First Day

Arrived in Auckland yesterday morning at about 7:00am. Man, that was a long flight. Wheel's up to wheel's down was 12 hrs 12 minutes. Got to the hostel by 7:30, but checkin wasn't until 1:00pm. Killed some time by chilling out in the hostel's aptly named "chill out" lounge. Got my bearings by walking around downtown Auckland. Walked through a really cool park with some funky looking trees. Came across a group of Indian men palying Cricket in a park. I bought a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone from an ice cream truck and sat down on the side of a hill to watch the cricket match. i watched for close to an hour, but was no closer to understanding the the rules of the game, much less the objective, than I was when I first sat down. It was still fun to watch. Got back to the hostel around 1:00 for checkin. Got my room--a dorm style affair with four bunkbeds. Met two of my "roommates," Jenna and Donald, a nice couple from Ireland. Chatted with them for a bit and claimed one of the three open beds left in the room--a top bunk. Walked about town for a few more hours. At this point I'm simply trying to do whatever I can to stay awake. You see, while I'm desperately tired, I don't want to get in bed at three in the afternoon only to be wide awake in the middle of the night. I'm able to hold out until 5:30pm when I finally give in and hit the sack. Despite my fears of waking up in the middle of the night, I sleep for about 13 hours and get out of bed at around 6:45am Monday morning. Today is all about logistics. I have a three hour orientation at the International Exchange Program office and then I have to open my NZ bank account, apply for my Internal Revenue Tax number, and figure out what to do about getting a local mobile phone.

Auckland is a beautiful city, but I'm already itching to get out of here. But I'll probably have to stay for a few more days while I get all the logistical stuff figured out. Tomorrow's big adventure will involve looking into what I need to do about buying a car.