"The road goes ever on and on..." ~J.R.R. Tolkien

On film site hunting, seals, and other miscellaneous topics... 

Hi guys!

Fun fact to start off this post.

And please remember pictures are not properly aligned with text. I take way too many pictures for the amount of writing I have to share. I apologize for this confusion, should it cause any.

View from the opposite side of Mount Vic.

If you click on a picture, it'll show it to you big! And since all the pictures that I'm posting are massive, they'll all show up humongous—even if the one I include in the blog is small. And if you aren't interested in reading the ramblings that I write and just want to scroll through the pictures (I understand!), at the bottom, you can see all of them and click on which you want to go to, or just click on the photo to go on to the next one. So just in case anyone wanted to see those pictures of my feet in HUGE... have at it. My feet are great. I know.

View while walking along the water...

Friday I planned to go out to Somes Island. It's in the middle of the bay, and it takes around 15 minutes to get there. However, due to feeling slightly ill, I slept in and then went to breakfast with a friend before missing the ferry I wanted to be on. Instead, to quell my sense of adventure, I walked along the water in one direction until my street turned into a highway without sidewalks, then I turned around and walked the other way along the water. I saw many many skateboarders, even more kids on scooters, and I dunked my feet in the water when I needed a break. By the time got back to my flat, my feet hurt. I got on google maps and calculated how far I'd walked. Approximately 13.7 km or 8.5 miles. I took a ton of pictures, and then all I wanted was a massage. My feet doth pain me.

Loved the designs on this building, but it's way out past town.

Yesterday, the international students plus some other people went out to a place called Red Rocks to see the seals. Apparently they named it red rocks because it is volcanic rock from underwater volcanic eruptions, which gives it a “distinct” red color. To me they didn't appear strikingly red, and the photos barely show a tinge. It was beautiful though. There were hills everywhere, which was lovely, and it was sunny and warm.

Cool rugby statue: Disrespect, lack of discipline, selfishness, drugs, cheating,
racism, individualism. Says "les contre" on the plaque.

We only walked a few miles, and it was significantly downhill. My feet are still exhausted from walking around on Friday, and now they are doubly exhausted. I will not go out to Somes Island tomorrow. I can barely walk to the grocery store, which I desperately need to do. The seals there are called fur seals. They reside there between May and October, and they are the unwanted bachelors of the seal population. Rejected by their females and out-fought by their males, these seals are typically less aggressive due to the lack of females and young. Nevertheless, they do recommend that you maintain distance between yourself and the seals.

Taken from a dock in Wellington of the South Island? 99.9% certainty of this.

The most interesting difference (and by that I mean, the one fact my brain deemed interesting enough to retain) between traditional seals and fur seals is that traditional seals do not have ears, while fur seals do. Interesting. They were quite cute, despite their immenseness.

Such cuties.

Adorbbbs. These seals also use their tail fins to move themselves, unlike other seals. Cool as.

From my walk along the water. Aaand the shoes come off.

BBQ chicken pizza made for my flat! Nommmm

In case anyone is curious how I'm eating, I'll fill you in. My flat is engaging in what we refer to as “flat cooking.” Each night, one of us cooks, and two nights we fend for ourselves. I was slightly skeptical of whether or not I would want to participate in it at first, but so far it has been pretty great. This week we had spaghetti Bolognese, chicken fried rice with pineapple and veggies, chicken curry with green beans and peas, vegetarian stir-fry with fresh made bread, and barbecue pizza and mini pizza pies. 

Only one pan, so these were made in muffin tins.

After the first week of this, we sat down and remarked that we ate together every night that week—probably more than many families do. 

Currently in my possession is granola—or muesli as these kiwis call it. So it is nice that I'll always have dinner, because right now the rest of my shelves are a bit scant. I need to hit the grocery store soon, but right now I do take comfort that I'll be fed tomorrow even if I don't feel up to trekking out to the store.

I love waterrr. Is so greatttttt <3

One more fun thing I did this weekend—went swimming...again. This time it was school sanctioned, and with many more people. They called it “The Plunge” and we had to sign away our lives in order to jump. (Off a ten-fifteen foot plank from the dock.) More than twenty people jumped in, and the docks and bridges around us were littered with onlookers with hot chocolate and warm towels.

From Red Rocks. That water was freezing, and there wasn't sand. Just billions of teeny rocks.

That was a joke. They just had cameras.

No silly costumes for me; I can barely afford clothes here. XD

I was a bit nervous about getting in at first because so many people here are sick and I've been fighting it off for more than a week, but I got down there and decided to do it anyways. It was invigorating, and we all went out for pizza afterward—once I got out of my suit and got warm. Glenn, who filmed the last swim we did filmed again, as well as my flatmate, Jay. They compiled into this video: CLICK HERE!! I jump in around 2:50, right after my friend John. If you listen carefully, I'm pretty certain you can hear me scream.

That island is Somes, the one I want to visit. From the hike to Red Rocks.

I got into another adventure last week as well. I went back to Mount Vic with one of my friends and we went Lord of the Rings site hunting again. This time we caught a bit of a break. There was a movie tour there. One of the $150 per day tour groups that I will not be joining. Finding them gave us a break to figure out how the map worked, and we found a few concrete definite filming sites.

They put the tree in themselves, so it isn't there anymore. But I'm sitting right where they sat when they hid from the Nazgul! Awesome as.

I was elated.

"Shortcut to what?" "Mushrooms!" 

Fear not. I will be back with more pictures and more spots.

That space to the right is called Devil's Gate.

View towards Wellington from Devil's Gate

Those mountains in the distance are the South Island. 100% certainty of this fact.

Finally, bit of housekeeping. “Blogkeeping,” if you will.

Beautiful mountains. So lovely.

If anyone remembers the story I told from the first blog post about The Box Brigade, or if you don't remember, it's at the bottom of the page here. My brother corrected me that the people, who I referred to as Chinese, were most likely Vietnamese. Check out the story if you haven't already! But the family is probably Vietnamese, not Chinese. I apologize for this error.

View of the coast from the hike to Red Rocks.

 It's been a great week. Today I need to go grocery shop and hit the bank for some cash. I should probably get out of bed and eat something, but right now I'm enjoying being lazy since tomorrow I have four or so classes.


Thanks for reading. You guys are the bees knees. 

"The wise speak only of what they know" -J.R.R. Tolkien

Good evening!!

Special quick, photoless post today—

Thoughts on language differences, and facts about you, my reader

On what internet browser you use...

58% of you use Chrome.

21% of you use Firefox.

7% of you use Internet Explorer (why?).

12% of you use Safari and Iphones.

1% of you use Opera.

On where you live...

81% of you live in the United States.

15% of you live in New Zealand.

2% of you live in Russia.

1% of you live in Germany.

1% of you live in Malaysia.

less than 1% of you live in South Korea.

Are you disturbed that I know that? Because I'm disturbed that I know that. 

How much do you know about me? Can you find out where I post from? What web browser I'm using? 

And now, thoughts on language—

in other words, things kiwis say that leaves me flabbergasted.

Chips are fries. Fries here do not exist. Quite a few people (kiwis and otherwise) giggle when I say fries. But usually they know what I'm talking about.

Biscuits are cookies. Cookies do not exist. I have difficulty attempting to explain what American biscuits are because there is just no equivalent. Are we the only country that combines fat and flour?

Candy floss is cotton candy. This one I knew, but it was still funny to hear people say it.

Capsicum is bell peppers. This one I was not expecting. I was entirely floored, and had no idea what my flatemate, Jess was talking about. I had to look it up.

Choice means awesome. You would use it synonymously with “fantastic” or “sweet.”

Entree—this one is most confusing. An entree is an appetizer. We learned this the hard way when a few of our group ordered entrees one evening. Whoops!

Jandals are flip flops. How odd.

Togs are swimsuits. Who decided that one? Swim suits is pretty basic. Suits we swim in. Togs? May I inquire as to the derivation? 

Flat is apartment. This one I caught up with pretty quickly.

Jumper/Jersey—jumper is a pullover hoodie, and jersey is one that zips, but they're pretty much the same thing.

Keen—adjective. Used to see if someone wants to/would be up for something. “Keen to go to a movie?” or “keen for a swim?” 

Sweet as—quite a popular phrase meaning cool, awesome, nice, etc.

sick, or sick as: pretty much the same thing. Just more intense than sweet as, in my opinion.

Mean—also pretty much the same thing. Ex. “I just got a free taco!” “Mean!”

Pardon: very common. They never use excuse me, but pardon if they didn't hear you.

If they bump into you, it's “sorry” not “pardon” or “excuse me”

I'm attempting to teach my kiwi friends “boss.” It's quite cute, what with their accents and all. We also have started adding “as” to everything. “Mean as, boss as, awesome as, choice as,” etc.

In terms of things I say that are “wrong” most of it is “fries” and “y'all.” I get made fun of for saying “y'all” all the time. Not made fun of in a negative way, though. I think they're cute, they think I'm cute. I've made no effort to stop. They have their sayings; I have mine. I am still American after all.

And the main reason for the post today...

I got a webcam!

Please let me know if you want to skype! I'm not going to post my name here, but if you don't have it, email me and ask. But if I don't know you (Pretty sure I don't know anyone reading this in Germany or Russia or South Korea...) please don't ask me to skype with you. That would be extremely weird.

Adios <3

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." -J.R.R. Tolkien

We'll start with this hilarious picture John took. Down there is the LotR film site.

Coffee, classes, clubs and climbing...

Today is Saturday, and I'm done with classes for the week. I've been here for approximately two weeks, and I'm pretty thrilled with this place. It's so exciting.

This was a mocha. Those marshmallows were strange.

First of all, let's talk about caffeine. It's all pretty sweet here. I've never been huge for breakfast, but I'm pretty good for coffee all the time.

This was my friend Richard's hot chocolate. It had just as much foam as the coffees have.

Here, you can't get plain coffee. It is quite impossible to ask someone for “coffee.” You have to be specific about it. It feels like learning a whole new language. There are mochas and lattes and cappuccinos, but not plain coffee. 

We all love the latte art you get here.

So you can get a flat white, which would be closely related to our normal coffee with milk and sugar. You can also get a short black, which I think is a shot of espresso. And there's something to do with normal black coffee, but it isn't called that. I haven't ordered it, so I'm not actually sure. But everything I've had has been good.

This vat of mocha I got had chocolate covered marshmallows shaped like fish. Sweet as.

I've finally finalized my schedule. I'm taking four classes—that's the most amount of classes I'm allowed to take. But get this—they are all on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though those two days may be a little rough, I'm looking forward to grabbing weekend deals and checking out some of the surrounding area.

Wasn't sure how to drink from the vat. But twas quite yummeh.

I'm taking Media Law and Ethics, Feature Writing and Freelancing, Introduction to Cross Cultural Communication, and Public Relations Management.

Finally, legitimate bathroom people...

Media Law and Ethics should be interesting. What I think will be especially interesting is that I'll be learning about media law in New Zealand. I wonder if people in the media operate differently here than at home.

Feature Writing and Freelancing I'm surprised to not be terribly excited about. In my writing classes at home, we had to write one piece per week. Here, for this class, we're only actually going to write one piece. Supposedly it will be one good piece, but I find it difficult to wrap my brain around that I'm taking a writing class and we're going to be doing very little writing. Strange.

Massena wine?!?!?!

Introduction to Cross Cultural Communication I'm excited about. Our first lecture was really interesting, and my teacher is Irish, which thrills me. The discussions we had got a bit excessive and seemed to turn into a “I've been out of the country more than you have” disagreement, but the teacher is terribly excited, and I'm sure the discussions will be good.

People keep saying Wellington is artsy. Maybe I'm beginning to believe them a bit?

Public Relations Management I'm not sure about. I think it'll be the most difficult, because many of the concepts we'll be discussing and looking at I haven't glanced at or heard of yet. However on the whole, all of my teachers seem pretty nice.

Richard took this terribly attractive photo at the market...

The only thing I'm concerned about is the work load. At home, I typically do assignments for each class weekly. There's a ton of writing, papers, essays, and tests. Here, there are approximately four assessments per class. I'm using the term assessment flexibly—this includes tests, assignments, and papers.

Richard took this too. Now y'all know what I look like when I take pictures of my feet.

There's still reading though, and that I think will take up the bulk of my “homework.”

And this was the resulting photo. Beautiful woods, hm?

I'm also using the term clubs loosely.

John's attempting to take a picture of me, and I'm attempting to make an "A town down motion" I miss Atlanta sometimes <3

I joined every club at the club interest meeting (thing). There's a surf club, and supposedly they'll teach me to surf, or at least a little bit tell me what to do. There's a brewing club. A pub crawl is scheduled for next weekend, but I don't think I'll be going because there's a swimming event called “the plunge” going on, and I really want to go to that. But in the brewing club they teach you how to brew beer. Not really my thing, but there were so few clubs, I went ahead and put my name down. There's also a rowing club. I joined that too, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it up. I'm supposed to go tomorrow, so I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

I love this photo. John took it. 

I've also gone to a few clubs—the loud music, dubstep and techno playing ones. Those of you who know me at home know exactly how much “partying” I did there. Here, it seems pretty standard for people to go out. And you can't go out until eleven, because every place is nearly empty until then. And even at eleven, some places are still quiet, and I felt really awkward being in them and trying to dance with my friends. 

So many people have tried to decipher the map
in my book. I thought they looked so cute.
L to R: Bryndon, John, Richard

Last night, with my flatmate Jess, we saw somewhat of a local celebrity at the club we were at. His name is Jay, and he's on a radio station here. Click to read about him? Although Rebecca and I were keen to not be in the picture since we didn't know who he was, the guy he was with took the picture for us so we could be in it too. Pretty cool, no?

Jess is to Jay's left. She's fantastic. Bit it unfortunate this photo got bombed though.

And finally, after three climbs up Mount Victoria, I've finally found a Lord of the Rings site. It was so exciting I nearly wet my pants and fell over.

It's the place where they filmed the entrances to the land of the dead.

I was so happy.

This is the spot! Along with a pic from my book. Mean as.

We're all planning on going back and looking for more spots. Maybe now that we've sort of figured out the map in my book, we'll be able to find the other four or something spots on Mount Vic.

John's. He took a picture of me taking a picture of him taking a picture of me. Make sense?

Wuvshoo.

“We meet again, at the turn of the tide. A great storm is coming, but the tide has turned.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Facing Culture Shock: An Unexpected Experience

Today is Saturday. It's cold, windy, and raining, so I don't feel guilty sitting inside and blogging. I have now spent approximately one week in New Zealand. I think I've figured out where my sources of culture shock will originate. I'll elaborate.

As usual, photos may not correlate...

Very cute houses! That fence is across the street from me. Love these views.

First of all, I'm having difficulty getting online. There are internet cafes and Starbucks shops, but it is definitely not so easily accessible as in Atlanta. Here, at Starbucks you have to pay per hour for their wifi. All of the internet at the hostels I've stayed at you have to pay. Four dollars for one hour—are they joking?

Adorbsss <3

No. I am now incredibly grateful for the ease of which I can get wifi at home. Ihop, Starbucks, and McDonald's I now intend to appreciate, for free wifi here is nearly non existent.

One of the few books I've paid full price of my own money for.

The one free wifi network appears to be of revolutionary magnitude in Wellington. Many articles were written about it. To use it, you have to "pick" a sponsor, and then you get thirty minutes free. Once your thirty minutes are up, you must reconnect. Even then, it's patchy and sluggish. Not what I'm used to.

Does it remind you of Lord of the Rings? 

I can only conclude that I have been wifi spoiled.

I hope my flatmates return to school soon and hook up their wifi so I will not be deprived any longer.

Another beautiful view of the city!

Wellington is incredibly pedestrian friendly. There are sidewalks everywhere. Even in Christchurch, where the earthquakes recently left the city in ruins, there are sidewalks. And if there isn't, there is a sign to continue on the other side of the road. How kind.

In Wellington, the cars always yield to you. I was on the sidewalk next to a crosswalk (not a light, just a crosswalk.), and I had just decided I wanted to cross when a car stopped. I hadn't even stepped out onto the road.

This is of revolutionary magnitude to me.

I am so happy to be here in Lord of the Rings country.

In Atlanta, there are signs that say it's the law to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Even then, it's rare for a car to stop unless you're in the middle of the crosswalk. I am finding this incredible kindness to pedestrians unfamiliar and foreign.

Another immensely cute house.

And finally, the fashion of the people walking the streets intimidates me increasingly every day. My dad says that in the capital city of any country you'll find lots of stylish people. I guess he's right.

This is a "gum" tree, according to Glenn. The trees that Koalas live in.
So a Eucalyptus tree? But of course, since it's an Australian tree... kiwis are not so keen.

I've never been terribly keen with keeping up with trends and spending lots of money on clothes. But I've never cared if everyone else looks “better” than I do. Combined with the fact that I didn't bring many clothes because I didn't want to have to carry around my entire wardrobe, I dread to think what these people here think of me.

I am scared this city will chew me up and spit me out.

In the hopes of revamping my looks, I've been hitting the “pre-loved” shops here. My goal is to not stick out like a sore thumb.

Another pretty view from Mount Vic.

I assumed that I wouldn't have to deal with much culture shock. I assumed I'd be missing people and home, but I didn't think I'd have many problems here. New Zealand, given its previous relationship with the United Kingdom, I expected would be very similar to the Western world.

Maybe every place does have its differences after all?

Apparently, years ago, they shot off this cannon at noon every day so people would know what time it was. Pretty snazzy.

In other news, I've finally started meeting some kiwis. The first couple days of orientation, I met a lot of other people, but most of them were other internationals—many from America. There are people here from New York, Nebraska, Florida, Boston, California, North Carolina... I could go on. There are a couple people from China, and a girl from Germany. It's been fun meeting all these new people, but I'm here to meet kiwis and see New Zealand. So I'm pretty thrilled.

Sorry if this offends anyone. It's a pizza place. A really yummy one incidentally...

Yesterday I climbed Mount Vic with one of the guys I met here. It wasn't raining, but it was really windy, especially when we got to the top. The national rugby team's symbol is a silver fern. They're called the All Blacks. He showed me the plant that their symbol comes from, which was really cool.

One more panoramic from Mount Vic. I loved the sky. It was obscenely windy when we got up there...

Fun fact—parts of Lord of the Rings were filmed on Mount Vic. Even though we may not have found the exact spots where the filming was done, we looked. It was extremely exciting because the whole place reminded me of the movie. I didn't want to leave.

So this is the silver fern. It's green on top. You have to flip it over, and the other side is "silver"

Last night, we went to a rugby game. It was the Wellington Hurricanes against the Waikato Chiefs. It was my very first rugby game, and it was absolutely fantastic. I guess in some ways it is similar to American football, but the biggest difference is that you can only throw the ball sideways or backwards. Also, it barely ever stops. When there's a pile up, you have to watch for the ball to come out because they keep moving. It was exciting, and the Hurricanes won at the last second.

John, Rebecca, and me before the game started. Black and gold FTW! 

Huge stadium, lots of crazy fans, really great energy.

Hardcore, padless rugby players piling on each other.

No big deal, they just shoot off fire when the Hurricanes get a try (like a touchdown)

These are the people that stayed with me to get autographs. I'm in the converse, that's John in the jeans, and Rebecca is the one in black.

After the game, I stayed with a few of the Americans we came with to get some autographs. There weren't any lines, just kids and people reaching over a gate trying desperately to get close enough to stick a poster in the players faces for them to sign. Some mothers were pretty mean and pretty scary, but I talked to a few people, and they helped me get closer to get some autographs. Chaotic atmosphere, and they do the wave here. It was an awesome night.

Successful evening, I'd say. I got lots of autographs for us.

This morning, we went swimming. The temperature outside was around 12º C or 50-52ºF, and windy with rain that felt like spray. In fact, the temperature of the water was around 11ºC, so I thought the water felt fantastic. I might do it again. We were pretty soaked by the time we got to the water, but it was heaps of fun. I went with the German girl I met at orientation, as well as the guy I climbed Mount Vic with, and two of his friends.


He made a video actually. You can watch it here!!

This is Glenn. He's from up North, but not as far as Auckland. He took me up Mount Vic, and went swimming with me, obviously, since we aren't wearing shoes...

Tomorrow morning there's a market by the bay. I'm really excited to get some cheaper fruits and veggies, and to see what fun things they have there.

Bye! <3