Back in Aussie

Well I am back in Aussie now and let me tell you, this city has come alive!!! We left chilly NZ to come back to beautiful sunny 75 degree weather here in Australia, and there are people out everywhere. All of the cafe's are full and people are laying out in parks. Today, Claire, Casey and I went and played frisbee in a park that is close by, it is just so hard to not be outside. This new found necessity to be out enjoying the warm weather could prove to be bad when trying to complete schoolwork, but I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

So, where I last left you was in the stench of a town that is Rotorua, NZ. We all opted to sleep in the next morning and got up at 9. We ate brekky and checked out. It was raining out, but we still headed north to our beachy destination in hopes the sun would come out. We finally made it to Tauranga, and the sun never showed its face, so we didn't spend much time at the beach. After cruising around town, we just decided it would be best to head on in to Auckland. On our way there however, we did stumble upon where they filmed Hobbiton and the Shire in LOTR so that was pretty neat. Once we were about an hour outside of Auckland the traffic got really heavy and our two lane road finally turned into four. (the first four lane road we had encountered in NZ I might add) I was driving and Claire was navigating. Come to find out, Auckland is bigger than London and is like driving in LA, so needless to say I had never driven or encountered anything of that magnitude before. We somehow made it with ease though. I suppose it helps that both Claire and I are like walking GPS's. Once we found our hostel and unpacked we headed to the beach. We spent about an hour there just relaxing and watching these two kids running around chasing the seagull's. As it was our last night in New Zealand, we decided to go out. There was a nice bar in the basement of our hostel so we just went there. There was some good music and dancing and a good amount of people. We turned in early however, because we had to be up at 4:45am to make it to the airport on time. Everything on the flight was fine until about 30 minutes into it. I don't want to sound mean, but the plane was 75% full with asians and they were all screaming at each other in whatever they were speaking and there was one screaming baby in the row behind us, so needless to say our plans of sleeping on the flight home were down to nil. I love flying, but never in my life was I so ready to get off of an airplane. We finally landed and ventured back to our rooms. I tried to lay down and nap, but it never happened so I just went to the market and picked up some much needed food. I ended up fall asleep last night at 10pm. I was watching a movie on TV and just absolutely zonked out from exhaustion.

Today again was a beautiful day. Frisbee was fun and I have been cleaning for the remainder of the day with my balcony doors open, listening to the cars and birds as they pass noisly by. I am not looking forward to going back to school tomorrow, but what can you do... Fortunately I only have 4 weeks left as classes end on the 29th, but I still have four research papers due on the 8th of November, so I will still be busy this month. I only have 49 days left in Aussie and I know they are going to fly by! I am anxious to get home in some ways, but know I will be sad to leave. I think its really the comforts that one grows up with that I miss the most. You know, the things that you can just run out and get or do... basically everything that is familiar. I am sure it is the same with anyone who travels from their home land... There are just things that you know and miss. For me those things are mainly food... Like Dr. Pepper, Ranch Dressing, Mexican, and Good ole American Chinese food, and of course my family! But I have also really come to like Australia, and all it has to offer. Needless to say it is a catch 22, but I will survive when I come back to the States!

Well, it is my turn to cook dinner in the Sunday night ritual, so I guess I better go and get started! Keep reading, commenting and talking to me on FB I love hearing from home! Until next time... no worries!