Day 8

Today I had some time to sit and think, especially after skyping with my parents. I’m starting to miss home when I think that classes haven’t even started yet, and that’s the whole reason I’m here.

We went bowling today, which was pretty much the same as it is in the U.S. It was a pretty long walk to get to the bowling alley, and it turned out to be on the 6th floor of a parking garage- strange place for a bowling alley if you ask me! We ended up walking over the Grafton Bridge (which is in photo 1) which is a roadway that goes over the highway on the way to the bowling alley. Turns out I’m not that bad at bowling but I’m not that great either! The bowling alley also had some ridiculous rules, like they would fine you $100NZ if you threw the ball rather than rolled it.

I’ve also included photos of gas prices, since they’re different from the states. They pay for each liter, so it’s $2.02 New Zealand dollars per liter of gas. So then that would cost $7.65 per gallon in New Zealand money, which is equivalent to $5.71 per gallon of gas in United States currency. What is it in the states right now?

After dinner a bunch of us walked to Meyer’s Park, which is a park near campus where they were hosting an outdoor performance. It was about a human having a dream about being a deer that doesn’t listen to her parents. She ended up dying and we all left very confused. I love art that makes you think but this performance was a little too much to comprehend.

A word about Kiwi culture:

Everyone here loves stairs. It’s great exercise, but like today walking to the bowling alley, one person was going to take the elevator (the lift) but everyone else ran up the stairs so of course that one person also ran up the stairs. If you ask where a place is on say the fourth floor, people ALWAYS direct you to a stairwell. Good exercise!!!

Kiwi fashion- “It’s not about what you wear, it’s about how you wear it.” You can wear clothes that are too big for you, too small for you, lace, mismatched patterns, formal, ripped, sneakers with dresses and heels with circus-looking pants. ANYTHING GOES. It’s so cool that people don’t judge one another based on what you wear. It’s refreshing that everyone can express themselves through their clothing and no one even thinks twice about it.

First day of school tomorrow! Wish me luck!