Walmart

Okay so on the Friday after I arrived the girl I was staying with and some of the other people staying at POP from Aussie wenton a day long shopping excursion, but I decided not to go. So me and another girl Sarah hung out together for the day. We decided to go to Walmart and got a taxi from the hotel to the shop. The taxi driver thought it was pretty weird that we were at Disney but wanted to go to Walmart. When we got there the pedestrian crossing really confused us cause the stripes were really thin and the sign only says 'xing' which I thought was chinese at first. Idiot!!

Walmart is massive, it is like Warehouse, Pak 'n Save, Briscoes and Harvey Normn all rolled into one. Our main mission there was to buy a phone. Mine cost $50 and it is really good. I can pay anywhere from $10 a month depending on how much I want to phone and txt and play on Facebook. Sarah's phone doesn't work properly and always says hello, hello, hello. It is really funny when it happens at really inopportune times.

After Walmart we had lunch back at the hotel and then took a walk around and looked at all the giant Disney figurines that were from all the decades from the 50's to the 90's. It s o funny looking at the records etc from back in the day and all the things in the 90's that are comletely dated now. Lol!!

Later on in the afternoon we met up withthe others and hung out after dinner. Sarah, Loren and I got a cocktail which was pretty good but really expensive. But the others were too young over here lol!!

Well thats my adventures before Disney will write soon about the first couple of days at Disney

xoxo
E

USA

omg second time my computer crashed  just before I finished this post. AAAARRRRGGGGH!!!!


OK in a nutshell the flight from Auckland to LA was good except for turbulance and I didnt sleep much but I watched Anne of Green Gables and The Switch on my tv screen. I slept on the flights between LA and Orlando. At Orlando it wasnt even cold even though it was really late at night but it was so exciting to catch the magical express to Pop Century which was were I was staying. I was really tired when I finally got to my room so I talked to the person I was sharing with for a few minutes, showered and then was asleep really quickly.

Everything is going really well and I will write soon with more details

PS The roomate trailer was just on and my friend Sarah says she is not going to watch it cause we have roomates here. Lol!!!

xoxo
E

Leaving on a Jet plane!!!

Well, well, well tonight is my last night in New Zealand and I can now officially say that I am going to America today!!! Yikes. It is soooo scary! The last few months have whizzed by and it is T minus 10 hours until I start my adventure.

Soooo...tomorrow (today) is going to be a super busy day. I have packed pretty much everything and sorted everything out so all I have to do in the morning is double check I have everything and pack those last minute things i.e. hairbrush. We will leave Timaru at approx. 10am and will arrive at the airport around lunch time as it is only a 2 hour drive north to Christchurch.

Heaps of people are coming to the airport with me. My mum and dad of course, and my Nana Bev and my two cousins, Kelly and Juliet. They are more like sisters as we live only three houses apart and as I have no siblings all of us are really close. Juliet is 24 and 2.5 years older than me and Kelly is just 13. She will be starting Year 9 this year and I am so guttered that I will miss her first year at College (High School). My friend Winsome is going to meet us at the airport aswell and we will have lunch there as my flight doesn't leave until 3.10pm.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been saying goodbye to all my friends and family. It has sort of been hard I guess. But, although I know that I am leaving in only a few hours, the reality and the gravity of the situation hasn't really seemed to sink in yet. Hopefully I don't fall apart when it does.

My flight to Auckland doesn't take very long only 1 hour and 20 minutes. Basically by the time you are up in the air, you only have 40 minutes until you start the descent into Auckland. Once I get into Auckland though I have to change terminals to the international terminal and get through security and customs. I don't have anything to declare so hopefully it won't take too long.
My plane from Auckland to LA doesn't leave until 7.15pm so I will have a little bit of time to relax and ready myself for 12 hours of plane ride. Mum wants me to ring her when I get through customs to make sure I get to Auckland allright and my LA flight isn't delayed.

LAX is what really worries me. My layover is only 2 hours, 15 minutes which is not a whole lot of time to get through security, customs, baggage claim and change terminals and then check-in at least 30 mins prior to my flight leaving at 12.30pm (pacific time). Then I have another stop in Houston but this is only for an hour and I dont have to recheck-in or pick up my bags or even change airlines so I am not too worried about that stop.

I will (all going well) arrive into Orlando at 10pm and since I am staying at POP Century my first two nights in the US the Disney Magical Express will pick me up and take me to Disney for free. Yayy!! Once I get there I will definitely just crash!

I will most likely have to wait until I get to my Disney accommodation on Saturday (Sunday in NZ) before I can write about the plane trip as I am not taking my computer with me.

But there we have it. Off to Disney tomorrow. By the time I get to sleep in a bed again I will be in Disney World!!

xoxo
E

Only 8 Full Days Left!

OMG!! Only 8 full days left until I leave for my Disney Experience. That is really scary. Well, what have I done...

I have decided to go with 1Cover for my insurance. It gives pretty good cover and for minimum cost - only $746 and then an extra $25 to get rid of the excess. My dad's insurance broker read through the policy wording and said that it was okay and I am aware of the small print which I think is really important when taking out insurance. The people who have trouble with insurance I think don't read the fine print and that is why they complain.

Anyway I have started packing and I am only allowed to have on 23kg bag checked - which totally sucks because that is not much stuff at all. I have been extremely economical with clothes and other things and when I weighed my bag this afternoon it was already 23.5kg and I still had some stuff to put in. So mum and I went through everything again and managed to get rid of a few more things to make my bag c20kg.Which gives me a couple of kgs to add in those few things that I need to. Which is only 3 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, an alarm clock and my contact lenses.

The next few days are going to be busy with catching up with everybody before I leave. So excited but goodbyes really do suck.

xoxo
E

Merry Kiwi Christmas

First of all I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and have a good New Year!!

It is now only 3 1/2 weeks until I leave for the USA. It is both exciting and scary. I think the whole experience of it is starting to sink in. I will be spending a year away from home without seeing any of my family or friends. But I am also extremely hyped to be heading over there. Mum and Dad bought me a whole heap of kiwiana and travel accesories for Christmas, including my very own stuffed kiwi to take with me. =)

Even though I have everything sorted in my head, there is still a lot of things to organise in the next couple of weeks, namely sort out my insurance - because I have been lax and left it until the last minute.

I also need to figure out how much clothes to pack etc. I have sort of started packing - I have actually put all the things that I am taking but will not be using until then into my suitcase. The only problem is that my suitcase isn't very big and I want to take my tramping pack to the US aswell incase of weekend trips away etc (airline only allows for 1 bag -  which sucks )= )
My pack takes up most of my suitcase so I have to be very economical when packing and only take essentials.

I did think I would be able to get away with only taking cooler clothes and a jacket but with the weather like it has been over there this winter I think I might need some warmer clothes as well and they always take up more room )=

At the moment my cousins are up from Cromwell  and it has been really fun catching up with them. We all went to the Caroline Bay Carnival that takes place every year for the two weeks after Christmas Day. We went on the ferris wheel and played 'Housie' which was lots of fun. My 10 year old cousin and I both one a 'house' so we got to bring home lots of Goodies. And we are planning to go to the circus at some point over the next few days as well!!!

Looking forward to the next weeks, but it is a bitter sweet time as well,
Next time I write will be very close to heading off,

xoxo
E

Nerves and excitement

So I t has been a while since I updated, but the truth is not much has been happening. I am still trying to scrape together the money to pay for my insurance and then a few more dollars for spending money once I get there. I have got a room and a roomate at the Pop Century resort for the nights of the 20th and 21st after I arrive, so that will be fun. There are a few other Kiwis and Aussies staying there too so hopefully we will be able to catch up. I know that there is some sort of shopping tour that a few of us are keen for on the 21st so that should be fun.

Everything else seems to be under control. I have had to change my flight from Auckland to LA but with all the issues with Qantas' planes it is maybe a good thing, though it does mean that I have a short connection at LA only 2 hours and 15 minutes, but hopefully I will make it.

We got our results back from last semester and I have passed all my courses so everything is all go for graduation next week. While I am up in Christchurch then I am going to sort out my ISIC card and hopefully get some UC merchandise.

Well not much else to say except that I am getting really excited and nervous as there is only 6 weeks until I leave. I am totally freaking out!!

xoxo
E

Auckland

So yesterday I spent the day in Auckland. I really have no feelings at all about that city. It is all just concrete and buildings. Anyway so the plane ride was uneventful. I had to get up at 4.45am (way way way too early) and then get a taxi to the airport because it was too early for any busses. I was flying jetstar which I find perfectly satisfactory despite the complaints. I think that there will be some people that complain on every airline and there will always be mishaps so it isn't worth blaming them on anyone.

Anyway, I caught the airport express into town and met up with a girl who I have worked with previously and was going to get a visa aswell (she is going to work in Canada for 6months), so that was exciting. We chatted on the bus and then figured out where to go once we go into the city. Once we got to the correct street it was really easy to spot the consulate because there was a massive US flag on the building.

Once there it was pretty painless. We got in line for security and they just look at your passport and then put your bag through the x-ray machine and then you are let through. Then you have to get into another line (which sounds like a lot of lines, but there was only a couple of people ahead of us so it was really quick) then we got to talk to another lady who just took all of my papers and then sifted through them and found all the important ones that she needed. Then we were finger printed and told to wait until our name was called.

They had the photos of Obama and Hilary Clinton and the vice-president (who I can't remember his name) and the Ambassador who Sarah (my friend) thought looked like Chuck Norris. We both had a 'chuck'le (bad joke) at that.

We had to wait about 25 mins because the people in front of us seemed to have more complicated issues. While we waited we chatted about nothing and watched CNN that they had playing on the tv (without the sound). They kept showing pictures of people that were wanted for various things.

Finally my name was called and she asked me what I was going to America for (which I answered the standard cyborg answer "to participate in the Walt Disney World International College program" - lol!) and then she asked about Uni an what I was studying and what year I was in, and that was it. She stamped and signed everything and I was done and dusted.

After that I waited donestairs for Sarah and we went to Esquires for morning tea - coz it was like 10.15 and we hadnt had anything since breakfast at 6am. She was going to head home via Wellywood to see some of her old friends so we just talked about stuff until she had to leave to catch her flight.

In the afternoon, I decided I would go to the museum - so I got on a bus, but it was going the wrong way, so I had about a 45min bus trip. Then I spent a good 3 hours at the museum which had some really interesting exhibits. The War exhibit was excellent! Lol! my anthropology training was thinking, as I walked along, 'yeah this works; this really engages the visitors; this could so be better' etc.

The volcano exhibit was really good too. They have this house which is like a volcanic eruption simulator - all the year nines that were there were screaming when the house shook and I was thinking 'yep this must be about a 3.5!' and 'this was nowhere near as bad as the earthquake we had yesterday'. But the whole simulation was really effective. We were in a living room looking out through a glass sliding door over the underwater volcano in Auckland (can't remember what it is called). After the first shake the tv switched on and we were watching the news about how parts of Auckland had been told to evacuate and the roads were all blocked and then through the window we could see steam on the water and the news was still talking to a volcanologist. Was really good. Then the eruption happened and there was lava and a massive cloud of smoke coming towards us. The house kept jolting and the lights flickered. And then when the cloud hit us the house shook and the lights went out. The Aftermath - was the whole city covered in ash and a new island in the water. Then lol! Mark Sainsbury came out and said about volcano awareness. I think that I will be pretty safe from volcanos down here in the South Island - it's earthquakes we have to watch out for.

After the museum I tooka bus back into town and got some dinner and then headed to the airport. I was about two hours early but I got checked in and rang my mum to tell her all about my day =). Then I got on the free terminal transport bus and went to the international terminal for fun. I now know exactly where I have to go for next time. Anyway I was really tired (could barely keep my eyes open) by the time I got home at 10.30pm.

Today woke up at midday and my passport with visa had arrived.Yay!!!

Wow this has been a relly long blog. Can't believe it is November allready. Only 2 months, 17 days to go!

xoxo
E