Back to the Future

So I've got one more week until I leave for New Zealand and so far this is what I know:

1. This time difference thing is tricky. This is because New Zealand time is three hours behind California BUT it's also one day ahead... so if it is Tuesday at 6:00pm in California, that means that it is Wednesday at 3:00pm in New Zealand. So basically, it's like I can see into the future WHICH IS AWESOME.

2. My flight departs LAX on Tuesday at 7:30pm and I'll arrive in Auckland on Thursday at 5:25am. This is important. However, I'm not really sure what's happening in-between on that Wednesday...

3. So I looked on the University of Otago website (Dunedin is the city, Otago is region) and formal lectures don't start until March 1st. And then April rolls around and OH LOOK, mid-semester break from April 2nd to April 12th. And then school resumes et cetera UNTIL... Lectures end June 4th. Exams begin June 8th. Exams end June 24th. So really this means that I only have about three months of actual classroom time. WHOA, That Is Neat.

4. I'm going to be living in a four bedroom flat/apartment with a Kiwi girl from Auckland, a French guy, and another American guy. This should fun/interesting.
PS. "Kiwi" = New Zealander... apparently it's a big part of their national identity/huge source of national pride type thing.
PPS. "Kiwi" is also a fruit (duh) and is the national bird of New Zealand.

5. Even though New Zealanders speak English, apparently they use a lot of slang. Again, this should be fun/interesting. Also in case you were curious, I guess in New Zealand the term "walkabout" is used to refer generally to traveling around when you want a break or change in your life and so I thought it would be an appropriate title for my blog plus it makes me feel like I'm going on an adventure - SWEET. (In Australia back in the day, "walkabout" meant going into the Australian outback. I don't really know much about Australia right now except that Australia and New Zealand are like friendly rivals and that Australia was originally a place were Great Britain sent all its prisoners so New Zealand is supposedly better/superior/more awesome... just saying.)

6. By the time I return, I will have been unemployed for SIX MONTHS. It's not like I won't have funds or anything like that... it's more like Hey, I Have Had A Job Since I Was 15 Years Old And Now I'm 21 And I Won't Have One For Six Months. I don't know, it's just weird I guess.

7. Travel plans that I know of = I'll be going up to the North Island during the second weekend in March to do some conservation work at the Hunua Ranges Regional Park. WAY EXCITED... this place contains 20% of all New Zealand's indigenous plant species so I'm guessing it's pretty rad. Yay Nature!!

Coolness, ORGANIZING THE FUTURE!!! Alright, I think that is all for today. This is good... like maybe we should do this again sometime.