"Lets start at the very beginning..."

Getting off the plane, I have continued this wonderful sense of calm. Maybe its the people I am around or the continuation from New Mexico, but my anxious self can be easily tucked away here. I am pleased to be able to tackle this previous obstacle but now I hope to work on listening to my self more. However, by doing this, I am finding that many people around me as those who only listen to themselves. I want myself to grow, but now many of those around me. For some reason I assumed that the students who would travel with me would be at my level or above. I must remind myself, its only the second week.

New Zealand is covered in sheets of clouds. I have never seen such long and endless clouds in the sky. My favorite time to watch the clouds is in the morning, when the light bounces and makes them multiple colors of the rainbow. Speaking of rainbows, New Zealand is filled with those too! One day I saw three, THREE rainbows. And not just whimpy ones, huge rainbows that you draw when your five years old, that arch over the entire sky.

These past two weeks I spent time in Auckland (which turned out to just be another city), Rotoroa and finally Wellington. Rotoroa was incredible. I stood on the thinnest crust on the globe, I met wonderful Kewis, played some rugby, learned the Haka, scored a ticket to an All Blacks game, went rafting down a 7 meter waterfall, caved and saw glow worms, squeezed through holes and tight spaces and repelled down a waterfall that was half the size of a football field. The experience reminded me of the Goonies, but 27 times better. It may be one of the most fantastic things I have ever done in my life.

Although I previously complained, I have met some incredible people here. Some of us are already planning a hiking and camping trip (tramping) for spring break! Our group has gone out to an Indian restaurant, had a potlock and went dancing. It has been great! I have a wonderful view of the city from my residence. I can see the whole city down below me. I do live alone, which is not something that i wanted, but I am making the best of it. I adopted my friends flat mates as my step-roommates. One is from Germany, another from France. Today it rained all day so we drank 6 cups of hot chocolate and watched the first Lord of the Rings (go samwise!). I helped to explain what was happening in the film.

Wellington is a lot like San Fransico, but better. It has so many hills and homes built into those hills and mountains. My legs will be rocking when I finally come home from the constant work out. The weather is very windy. I was spoiled the first few days with sunshine, but it is the winter here and has rained since with heavy winds. I hear the by Sunday we should expect more sunshine. I think there is a day trip to a winery and maybe a hike in the works for these coming days. I look forward to it!

This place really is the most beautiful place in the world. After my second day, I already knew how difficult it would be to leave it. I am glad that I wont have to for another 5 months.