Pardon me if I rant on about the airport, I understand that you the reader of this blog know all about air travel, but this was my first time on a plane and even this silly little side adventure meant something to me. So I apologize for this repetitive intrusion but I’m still going to elaborate on it. We began at O’Hare airport standing in line for what seemed like forever. Apparently the system kept crashing when the students were brought up as a group rather than individuals. I felt bad for poor Lexa who stood at there for at least twenty minutes while the workers where trying to sort though technical difficulties. The luggage check was a lot easer than I had initially expected; in fact I was completely terrified of it after hearing all those wonderful stories about harsh security. Our first flight was from Chicago to LA, three seat rows in a narrow plane that I think has to hold the record for the worst flight we took the entire trip, looking back I’m surprised I wasn’t looking up at the luggage racks expecting snakes to slither out. I was practically hyperventilating out of excitement for the takeoff. I was determined to watch out the window during the flight but the people who sat next to me decided it would be a fun little game to slowly close it on me, which it wasn’t! (Lie). The flight was incredible; the feeling and the view hypnotized me. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
The second plane was so much bigger then the first. It was packed with electronic toys and comfort accommodations that were actually quite intrusive at the start. I was originally assigned the window but the sweet woman next to me was having trouble getting comfortable so we switched seats. The flight was long and boring, my only distraction was Riley and her lost shoe.
When we flew over New Zealand I almost died, it was beautiful, a sea of clouds, with green land seeming to brake through the sky. When we landed I instantly noticed the air: clean, fresh, and absolutely lovely. The soft dew painted the airport, which was decorated with glass leave windows. It was casual and empty, and in comparison to Americas airports, absolutely wonderful. A dog came and inspected our bags sniffing for food, something we all lied about having, a few got caught and their beef jerky was cruelly eaten in front of them by the excited beagle.
Before we knew it we were on our way through the country. I still can’t believe how stunning it is, everything was lush and open. The horizon never seemed so big and the air never seemed so crisp and refreshing. There was also this somewhat frightening amount of cows and sheep, we were told there was a 17:1 ratio between livestock and man, I found that a bit more disturbing than others, but then again I also became strangely paranoid that a sheep from every pasture was staring us down. After riding on the bus for while we stopped in a small village that was largely influenced by lord of the rings, seeing that near that area is where the epic movie was filmed. People from the town couldn’t help but stare; we are loud, matching Americans after all. I ate this strange pineapple sandwich for lunch, which wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, but I was so hungry I inhaled it.
After we came back to the bus we went straight to lunging, the best thing ever! We got into our Joey group and went up the mountain on a lift. I was surprised how well we all got along seeing as we hardly knew each other. We talked and laughed about the broken plastic dinosaurs that were laid to waste far below us. Our first lunging was unfortunately on the easiest leave, its understandable and all, seeing as we had no idea what we were doing anyway, but we quickly jumped at the chance to ride down at the most advanced level. The lunge is this strange scooter like go-cart thing, which was incredibly fun to drive down the steep turning hills.
When our time lunging was over we left to the jade factory, a small store filled with brilliantly crafted jewelry, but way too expensive! We left and finally reached Rotorua, which because of the immense amount of geothermic activity and abundance of sulfur, smelled like rotten eggs. We ate this enormous burger for dinner. Shelby and I spent a good five minutes staring at the meal wondering how in the world it was going to fit in our mouth. We are finally in the hotel and I feel like I’ve had the longest day of my life. Thank god I can sleep, I have never needed it this badly before!
I’m really looking forward to meeting the other students and seeing more of this beautiful country. My first impression is astonishment: I love it here, the people are kind and have these fascinating accents that are occasionally hard to understand and the landscape is something I’ve only ever seen as screen savers. All in all this was a great first day.
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