The beginnings

I arrived after 18 hours of flying on Friday, July 6, 2012 in Auckland, NZ! After being very nervous about getting on the right bus I made it to this building to, my home for the next four months.  I got in and unpacked then got to meet two out of my three flat mates.  The first is from Auckland, Katherine, and the other is from Japan (doing an exchange program), Hitomi. 

Standing outside more door this is looking at the kitchen and living room.  The other direction is the three other girls rooms and the exit door.  

This is the living room, isn't it nice!? I'm very excited to have such a large comfy area to hang out in.

This is the kitchen, my shelf is the one that barely has any food on it haha. The sinks here are tiny, in the kitchen I can just fit a plate into it and the bathroom i can barely rinse my toothbrush without it hitting the side of the sink! Also you will see there is no oven here, meaning it might be a bit hard for me to bake cookies.  Katherine (a flate mate) told me that it is a convection microwave, very fancy, so I might be able to bake some stuff.

This is my room while standing at the door.  The window looks out onto the street I am on and then in the distance are some trees and more suburb looking areas.  I have a closet, shelves, desk and bed! I'm in the smallest room in the apt but it is enough for me!

This is a view from when I am standing at my desk.  I couldn't find any posters so I decided to decorate with scap booking paper that came in 3 colors and different designs on them, then I cut them into smaller and smaller squares as they went down the wall. 

I went out to find a plant because the apt looks very city like (no animals, no plants, no mountains in the distance).  This was the best I could come up with, a dead hyacinths.  My flat mates and I have faith that I'll be able to bring it back to life, a small challenge for the semester.

Hitomi went out to a market that night (oddly different sections on Auckland have markets at night) and found this plant.  She was so nice to get it for me and was sure to get the blue one so that it would go with my room!  Also it is very easy to take care of, sorta like a cactus so at least I have one plant I know will live.

While walking around Queens St (a big downtown shopping steet) I found a Dunkins.  So it's all going to be alright they have perfect coffee in this country.  Today when I walked in and asked if they had ice coffee, sadly they don't so I'm not sure what I'll drink but I definitely have to try it and see if it's as good as the States.

This is a cool art museum just three minutes from my apt!

This is a big theatre that holds the film festival at the end of July.  Apparently, there are carvings on monkeys throughout the entire place, I can't wait to go in a see!

I hope you enjoyed! I'll try to stay as up to date as possible but I know once classes start (next week) it will get harder. Also, just let me know if you can't see the pictures!

-Michele