Lots to report on!
It has been a really busy week (yet I still find time to skip classes ;) ). I've been settling in to my classes and have gotten into some sort of a routine. I'm realizing I have lots of work to do around my traveling. My tickets for Australia are BOOKED! I'll be leaving April 30th for Melbourne to stay with Marnie's parents for a few days, then heading to visit JP on the Gold Coast at Griffith University until May 9th. So I'll be away for 2 weekends and a full week of school. The week I get back, I have a presentation, essay, portfolio, and an assignment due. Lot's to plan ahead on! Then I have a bunch of stuff due the week I get back from break (rude!), so I'm trying to get that going. I refuse to work while my mom and Megan are here!!!
I've also had the opportunity to Skype with a bunch of people yesterday as well. Which was AWESOME to see/talk to you guys and see what you've been up to. Especially since some people (Silas, Sean, Breana) are creeped out with the whole video ordeal. Didn't expect to see you crazies for the entire semester!
St. Patrick's Day in Wellington was FABULOUS! It was a lot of fun and we definitely had our share of drinks. It started out in the Cube (my building/dorm)... with a few flip cup games Kiwis vs Americans- obviously we dominated :) That was a ton of fun and definitely a battle as "Wanna-be Britains" was one of the comments (not by me) haha. Definitely a few games of extreme competitiveness. There was a residential-building St. Patrick's Day theme party at one of the bars downtown. We went to check it out and see how it was.. and bombarded the stage during the award ceremony for "best costume" . Of course, an Irish pub (J.J Murphy's - http://www.jjmurphy.co.nz/page/home.aspx) was one of the places we went to. I was a little disappointed that there was no green beer but was able to settle with MY FAVORITE, Monteith's Original Ale. It is SO good! Details from here on out are not available (hehe), but we did go to The Basement Bar where there's always fun dancing etc. The St. Patrick's Day ambience was sweet! Everyone was wearing green and many had crazy/cool accessories. I had some facepaint and a cute little green pin that said "kiss me i'm irish".
On our way home, we stopped at Pizza King and as many of you who know me well, understand that I lose things/blame it on others when I'm a few drinks deep. I was convinced that one of the Asian pizza shop workers took it for some weird reason.. ah but one of the girls had it and mistakened it for hers. Phew!
This weekend isn't going to be too eventful. Just planning to stick around here, work on some homework, catch up on my life! I feel like the past week or two I have been in and out of my room.. it's a disaster and I need to do laundry SO bad.
Another thing I love about New Zealand is being legal. I just feel so free! I can go to bars and not worry about getting rejected or them knowing Megan. Monday night we went out for Italian and I was able to order a glass of red wine with dinner. There are some things that match perfectly and red wine and pasta are definitely on that list. I can't wait to be able to do that back home IN SIX MONTHS. Honestly, forever.
My coffee addiction is officially on full throttle. Flat Whites (1 espresso shot) with foam milk are not enough. A typical coffee consumption day for me is a latte. Two shots of espresso with "trim" (skim) milk. So yeah, now I enjoy the taste of STRONG coffee. Some days I add a filtered coffee to the list. Filtered coffee is the same as our general coffee. I can drink it black now.
Thanks New Zealand for hooking me up with caffeine, all day- everyday.
Still working on planning some more trips/events: Rugby game (we're the best in the world!), maybe John Mayer (coming to Wellington), South Island & North Island Trips (ZORBing (http://www.zorb.com/rotorua), caving, white water rafting, hikes... all that fun stuff!
That's about all the news from down under- hope all is well with you all xoxo