On My Way!
Today I left for my one of a kind adventure to New Zealand. As I left the states on my 29-hour journey to Wellington, New Zealand my nerves were running high but my excitement was running even higher. I began my journey at DIA saying my goodbyes to my mom; only to find out she had stayed to spy on me through out the airport... I flew from Denver to Houston where I awaited my 15-hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand. I sat and watched out the window as many international flights came and went like Air Emirates, which is the largest plane I have ever seen! Four hours later I was no longer sitting in my perfectly designed Eames tandem sling airport seating, but I was boarding my Air New Zealand plane. I was finally beginning my journey to the one country I had always dreamed of visiting, and now I was going to be living there for five months.
The Air New Zealand stewardesses greeted me as I made my way on to the plane, their Uniforms were the cutest stewardess uniforms I have ever seen and their accents only made them that much better. I made my way to my seat in this large magnificent plane, with an interior lit up in a calming purple. I found my seat next to a lady a few years older then me. She was flying to New Zealand for the first time as well. However she was coming from her current home in Nicaragua and bought a one-way ticket to New Zealand. We exchanged many stories about her studies abroad when she was in college and what kinds of things I HAVE to make sure I do. In the beginning I really liked my airplane buddy in the middle seat next to my window seat. However shortly into the flight I liked her less and less. As the aisle seat never became filled and the lady I was next to never in the 15 hours we were flying felt like scooting over one seat. She instead sprawled out across the two seats to sleep while I stayed in my tight little one seat nook.
Despite my new friend, I slept most the plane ride and watched the Martian, Everest and the Intern (all great movies). The 15-hour plane ride was really not bad as I flew at night, which made it easy to sleep most the way. However it was very confusing to leave at 8:30 P.M. on Tuesday, February 16th from Houston and to wake up at 6:00 AM on Thursday, February 18th in Auckland. Due to the time difference I just never got to live February 17th, 2016.
Once I landed in Auckland I quickly traveled from the international wing to the domestic departures to catch my last flight into my new hometown of Wellington. This flight was a quick 50 minutes, and then I had finally arrived. On this flight I sat next to a very nice lady in her 70's named Liz who was traveling back to Wellington to visit her sister. She was originally from NZ, but had moved 30 years ago to Connecticut and now currently Rhode Island. After we finally arrived to Wellington we de boarded the plane. This nice lady Liz walked me to my driver to see me off on my journey, shortly after offering to drive me to my new apartment.
At baggage claim I met up with my driver who was dressed to the nines, as well as another international student Meredith, from Wisconsin who was joining me to the Cube (my new apartment complex). Our driver drove us around the city showing us the tourist attractions on our way, and making fun of us for choosing to spend our semester in NZ. Though he’s has never been outside of Australia or New Zealand so he doesn’t know how lucky he is!
After a long day of travel I had finally made it to my new home, and was beyond exhausted but there was no time to rest, I was in New Zealand!
