Life in Auckland

Hi Everyone! I don't have a lot of exciting news to write about since we have just been settling into classes and everything but I wanted to write a little bit about where I'm living and post some pictures so you can see! We had orientation events all last week. On Monday, we had our school orientation. It was a lot of lecturing about information we already knew. They had a local Maori tribe perform for us, which was really neat. Then, on Tuesday, we went to Waiheke Island! It's a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland. It was beautiful! When we got there, it was chilly and raining but all we had to do was wait an hour and it was like paradise! We went for walks and explored the beach and then we went to dinner at another spot on the island. It was a really great day! On Tuesday, we went to Long Bay Beach for our dorm orientation. We had a barbecue there with everyone. It was pretty nasty weather but it was perfect for walking and just reading a book on the beach. I found some really neat shells! The next day, we went bowling with our friend's dorm and met some people from Germany and Sweden. It's really great to meet so many international students. I am learning a lot about other countries. I had my first day of classes today. My first class was at 8 AM and it was a Theology class called Reading the Bible. I was actually really frustrated because I feel like a lot of the material is way over my head! My second class was at 2 PM and it was called Schooling Ethnic Diversity. I absolutely love this one already! Tomorrow I have class at 4, which is Introduction to Maori Education. I think I might like that one the best. Then, on Thursday, I have class at 12 which is Child and Adolescent Development. I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays which is really good because then I can travel on the weekends! Our next adventure is going to be to Cathedral Cove, a peninsula on the north island (about 3 hour bus ride from Auckland). It's supposed to be amazing there! Also, our spring break plans are to travel to Australia for the first part of our two weeks off and then to fly back to the South Island and travel around there for the second week. It's going to be amazing! I'll keep everyone posted on how I'm doing! Don't forget to leave me messages :)