The Barbo Baggins Blog

Today is Wednesday April 25th. ANZAC Day. As a foreigner in New Zealand, or as I like to think of myself, a modern-day Pakeha, when talk of ANZAC Day became more frequent I searched for some sort of reference point to base my expectations off of. Some likened it to the 4 th of July while others said it was more like a September 11 th memorial service. I got the distinct feeling that those we made these suggestions had been to neither. So with no real enlightenment I set my expectations high for a true glimpse of what it means to be a New Zealander, set my alarm for 5 a.m. When it went off it was easy to hit snooze about 7 times and list countless reasons why being in my bed was so much better than not. But I heard murmur of people in the street bellow and the door of one of my neighbors open and close so I knew I wouldn’t be alone in the whole ordeal and finally dragged myself upright. I poked my head out the window for a peak and was pleasantly surprised to find a meandering but c...

We woke up and were able to survey where exactly it was that we parked the night before. It was literally a flat, grassy parking lot. There were lots of other vans and tents there that I totally missed before. There was also a bathroom that I had been informed did not exist. But to be honest by the look of all the flies around it I opted for the woods anyway. After a quick discussion about how the day was going to work we ate a little breakfast and hit the road. We planned to stop at Blenhim and Picton on the way to Nelson where we would be spending the night. I had given up coffee for Lent and a lot of us were craving a cup-a-Joe so we stopped at a really cute café with an amazing view for an Easter treat. I don’t think cappuccino has or will ever taste so good. I was pressing the mug against my cheek to warm me up and one of my friends Dave commented, “Well, are you just gunna stand there and hug it or are you actually going to drink your coffee?” I had been raving about how excite...

So, a LOT has happened over my 2 week spring break. I’m going to do my best to break the whole thing up into more manageable parts, for your sake and for mine! The bottom line is that I had an amazing time and took an unreal amount of pictures-- so get excited! And sharing a 4 person camper-van with 7 people has a way of bringing people together... I came back to Auckland with some really awesome new relationships. Here it goes! There were no classes on Good Friday, in fact most of the city shut down as it was a National Holiday. I slept in (which I really needed after marathon blogging into the wee hours of the morning) and then started attacking my big, long to-do list to get ready for leaving on Saturday. My only finite event for the day was Mass at 3pm. Since I wasn’t going to get the chance to go to Easter Sunday Mass I really wanted to go one more time during Holy Week. We were going to need all the prayers we could get for this trip! The service was really nice. We...

Thursday night (March 29 th … where did the month go?!) was awesome; we went out for sushi, Italian, and ice cream. All in one night. There were about six of us and we went back to Huia and caught up with a few more friends for a movie, watched hysterical YouTube videos, then played Halo before going to bed. I wound up reading until the wee hours of the morning but I love nights like that. Friday I don’t have class so I got up to Skype Olivia but I was a dork and completely forgot about daylight savings time and missed our date by an hour. Womp Womp. I spent most of the morning catching up on emails, doing laundry (FINALLY got most of the green stains out my clothes that mysteriously appeared the last time I did laundry thanks to the care package Mom sent me!) and got ahead in my work for the week. Later I met up with the girls for a shopping trip! We got some cute clothes and yummy snacks during our long trek up and down Queen Street. I’d never been shopping with such a big group of g...

On Thursday night we went to see The Hunger Games! A few of my friends back at Loyola were little upset to hear this as it was released two days earlier here than in the States! Go figure! It was SO MUCH FUN! The theater was really cool, big, and the seats were so comfy! It is an Imax theater but we didn’t see The Hunger Games in Imax.    Friday and Saturday was our adventure to Coromandel. It’s a really beautiful peninsula that is the site of a lot of movie filming. The second Chronicles of Narnia movie had scenes shot there most recently. We rented 2 cars and our group basically split in half so we could all do what we wanted when we wanted to. My van had a great time. We got a little lost on the way there but found our first destination in no time: the hot water beach! At low tide you can go to one section of this beach and dig your own Jacuzzi because there is an underground river that is heated by a nearby volcano.   After enjoying some crazy waves and the fabulous...

What a crazy week! I worked hard this week but I definitely had my fun too. My first assignment’s due date was quickly approaching so I used a lot of my free time to just get it out of the way so I could enjoy my weekend. On Tuesday there was a wine tasting for the international students. I met up with a big group of Loyola students there after my class and it was fantastic! I’m still a white wine kinda girl but I enjoyed all 5 of the selections we tried; 2 whites, a really dry rosé, and 2 reds. Fun fact: The University of Auckland has its own vineyard on Waiheke Island! There is a graduate studies course you can take on basically everything wine and wine production there and it is renowned as one of the nicer producers in New Zealand! Thursday was a horse of a different color. We had to register for our fall 2012 classes. My first step into becoming a senior AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Every student is given a time to register for classes online. Because we are on the other side of the wor...