Up Up & Away

Leaving the familiarity of Champaign Urbana and all my wonderful friends and family wasn't easy. I tried not to think about it and more just focused on the fact that I would be home by Christmas. It's when I'd see everyone again anyway if I were at college. I drove up with my dad to Chicago early Thursday (if it even was Thursday, I'm kind of confused about the days. I think today is Saturday in New Zealand, but I'm not certain.) and visited with my Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle for a while before we headed off to the airport. The flight from Chicago to San Francisco was better than expected, I actually had an inseat TV which normally I don't get on a 4 hour flight, so I was pretty excited to enjoy Keeping Up With The Kardashians, The Colbert Report, Friends, AND Phineas and Ferb.
I had a four hour layover in San Francisco that involved a lengthy conversation with the lady at the Air New Zealand ticket counter involving why I didn't have a visa when my return flight was in 5 months and they only automatically give a 3 month visa, and after a phone call with some guy in New Zealand that I could barely understand, I got my ticket on the condition that I speak with immigration once I arrived. I then felt I deserved a "splurge" on a falafel sandwich at an airport cafe before my flight. With still 2 hours to kill I hung out by the gate which for the most part was uneventful other than a 38 minute phone call with Leah and a cute guy with an Austrailian accent informing me after hearing me panic to Leah over the phone that my flight was supposed to leave at 9:45 and the clock above the gate said 11:48, that it was only 8:50 and I had nothing to worry about. Seriously, why would you have a clock ANYWHERE in an airport that is 3 hours fast.

The plane to New Zealand was huge. It has a second story section in the front of the plane and the wings were as big as most of the planes I usually fly on. I was placed in one of the emergency exit seats with extra leg room which I at first couldn't believe my luck. Then after then seeing that that meant there was no seat in front of me to hold a personal TV screen on a 12 hour flight when some of the movies included The Hunger Games, 21 Jump Street, and Friends With Kids (It has Kristin Wiig in it y'all), I REALLY couldn't believe my luck. A flight attendent shortly before takeoff put my worries to rest by showing me and my row mates that the screens were folded in between the seats. After watching Friends With Kids while enjoying an airplane meal that was a far cry from the rubbery pizza that I got when I went to Japan, I slept for about 8 hours and woke up just in time for breakfast and 21 Jump Street. Both excellent.

I landed in New Zealand at Auckland around 5:45 am, so it was too dark to see anything out the window but stars. Things were going fine until I got to customs. I was really hoping that I would be able to slip by and be on my merry way and that perhaps that guy I talked to on the phone wasn't here or had forgotten about me or something, but no. As soon as I gave the customs lady my passport she told me to go sit on the black couch by the wall near the immigration desk, a total couch of shame, until I could be helped. After about 10 minutes I was pulled into a little office area and asked about the program I'm on,how much money I brought, etc. Since I apparently didn't have the recommended $1,000 per month of stay, I was only granted a 1 month visa instead of a 3 month as anticipated ( $3,000, really?).

I met my shuttle driver about an hour later than planned but he didn't seem too upset. He was in his mid sixties, bald, and had an English/Australian accent. Less than a mile away from the sirport a car cuts him off and he exclaims "You bitch!" then quickly "pardon my language, but I hate when people drive like that." He also mentioned that it was lucky one of the towns with murals was lucky no "little shits" have graffitied it like the rest of New Zealand. We got along just fine. The 2.5 hour car ride went relatively quickly. The driver would point out landmarks and tell me about the towns we would go through and it was all very beautiful, lots of hills and cows and sheep, and green everywhere.

We got to the dorm, well the correct one since at first we went to the guys, a little while ago. I learned I was the second girl to arrive, and the first "girl" is like 40. Oh well. I'm just hoping the group's mean age is somewhere near mine.