Here at last!

So at long last, after a six hour plane ride to San Francisco, a 10 hour layover at the airport and another 13 hour plane ride to Auckland, I have landed safely in New Zealand.

I spent a lot of time on Sunday night cramming all my things into one suitcase that had to weigh under 50 lbs. I downsized by a lot (much to Kaitlin and Kristy’s delight) and fit everything I needed to bring. Unfortunately when we got to the BWI airport my bag weighed in to be 51 lbs. Yes, that’s right. One pound over. As it turned out after weighing my bag we were redirected to United Airways and had to stand in another line to get weighed again. Luckily for me, my dad is a master packer and rearranged all my things while we stood in line waiting to check the bag. What happened, though, when we got to the front of the line was that, after a short chat with the airport worker, we were informed that United Airways didn’t weigh your bags. They didn’t care if they were exactly 50 lbs. or a little more. Nice, right?

I was one of the first people to arrive in San Francisco, but eventually everyone showed up and we all waited together with anxious anticipation. We were finally able to board the plane around 6:15 pm. This was my first ever international flight and can I just say those airplanes are HUGE!

We all got a free pillow, blanket and headphones. Our seats each had a TV screen built into the seat in front of them where we could watch movies and play games and what not. It was so fun! It turned out also that I got a window seat and no one was assigned to sit next to me. So I got two free pillows and two free blankets! The even fed us two meals! I think I slept for maybe a total of two hours and I spent the rest of the time watching 3.5 movies. I was looking forward to seeing New Zealand when we landed but unfortunately it was dark for the entire trip.

We all got off the plane in Auckland a little tired this morning (Wednesday) at 4am. Two hours of sleep in the past thirty-something hours will do that to you I guess. My luggage made it safely and I was so happy to get out of the airport!

One of the first things I noticed was the smell. It smells like so good here! Like the beach. And freshly cut grass. It’s definitely a summer smell. Phyllis Charlton, the woman we are staying with while here, woke up at quarter to four to come meet me and my roommate, Brooke, at the airport. She is such a sweet lady! I really like her already! She told us all about the different places in Auckland as we drove back to her house and a little about her family. Her house is beautiful! She showed us our room when we got there and she had already made our beds and decked them out with a giant teddy bear and a cute orange-haired doll. I love it. Sad story though. We’re not allowed to go to sleep until tonight because it’ll mess us up for the rest of our trip. We all just ate breakfast together and let me tell you, it’s only 9 in the morning and I’ve already had quite the experience. She told us we could have any cereal we wanted and I decided to have Weet-Bix. That’s what all the New Zealand kids eat.

And it was so good! Apparently we were on a roll because Phyllis brought out some Marmite for us to try. That might take a little bit more conditioning for me to enjoy quite as much. We’re going to spend most of the day getting to know everything around here and picking up these odds and ends that we either forgot or missed. Neither Brooke nor I brought any pencils. (Obviously we’re not thinking about how we have to go to school tomorrow…haha.)

So far though, the trip has been a success! My first five hours in New Zealand have been wonderful and I’m so excited for everything else. Brooke is going to be such a great roommate, I couldn’t have asked for anyone more sweet. And getting to know Phyllis is going to be so fun. I can't wait for everything to begin! It's weird right now because everything just seems sort of surreal. But I'm really here and it's actually happening! Actually, Phyllis just came in here and asked what we're doing just sitting in our room. Haha...she's right. I had just wanted to write everything that had happened to me so far. But we're going to go out shopping now. So that's that. I'll keep you updated!