Ok so let me try to recap the past days! So much has happened that I have not wanted to spend any time sitting at the computer. But I will go back the best I can starting back on the road trip with Chels......
At last, a full day spent by the ocean. Waihi Beach was gorgeous with a trail that wrapped around the sea on a large land mass. I have never seen a beach like this before, it seemed as if it were a picture in books. Bright colors of blue and green water glistening in the sun was incredible. The ocean was too cold for me but Chelsea is a fish and jumped right in. The sun in New Zealand is very powerful. Both of us put on sun screen multiple times. Even with sunscreen and breaks from the sun for food, both of us soaked up many rays. I am glad that we decided to eat at a small little takeaway place right on the beach. Locals were popping in and out all day. The both of us could have split a meal easily; I have never seen so many fries and such large pieces of fish. The fish n’ chips were absolutely delicious and came wrapped up in massive pieces of newspaper. The batter was so tasty. I had ordered the same meal from a restaurant once since I had been in New Zealand but it did not even compare to this place.
It was one more night in Hamilton before I moved into my apartment in Auckland. I really had no idea what to expect, but was hoping that I did not get paired with 17 and 18 year old rowdy Americans. Luckily, I did not! Currently I am living with a German boy and girl. Ben and Kata are 24 years old and are going to school here for post graduate studies. Kata is studying design and Ben Engineering. Right before classes started another roommate joined us. His name is Marques from Brazil. All of their English capabilities really impress me. So far my roommates have been very friendly and also very structured. The four of us sat down for a meeting and each week all of us have assigned chores. Also, if we buy something we must put the price on a spreadsheet so if someone wants to share it, we evenly split the price amongst all of us. While it is more structured then I am use to, I am really happy that everyone is respectful and friendly. I think my spontaneity and sense of humor sometimes slightly confuses them. I have realized in my experiences so far that Germans are very prompt and put together.
My room is on the 12th floor and I have the corner bedroom with two windows. The entire side of my living room is also all glass. The view is quite amazing. I really don’t think I will ever be bored sitting in my apartment; there is so much to see just sitting at the table. You can look down at the harbor and watch all of the sailboats. Auckland is the city of sails, which I did not know. They are everywhere and really take over the water. I also have to be careful to keep my blinds down at night because I can see clearly into the buildings next to me. Some of the things I have witnessed across the way have been funny (haha no I am not a peeking Tom, it was not on purpose!). Although people watching on the street below by the bus stop is something I enjoy doing on the weekends, people really do some interesting things!
The first couple of days while I settled into my apartment Chelsea stayed in a hostel and planned her two weeks of traveling ahead of her to look for a job. While she was there at the hostel she met some cool people. Charlie was a young guy from England, Danny an American that went to Notre Damn and was surprisingly friends with a girl from my high school, and Scotty a recent graduate from Colorado. All of us went to a Rugby game one night and even though I knew nothing about the rules it was still a lot of fun. Charlie attempted to explain them to us, but I absorbed very little. One of her hostel mates was an Australian that was an amazing graffiti artist. He had hundred of pictures that he took of the huge murals he had spray-painted. He travels all around the world spray-painting amazing pictures that have something to do with the culture of the country he is in. I was very impressed with some of the locations and also the murals themselves.
So the same day of the Rugby game I met a girl who is now a good friend of mine. She is from Austria and her name is Claudia. How we met is a funny story. I live on 12f and she lives in 13f, an identical apartment to mine but on a different floor. That day she accidentally went into the wrong apartment when I was sitting at the kitchen table. I introduced myself thinking that she was my next roommate since we still had an empty room. After a few seconds she started to look very confused and realized she had walked into the wrong room. I am so glad she made that mistake! Later that night I met up with her and she introduced me to a couple of people she had been hanging out with as well. So that night I also met my good friends Stephie (from Germany), Roman (from Switzerland), and Martin (from Denmark). They are all really awesome people and each unique. Through these cool cats I met even more people who have all become good friends of mine.
A group of about 12 of us often hang out together and I am the only American. A lot of them speak German and Danish. To me it seems like German’s who speak English slightly sound like people from Ireland. I actually thought a couple of people I met were Irish and found out later they spoke German. It is funny what has happened to my language since I’ve been hanging out often with a lot of people who’s first language is not English. Instead of forming a New Zealand accent like I thought, I have been picking up a foreigner’s accent learning to speak English. For instance, instead of saying yes or yeah like I use to I now say yeaht. I also find myself tongue tied because I am always trying to find the perfect vocabulary or grammatical way to say something so my friends will be able to understand and learn from me. I am excited to help them understand new words and also teach them English slang, haha. Since I have been hanging out with so many people who speak German it is kind of making me want to learn German. I failed pretty badly at learning Spanish, but maybe something new could work for me. I think it is good that there is an American around so it forces them to speak English more instead of always their native language so I can be apart of the conversation. So knowing German would also be nice so I can listen to any secrets haha!
Learning cultural differences is really interesting to me. I think out of all of the different people I have hung out with, I differ the most from those who are from certain parts of Denmark. It seems that I am too forward or animated for them. It is something that I would like to be mindful of and respect them for our differences. This trip so far has been a big geography and history lesson. I really should have studied a map before going abroad. I feel emberassed at times that I don’t know which countries are where and what language is spoken in each country. For instanced, I did not know that people in Switzerland and Austria also speak German. I am also surprised how often the topic of World War II has come up. In particular, the English guy that Chelsea had met Charlie was especially sour about a lot of issues, especially about the outcomes of many wars.
Being an American studying abroad has been challenging in that there have been lots of stereotypes labeled onto me since I have been here. One person at a bar I was talking to even asked the question after hearing I was American, “Are you a porn star? I hear a lot of people from American are into porn.” It’s not like my clothes indicated anything, I was wearing a plain white tshirt and jean capris. Other international students also seem to know more about the American government than I do. And also expect that everything that the American government does is what I stand for. I hope that after getting to know people, I will push them away from the stereotypes against me and they will start to understand that every American is not the same as the stupid characters from “Jersey Shore.” I really enjoy the good friends that I have now because they do not classify me under any stereotypes and get to know and learn about me for whom I am and not every other American.
More to come, not close to caught up!
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