Pizza and wine.

July 17

Thursday was a fairly lazy day – and fairly crappy weather-wise, too. I met Andrea on campus at 3, and then we ran into Una and decided to go grab something to eat at Tussocks (the bar/café on campus). We waited until the rain let up around 5, then all made our way back to our respective flats.

Una texted me around 5:30 to say Josh and Jen (more Americans) were making pizza at Josh’s flat, and that I should come over. So I did. On the walk over, I ran into Una, Melinda (a German exchange student) and Ben (another American). I went with them on a wine run, and then we went to Josh’s.

The pizza was pretty amazing, and we just sat around eating, drinking and talking for a few hours. I met one of Josh’s kiwi flatmates who had a name that sounded like he could be a long-lost Marx brother. Ben spent a portion of the evening with a paper bag on his head, and Jesse created a bag puppet that was later christened “Sinbag.”

After we had finished the pizza, the three bottles of wine, and the three liters of hokey pokey ice cream, everyone wanted to go on a walk. So Josh, Jen, Una, Melinda, Ben, Denise and myself took a walk down to Oriental Bay around 10 p.m.

It was interesting because a few of them were tipsy, and I was acutely aware of how loud and obnoxious we were being. But oh well. Not much I could do about it.

Once we got down to the bay, Josh and Una decided they really wanted to go skinny dipping. Except that the water is freezing (it is mid-winter, and we aren’t THAT far away from Antarctica), and so it didn’t quite happen. They did the dipping, followed by the skinny, but not quite at the same time.

While all this was transpiring, Denise and I built a little sandcastle. The sand was quite cold, but was perfect for packing. We also walked to the end of a pier and attempted to take photos of the bay at night. It was really pretty – all the lights twinkling off the water and all – but my pictures definitely don’t do it justice.

After Josh and Una were satisfied (and after they both made vows to come back and do the real thing sometime before they leave), we headed back up town.

I have a feeling many similar random evenings are in store in the future with this bunch.