"There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for." ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

So after a few days in New Zealand...

P.S. I will now proceed to begin each post with a quote from Lord of the Rings. Given my utter nerdiness and nuttiness, I think this is appropriate. Please see above.

But now, continue...

You don't get to see this photo any bigger because my expression is so ridiculous. But I'm on Rugby street, which is why I'm so excited...

I love it here. Wellington is the perfect size, and the university housing I'm in is only a few minutes from downtown. I'm five minutes from amazing coffee, I can walk to the grocery store in ten minutes, and the water in twelve. I can't see the water from my window, but I can see the tops tons of houses and shops, which is cute too.

Not my street, but near my street. Reminds you a bit of San Francisco, no?

The place I live is called Mount Cook. There isn't a mountain here—Mount Cook is on the South Island, but on either side of downtown Wellington are hills, which make this place really great. I haven't climbed either side yet, but the bus took me there today. The view was incredible. It is an incredibly picturesque place.

Amazing trees growing out of rock... impressive!

Plus, all of the houses are cute. I kid you not. They look like they're from the movies—small, sweet little fences around the yards, and little windows into the worlds of other people. In some ways it reminds me of San Francisco, especially with the hills. But the houses aren't all attached, and there is more green space.

This is part of the view on top of Mount Victoria, 196 meters above sea level. A hill, really.

Speaking of green space, New Zealand is very eco-friendly. Almost all of the toilets have two settings—one for lots of water, one for less. It's so engrained with these people that there aren't even signs anymore. I'm often not sure which button is for more water and which for less water. It's not clearly pointed out the way it is at home because it's standard. Everyone already knows.
Also, in the library, almost all of the lights are motion detecting. They go off after a while if it senses no movement. But they're very good about turning back on when people walk under them. I've yet to see the sensors, but I'm curious if I could be stealthy enough to walk anywhere without turning the lights on. 

Chuck Norris could.

Rubbish photo, but also view from Mount Vic. You can see the Wellington Harbor in the middle.

As previously mentioned, I was on the bus today. It was the first day of orientation, so they took us on a bus tour of the city. On the tour, we visited Mount Victoria (people here refer to it as "Mount Vic"), one of the little mountains here in Wellington, drove through downtown, and up through the botanical gardens.

This city is pretty small.

As you may have noticed, I really like my feet. Here are my feet with a painted kiwi. Cute!
Kiwis are the national (unofficial?) bird/symbol of New Zealand. A flightless bird. Currently
different species are considered vulnerable and/or endangered.

Massey University, my school, is about a seven minute walk from my “flat.”  So far, everyone I’ve met is really nice, although so far, no one has been able to get their wifi to work on my computer. Tomorrow’s orientation includes IT guys though, so I intend to make use of their services.

One of the Parliament buildings in downtown Wellington 

Although I thought Massey was really big, it actually isn’t. There are about 3,500 students on the Wellington campus. Most of Massey’s students are in Auckland (Northern New Zealand) and Palmerston (A few hundred miles Northwest of Wellington). They also have a large online population, which is why I thought Massey was big. 

At a coffee shop in Christchurch. Thought the sugar packets were so sweet. :3

Must mention all of the coffee shops here. They exist everywhere. I've only had coffee twice, but both times it was PDG (pretty darn good). I guess Wellington is a highly caffeinated city, given all the shops. They all have great titles, so expect to see pictures of all of the coffee shops in the future. Or perhaps expect a post dedicated to the coffee shops I go to... 

   Panoramic view taken with my rubbish camera. (Wine!) Beautiful view from Mount Vic though.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .

Wuv <3