i would advise that before coming abroad, you get a job. two jobs, even. and you save up a ton of money. cut out everything extraneous from your life – manicures, driving to places you can walk to, coffee, cut it out – and use that money for your travels. nothing is worse than being broke while abroad. you feel absolutely trapped. especially when you get a notice tacked to your door that says if you do not pay $2000 in 21 days you will be evicted. so actually — there is something worse than being broke in a foreign country— its being homeless. so definitely don’t do what i did and blow your entire rent money on an island vacation to samoa — that would be stupid. and in other words, incredibly worth it. but seriously, studying abroad is a lesson in responsibility and independence, fiscally especially. make smart choices. budget. and save… so that you can do stupidly beautiful things, like go to samoa for a week with all of your equally broke friends and you can drink from coconuts and other once-in-a-lifetime things.

i love the diversity of the landscape in new zealand, and that everything i essentially need is in walking distance (if you don’t mind some hills).

10 minutes from my flat is the botanical gardens (free):

15 minutes from my flat is the culutural and artsy city, capitol of new zealand, wellington:

there is ridiculous grafitti everywhere!

35 minutes to the waterfront:

and just an hour walk to mount victoria. so much beauty everywhere, no straws big enough to drink it all up.

I overheard a girl talking excitedly about the fact that she was going home in a few days.  My thoughts are running in the absolute opposite direction as I contemplate that I will really be leaving in a few short days.  Luckily, I am staying for about an extra week just to have some time to spend with my roommate and another friend who is staying here, as well as some time to take pictures of everything that I haven’t yet.  Also, there is an awesome festival this week which showcases Asturian culture, sort of like how we have medieval fairs and such.  Everyone is dressed in traditional garb and there is food, wares and entertainment galore.  I bought some cheese to take home and sampled several different kinds of food, all of which were delicious.  I also saw several bagpipe and dancing exhibitions.

at 10:30 pm, when your housemate asks you to forgo the comfort of a good night’s sleep, climb a mountain, and wake up on the top, SAY YES. when she asks if she can underdog push you while you are sitting on the tireswing, overlooking the entire city, scream “NO!” and then be happy when she hears you say “yes.” when a possible cult of hare krishnas ask you to go on a yoga retreat to do yoga, meditate, play music, go on river walks, eat vegan meals, and talk about sustainable agriculture, SAY YES, even when people fill your e-mail and your mind with “NO, THEY ARE A CULT,” SAY YES! because john lennon met yoko ono at her art exhibit where she placed a box at the top of a ladder and when he opened the box – it said “YES” and he said he would have never fallen in love with her if it said “no.” tell a hare krishna about how you like to say “yes” and then realize you are speaking to the wrong crowd because they are all about saying “no” – to meat, garlic, alcohol, onions and passion. when a hare krishna asks you to pick up cow dung for their garden, SAY NO, and when they look disappointed remind them how just yesterday they told you not to say yes to everything, and you are a good listener. but when they ask you again, say YES, because “no” never led to a story, but only a list of regrets. and you – you are the kind of girl that says “yes.”

at 10:30 PM, on a school night, my housemate asks “do you want to camp out on mount victoria tonight?”

it is an hour walk away, plus a hike up a mountain. it’s last minute. it’s late. i haven’t finished my homework. i don’t know anyone else that we’re going with. we don’t have a tent, just sleeping bags. it’s not technically allowed to camp out on top of this mountain.

it has the best view of wellington.

i said yes.

Today was a day for the books!!!! I had a horrid morning. I went to Claret
and my students were poorly behaved. They did not listen to a word I said. It
drove me up a wall!!! Then took the bus back to the university. People stand
outside the bus stop with petitions and asking money. The proper response is to
walk away and say no…well I did that and got spat on. My time at the
University was fine. Class was class. You know the drill….

Yet another beautiful day in sunny Sevilla. Today Brittany, Briana and I went
on a walk. We went to la Plaza De España, which is the location of filming a
scene from Star Wars Episode II. We walked around there and a park. This park
was amazing…it reminded me of the secret garden but with palm trees. There
was also a plaza de America there. In this plaza, you could feed the birds.
There was one woman there who looked like the bird lady from home alone. After
that we walked around El centro for a bit. This lovely three hour walk came to
a close at 6 pm. I cannot describe how beautiful this park is…there are no
words that can describe it but if any of you come to Seville, you must go there.
The name of the park is parque de María Lusia. It is a must!!! While I was
there I had a character of me drawn. The guy who drew it asked me if I knew
what it was and I said it was an exaggeration. He said “yes it is for laughs,
a joke. Are you English or American?” I said American and he was really
nice. It came out really cool!!!! In the drawing, I am wearing a flamenco
dancer’s dress and at a fiesta.
Other than that today was relatively boring. I have no idea what the plans are
for tonight but tomorrow night will be busy for me I am meeting friends from
school to go out dancing and I am meeting my Spanish friends.

I went to the catholic school where I will be
a teacher’s assistant for the semester. Mondays and Wednesday I will be
teaching there for an hour from 12:30-1:30, which is right before my classes
(3-7) The commute is 10 minutes via bus 34 which conveniently has a stop in
front of our university. The school is large and confusing. As I become better
acquainted with the building I will tell you more about it. There are two parts
of the building with several corridors. On our first day the teacher’s we
will be working with are going to meet us in the lobby. Outside the building
near the gym facilities and playground is their nursery school. During recess,
the nursery schools are literally caged in a small area to play.
Each class we teach, is a selected group of dedicated students. I will be
working with students aged 12 -15. The class size is approximately 30 but I will
have a group of 8-10 students. I will have free reign over what I do with them.
The first day they get an opportunity to learn about us and interview us.
After that, we get to go whatever we choose. The objective is for the students
to hear a native speaker and to improve their speech. The two teachers I am
working with are Julio and Charro. I am looking forward to my first day! I
made a video of pictures of my friends and family to show my students. I will
let you know how it goes!