier or in my case, take a helocopter ride over it...jealous? talk to you all later.

And it begins...

Well im off friends, Summer and I are starting our grand south island tour today. In about an hour i will be on a plane to Wellington to stay with my friend Dave from high school then tomorrow, Summer and i will hop a ferry to Picton to begin our journey. I am not sure when ill get to update but ill try to post a little something each time i find an internet cafe. Lokk forward to be bombarded by pictures upon my return. If you want to see a map of the trip scroll down to the blog entitled "domestic treveler extraordinair" the link is a map. If i dont get to post, have a good 2 weeks and ill talk to you all when i get back on April 28th. Peace!

good times...good times...

This weekend was great, really. I already told you about the Naked Aquatic Olympics, so I can skip that. Last night, after a long day in the library doing open word surgery on a passage from Joyce’s Portrait of and Artist as Young Man, I rewarded myself with a laid back night of good people, good food and good music. A few weeks ago I became friendly with this chap named Gareth (not sure if I mentioned that his ancestors were pirates, like real ones, hooks and peg legs) and he and his mates (mateys)who invited me and whoever I wanted to bring to join them downtown this weekend. One of their friends bands was playing at the Queens Head bar, So, I said yes and obviously invited Summer along, cause we are attached at the hip. Before the show, we took the train to the burbs, where I hadn’t been yet, and where Gareth’s house was. Glen Innes is a lovely 2 dollar train ride, and we were rewarded with a really fun BBQ and some Rugby lessons, not involving getting off the couch, but a attention demanding play by play dissection, it was very informative. I got to know the guys a bit better and ended up having a lot of fun, it was nice to hang out with new (not American) people. At around 9 we caught a bus downtown. On the bus we picked up a drunk girl named Bubbles, her friends had abandoned her, so we adopted her until shew sobered up a bit. The band we saw was a local cover band called The Duxton Affair, these guys were great. I mean I know, you cant really butcher songs that have already been classified as greats, but these guys pulled it off with a sort of unironic glee. They were visibly happy to be on stage entertaining a crowd mostly consisting of their friends. They played all the right bar tunes at all the right times, good job boys, I’d buy your cd...maybe. After the show and after hanging out for a bit in the bar, the group headed down to the Viaduct, the area by the wharf where all the poncy clubs have set up shop, unfortunately we only walked outside the clubs, summer and I were not dressed properly for a Saturday night on the wharf, as people kept telling us...over and over again. We were having a grand ole’ time just walking around, laughing and taking the piss out of each other (that means making fun of each other in Kiwi). At about 4am we parted ways with the boys and walked home...but not before an obvious stop at Foodtown. We made Quesadillas, and I stumbled (from tiredness) to bed at around 5:15am. Today was the Auckland Food and Wine festival, it was amazing, there was so much... food...and wine...we were stuffed by 5pm, so we just sat and listened to the live music and looked at the water, and people watched. It was a great Sunday after a great Saturday night after a great Friday night. I love good weekends. Sorry this is so long, whatever, you all love it.

BBQ at Gareths

Food and Wine festival

Harbor Cruise

So last night the railway campus sponsored a harbor cruise. To say the least, it was insane. The boat was not all that big so when the wind picked up, it wasn’t just the music that was rockin’. With everyone dressed to the nines, there was an air of good drunk spirit on the boat, that is until the guy no one knew (who we later realized just snuck on the boat with his friend) became Naked Guy, the guy everyone knew...all too well. Yup, he was just as you think he was, for quite a while. I mean it was funny, sure, for a while, but come on, the boat isn’t that big, and you are offensively drunk. So the night went on, the Americans got drunker, and the music seemed to get louder, and the inside of th boat, which there was way to much of for a boat, got hotter, and oh look, someone had the not so original idea to take his pants off. I don’t know why this became a naked boat cruise, but there was more skin than just the legs of the scantily dressed girls. So there was another half naked guy, he had a shirt on, but the best part, was that he thought it would be a great idea to pick a fight (on a small boat full of burly sailors) with Scotty, our token Irish friend. A word of advice; don’t pick a fight with a drunk Irishman and expect people to take you seriously when you are not wearing any pants. Its simple really. The fight was broken up and started again, then broken up again, stern talkin’ to’s were given, im sure only half heartedly because, well, no pants. The cruise ended shortly after the fight broke out as per warning of the captain at the start of the journey, “don’t make me pull this boat over”. The funniest bit, was when the sailors were getting out the ropes to dock the boat, the half naked guy came bounding up the steps with pure fright in his drunken half moon eyes, screaming, THEY’RE GONNA TIE ME UP! He really thought they were. And still not wearing pants. So the festival of weird ended with the group of friends I was with, retrieving our very drunk friend, whom we lost about 30 minutes into the cruise, from the captains quarters where he was sleeping. A long, hilarious walk home ended with Summer and I making pancakes, mmm midnight pancakes.


Harbor Cruise Pictures

Sweet nectar of the gods...

I have been drinking a lot of tea in the past couple days, not as much as i used to drink when i worked at tealuxe, but a lot. And the mugs they gave us with our kitchen packs are very small; this does not a sufficient cup of tea for my addiction make. thus, i use a bowl.
You should try drinking tea out of a bowl, its very satisfying and somewhat reminiscent of the childhood task of procuring the last drop of pink sugary milk from your cereal bowl.

Shamrock Love

So, my lecturer for my Novel Since 1900 class looooves James Joyce, like wants to have millions of his babies. I should probably write my term essay on Joyce as to possibly be rewarded extra credit for praising my teachers boyfriend. Though needless to say, these few lectures have been much more interesting.

Extra

So I was walking down to Queen St. this afternoon and I saw a sign on the sidewalk that said "Commercial shooting" and as I turned the conrer, sure enough there were 3 huge black Escalade SUV's staring in their very own commercial. They hadn't started shooting yet when a guy came up to me asking me if I had a couple hours free and wanted to be an extra in the commercial. Ummm yeah. SO thats what I did this afternoon, I was in an Escalade commercial. Nothing big, i was just in the background with about 80 other people, we had to be a "Street scene" so we walked back and forth and when the Escalades drove by we all stopped and stared at them. It was fun. Then they didnt need us so i stayed and watched for a bit when a horrible woman came up to me and this conversation took place:
(hear her voice as a high pitched whiney kiwi accent)
"are the busses not running?" she squeeks
"oh, no not from here" I say
"Why?" she whines
"They are shooting a commercial" i say pointing to the camera crew
"Ugh, thats disgusting, now I cant get to bloody Barth" she storms off.
Fantastic right.
Fantastic.

Found it...

Because Jesus decided to rise fron the grave like a zombie, I got 4 days off from school. Thank you Jesus. This past weekend and a couple days before, i went on a roadtrip with 7 other people down and around the north island. Let me preface this trip by explaining to you that the car we rode in was, to say the least, a pile of crap. It was a super old "Town Ace" the kind where you can put the seats down in the back and make a bed, and the engine is underneath the driver and passenger seats so to change the oil (which we had to do every 50km) the entire front section of the car lifted up to reveal the engine, it was amazing really. Only 2 people knew how to drive The Beast because it was a manual, whatever, fine with me. So we left at 4pm on thursday. It was Myself, Summer, Josh, Matt, Mike, Alex, Star and Jessi and all of our crap; backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, food, hiking shoes, and the like. The Beast was no longer hungry, this car was full. So we left Railway and got on rte. 2 towards Gisborn (pronounced gis-bin) where Alex had a camp friend and with whom we'd be staying with for a night, but that was 7 hours south. So we drove and drove and it was pissing down rain; lets flash back to my cross country trip, remember the rain? In that situation i trusted the driver and the car, not the elements, in this situation did not trust the car or the elements, but Josh was an excelent driver and we got through it with only a little water on our shoulders (The Beast leaked). It stopped eventually so after about 4 hours of driving we decided to stop and set up camp in Whakatene on the coast. We had 3 tents and 8 people, Josh slept in the van and I slept in a tent with Summer, Star and Matt slept in a tent and Alex and Jessi slept in a tent and Mike wanted to sleep outside...until it began to rain. Hard. It was so loud in the tent because the rain flap was doing just that, it was flapping around like crazy, needless to say there was no sleeping. In the morning i stretched out my legs right into the puddle of rainwater that had moved into the bottom of my sleeping bag, it was great. We all awoke eventually and packed up in the pouring rain and headed to Gisborn. The drive to Gisborn was amazing, we were driving through this gorge for about 2 hours, it was so green and wet from the rain but just beautiful, kind of Jurassic park-like, but no dinosaurs. There was a river rushing about below us and blue sky (eventually) above us and just a mass of green in the middle. It was nice to see nature after being in the city for such a long time. We stopped at this burger joint called Captain Morgans; Lonely Planet travel guide said that the bugers were "particularly large and partucularly good" well they were neither, but we got a kick out of it anyway. We got to Alex's camp friends house and hung our wet camping stuff in his back yard because by this time it was a beautiful sunny day. Star, matt, josh and mike decided to go sleep on the beach but the rest of us liked the idea of a warm dry house, so we'd meet for breakfast in the morning. Gisborn is a great town, it reminds me a lot of Province town with a little Stars Hollow mixed in (thats a gilmore girls reference, sorry) SO we got breakfast intown at this place called Robert Harris Cafe then headed back to Joel's house (the camp friend) to pack up and head to Napier. It was a beautiful day so we stopped for some wine tastings at local vineyards, i bought a bottle of Gewurztraminer white wine, delicious. It got to be about 3pm so we decided to head out. The day was perfect though, good food, good people, good wine, good landscape, good weather, i was a happy girl. We drove for a long while through, once again, novel inspiring landscape, up over mountains, down into valleys, around lakes and through corn fields and grape fields. It was getting pretty late so we decided to camp before we got to Napier. We set up camp on the beach, it was an amazingly clear night with more stars that ive ever seen (even in Hawaii) and the moon was the size of a tea cake(thats big, really big), it was a great night even though we couldnt get a fire lit. The next day we woke and drove about an hour to Napier. Napier is the town that was completely devoured by a 1931 earthquake and has since been rebuilt completely art deco. The cafe's outnumber takeaways but there is a Macdonalds which is very MacDeco. The city is an art deco homage to zigzags, bubbling fountains and endless neon lit clocktowers. We got breakfast at this cafe called Ujazi, all local art filled with comfortable chairs and tables and amazing food. Matt had to be back at the railway by 7 so we headed home around 10am stopping in Taupo to see the famous Lake Taupo, the largest lake in the southern hemesphere. A place devoted to fishing and extreme sports and adventure activities, we just got lunch in the town square. The drive back was very sleepy, but beautiful when i was awake. I was happy this whole weekend, i didnt have a care in the world (except when the car made funny noises) I was with good people who made eachother laugh the whole time. I was in a classic car which only added to the roadtrip aspect. I was driving through some of the most glorious and natural beauty ive ever seen. I saw stars and the moon from a different angle (you cant see the man on the moon from thie side of the earth). There was one point in the trip where we were driving through some farmland and there were rolling hills and cows and sheep and we were all singing at the top of our lungs and i couldnt help but stop and smile, i'd found it. I'd found the happy home feeling ive been looking for.

my camera got low on batteries half way through so i will post more pictures from other peoples cameras once I get them.

Easter roadtrip part 1

Oh yeah...

So, i forgot to mention that there has been a change of plans in the itinerary of my trip. As it turns out, Suzie has to take summer classes inorder to graduate so we have postponed the Austailia part of the trip until December/January. Which means i will be coming home at the end of June. Its all well and good because by that time June will have turned beautiful Oceana into a rainy winter mudpile; not a good time to travel. But by december it will be warm and perfect once again. Hurrah!

Domestic traveler extraordinair

So, today, Summer and I booked our grand insane tour-de-la-south island! We went through a company called Stray, its a travel bus company that has crazy trips all over the country. The one we chose, Gordie (they all have person names, though i dont know anyone named Gordie) is a whirlwind tour of the ENTIRE south island. We fly from Auckland to Wellington where we will stay with Dave, a friend of mine from high school, for the night, then take a ferry down to Picton the next morning where the bus picks us up. We will then proceed counter clockwise around the south island stopping at all the major(and some minor)points and cities of interest eventually flying out of Christchurch on April 28th. I am so excited cause we got a great deal, hostles included, all that jazz. None of this is happening til April 14th but still, its done and booked. WOOHOO!! This weekend is Easter break, only for 5 days, but we are going up to the Bay of Islands and Northland, its all rainforesty, and beachy. Ill take pictures.

GORDIE

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's day everyone! HAHA i got to celebrate a day before all you. Well, im not sure if ive mentioned the university of Auckland's nonchalant additude about drinking on campus. Well, they really dont give a crap. There are 3 bars on campus, Shadows is the bar everyone goes to, and a few weeks ago the Drinking Club (yes, a university acknowledged club) had the beer olympics in the quad. Since the drinking age is 18 here, it is much more open because its not such a big deal once you get to Uni. Anyway, the drinking club sponsered a St. Patty's day school appreciation Sausage sizzle on the quad with free Tui (the kind of beer drank most here), so at noon, Summer and i went to school to drink. Neither of us have classes on thursdays. So we got our drink then went into Albert Part (where the lantern festival was a few weeks ago) and hung out. After that i took her to the Domain because she hadn't been yet, where we played on a tree like children for about 45 minutes, just this one tree...for 45 minutes, it was awesome. We realized how close the edge of the domain was to Parnell (that area like Beacon hill) so we walked there and got a late lunch/early dinner at this fantastic place called Non Solo Pizza we shared a pizza and each had a glass of wine. Then we went to a chocolate boutique and had dessert. Also, amazing. When we got back to the railway we ran into our friends Alexandra and Jesse who had all the mixings for an irish car bomb party, well it was St. Patty's day, how could we not. For those of you who dont know, an irish car bomb is when you take a glass of Guinniss and drop a shot glass of baileys irish cream and irish wisky into it and chug down the entire thing before the Baileys curdles in the guinness. you have to do it fast becasue the Bailey's gets gross pretty quickly. So that was fun, then I did some laundry. Good times for St. Patty's day. Wierd being in another country with fewer south bostonians clinging to their 1/16 Irish background, but funnier when Kiwi's try to pull it off.

ST. Patty's Day!

Academic Workshops are long

As part of international orientation a few weeks ago we were encouraged to attend an Academic workshop. By going, our fee for the academic assistance center would be waved. The undergraduate one was this morning at 10. Being a good student i figured why not, its free and informative and maybe there will be coffee. Well, it was free and there was coffee (eventually), but I could think of a few better ways to spend the first 4 hours of my saturday morning. Some of it was informative, like the part when they told us that if we were caught plagerizing in any way we would be expelled, deported and set on fire; but i found myself staring out the window most of the time waiting for the coffee break which was 2 hours in. The one cool part was the fact that i was the only American in a room of 50. This was the first time its happened to me since ive been here because a lot of the international students are from the US. It was good becasue it forced me to interact with people from other countries,a task which before, was easy to get around weather consciously or not. Hurah for cultural emersion!

Famous People Out of LA?

so I found out that my teacher for my Short Story class wrote Whale Rider, the novel that the movie is based on, and he was also a producer on the movie. So I should probably listen to his writing advice, huh? How cool is that?


My Teacher

pictures

here are the pictures:

Waiheke pictures
RUGBY!!!

hard to focus...

My lecturer for my short story class talks like Sir Didimus, the fox soldier from the movie Labrynth.
The woman who runs my tutorial for the same class talks like the preist in the Princess Bride.
These things make it hard to focus but funny nonetheless.

Waiheke and Rugby

Sorry its been a while, i thought i would have internet in my room by now...but alas, internet still hates me. So instead of making you wait longer ive perched int eh computer lab at Railway and will tell you about last week and then post pictures later. So last thursday I went to Waiheke (why-heekee) island. A place known for its gusty beaches and endless vineyards. We planned to stay the night and catch an early ferry in the morning. So at around 8am I met Summer, Jora, Kate and Allison down in the grand entrance of the railway campus and we headed to the Ferry building up the street. We got on a ferry with 3 minutes to spare (and 25 dollars less in our wallets) and began our 45 minute ferry trip. The trip over was very pretty, we passed other smaller islands and as the city grew smaller ideas about what to od on the island grew bigger. Once on the island we decided to rent a car, an idea I wasnt to keen on seeing that ive never driven on the left side of the road or car, but it ended up that i left my licence at home so i couldnt drive anyway...oh well... So for 20 bucks eac we rented a car for the day and headed to the vineyards. We got to the vineyard, all still alive, hearts beating as we remembered how close the cars parked on the side of the road came...Before we stopped at a vineyard, i forgot to mention we stopped for some breakfast in the main town (which is the size of the Boston common) at a place called Nourish, it was very good, and i ahbd had a proper breakfast since i'd been here so it was a nice home-y type feeling. So after thatw e got to a beautiful vineyard, were invited to a lovely red wine tasting and sat out on the back Veranda overlooking the rows of grape vines that stretched lazily over the green "postcard ready" hills. It was the most relaxed i'd been in a few days. Allison and Summer weren't totally into the whole wine tasting thing so we only went to one. I could have gone to all24 that were on the island, but mabe another time. After that we drove to the beach and found the gloriousness that was New Zealand, clear blue waters, green mountainous cliffs and 3 or 4 other islands playing hide and seek in the mists of the horizon. I doned my iPod and sunk into the warmth of the sun, it was a beautiful beach. After a couple hours of that, we dropped Allison at the ferry cause she had to get back to the city. We rounded uout the day by driving around the island for a couple hours, up steep "ocea view drives" and around corners overlooking private beaches and ended up at a little fish and chips joint that fit our budget perfectly for dinner. There we realized that this island wasnt somewhere to go for nightlife (everything closed at 8) so we decided to head back to the city that night, we returned the car (which we were much more comfortable in at this point) and caught teh 8 o clock ferrry home. The sunset over the water(as it should be) was one of the most beautiful sunsets i'd ever seen. Thus endeth a great day on Waiheke Island.
Friday night i went to my first professional rugby game, it was the New Zealand Blues vs. the Austrailian Reds, quite a tense match up. Rugby is awesome, and seeing it live is ever better, and even better than that is when two fo the girls you are with play rugby and can explain to you whats going on. It was a really fun time and i expect to see myself at numerous games in the future. the tickets were cheep for excelent seats, 12 rows from the field for only 15 dollars. Also the mascot for the Blue's is a pirate...what could have made this better...not much.

ill post pictures from both in a couple days. thanks!

picture catch up

Here are all the pictures I promised, enjoy!



Auckland Domain
pubbing
Rangitoto
Lantern Festival
AK05 opening ceremony

Classes

So i have had all my classes. The way the classes are structred here is really cool and based in common sense, most colleges/universities should do it this way. When you take a class there are 2 parts to it; the lecture and then a smaller tutorial. In the lecture you are in a huge room, there is usually a powerpoint and you take notes, normally thats where it ends. Later,however, either that day or that week you have a tutorial for the same class where you are assigned one tutor to about 18-20 people from your class and you go over the Lecture that you all just had, its brilliant really. SO monday I began my day with my Novels since 1900 lecture where i found out that i will have to read a book every 3rd lecture, thats about a week and a half, and 6 short papers on these books and one large essay on one book of our choice; already thats more work than Emerson has ever given me. I was a little worried so i went home and read half of the book due next monday. A little neurotic i know, but now im ahead, so whatever. Then later on monday I had my Art Histoy class entitled Ways of Seeing, its a basic intro to the history of Art, but again in a huge class, maybe 300 people (keep in mind the largest lecture at Emerson is about 70 people), but the lecturer was great, she began by clicking off the lights and hissing into the microphone that "Art Historians always do it in the dark". It was very funny, then we looked at some slides. That class does not have a lot of work but its going to be a lot of imformation to take in throughout one semester. Today I had my first writing class; How to write a short story, that class i can tell is going to be my favorite, the lecture part is directly before the tutorial, there is only 35 people in the whole class then it gets split after an hour. Everyone was much more personable and happy to be there. I have 3 teachers in that class, the guy who is the official lecturer is really nice and funny, then there are the 2 others who are the tutors, but will occasionally lead a lecture, they are both very friendly. The woman who runs my tutorial is a bit breathy and clearly a poet, but she means well. Really, this class lends endless resources. So those are my classes, I was signed up for another Art history class but i didnt want to take it, and i wouldnt have done well in it so i dropped it, luckily i didnt buy any of the books. SO thats it for classes, i am really happy, but Damn you Emerson for learning me in the ways of the slacker, its a new and wierd feeling...having academic drive.

Rangitoto and Lanterns

So Yesterday (saturday) was the last day of orientation before school starts. There was an organized trip to a volcanic island 30 minutes off the coast of Auckland called Rangitoto. We got to the Ferry around 8:30am and to the island around 9am. From 9 to about 2 the entire group split and hiked the island, its not huge by any means but there are dozens of paths and caves so its easy to keep secluded for a while. I was with with my friend Summer the whole time and we kind of switched between groups, we hit the caves then the summit, laughing the whole time cause when you are tired and in the sun for a while, most everything is funny, even if its not. This island was beautiful, truley beautiful. The views from the Summit were fantastic because you could see the whole island which was so green but then it hit the water which was so blue and you could also see the city. It was a severe contrast of color and texture. I also went into some lava caves which were kinda creepy, but cool in theory...made by lava. After a while of hiking we headed back to where the ferry docked and people went swimming, i didnt bring my togs (swim stuff) so i took pictures of people jumping off the docks. At around 3 the ferry came back to pick us up and Summer and i went to foodtown. The plan was to make dinner and cookies. So we did. LAter that night was a Chinese Lantern festival for the chinese new year (which is a huge deal here) in Alfred Park up by Uni. It was amazing, there were hundreds of lanters in the trees and vendors selling chinese food and trinkets. The park looked beautiful, i had never been in it even though is is just past the university, i cant wait to go back when its all cleaned up. After that we found out that the opening ceremonies for the AK05 festival was that night on Queen st. so we made our way there. At this point it was Summer, my roommate Allison, and our frineds Jora and Kate and me. SO the 5 of us headed to the ceremony. Now this was no traditional Maori ceremony, this was a crazy NZ style "we love our country" rockin bash. There was a huge stage set up and bands played and there were comedians and dancing then at the end there were fireworks out of the old clock tower,it was a really good time, Kiwi's love their city. After the ceremony we walked to a pub over by the railway called the Rose & Crowne, its just a local place, small but there was a great cover band playing American music of the late 1990's (my favorite). The night ended after realizing that we hadnt stopped walking since 8 that morning, the tired hit us and we headed back to bed. I have pictures but im waiting for my internet to kick in in my room, once it does you will be bombarded by pictues from the aucklnad domain, pubbing, rangitoto, the lantern festival and the AK05 ceremony, so get ready.

Bar hopping?

So, i have been going out which i am totally not used to. My version of going out is leaving my apartment to go to someone elses apartment and hang out there for a while then go back to my apartment. These kids who ive become friendly with (the Butler kids) are total "american bar-hopping freaks" so ive been going out like a real college student should. Last night i went to this club called Komodo which was cool but small, and i told you about the other clubs we went to the first night; the Globe bar and Margaritas; well last night after Komodos we went to a place called The Bog, its New Zealand's version of an Irish pub and its totally my style. The taps were a little expensive but the atmosphere was just really comfortable. very laid back, dark wood, rugby on the TV, a live band plaing in the background, ya know...chill. I am so glad that I'll be 21 when i get back to the states because this freedom is kind of getting to my head..also my wallet. Being of Age is expensive, i limit myself to $20 each time i go out which is usually 2 drinks, not enought to get me even buzzed. WHich is fine because i dont care if i feel it or not, im really going out to meet people and not stay in my room and sleep like i secretly always want to do. So tonight was "Pub night", its an orientation program where the school buys the first round of drinks but after that its up to us, it was fun but it was at the Globe bar, which was less fun. How funny is it that UoA's orientation program is going to a bar, i love this country. Also today i went to this prigram called "getting the most out of living in NZ" which was one of the most helpful programs ive been to here. This crazy fast-talking Kiwi guy from the Travel Zone (a travel agency) basically told us everything there was to do throughout the ENTIRE COUNTRY. it was really impressive and overwhelming. The school is offering a 9 day south island tour over mid semester break whcih i really want to do. i think im going to go down to the travel zone tomorrow or saturday and check out some other trips too. Ok, im tired, so im going to go to sleep. thanks for reading!

Mostly Maori

So, today was the second day of orientation; this time with the rest of the new students not just the internationaals. It began with a traditional Maori Welcome called a Powhiri (Poh-firri). The Powhiri is a welcome ceremony into a Marae (Mor-eye). It removes the sacredness of the Manuhiri (visitors) to make them one with the Tangata Whenua (home people). It began with a Wero (challenge)which is carried out to asertain the intentions of the group, the male worriors approach the visitors and place down a dart and depending on how the dart was picked up by the manuhiri would determine weather or not they came in peace...we did. The next part was the Karanga (call) which was performed by a female of the home people, it is the first voice heard in the ceremony and is meant to weave a spiritual rope allowing safe passage for the manuhiri to enter onto the marae. The next part is something that ive seen a few times since ive been here, its called the Haka. The Haka is a dance originally done by worriors to psych themselves up before battle, now it has transformed and is used in many different ways, the most seen is performed before Rugby matches. This one was a welcome Haka. Its pretty intense. The next part was the Mihi (speeches) where the leader of the home people acknowledged the past, present and future, and to recognize the creator, guardians, the hinga mate (the dead), and the hunga ora (the living-those present at the powhiri). The Maori have a great respect for the things around them so whenever people are gathered they always acknowledge the building around them and the people there. Keep in mind this entire ceremony was spoken in Maori, so i wasnt understanding any of it, but they gave us an explanation sheet. The next part is the Waiata (song)which is performed to show the speaker that we understood and respected what was said. The next part was awesome, it was the traditional greeting called the Hongi. The hongi is the first physical contact between the two groups and is performed by pressing the nose and forhead together with a member of the host people, only the first 3 rows of the marae got to do it, but it was really cool to watch. Then the final part is the Kai (food, or morning tea). This symolizes the removal of the Tapu and the whenua and the manuhiri becoming one. Whew. There is your history lesson for the day.
We also met with our Uni-guides (OL's) and were given a tour of the campus, it was fun. but i let you go and write more about that later. thanks for reading.

Getting started

SO today was the first day of international orientation then the actual University orientation starts tomorrow. But hold on, I finally have a roommate, her name is Alison and she is from boston(go figure)but she goes to Columbia University. Here's something unexpected...she has no hair...anywhere. She introduced herself in kind of a rushed huff because she had just gotten back from the market and was like, "oh, i should tell you, i have this thing..where i dont grow hair..so i wear a wig" I honestly couldnt tell, but then she wips it off. Ok fine. No hair, i dont care, just something unexpected. SHe is with Butler college's abraod program, there are like 30 if them, and i met them all last night, in my apartment. I can see how this semester is going to go. I also found out i am one of 4 international students that came on their own, not thorugh a college...go me. Anyway, she did invite me out with them last night and it was fun, we went to some club/bars, not totally my scene, but it beats being alone. So Today was day one of orientation. We had all the regular academic stuff; the system here is so different from Emerson, its like real Uni classes and stuff, will take some getting used to. But also today, we took a museum tour of The auckland Museum (i forgot my camera but im going to go back later and take pictures because it was amazingly beautiful). The museum is located in this huge park called Auckland Domain. It has foresty areas and soccer fields and a botanical garden with a Fernery, you can guess that the whole time i was in the Fernz Fernery i was calling it Franz Ferdinany (a popular brittish rock band that is very posh right now). Then i walked back to campus to get some food, i can assume that i will be going to another pub tonight, hopefully more of a restraunt-y one, i dont care much for backpackers clubs, too many shady people. Thats it for now. Tomorrow we are going to get a traditional Maori welcome, Maori is the original culture that inhabited the islands hundreds of years ago, its a really interesting culture, but ill tell you more about it later. Thanks for reading!

Rapanese

Who listens to Japanese rap at 9 in the morning? Its the guys who live in the apartment above me, or next to me, or somewhere close enough to spill into my tiny window and fill my sleepy head with incomprehensable rhyming (im assuming it rhymes). So that was this morning.
Yesterday, i gave someone directions. It was wierd. One of the parents of a student asked me where she could get cheap bedding, so i told her; go down Beach road until it turns into Customs rd. east, and at the corner of Customs and Queen street there is a place called the Warehouse (kind of like a building 19). And she didnt question me at all,i mean the directions were correct but it was like i was from here. It was pretty cool. I still dont have any roommates but i found out that the girl whose stuff is in the apartment is in Rotorua (4 hours south) for the weekend because her boyfriend came all the way from Austria to visit her. I had to bite my tounge to keep from bragging that my amazing boyfrined is coming all the way from the states to visit me. I have the most amazing boyfriend ever, if you see him, you can tell him you agree.
Well im going to Victoria Market today, its like a farmers market i think, or maybe like a less permanent Quincy Market? we'll see. Bye!

Parnell

The past couple of days ive been walking around, more walking than ive done in a while which is good, and im getting to know the area around me. Todays highlight was Parnell. Its a town within Auckland but in the western part of the city. Its its own little area very much like Beacon Hill. There are shops and restraunts and galleries, and businesses. All very posh and a bit expensive (like beacon hill) but still very nice. There are a bunch of restraunts up there i want to go to...once i have friends...im so pathetic. HAHA...no but really, students are all beginning to move in so ill meet more people, dont worry. I decorated my room so its not so cell-like. I put up pictures and stuff, ill post more pictures eventually. ok thats it, im going to go do laundry and have dinner, maybe i'll have a roommate when i get back...who knows? thanks for reading.

A tour

Hi all, so I’ve been here for a couple days and its pretty awesome. My apartment is nice, it’s a 3 bedroom on the ground floor of the building. None of my roommates are here yet, as far as I know. I got this cool little “kitchen kit” today. Its basically everything you’d need to go camping, but im in an apartment, they gave me pots and pans, a cutting board, cooking utensils, sharp knives and two of each; plates, bowls, cups, mugs, small plates, forks, spoons and not sharp knives. It all came in a crate. Its pretty cool. I finally ran into my friend Nuray who is here from BU. I knew her in High school and only found out she was coming 2 days before I left. She is going to the south island tomorrow for the next week and a half before school starts so that still leaves me alone (but in an ok way, not a depressing way). Tonight I’m going out with some BU kids. I went to the super market today. There is one around the corner from my apartment, its called Foodtown and it is my new best friend. And the café in it has free wireless internet, I LOVE IT! I also walked down to Queen street, which is the main shopping street in Auckland and its fantastic. Full of shops, café, bars (or pubs) and big stores and independent stores. Its like Newbury st, Melrose, times square and central London all mushed into one super-awesome, day-wasting fun street. I will be spending most of my time and money there. I also sorted out my classes finally, there was a mix up in the original schedule I had before. The classes im taking are; Novels since 1900, Writing the short story, Art history: ways of seeing, and Art history: renaissance, impressionism and post-impressionism. So 2 English classes and 2 art history classes. I have class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each class has a lecture part then a regular part where you discuss what happened in the lecture. They are all lower level classes because as in international student im not allowed to take upper level ones. Hopefully the 2 English classes will transfer over so I wont have done all the work for nothing. I think it should be a pretty easy semester. Tomorrow I’m going to go to the Sky Tower, which is the big attraction in Auckland. People go bungee jumping off of it and there is a restraunt at the top that spins around giving a “stunning 360 degree view of the city”. And an observation deck. I also have to find a post office. Now im just talking to myself, sorry. Im going to go upstairs and read next to the life size chess board so im not cooped up in my room. Its still a little sterile. Thanks for reading!

Auckland
my apartment
Railway campus

address change.

Just kidding, the address that i posted is the address of the actual building, the one that i can get stuff sent to is:
rebecca Blacker
002/3
the railway campus
private bag 106601
downtown auckland
New zealand
i think that if you use the other one it will eventually get to me, but it might take longer. awesome. im off to explore.

Hobbit Style

Well, im here. I made it. I got to Auckland international airport at 8am this morning and was picked up by a very nice man named Ron. He drove me to the Railway Campus where my apartment is. The railway campus is a beautiful building. It was an old railway station that the University of Auckland bought and turned into campus owned apartments. I am living on the ground floor in a 3 bedroom apartment. As of yet, i havent met any of my other roommates. Today was spent sorting stuff out. Sorting my classes, sorting my apartment, sorting my phone cards (which I have now) and sorting out this city. Right now im in a convience store on Fort st. that has a bunch of computers set up with internet. I wont be able to use the internet at school until my ID comes in early next week. ugh. once again, internet hates me, but its not a far walk to this place and the guy behind the counter is very nice. Really though, everyone who ive met here is very nice. Im happy. I have a mailing address! for those of you who asked me for it; it is:
rebecca Blacker
the railway campus
26-48 te taou crescent
downtown
auckland
new zealand
When i sent letters to my friend while he was here a year ago it took 3 stamps, if you were wondering. So right now, my apartment is a little sterile, but its warming up, one girl is already there. It was funny, i walked into the apartment with one bag whcih i thought was huge, and im faced with piles and piles of stuff. This girl must have 8 times as much stuff as i do, thought aparently she has been here for a while. We have a little kitchenette for small foods but there is a communal cooking area where we have an apartment fridge and cabinet, its wierd, you walk in and it looks like the walls are lined with lockers but they are fridges. ill take pictures once my internet is set up. ok well this is long enough, ill talk to you all later. bye!

Last blog in paradise

Still in Hawaii. I thought I wasn’t going to get a chance to get to the internet again, but luckily I got to borrow a car. Lets see, Friday was the last time I posted; so Friday night was Shabbat dinner at the house, I guess Phyllis has shabbat dinner every Friday with Sara and Audrey and which ever of their kids is around. So this Friday Chris came, Audrey’s 14 year old son. We had meatloaf and yams and rice and veggies, it was very nice. Saturday, which was yesterday (I say that more for myself than you) Phyllis wanted to take me on another driving tour, this time up the north shore to Hanalei. We left at around noon and hit Rte. 50. There is basically one road that circles the island which is nice, because it makes it difficult to get lost. We decided to just drive all the way north and if we wanted to stop we’d do it on the way back. The views were really spectacular even through the rain, which was mostly on and off. More north, the roads tend to travel through the mountains allowing most of the trip to be under tree tunnels eventually opening up to stunning views of the ocean or fields of every shade of green. Truly magnificent. On our way back Phyllis wanted to show me the highest end of luxury on the island. The Princeville hotel is the most breathtaking and decadent place I’ve ever been in. I only went into the lobby but that on its own is purely regal. There is one in New Zealand, so maybe something to save for? The rooms range from $500-$5000 a night, not too bad... Once we left the high and mighty to their ultra-luxurious lifestyle, we headed to the historic town of Kapaa. There we stopped at a vegan restraunt called the Blossoming Lotus for brunch. The inside was Buddha inspired as were the people who occupied it. Soft voices, bare feet, dread locks and uncomfortably long hugs oozed from these yoga loving hippies, but the food was excellent, I had a tofu breakfast burrito. We got back to the house at around 5pm. Phyllis was going to see the Vagina Monologues at the local community college so I prepared for a night alone with Meg and Tom (Ryan and Hanks). I talked to my boy for a while then Phyllis came home and I went to bed. Today is my last full day in paradise, and im not sure what im going to do, maybe the beach? But this concludes my Hawaii portion of International Orientation, thank you so much to Alyssa and Phyllis for having me this past week, it would have been a very different experience without you. Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you all from New Zealand...holy crap.

North Shore with Phyllis

Hawaii part TWO

So Wednesday rolls around and Phyllis wants to take me on a driving tour of some of the island. She showed me some of the new housing developments and their spectacular views worth millions, we went up to the golf course by the house which also had amazing views, then she took me to the natural wonder known as Spouting Horn. It’s a hole in a rock that juts out over the ocean so every time a big wave goes under the rock, water sprays up like a geyser. Its is a very cool site. There is also a little craft fair there where I bought a black pearl necklace and some earrings to match. I love black pearls and not just because it happens to be the name of a certain pirate ship...seriously, I really like the pearls. Quiet you!
Yesterday, I got another little taste of the native culture here on Kawa’i. Phyllis and I went to a local sunshine market (farmers market) where local farmers brought all their fresh produce and set up shop. It was held in Hanapepe in a field behind the main street, it was really refreshing to see all the different venders selling their goods and really loving what they were doing. Everyone was so friendly. We bought some amazing looking asparagus and huge avocados and a bunch of other fresh fresh green goods. That night we had dessert for dinner. Alyssa’s aunt Sara is part of a national women’s service club called The Zonta Club. Every year they sponsor this charity event called Eat Dessert First. Local restraunts and bakers donate beautiful decadent desserts and from 5:30 to 7:30pm people pile into the Marriot in Lanai and eat and bid at a silent auction full of things also donated by local crafts people. All the profits go to scholarship funds for students on the island. It was really a fun time, also, kind of nauseating mainly because I have no self control. It was chocolate! Would you have?! Im not sure if I will be able to write again before I leave for New Zealand, but the next couple of days are sure to bring lots of sunshine and gallivanting. I leave Monday night at 9pm from Kawa’i to Honolulu, then leave from Honolulu 2 hours later for New Zealand, if you’re awake give me a call, ill just be sitting in the airport staring at the wall trying not to freak out. Just kidding, I’ll be fine. Sorry its kind of long, get over it. Thanks for reading!

Spouting Horn
Dessert First

Hawaii part ONE

So im still in Kawa’i and it is still stunning everywhere I look. I found out that this café right down the road has internet access so here I am while Alyssa is across the street at the salon, I figured now was the best time to do all this. So, what have I been doing? Relaxing more than anything, Reading, going to the beach, and driving around are all part of my array of daily routines. Monday was another beach day and that night Alyssa and I went over to Enx’s house and cooked dinner. Seriously though, it is such a different experience cooking dinner with people who know their way around the kitchen, I mean Enx is the executive chef at a huge restraunt and Alyssa has had 2 years training at a top culinary school, needless to say, the dinner was excellent. The highlight of Tuesday was, once again, dinner. Enx, Alyssa and I drove to the other side of the island to a place called Kawa’i Pasta. First off, the drive was beautiful, though it got dark pretty quickly. The food was great and it was BYOB, so we had brought some wine. Monday and Tuesday were the only days Alyssa had off from work so the next couple were going to be just Grandma Phyllis and me partying around the island rock star style. What could be better than a 20 year old cruising around with a 75 year old? Nothing. But im going to break this up cause its getting a little long and I know that most of you who read this suffer from mild ADD. You’re welcome. Oh sorry, one more thing; I’ve read 2 books while I’ve been here and I highly recommend both of them. The first is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it’s a story about a Shepard boy who by following his dream of traveling, ends up learning about Love, faith and the soul of the world through different people he encounters on his quest; The Alchemist is an unabashed delight and a truly inspirational journey. This story gives its reader a chance to take a step back and slow down enough to be able to see life for all its worth. The second book is as different as another book could be, titled The Pirates! In Adventures with Scientists by Gideon Defoe, this book kept me laughing through all 130 pages including both front and back cover. It is a cartoon-like escapade that follows the dashing Pirate Captain and his mis matched crew of shanty singing, ham loving, village pillaging, slightly retarded crew in an unexpected adventure with Charles Darwin and his “manpanzee” Mr. Bobo. Enough Said? Just read it, it will have you laughing until your timbers are shivering, I promise.

Beach pictures

Pradise??

Well, im in Hawaii on the island of Kawai. I got here friday night but i havent been able to get to a computer until now. Right nw i am in the village of Hanapepe at a little bookstore/cafe/tarot readers home its kind of wierd. Ayway i flew out of LAX and got to HOnolulu at about 4 o clock. I had to wait for my 6pm flight to Kawai Where Alyssa, a friend of the family was going to pick me up. I am staying with her and her gramdmother for the next 10 days until i fly to New Zealand on the 14th. The first night i got here we went out to dinner at this italian place near the house called Pomodoro, it was Phyllis's birthday (the grandmother). The next morning I awoke to an amazing view of a green valley behind the house, i sat with a cup of coffee and watched horses, yes, Wild horses just doing there thing in the valley. It was truley incredible. That night ALyssa and I went to Roy's, the restraunt where she works, with a couple of her friends and her Boyfriend Enx, who also happens to be the Executive chef there, yay for free food. The food is Asian fusion, really amazing, aparently there are quite a few of these restraunts in the states so if you ever encounter one, its worth the wait time. I have been going to the beach a lot and taking a bunch of pictures, sorry they wont be up until i have internet on my laptop, but the will be up. Thingskeep happening here that catch my breath, like the other day i was on the phone with my boy out on the back porch and a barn owl flew by, the white ones with the sunken in eyes, it was crazy. Then yesterday morning ther was a peacock outside our front door, A PEACOCK! it was showing poff its feathers, really beautiful. Tomorrow Alyssa and I might drive aroud the island, it oly takes 2-3 hours to drive the whole perimiter. The sights thatIve seen so far have been just inspiring, all shades of green and bright colors. Oh last night we went to a friends of the families house for a birthday party, the family was from Hawaii so i got a taste of the culture first hand. I can honestly say that Hawiians are some of the most genuinely nice people on the planet. I tried some native foods which were very good and met some great people. Well, my time is up on this computer but hopefully i will find another one soon. I miss everyone and the pictures wil;l be up soon!

Flight to Kawai
View from the back porch

Leftovers

My favorite thing ever is doing stuff at the last minute. no really, i love the panicy feeling of potential plans going down the drain becuase someone forgot to tell you that inorder to go aborad you have to withdraw from your current institution. Thanks emerson. You're a peach. But this is my plan, seeing that Emerson has no idea how to send people abroad when it isnt LA or their castle program, I am going to be the "Abroad Coordinator for Outside Thinkers". Those students who dont want to choose from Emersons 2 programs could come to me and I will help them, the right way, the organized way, the normal college way. So when I get back I am going to have a meeting with the dean or whoever will talk to me and convince them to hire me as such.
So the other day I get am Email from CIS (the center for international studies) telling me i have to take this predeparture orientation online. It should only take 2 hours. So i sit down with a cup of tea (as suggested by the website) and was oriented as to what to expect when traveling abroad. I was told about culture shock, finances, safty, american ethnocentrism, good and bad ways to deal with home sickness, emergency situatins and important numbers. The best part though, was the section about how other countries preceive Americans and what we can do to not be seen as the "ugly american". Some of the things it told me to do were; avoid temptations to tell people that america does things better, be aware of the volume at which you speak, dont talk comstantly about your posessions, dont demand special treatment because you're american, dont tell people in the host country how behind America they are, dont drink too much and a whole bunch more. It was hilarious because this list was compiled by people in other countries. I love that America thinks its so great but to all other cuntries we just look like assholes. HA!
So what have I been doing during my last days in LA? I dont know, packing, and hanging out really. Im sorry its not more entertaining, but hey, what can I do. I did go to the Oakwoods for a BBQ the other night, it was fun, Krista and i made dinner for a bunch of people, steak and chicken kabobs, rice pilaf (to which i totaly guessed the recipe and it turned out pretty well) cupcakes and chips and homemade guac. It was nice to see all my emerson friends before i left.
Yesterday I fixed the pictures on my Blog so you dont need a password, Ofoto.com, i hate you...Shutterfly.com, i love you. I talked to my friend Laura from high school who has been abroad since september in Barcelona, she reassured me of some things which made me feel a bit better about going so far away. But i did freak out a little last night cause i looked at a map of the world and saw how far away i was going to be in a mere 2 weeks time. its so far away, like the other side of the planet! its kinda science fiction-y, like I'm a planet traveler. The pictures here are just some left over pictures, one of Krista and her mom when we went to Canters last weekend, 2 of the coffee shop in Little Armenia that has the best Mexican mochas ever, Ben , julie and I sat there for a while and hung out, then there is one of me incase you forgot what i looked like. Also i needed one for my international student card.
Well thats it folks, Im signing off from LA, My flight is at 11:30 tomorrow morning en route to Hawaii to visit my friend Alissa for 10 days. Ill talk to you all then.

Leftovers

A weekend off

Ben and Julie went back to Boston for the weekend, and I am here alone with the dogs. You know, I didn't realize how much i talk to these dogs until last night when i caught myself asking my boy to hold on while I repremand some dogs as if they were kids. So, what have I been doing the last 24 hours, well besides watching season 7 of Buffy...well, nothing. Im wicked cool aren't I, you all wish you could have this kind of semester abroad. No but really, i did make dinner last night. I had Lemon Talapia and Salad. I also made cookies; funny, when Im on the east coast, i never want to help my parents out at the cookie Store (thats what they do, if you didnt know) but once im away, the one thing I want to make from scratch is cookies, not even fancy cookies, but regular chocolate chip cookies. They were a little questionable during the baking part, but they turned out well, Im eating one right now, they are actually a littl dry, not gonna lie. I'll go outside tomorrow, but today its raining, again. I'll tell you, if it rains tomorrrow, I am not going to be happy. I need to take the dogs out. Leave messages!!

I know its only friday and i have another 2 days, but I dont forsee Saturday and Sunday being much different.

My weekend

Going out and doing stuff...

There is something to be said about going out and doing stuff in LA, mainly because there is stuff to do. Thats what LA has over Boston, there is so much to do. I am a big "go to coffee shops and sit there" advocate. I dont need to be constantly entertained, but I love finding a confortable coffee shop (preferably with free wireless) and just sitting and relaxing. Yesterday, Ben and I went to Stir Crazy, a coffee shop on Melrose which im sure ive mentioned before, and just sat there. Well, I talked to my boy and Ben worked on a script, but there was no need for big conversation or flashy entertaiment, we were both content just doing our thing. Later on, I told ben I'd leave the house for a couple hours because it was his and Julies anniversary (happy anniversary), There was a 10 second panic as to what the hell I was going to do for 4 hours, but then a bunch of things popped into my head. I ended up going out to dinner with Krista at Canters on Fiarfax. Its this awesome new york style deli/restraunt thats open 24 hours. SO we ate there, then we went back to the Oakwoods and into the hot tub. Yay, warmth. We still had some time to kill so Krista, Ian, our friend Dave and I went to House of Pies on Franklin. I love pie. I really, really do. See, if I was in boston, I probably would have gone to bed. Thanks, LA, for not being consumed by the corporation and letting the little guys stay open to provide happiness and stuff to do.

catch up

ok, this might be a long blog but also a fun-filled, super action-packed catch up blog because ive been slacking. Sorry.
So that day I did laundry, we decided to drive down to Santa Monica. So after Laundry, mine and Kristas friend from Emerson, Hadley, came and picked us up in his swave convertable and we headed down the 101. Let me tell you something about sitting in the back of a convertable on the highway, its less fun than the WB makes it look. The wind is moving your hair around so fast that your only choice is to let it have its way with you. There is no point in trying to tuck it behind your ears, it will just whip around and smaak you again in protest. So when we got to Santa Monica, you can assume i was relieved. Santa Monica is beautiful and the smog makes the sunset just unforgetable. Unfortunately i did not get too many pictures, but its ok because this was an amazing day for various other reasons.
I have been spending time at the Oakwoods with krista which is awesome and gives me a chance to get out of the house. Saturday, Hadley picked us up with the intent to hike around the Hollywood sign, see, I needed to break in my new hiking boots, however, a better way to break them in would be to stay in the car and drive around the hills looking at all the amazing houses, right. So thats what we did. We eventaully got out of the car, but there was no "hike" involved. That night was the best, I found out that Pirates Of the Caribbean was playing at the El Capitan theater on Hollywood Blvd. Obviously we had to go, hello, Pirates. For those of you who dont know, im a little obsessed. ha..right.
Sunday, while it was blizzarding on the east coast, I went to Venice Beach. Beautiful beautiful, smoggy, foggy, smokey Venice Beach. Once again i hopped into the back of Hadleys car and held on for dear life. When we got there, there was this wierd haze over the whole beach that kind of gave it a ghostly aura. nonetheless, we walked around all the little shops, i got some great pictures and we had a good lunch. They dropped me back at bens just intime for me to catch the predictable win for the patriots. go pats. again.
Thanks for reading, i promise they wont be this long in the future. Check out my pictures and tell me what you think.

hiking or driving pictures
Venice Beach Pictures

Pictures!!!

So i finally figured out how to put pictures up, so go back down to the roadtrip blogs and at the end there are picture links, they should work. Slowly there will be additional pictures at the end of my more recient blogs. whew. YAY! I am a computer genius!

Happy Sweedish Funland!!

Krista and I planned to go out for breakfast in the morning so we woke up and i convinced her to go to this great place on the Sunset strip called Dukes, it is a fool proof way to see celebs in their most disgusting ritual, eating in disguise. So we park and walk (well i stagger because my foot has ballooned to its full puffy goodness) to Dukes and its empty. The last time i went there, Ben, Ben and I had to share a table with another family, it was awkward, not gonna lie. But this time it was very quiet and there were no celebrities. Oh well, there will be plenty of time to see them. So breakfast was great as expected (though i am biased to breakfast because i could eat it 3 times a day) and then headed over to the Hustler Megastore (at 10:30am) for a looksee. After a long morning of eating and looking at sex toys we decided to head back to the Oakwoods and relax in the sun by the pool (jealous?) Krista worked on her tan while my pale, pale skin reflected the sunlight onto everyone else. It was very relaxing. After we sweated off last nights dinner we decided to go to the happiest place on earth...no not disney...no not hollywood blvd...no not venice beach...ok fine, maybe not the happiest place but an awesome sweedish funland...yes, we went to IKEA. That place is really amazing. If you've never been, IKEA is a home furnishing store created by Sweeds. The philosophical backbone of the store is a do-it-yourself home warehouse of fantastic proportion. The staff is merely there to point out piceces you may have missed. It is the most overwhelming furniture experince, and all for a price you dont have to bargan with the devil for. After trecking around IKEA for a while we went to Ralphs to get what we needed for the nights dinner of Taco Salad, mmm mmm so good, i kind of want some right now, but my somach is making funny noises. Anyway the night ends with a fabulous dinner, again, and some Family guy, the funniest show ever. I talked to my boy then went to bed. Today is awaiting laundry and possibly my computer being fixed and ready to be picked up. The swelling in my foot has gone down, and i wouldnt let Krista take me to the hospital becuase if i needed some kind of permenant cast type thing, i wouldnt be able to leave for New Zealand. Wow, thats pretty soon huh (i just freaked out in my head a little)... All you Emersonians (and suzie), i hope you had a wonderful, wonderful first day of classes. I miss you all. My comment system should be back up and running but you can always email me, i check it obsessively. Captainb@gmail.com