Before I get on about that, though, I think its important to mention how I've been spending the previous five months of my life. It's been hectic, to say the least. Last semester I studied abroad in a tiny little city in France called La Rochelle. But I wont go into all of that now.
I left France at the end of December, to spend a week in London before returning back to the good 'ole USA. Thanks to psychotic winter weather patterns, that didn't happen. I ended up getting back to the states just before New Years, giving me a few days to pack before leaving again to spend the next month in St. Thomas, where my dad lives. I came back to the states for an entire four days before leaving again for my next adventure- and now we're getting to the important stuff- in New Zealand.
I wasn't left with much time to think or process what I was doing, and the act of packing was made easy by the fact that I'd been living out of suitcases for quite a while at that point hadn't really unpacked. So that was one less thing to worry about. And so began the 22 hour trip from JFK airport to Auckland. The 6 hour flight from New York to Los Angeles wasn't too bad, the 3 hour layover was fine, and the 13 hours to New Zealand was...well it was long. But we made it! 11 of us from Loyola left the east coast of the United States and made it to the other side of the world in one piece. Needless to say I was somewhat exhausted by that point, but the show goes on.
The next few days were a blur of introducing us and moving into our dorm, Huia, taking walking tours of the city (which seemed remarkably clean in comparison to places like NYC), shopping for the necessities, and getting a not-so-small taste of the nightlife. Three days went by in the blink of an eye, and the next thing I knew we were getting on a bus heading for a weekend trip to the bay of islands organized by our home University.
That trip got off to an interesting foot; there was some slight confusion as to which hostel room our group of girls were supposed to be in and lets just say the management wasn't too happy with us. Not to be discouraged by minor setbacks, we walked a little ways down the road from our hostel and took part in one of those 'really fast boat rides' which may have been supposed to be a thrill ride but seemed more like a tour of the bay of islands via the sea. In any case, it was awesome, and for a minute I thought I was back in St. Thomas.
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| The 'Hole in the Rock' in the Bay of Islands |
The next day, we woke up ridiculously early to get on another bus which brought us to some of the most picturesque places I've ever seen. First stop: Te Rerenga Wairua, the mythical Maori departure point for spirits heading back to their homeland of Hawiki.
After a quick hike, our group came to the top of a cliff edge, where there was an amazing view of the point where the Tasman Sea meets the pacific Ocean. From that point, we could see the rolling grassy countryside of New Zealand behind us, the patches of desert to our sides, and a few beautiful looking beaches along the coast.
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| The Tasman Sea on the left meeting the Pacific on the Right |
From there, we were brought to a place bearing a striking resemblance to a scene out of Arabian Nights- giant sand dunes that went on for miles. And what else would you spend your time doing in the company of giant sand dunes than dune boarding? This was definitely a highlight of the bay of islands trip for me, despite the difficult trek up the dunes that was required in order to boogie-board back down them. Unfortunately we only had time for 3 or 4 rides, but by that time I think most of us were ready to pass out anyway.
After all that hard work, we were rewarded with a quick trip to 90 Mile Beach (which is not, in fact, 90 miles long, but more like 60 or so). We had time to run into the water and attempt to wash off some of the sand that had accumulated and clung to pretty much every inch of our bodies.
Our second day in the Bay of Islands ended with fish and chips, which, little did I know, would become a somewhat major staple in my diet.
We were lucky enough to sleep in until 8 am on the last day, and mounted the bus yet again to head home. On the way, we made a stop at Waitangi, the famous treaty grounds of New Zealand where the native Maori people gained Independence and support from the British. We were given a tour of the area and introduced to a Marai, which is a sort of meeting place for the Maori. From there, we made one more stop at a small but pretty waterfall, where the boys climbed up trees with some locals and managed to do a backflip or two into the water. No one was injured. More or less.
Finally, we were back in Auckland. But we didn't take much time to stop and chill in our tiny dorm rooms. Nearly every day of the next week or so was filled with floor meetings, errand-running, and orientation activities set up by the University of Auckland. Our days were spent running around and meeting new people, and our nights were filled with things that not everyone can fully remember. Our group from Loyola stayed tight, and we spent time sunning at Mission Bay, a nice beach that we could get to by bus and which also has one of the best ice cream places around that I've seen so far. Later on in the week, the University clubs started setting up in the quad, and a few of us decided to take part. I joined AURAC, the rock climbing club, as well AUTC, which is more of a outdoor hiking club. And just when I thought I would have some time to do nothing, classes started. But who wants or needs downtime when there's so much else to do?
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