Settling in, more or less.

July 20

I survived my first serious bout of homesickness today. I was postponing my 120+ pages of reading, and my mind started wandering to what people at home would be up to. I started picturing Mom and Kitty curled up in the living room in front of the TV; Dave playing tug-of-war with Bailey, or perhaps sitting in front of his computer with a beer (I figured the latter would be much more likely, though the former is much cuter to think about), and it made me quite sad. It’s starting to set in how long I’ll be away from them.

But once I forced myself to do some serious reading, the homesickness passed. I met up with Andrea for a movie at her place (we watched “In Her Shoes”), and just being out and about and not all alone in my room made me feel much better.

I’m starting to settle into life in Wellington. I’m getting used to all the city sounds below my window at night, and taking the elevator up to my flat doesn’t seem as awkward anymore. I’m even used to kiwi accents now. It’s very strange, but I don’t even find myself noticing them much anymore. I mean, yeah, I notice that people have accents, but it’s not all that I notice anymore. While watching TV, it often takes a few minutes for me to realize we’ve switched from a kiwi show to an American one. But I suppose that’s not a bad thing.

I also am really loving the sheer abundance of things to do around here. It’s not like Boardman, where a “night out” consists of a movie and mini golf. There are so many options here, and many of them don’t cost anything more than a bus fare.

Tomorrow, Andrea, Jamie and I may hike up Mount Victoria after class, hopefully to catch sunset, weather permitting. We’ve been talking about it for over a week, so hopefully the weather cooperates. Sometime in the near future, we also want to do a Red Rocks Coastal Walk, which is a hike along the southern coast of Wellington, where you can see across the Cook Straight and can eventually end up at a fur seal colony! I never expected to be able to see wild seals here, so that’s exciting. Both hikes are free; we only have to catch the bus, and we're on our way. Which is a great thing, as I'm already getting nervous about my funds.

We’ve also planned most of our trip to Auckland, which is coming up in two weeks already. It should be a jam-packed weekend, which is just fine with me. On the docket are a trip to Hobbiton (for me, while the girls explore the city while I’m gone), dinner at the Sky Tower, horseback riding on the beach, and an All Blacks rugby game (versus Australia, to boot!). We’re such good little vacation planners. I can’t wait to plan our trip to the South Island!