Let me start off by apologizing for how long it has taken me to post an entry, but now, exactly a week after I left Michigan, I will do my best to que everyone in on what's been happening:

Most of you know that I have never been a huge fan of traveling via airplanes. However, after flying 24+ hours across the world, I feel as though some of those anxieties have now been cleared away. This came about no doubt through prayer and relying on God to take care of me, but I also think that He used the shear length of the trip to help me focus more on when we would finally arrive than anything else. And arrive we did! With the time change, I left the United States on Wednesday, June 27, and arrived in Sydney in the morning of the 29th, even though it was only a 14 hour flight. Talk about going over the dateline!

I flew first to San Francisco and then onto Australia, where I spent upwards of 9 hours in the Sydney airport walking around and discovering unique merchandise like Emu jerky and authentic Aboriginal boomerangs. Finally, I boarded my Air New Zealand flight and arrived in Auckland 3 hours later and was driven to the University of Waikato in Hamilton, where upon being shown to my room, I crashed on my bed and slept for what felt like days.

Since arriving, it has been an adventure to say the least. It's definitely a different world here in New Zealand. When most of us think of winter, we think of snow and icey roads. Not the case here. The best I can describe the weather here would be to associate it with a warm fall day in Michigan with the temperatures being in the 50s and the sun shining most of the time. Everything is still quite green, though a lot of the trees have lost their leaves, and there are a lot of palm-like trees and plants here. The days are very short (the sun sets around 5:30pm here) and I'm beginning to discover the truth behind the Kiwi saying "New season every 5 minutes." While it is sunny and warm here, it also rains a fair amount and usually it starts quite suddenly. However, I'm told that this is the most miserable I will be here weather-wise, so I am definitely not complaining.

The people here are extremely friendly, helpful, and have an ardent love for the All-Blacks (their national rugby team who just smashed the Australian Wallabies in the international tournament). I got my first taste of rugby the morning I arrived. My dorm room faces the university's sport fields and several games were underway by the time I woke up Saturday morning (Friday afternoon for the Americans). I don't pretend to have a clue when it comes to understanding the game, but I'm officially an All-Blacks fan now and hope to learn the rules soon, as it is the nation's favorite topic of conversation.

Most of the student's currently on campus are international students because the Kiwis are on holiday. I've been able to meet and get to know people from Norway, England, Germany and of course from the good ol' US of A and am excited to see the campus filled next week when classes begin.

Please write or email me. I would love to hear from you all!