Adventureland

To all that have been reading my blog with regularity, I apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to update but as you all may know, the primary purpose of this trip is to study and as the semester has begun to get rolling, I have been finding less and less time to devote to blogging. That said, here are a few highlights from the last few weeks:

The weekend of March 25-26 I went on a camping trip up to the Coromandel Penninsula with four other girls from Student Village, three of whom were from the USA and one goes to school at URI! The Kiwi chick was an RA, Talia and she drove the van. We did some beach hopping and saw some magnificent sights and got to know each other quite well. On Sunday it rained all day because of a cyclone (hurricane) that came by that way so we returned home early. A few days after that, we got together in Talia’s room and traded pics and just hung out.

Friday, March 31, my parents arrived in New Zealand and I saw them in the evening and then went to go spend the night in their hotel in Hamilton. We caught up and they gave me all the things my brother and boyfriend had sent with them as well as a whole suitcase full of winter clothes. The next morning we set off for Waitomo to see the famous glow worm caves there. Dad and I did a black water rafting adventure trip that took four hours while mom visited some of the walk through caves and the museum. It was great and since I was about the same age as the guide guys they kept picking on me and making me go first for everything and just teasing me. The next morning my parents left again to fly to Oz. They will be back for Easter when we will travel all around NZ.

Sometime in the first week of April, I got my first cell phone. This girl, Alex had it and she gave it to me so as long as I pay the monthly plan while I’m here, I can use it and then just give it back to her without having to deal with any contracts and stuff.

April 7 my flax weaving class was at the marae on campus. A marae is a Maori meeting place and we took part in a ceremony before class where we approached the marae and were greeted and then we listened to speeches and had a representative speak. It was all in Maori so I understood very little. After the speeches and songs, our group walked over to the greeting group (because we had sat facing each other) and we hangi-ed with each of the greeting group. This is a traditional Maori greeting where you press your noses and foreheads together while shaking hands. It is very beautiful way of greeting in my opinion. We spent the rest of the day dying and boiling flax. The next day, Saturday, I also had the flax weaving class and we began to work on a nice big kete with colored flax. In the early evening, I went with some Kiwis and Ceren the Turkish girl to see Balloons Over Waikato Night Glow which is where all these hot air balloons get all lit up and then they have fireworks. It was a bit dissapointing because I was expecting lots of balloons, but there were like only 6 of them and I thought that they would go up in the air but they stayed tethered to the ground. Then we went back to Stud Ville and I got ready to go out dancing with Pablo and some of his friends.

This week I have a two tests and a big homework assignment to do so I’m quite busy but my parents will return on the 14th and we will go from there. 

Here are some images from the Campus of the University of Waikato. I took them at about 7:00 PM, so that is why it is so deserted. During the day, the campus is teeming with people. Click on the image and you’ll get a bigger one.

 Block 5  ,  Student Village,  Oranga Student Center,   S-Block,  all the signs on campus are in both English and Maori,  the library.