Almost There! Itinerary for Orientation and Semester Events

Well, I've reached the less than a week mark and this is starting to get very real.  A couple days ago my mom said, "So when should you start packing? Probably this week right?"..."Well I would hope so" I replied. We just looked at each other and laughed because I think we both keep forgetting how fast the days are going by.  As of 2:38pm next Saturday I will be leaving little Connecticut behind.

So this is what my room looks like.....

My current job is to pack my life into one(1) 50 pound suitcase to last me 5 months.

I also have gotten more details on what my first few days will be like.  I land in Auckland at 6:30am Monday, July 8th (For everyone on the east coast that would be 2:30pm on Sunday, July 7th).  Here I will call my parents, and then NO communication for 4 days! (this freaks me out a tad but it's probably for the better).  There is no service or internet or phone access during orientation, so my last call will be that I survived (or did not survive) the plane ride to Auckland.  From the airport, I will be going to the Shakespear Lodge where I will be staying for the first 2 nights of orientation, on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula!

This is the Shakespear Regional Park, where I'll be staying.

Here I will be learning to play rugby and cricket (popular sports), kayaking, hiking, going to the beach, and visiting the Wai Wera natural hot pools.
Here is a website for more about where I'm staying.
http://www.ymcaauckland.org.nz/find-your-ymca/shakespear-lodge/Pages/default.aspx

The last night of orientation I will be spending on a Maori Marae (meeting place), Te Hana Ao Marama. http://www.tehana.co.nz Here I will get to experience a night walk through a traditional Maori Village! After that, the next day I will be flying down to Wellington (July 11th) and I will arrive there at 2:30pm (10:30pm July 10th east-coast USA time). That night, the program director will take us out to dinner for the first night in Wellington.

There are also 4 events planned throughout the semester through IFSA-Butler.  One is New Zealand Experience Weekend, which is Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th of September.  On Saturday, we set sail on the Bluebridge ferry to the top of the South Island and through scenic Marlborough Sounds.  That day we will either kayak the Marlborough Sounds or mountain bike the Sounds.  That night we will have a 3 course dinner at Herzog Winery and have a wine tasting! On Sunday we will be cruising around Marlborough Sounds in search of dolphins! If we see them, we get to go swimming with them.

Marlborough Sounds

Another event is the Cultural and Volunteering event that will take place Saturday, August 17th (my birthday!) and Sunday the 18th. We will be cooking our very own ethnic lunch at the Asiana cooking school.  We also will be attending a show, movie, or sports match (still to be confirmed).  Sunday morning we will catch a ferry out to Matiu/Somes Island in the Wellington Harbor.  Here we will get in some volunteer work and take a walk around the island...I hear there are little blue penguins here (Connor will be jealous)! 

Matiu/Somes Island

On Sunday, October 15th, we will travel to Otaki and go rafting down Otaki Gorge.  There also might be some rock jumping and rapid swimming and a nice hot meal at the end of the day.

The last is the farewell dinner.  This will happen late October and there will be a celebration for the end of the semester including spot prizes and awards. So that is a snapshot of what orientation/planned semester events should look like.

Soon these Google Image photos will be replaced with my own! I'm getting more and more nervous, and every time I imagine going to the airport with my parents, brother, and Connor I start to freak out.  I've been planning this for so long, it's almost like I was planning for this other person and I can't believe it is actually me.  I officially am the owner of an iPad Mini since most of my friends have iPhones, I can easily iMessage and FaceTime in place of texts and calls.  For those without iPhones I've downloaded Skype.  Well, this is probably my last post written in America, unless I get bored on the plane.  So the next entries will for sure be more exciting! Stay tuned.

A Little Intro and Background

Hello readers!

Or maybe I should say "Kia Ora", which is a Maori way of saying hello.

I created this blog because in less than a month I will be headed to Wellington, New Zealand for almost 5 months! Since communication will not be easy, I figured this would be a great way to catch people up on what I'm up to and such.

For starters, here is some basic info about the situation:
1). I'm going to be attending Massey University (Wellington branch) and studying my major (media communication)- and possibly interning!
2). The time distance is 16 hours.  That means most of the time, I will be a day in the future.
3). The seasons are opposite ours, so I will be headed there smack dab in the middle of their winter and will be there through the end of spring. However, their climate is pretty temperate, and so their winter temperatures average anywhere from 45F to 55F (not too bad!).  Spring ranges around 48F to 59F.
4). New Zealand is made up of 2 islands, the North and South.  Wellington is in the very bottom end of the North Island.
5). I am leaving Bradley Airport on July 6th, around 2:45pm (with stops in DC and LA), and leaving LA around 10pm still on July 6th.  I will be arriving for orientation in Auckland, NZ around 6:30am on July 8th. Confusing with the time differences...I'm pretty sure from LA to Auckland the flight is 18 hours, but I'll be 2 days ahead from when I leave America. Had to read that sentence more than once? It's ok...writing it was just as confusing.
6). When I arrive in Auckland I will have orientation there for 3 or 4 days I'm not sure (glad I know the details right...) and then will be taking a domestic flight down to Wellington July 11th maybe? Around then? And then classes start the 14th. And no, I most likely will not know what classes I am taking or where exactly I'll be living or with who until I get there!

So those are some basics. Currently, I'm trying to figure out the details such as how I will use money there, what to do about contacting you lovely people in the States, electrical stuff, learning how to cook meat (I will need to cook all my meals!), and fitting in more doctors, dentist, endocrinologist, etc etc appointments than one could imagine.

If you were to ask me how I was feeling about this whole trip, "experience of a lifetime" at this very minute, I would probably give you a different answer each minute.  There is one constant- I always am at least 35% excited.  But I'm also a mixture of terrified, anxious, angsty, and a little sad about the whole thing.  Terrified because, well, I've never left the country alone! Let alone the whole other side of the world.  I will be living in the capital city (I have never lived anywhere that wasn't the definition of "rural"), and there are just a lot of details I don't know yet like what classes I'm taking, will I make friends, all that normal stuff.  I also feel anxious.  For those of you close to me you know I can get anxiety and panic attacks very extremely.  Also for those of you close to me, you know how much this has greatly improved this last year! So, I'm up for the challenge of beating this anxiety and NOT LETTING IT GET TO ME! This will probably be my greatest personal challenge.  So this is slightly horrifying but I just keep telling myself what a triumph it will be to to go on this trip.  As for why I'm angsty, I've been applying, communicating with 3 different schools, filling out official government documents, planning, planning, planning*(see below) FOR WAY TOO LONG! I think I've spent a significant more amount of time applying to study abroad and such than I will actually be studying abroad.  I'm also sad to leave my friends, family, and my wonderful boyfriend Connor for 5 months.

*By planning I mean vaguely planning. I pretty much can't plan on anything. More so just guessing situations and planning for that. You know, tedious and possibly unnecessary planning.

I'm working on getting a tablet for communication back home, finding out about getting a local NZ phone to talk to people I meet there, getting a credit card without travelers fees, buying a backpack for a ton of hiking I'm planning, running a TON to stay in shape for all this hiking, waiting to hear that I will be granted a student visa (or not), and I'm starting to think of what to pack.  Every time I go in my closet I make a mental note of some clothing i just HAVE to bring. Unfortunately this mental list is getting quite long.

So there is a very BROAD overview on what the deal with my life is right now.

Sorry if that was boring- I've never written a "personal" blog. Speaking of blogs- my non-personal blog where I talk about things that are happening in the world and sneak in some of my opinion (so my semi-personal blog?) is jessicacook5.blogspot.com if you're curious (or bored).

I'll probably be writing next a day or so before I leave and then the good stuff will begin!