"Spring" break is here!

Yep, you've read correctly. It's the end of August and my two week spring break started today. I went to a rugby game in Auckland at the beginning of the month, which was a lot of fun, but quite rainy. Since coming to New Zealand, I've been to Auckland three times, and it has rained at some point during each visit. One of my goals before going home is to see the city on a sunny day. Warmer weather is on its way (or so I've been told), so it's definitely a possibly.

I'm half way through the semester (When did that happen?)! I'm flying to the South Island tomorrow and to Australia on the 29th with Suzanne, a friend from Juniata who is also studying abroad in New Zealand (at the University of Otago in Dunedin). In total, I'll be gone for 12 day. See you then!

A little negativity

So instead of devoting another post to how beautiful and welcoming New Zealand is, I thought I would shake things up a bit. Enough positivity! It's time to focus on the negative.

The top 7 things I miss most about Juniata College/the United States (in no particular order):

7. Access to CNN
Since heading to college, I've watched most of my favorite TV shows online. But there's just something comforting about being able to turn on CNN at any time during the day to receive breaking news. Plus, I miss Anderson Cooper.

6. Stephen Colbert
I'm taunted daily with e-mails about new episodes of the Colbert Report, but I'm unable to view them on Colbertnation.com because I'm not in the United States. Hulu doesn't work here either.

5. Campus food
I'm not sure if it's because New Zealand's limited number of universities don't have to compete amongst each other for students, but I don't care for Waikato's dining hall food. I've always been critical of "Juniata cuisine," but I vow to never complain about it again. Some foods I'm particularly craving right now: American bacon, Chicken stir-fry with hunan sauce, and French toast.

4. Living with roommates
Christa and Laura, I miss you both!

3. Single faucet sinks
On New Zealand sinks there are separate faucets for hot and cold water (and by hot I mean scalding and by cold I mean freezing). When washing my face, I have to put my hand under the cold water for a few seconds and then quickly switch to the hot. My hand acts as an icecube to cool the hot water to a comfortable temperature. It's quite complicated, and it took a while to master the technique.

2. Paying a flat rate for internet usage
At Waikato, and throughout most of New Zealand, you pay for the internet by megabyte usage. It costs around 4 dollars to watch an episode of a TV show online.

1. Double spacing
Here, 1.5 is the standard for writing essays.

There you have it. Don't worry- my "glass is half full" self will return soon enough :)