Atawai Village

Living in Auckland I was a little skeptical of the fact that there were 10x the sheep then people in the this country....the drive from Palmerston to Auckland definitely put those doubts to rest. New Zealand is really a country of rolling green pastures filled with sheep and cows with a few thick dense forests along the way. It is absolutely beautiful. There are huge rivers and one giant lake, Taupo, in the middle. It was very rainy the whole day and a bit cold but I was comfy on a half empty bus for most of the day. We stopped for lunch and then afternoon tea. I tried to call the Massey at a pay phone along the way because I never had a confirmation that someone was picking me up so I was pretty excited when I saw a man with a sign with my name on it standing at the bus terminal. I got dropped off at my house which is way nice! It had wood walls and kind of feels like a cabin but house like. My room is a nice size with a desk, shelves, small dresser, a closet, bed, and my own sink. Pictures following. I met a couple of my flatmates and another guy and we went to a dessert night hosted by the housing staff. There was a ton of candy and desserts and I met a bunch more international students and found a few going to Harry Potter 7.2  the next night. I also found out my RA's wife lived in Sandy and the RA and his wife met at BYU Hawaii, and are active LDS members, which is way exciting in a foreign country. My other two flatmates came in the same night. It was really weird waking up in the morning to 4 almost strangers. But everyone was pretty chill. 

So there is Tamil. She is a short, dark, curly haired women. She is 32 and from New York and really funny. She laughs a lot. I also discovered she is a pretty good cook. She is going to be getting her whole degree at Massey. 

Then there is Zaki. He is from Canada here studying the vet school. He got married two weeks ago and his wife is staying in Canada finishing here ER doctor residency. He is muslim but super chill, and my non-drinking buddy. He is really nice but likes to give me a hard time sometimes. He is 26.

Giso is the resident soon to be famous artist, not really, but his name is Giso Pila and we thought it sounded like he should be famous. But he is German. He is a musician that plays drum and base. He is respectful, clean, and usually pretty quiet but definitely funny even if you can't understand what he is saying. He is here for a semester. At first he looks like a guy you shouldn't mess with but he is really super chill.

And then there is Graham. His is the Scot, and quite a scot. He was an archaeologist in Scotland but had to come back to school and is doing renewable energy. He is just here for a semester too. I don't quite know what to say about him. He seems like a angry scot at first but really he is a good guy and generally happy. He is 33.

I can't really leave out Brayden. He is our honorary flatmate, he lives a few houses down but has boring flatmates so he hangs out at our place. Also from canada, he does a lot of outdoors stuff.

So I live with guys and girls, so far it is really great, we really all get along super well and respect each other. I didn't know it was a mixed house and was a little worried when I saw guys moving in but it really has been fun. I think a lot of it is because we have all lived with roommates a lot before and know how it works. Our flat is pretty well set up with kitchen stuff and a lady cleans our kitchen I think. We have a good size kitchen, living room, dining room, 2 showers, and 1 toliet. I really like having a house again, like when I did the ACCESS program. We got lucky and don't have any super crazy or weird roommates. Its really cool to here about the different countries and places we all come from. Giso told us about berlin and the wall and the wars. Graham has told us about how he hates the english. All the Canadians I have met are super cool. We all just kind of hang out together for now and go into town together when we need to get stuff.