Arriving at 519A Leith St. Dunedin

Landing in Dunedin July 2nd 2012 (Was in the air for Canada Day) was actually the coldest I have seen New Zealand since I have been here. Getting off the plane to frost was not the best first impression that NZ cold have given me... BUT being very jet-lagged and super excited to see where I would be leaving, I barely felt the cold. I took a taxi bus with a bunch of American internationals that were all studying at Otago as well. I had no idea at the time but these would be the people that I would become really close friends with! 

Arriving at my flat on Leith street was one of the funniest experiences I have had since I've been here. So I haven't slept in forever, been wearing the same clothes since I left Canada and haven't eaten for two days and when my flatmate answered the door for the first time, I knew he was in worse shape than I was. The poor guy had one crazy night before I got there and was literally the color green when I showed up. But that was totally fine, I was actually kind of upset that I missed that night! We bonded over "How I Met your Mother" and he has definitely been one of my best mates since I've been here!

Before

After

He took a few of us internationals into town that afternoon to get groceries and look around. My first meal in New Zealand was butter chicken, basmati, and an L&P (NZ drink) from a food court in the mall. It gets me hungry just thinking about how good it was. 

The following night my other flatmate arrived while I was sleeping, and the next morning she left before I woke up. She was living with me for a day and a half before I had finally met her! And the kicker was that we met at a random party down the road from our house, I thought that she was making the whole thing up. The story was verified and have actually become super close friends (although I still think she is trouble).

Otago Campus

One Big Happy Family

That Saturday we had "a large gathering" with all of our future friends! Little did we know that the the majority of internationals would show up for it and the place was jammed. Haven't had a party like it since.

Finally the next week the whole 519A family had arrived! Our last kiwi host arrived early that week and we instantly became a tight knit famjam.