Actually in Auckland

Tonight is my third night in Auckland, which seems a neat place.

Rachel, JJ and I made it in to town - the drive from Auckland was lovely, green hills with sheep bathed in sunlight - and battled the one-way systems to make it to my halls, which are pretty cool. It was a tad traumatic to say goodbye to them afterwards, so soon after having said goodbye to my parents, but I was brave...

Anyway, halls are halls the world over it seems, but these ones seem nice nonetheless. My flat is on the second floor and consists of a corridor of rooms with a lounge area and kitchen at the far end, with floor to ceiling glass on two sides. Pretty chilly at the moment, but a good opportunity to people watch as you eat breakfast, as we look out on to the street below. We're opposite two sushi restaurants (they have sushi restaurants EVERYWHERE) and a Malaysian cafe and mini-mart. Handy. I'm also about two seconds away from the centre of town and the university buildings. Ideal. My flatmates are two American girls, one from California (who's suffering the cold) and another from Arizona (who didn't know where Edinburgh was...) There's also a French guy I haven't met and a German guy who seems nice.

Actually, the weather's not been too bad - apparently this is as cold as it gets, which is fine by me - it's got nothing on Edinburgh. Nippy at night but I was really quite hot walking round town today. I haven't seen much of town yet, but I went as far as the harbour today down the main road and the centre itself doesn't seem very big. The whole place is shiny buildings and wide roads, and reminds me of America more than I expected. But I like being in cities, and I like it here.

The whole move here has been far less traumatic - so far - than I expected, or perhaps than Shanghai. But no doubt that's because I'm older, I had the Shanghai experience, I know the other people from Edinburgh, it's not as cold and everyone speaks English, to name but a few reasons.

So yesterday we had an orientation morning, with a few speeches and some Maori kids from a local school doing a traditional Maori dance type thing. Chunky semi-naked teenagers gurning and yelling at you at half nine in the morning really gets you in the spirit. (That sounds far more sarky that it should; it was actually quite enjoyable and impressive.) We then stuffed ourselves with free coffee and sandwiches before more talks on how things worked etc etc. When I'd first arrived I sat at random with a guy by himself at a table - he turned out to be a Finnish guy called Manuel (I'm sure that's not a Finnish name?) I later met up with Jamie (friend from Edinburgh) and an American girl, Colleen, who really freaking loves birds and whom seemed to know Manuel, also joined us.

We spent the rest of the day together, having lunch in a park and climbing trees - I was coaxed up despite my insistence that I was better suited to holding bags and taking photos at the bottom. Then we did useful things like open bank accounts before temporarily parting until later in the evening. Everyone came to mine and we cooked and ate pasta, had a few drinks and then went to see the film The Baader-Meinhof Complex as part of the film festival. It was all very jolly, even if the film was epic and about anti-fascist terrorists, and the beer left us tired.

Today I had a lie-in (WOOHOO! Altho' I'm still waking up at 3am and 630am...) and then went shopping with Ben (also from Edinburgh). It turns out NZ doesn't really do high street chains, but loves its boutiques. Ho hum. Tonight I'm meeting up with Colleen and Manuel again and we're going for drinks and up the Sky Tower (alternately described by Lonely Planet as 'phallic' and like a 'hypodermic needle'). Tomorrow, more uni talks.

Oh, and I got my timetable - two 10-11am lectures but mostly 2-4pm and nothing on Fridays! Hurrah!

I hope you're all well,

Love, A x