Home Away From Home

Upon my arrival to Parnell the first thing I did was unpack. Having spent an hour or two unpacking, my friends and I soon decided it was time to venture throughout our new town and gather the necessities. Up first was a stop to the New Zealand equivalent of Walmart, known as The Warehouse. It's a great store and it does have a bit of everything, just the prices aren't quite as good as Walmart's. So I quickly realized I was in need of shampoo and other toiletries, as well as a laundry hamper. After getting our basic necessities from there, my friends and I soon ventured further down Broadway and away from Parnell towards Newmarket. 

Newmarket houses the closest grocery store, known as Countdown, as well as a variety of other shopping outlets, malls, eateries, cafes, and banks. So, I quickly found the Westpac bank and separate ATM. Westpac has a deal with my bank so that I don't have any international transaction fees. I got some money out and proceeded to Countdown with my friends. A quick run through the store and I was able to purchase necessities to tide me over. Bread, salami, ham, cheese, mustard, and eggs. Oh and of course cookies. This first trip to the market brought two difficulties immediately to my attention. The first one, is that it is quite difficult to shop and know what I will like without brands that I am so accustomed to seeing. Although it was easily overcome, I believe that I am going to have to make some new brand loyalties and have most definitely found some amazing foods. My second difficulty is that eggs come in sizes 6 - 8, of course which I only discovered after returning to my flat and making scrambled eggs. So, at least next time I know to buy the 8s rather than the 6s. The evening concluded with a sandwich for dinner and me crashing extremely early. 

Sunday continued with breakfast and an exploration of Parnell. A 15-20 minute walk away are the gorgeous Parnell Rose Gardens, a public garden seated right next to Judges Bay. The bay has a little beach and swim docks so I hope to make it there for a relaxing dip before the weather gets too cold. Anyways, after exploring a bit we returned to our flats and had dinner. My friend Kayla and I walked to Countdown again to get more food and return in time for the Parnell Student Village Potluck BBQ. One of my friends, Serra, from the Bridging Cultures Program, lives with two guys who I am becoming great friends with. Jonne is a Dutch student from Holland. He along with one of their other flatmates, Evan from New Zealand, are hysterical and a great load of fun to hang out with. I spent the evening in their flat hanging out and discussing cultural differences and interrogating them on their cultures and what they know about American. 

Monday morning marked my first day of being on the University of Auckland campus. The walk there takes about 20 minutes and is filled with greenery. The entire walk, from the backyard of Parnell until the edge of campus is through the gorgeous Auckland Domain, a massive park next to downtown Auckland. The morning on campus was filled with a morning tea and international welcome/orientation in the business building. It is a gorgeous building but I only have one photo of it for now. You can expect campus photos later on. The lecture hall was the biggest one I've been in and easily seated near 700 people I would say. After the orientation my friends and I explored campus a bit and went back to Parnell. 

At Parnell I cooked lamb for the first time. I got 500g of lamb or about 1lb for $4NZ or about $3.50 american dollars. The lamb was pre marinated and tastes AMAZING! I know I will be buying more of this stuff. It is delicious! 

And Monday ended with going laser tagging and learning the bus systems a bit with Parnell students. Jonne and I went together and I got first place during the first round and he got first place during the second round. I'm sure tonight will be filled with more socializing and having fun.