Kia Ora from Dunedin, New Zealand! I have endured so much in the last several days that I have tried to come up with the most logical way of reporting my experiences to you all. I am going to go in chronological order so as not to forget or leave out any of my recent experiences. So, although in some ways I am backtracking, I believe I had too much fun to let it go unwritten. I didn't have internet access during my Orientation, hence the reason I am so behind. I did, however, take good notes so I could keep you all well-informed -- I hope they will suffice.

My journey began last Tuesday, February 11th, when my Dad and I flew out to LA. The combination of a bit of jetlag and the 5:30AM flight were fairly exhausting, so our first day was nice and relaxing. The next day, we had a great time cruising the streets in our (rather heinous) golden, mustardy Mustang convertible. It was a gorgeous day and we explored all facets of Los Angeles -- downtown, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, the beaches of Santa Monica...it was awesome. I had never experienced LA before, but it was gorgeous. Between the beautiful beaches and the snow-covered mountains, how can you go wrong? Of course, the 70 degree, sunny day didn't hurt either.

The next day, we woke up fairly early to head to the airport. Dad flew out around 11:45AM and I hung out at the airport until my flight at 7:30PM. While I thought it was going to be a long and endless day, it ended up not being too bad. Other students from my program started arriving so we were all able to chat before boarding the plane. It was fun to hear everyone's stories and get to know the people I was going to be around for the next five months. We then headed off on our flight to Auckland, NZ, where we would begin our program Orientation.

That is all for now, I will try to post the details of Orientation and get up-to-date tomorrow. As of right now, it is 1AM here and I am exhausted.

XOXO.

P.S. All of the above photos were taken in Los Angeles. I hadn't even gotten to New Zealand yet!