More aioli please?

     My second day in New Zealand signalled the start of International Orientation at the university. Before the activities started that day I was able to find Carrie and Jen, the two AU students, and we stuck together for most of the monotonous introduction lectures we were required to go to. I didn't learn anything terribly new or important, other than the fact that they assign seats at movie theaters here (socialists). It was surprising to observe that at least half of the international students there were Americans, with the second most popular group probably being Germans. I didn't hear many Kiwi accents the first couple days I was there.

     The real story of the first week in New Zealand lies in what happened after Orientation was over each day. Each afternoon, Carrie, Jen and I would walk down from campus into town to explore the city. Wellington is relatively a very small city (excluding the suburbs) and it is easy to walk to perimeter in an hour or so. The downtown area is nice but very quaint. While there are a few high rises, they don't dominate the skyline and are spread through the city. One of the most popular places in Wellington, specifically amongst students, is Cuba St. Always busy and vibrant, Cuba St stretches about a mile through the city and is lined with shops, bars, and cafes. Kids play on the playground and in the bucket fountain in the center of the street while students sit outside with friends and drinks and toursits wander in and out of the souvenir shops. Cuba is one of the main arteries of the city and there is rarely a day where I don't at least pass through it.

                                                          The view down Cuba St

     Another area of town Jen, Carrie, and I became fond of during our initial exploration is the Waterfront. Wellington, for those who aren't aware, is a bay city that sits on the northern end of the Cook Straight in between the North and South Islands. The waterfront area of the city is also a very lively, eclectic place. There is a Marina full of sail boats, several large restaurants with patios out by the water, a boat house for crew teams, and large grass spaces for people to lay out and socialize. The three of us girls fell in love with the area the first time we found it.

                                      A panoramic shot of the boat house from the gelato shop

       After walking the pier several times, we found a good restaurant and bar, Mac's Brewery, right on the water where we could get drinks and a snack and sit outside and take in the scenery. The thing about the waterfront is, there are always rowing teams running together through the crowd, skate boarders trying to do kick-flips on the sidewalk, kids jumping off the pier into the bay, couples walking around chatting, and tourists doing bike tours with their cameras. Sitting watching this scene, the three of us realized that nobody insight appeared unhappy, rushed, or anxious. We realized then that this place, this country, truly was on a whole other level of "chill" from the States. One day we sat and watched the water and the people around it for at least half an hour in almost complete silence, just enjoying the peace and good humour in the atmosphere. Since the first week I have continued to observe that the pressures and anxieties that are so common in fast-paced America hardly even exist in New Zealand culture (particularly in student life). I'm afraid after so much time here, readjusting the the pace of the States could be difficult do, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!
      Speaking of Mac's Brewery, the first week was when Jen, Carrie, and I discovered our favorite feature of New Zealand culture... chips and aioli. After each grueling day in orientation, the three of us were eager to go out and find some food to snack on and grab a glass of wine. It was during our first happy hour excursion that we decided to order a bowl of fries to share, and when they brought out the bowl, it was accompanied with a small dish of what the menu had called "aioli". The aioli was the texture of mayonnaise and tasted similar but with a sharper garlic and salt flavor. Whatever it was made out of, we fell in love with it, as it blended perfectly with the salty fries. Almost every restaurant in NZ offers a chips and aioli option on their menu; we know because the three of us have made it a habit to weekly make several happy hour visits at various restaurants and bars around the city to try their version of the snack. Why this trend has never caught on in the states, I will never know, I can only hope it will by the time I get back!

                                             At Concrete with chips, aioli, and ketchup

                                        At Church Rd. winery with chips and aioli (and bread)

The recipe for aioli:

• 2 or 3 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and chopped. (If they've started to sprout, don't use them for aioli.)
• Large pinch coarse sea or kosher salt
• 1 egg yolk*, at room temperature
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2/3 cup pure olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Where are you from?

So I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this all down in blog form everyone. As it turns out, finding the time to make myself sit down and write is a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I'm here now, and hopefully everything is still fresh enough in my memory to relate accurately. So without further ado, here's my blog!



      Not quite 20 hours after I left my parents in the Atlanta airport, the wheels of my Air New Zealand flight touched down in Auckland, NZ... 45 minutes late. Unfortunately, I hadn't had the foresight to account for a late arrival and had booked a connecting flight to Wellington just an hour and a half after the estimated arrival time of my international flight. Juking in between little kids and rugby teams on their way back from Sevens in LA, and tapping my foot impatiently through immigrations and customs didn't help. By the time I had cried by way out of a $400 fine for failing to declare a pair of used rain boots in customs, my next flight had taken off without me.
      Dejected, I made my way over to the Help desk to see if I could have my flight changed, where I found myself in a line with at least half a dozen other American students on their way to other various study abroad programs in NZ. The clerk easily changed my ticket to a flight several hours later, and I followed my new American friends down the blue line to the domestic terminal.
      After grabbing some food and a group of seats at the gate, the group of us set about filling the time with getting-to-know-you conversations and NZ trivia. I found out almost all of the group was headed down to Otago University in Dunedin (the Tuscaloosa of NZ). I guess one group of loud American students attracts another, because within an hour our group had doubled. If you asked me their names now I couldn't tell you, but it was definitely a blessing to have been able to pass the time with some (relatively) familiar people after such a stressful morning.
     One of the Americans told me they had met another girl going to Victoria U over in another set of chairs, so of course I ran to meet her. We introduced ourselves and I told her I was going to Vic as well. 'Hey, I'm Kate. Where are you from?'
"I'm Carrie. I'm from Washington DC."
'No way me too! What school do you go to?'
"American University"
'ME TOO!" (Too loudly)
So I met Carrie, a design major who I hadn't known at AU but would become a good friend in Wellington; a pattern which would repeat several times over the next couple of weeks.
      One by one, my temporary group of friends left for final destinations, and after three or four hours of waiting I boarded my one hour flight to Wellington, ready to make some more permanent friends in my new home.

     Thankfully, after the past 24 hours of travelling, there weren't near as many hoops to jump through to get to Te Puni, my new dorm. The Vic pickup service was waiting at baggage claim to take myself and several other international students directly to their accommodations. So, as he was unable to find the front door, the driver dropped me off at the top of the road leading to Te Puni Village. At three years old, Te Puni is the newest Vic dorm, is the only dorm situated directly on main campus, and, just fyi, is one of the safest building in the city to be in during an earthquake. There are some fantastic views of the city, the harbor, and the surrounding mountain from the top of the hill Te Puni is situated on.

                                             A view of Te Puni from down in the city.

      My RA, Jason, takes me to my room on the first floor. The dorms weren't open to students yet, I was only allowed to move in early because I was an international student (and paid an extra fee), so the halls are quiet and there are no signs of freshman yet. The halls of the building are done in an unfinished reclaimed wood-type paneling which is probably meant to look modern and green, but actually just looks cheap and unfinished. The bathrooms are shared in typical hall style and there is a small common room with a sink, a microwave, and a couple couches in the middle of the hall. It's not common in New Zealand to share rooms, so I'm in a decent-sized, single room. Although I don't have a sprawling view of the city from the 1st floor, I am situated directly above the school's athletic field, which provides an even better view when the university rugby team come out to practice...
     After settling in for just a bit, I set out with a map of the city to go meet my "buddy" that Vic international set me up with. If there's one thing I hate doing in a city, it's looking like a tourist and walking around with a map infront of my face; so of course I had to walk up and down the same street several times before I realized what building I was supposed to find her in. My buddy, Kate, was nice. She showed me to one or two stores in the area so I could buy sheets and towels for the room and then we sat down at a restaurant to get some dinner. We ate at Coyote's, a tex-mex place in town, where I ordered a salad and my first legal beer (which was very exciting for me, even though I didn't get carded). I could tell Kate and I probably wouldn't end up being best friends but it was a relief to have someone help me get set up the first day. Oddly enough, while we were at Coyotes, I recognized Carrie, the American I had met at the airport, walking in with a group of girls. I said hi and she introduced me to Jen, another design major from AU studying abroad at Vic.
    After dinner, I walked back up the massive hill infront in between campus and town up to my dorm. I took a much needed shower, made my bed, and hit the sack, resting well for the first time since I had left Atlanta a lifetime ago.