Devonport

Yesterday was a beautiful day, and we didn't have anything to do for orientation until 5 PM, so a bunch of us decided to make it a beach day! We got up early and took a ferry to Devonport, a peninsula about 15 minutes away from central Auckland.

Here's the view from the ferry:
We all wore our bathing suits and packed lunches. We walked along the water and then out towards North Head, which is the remains of a volcanic cone.

We climbed up the cone, which was pretty steep at spots.

We had some amazing views over Auckland and I took a ton of pictures.

We climbed for a while, just exploring around the area.

Apparently, there were fortifications and bunkers built here during WWII for fear of a Russian invasion (one which never occurred). So the remains of all these bunkers and tunnels are still there and open for the public to walk around.

We were all getting pretty hungry, so we just plopped ourselves on the grass and ate our picnic lunches. A couple of the boys had scoped out the swimming spots, so we walked down to a secluded beach. The water was pretty cold, so I just waded and didn't actually swim. It was still fun to be at the beach though!!

The weather here is very fickle and can go from bright blue skies to rain in a matter or minutes. And it did just that while we were there. While the sun was shining right above us, we could actually see the rain in the distance heading towards us. So....what did we do? We grabbed our stuff and headed for a bunker to wait for the rain to pass. It didn't take long, and soon the sun was back out and so were we.

Once we were done with the beach, we headed back to the ferry. We just missed it, so we got ice cream while we were waiting! Then we headed back to the apartments to shower and get ready for International Students Quiz Night on campus. There was free pizza and several rounds of quiz questions, so a bunch of us went to that. No one from Loyola won anything, but oh well. We found out at the quiz night that people were trying to organize a pub crawl for the international students, so we all decided to go to that. We only went to two places, but it was a fun night.

Today I went to the bookstore to look at what books I need for class....a reminder that I'm not just here on vacation, even though that's what it seems like so far! Classes start on Monday, but we are going on a trip this weekend to Coromandel Peninsula! We're leaving early on Friday morning and coming home Sunday night so my next post will probably be about that. I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Lauren

Finally Dry!

We got back yesterday afternoon from our first Loyola-sponsored trip. We went to the Bay of Islands, which is north of Auckland. It was a really fun trip, but it rained almost the entire time. I honestly don't think that I have ever been so wet so continously as I was this weekend. But now I've showered and am finally warm and dry!

On the way up, we drove through beautiful scenery. It is very green and hilly here. In the town where we stayed, Paihia, we went on a boat ride called "Mack Attack." We had to get all suited up in raincoats and rainpants because it was a pretty rough ride. We all got completely soaked, but it was so much fun. Here are Kelly and I in our lovely suits!

Luckily, the sun came out for a bit while we were out on the water. The boat went all the way out to a place called Hole in the Rock and then we headed back to shore.

The next day, was supposed to be our beach day, but it was pouring rain. We were on a bus called "Dune Rider" that can drive on the beach. We drove about 300 miles that day, all the way up to the northernmost tip of New Zealand to a point called Cape Reinga. It was overcast, but you can still see how beautiful it is! Since it was raining, the paths were muddy and on top of that the wind was unbelievable. It actually really fun that we were there in such extreme weather conditions.

We were supposed to stop to go to the beach, but our driver said that the conditions were too dangerous for him to drive there, so we went swimming in a river instead. We were already soaked, so it didn't matter that it was raining while we were swimming. We finally did get to drive along the beach for a little while, and we saw a seal out on the sand!

Our bus broke down on our drive back, so we had to wait for another bus to come and get us. Overall, this whole trip was quite an adventure!

Settling In

I'm on my way to a meeting right now, but I just wanted to say that I got here safely and I'm settling in very nicely so far! The trip was long, but didn't seem nearly as bad as I thought it would.

It's been a little hectic so far, but overall everything is going REALLY well. I'm meeting lots of new people and already starting to get to know my way around the city. Our coordinator took us on quick walking tour around Auckland yesterday, pointing out the places we really needed to know about. Then, we went to "The Warehouse," which is comparable to a K-Mart, to pick up supplies for our room.

Today, I just got a cell phone. I feel much more connected now that I know I can contact the other people in our group. A bunch of us got phones, so that should work out well.

I know that this is a total stream of consciousness right now, but I don't have time to organize my thoughts so I'm just filling you in on random bits of info that come to mind. Like this: Last night for dinner, I had a kebab! It was from a little place with just a walk-in counter. I got chicken, and it was all wrapped up in a pita. Apparently, they are very big here. It was very good!

Alright, I have to go, but when I get a chance I'll post again!

Here it is!

I've been talking about this for a while, but I've finally set up this blog. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'm planning to keep this updated pretty regularly throughout the semester with thoughts and pictures from my semester abroad.

So, as you probably already know if you are reading this, I am spending this semester studying abroad at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand. With just shy of 40,000 students, this is the largest university in New Zealand. Taking classes here should be quite an interesting change from the small classes I am used to at Loyola. The 35 of us going from Loyola will all be living in the same apartment building along with other international students, and we will be taking classes with all of the New Zealanders.

I'm leaving on Sunday, February 17th, so I still have several days left to finish packing and getting everything together. All in all, I'm in pretty good shape though. I'm really excited for this whole experience, but I think that what I'm MOST excited about is waking up early Sunday morning to get to JFK airport by 5:30 AM! That ought to be fun.

Well, I really just wanted to get this started and say hello. I'm really hoping that you'll keep up with me over the next four and a half months while I'm hopefully having the time of my life! I'm going to try my best to keep in touch, so please feel free to post comments directly on this site, email me at lskrantz@loyola.edu, Facebook me, call me on Skype, or IM me.

More soon,
Lauren