Back to the Future

January 28th completely disappeared on me; after flying LAX to Tahiti, which was 78 F and humid, I jumped forward to the 29th in Auckland. So far everything here has been delightful, people are especially kind and the greenery is diverse and appears everywhere. Although the language here is English, I think of it as English*. Sometimes it feels as though I'm an ESL student, picking up new terms, phrases, pronunciations, and speech patterns constantly. For example, I wouldn't be careful to avoid the fertilizer in the backyard and hand over the aluminum foil, I would mind the blood and bones out back and please be a dear and pass the al-you-min-yum, thanks.
As a person who's particularly keen on details, I'm having a great time noticing very minor differences and trying to remember them. The light switches are a bit smaller and electrical outlets (of course different, a bit angled) require a flip being switched before current will flow through. Also, coffee is a BIG DEAL. In less than 24 hours I've already been caffeinated on three separate occasions, a milky coffee, flat white, and a cup of tea before bed. The caffeine and my fierce determination to ward off jetlag had me in bed just past 10 PM Friday (7 PM Thursday PST) and up at 7 AM (which is much better than I've been doing in the states).
No pictures yet, still trying to beat up some firewalls for internet access on my laptop.

Hello From California

Don't mind the scenery
(all photos are compliments of google images)

Hello all,
Several people have suggested that I create a blog to update family and friends of my travels. From January 27th-mid November I will be studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand at the University of Auckland. Any and all visitors are very welcome at anytime, besides finals! During my stay in the Pacific, I plan on doing quite a bit of traveling, hopefully throughout the Pacific. Please send suggestions of things to do or places to go if you're familiar with the area.

Here are some New Zealand favorites (or favourites, I suppose):

kiwi birds and sheep!



The flag of course




and finally, my flight!
Check it out, New Zealand's about as far as you can go before coming back. Hopefully future posts will have cool pictures and snazzier formatting. Until then!