I never thought I would be so stoked on life while sitting in a McDonalds...but then again I guess I never thought I would be at a McDonalds in Auckland! It is the first place I found with free wifi. But I can't seem to get my hotmail to pull up I have no idea why. Everything has worked out super smoothly. That direct flight via Air New Zealand cut my travel time by 10 hours and the flight was great! I got a window seat and slept for at least 8 hours of it. I sat next to a nice guy that was a structural engineer from Christchurch....needless to say he has quite the job security as long as he does his job right in a city where everything keeps falling over. But they gave us dinner and breakfast and ice cream :) I got a window seat in the very last row of the plane but it was good because the seat wasn't against the wall so I could still lean back and I didn't have to feel bad about bugging someone behind me and I got to put my backpack behind me so I had plenty of foot room. I watched "How I met your mother" for like 2 hours then the movie limitless, it was pretty good. It took forever to get off the plane because I was in the back. I got through customs and everything fine. Then I was just sitting in an airport with no where to go ha ha. So I went to a travel desk and was just like I need a bus ticket and a place to stay. In 2 minutes the lady made me a reservation for 1 night in a Hostel I has already been looking at for $20 a night and got me a bus ticket. The bus took me almost right to the hostel, it was only like half a block away. While on the bus I made a friend that is an exchange student from finland! She had like two 11 hour plane flights and a few smaller ones! She has been traveling forever! But anyway I just started talking to her and she is like in the same exact situation as me except she is staying in Auckland and going to Auckland University. But we are in the same hostel in the same room and she seems pretty chill. She speaks perfect english and is here studying for a month. I think her name is Anna ha ha. She is just kind of winging it like I am but even more so because she said she didn't even really pack any trousers because she couldn't fly through with more than 1 bag. Since she only had 1 bag she helped me with some of my bags and everyone that was going to the same hostel made fun of my for having so much stuff! And thats when I realized.....I brought way too much stuff! Why didn't anyone tell me? That was such a bad idea and hauling it around was a total pain! So Auckland is pretty cool. It reminds me of downtown Hawaii. There are just a ton of stores and shops along the main street, which is Queenstreet and I was walking to library to come send this but I was hungry so I walked into McDonalds....but then I remembered I don't really like McDonalds and I can eat whatever I want but then I saw the free wifi sign so I just sat down and that pretty much brings us to now :) So don't worry Mom everything is great! I locked up my bags back at the hostel and am just carrying around my backpack. Oh and one cool thing, I will have to take a video but the light up signs that say you can cross the street? ya they actually like animate the walking motion! Ha ha. I am also just a block or 2 from the harbor. I can see it from the roof of the hostel. Oh and its pretty nice weather here. Just perfect light jacket weather, but pretty humid. Some people are in shorts...some are in thick jackets, its kinda like take your pick. Today my plan is to make a plan for the rest of my time in Auckland, find like a bus and a church and ya know maybe go jump off the sky tower? Maybe get a phone, I picked up some info on phones and alot of info about fun things to do. I want to look into going to the temple but I have no idea how I would get there but maybe I can bring that up to someone if I can make it to church tomorrow. So I don't know if it is just that I am excited to be here or maybe I got enough sleep on the plane but I feel great! Not very jet lagged or tired at all yet. My back kind of hurts from carrying my bags but oh well. Oh and its weird it because everything seems more expensive just because the money is worth less. And some of it really just is more expensive I think mostly because I am in the heart of the city. It all seems super american, but super international at the same time. There are banks with money exchange signs on every corner....or a starbucks ha ha :).
Love you all lots!
Jen
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