Kia ora

Kia ora,

This is my first blog live from Auckland, New Zealand. It's Monday afternoon right now over here, so it's almost a week ago since I stepped onto the airplane. With about a half hour delay the plane took off from Amsterdam heading to Dubai. After a good flight I landed in Dubai where it was pretty warm and I had to wait for about four hours before my next flight to Brisbane took off. Those four hours can be pretty long when there isn't really much to do, but it wasn't that bad. Also in Dubai there was a little bit of a delay, because they had to change two tires of the plane. Finally we were good to go for the longest part of the trip (about 13 and a half hour) from Dubai to Brisbane. Luckily for me there were enough movies to watch on the Emirates on board entertainment system. Otherwise it would have been a very boring trip, because I couldn't really fall asleep and when I did it was only for a short time. After landing in Brisbane I only had to wait for an hour before I could go back in the plane again so I had some to freshen up. This last part of my trip only took two and a half or maybe three hours, so I had just enough time to watch another movie before I would arrive in Auckland.

Once I got through customs there was my driver waiting who would bring me to my apartment, but before we left we had to wait for a girl from England who would also be staying in Auckland the next couple of months. Really tired of my trip the ride to my apartment was really confusing, because they all drive on the wrong side of the road. Even after a week I'm still not really used to it, although I'm looking at the right side first now before crossing the street (at least most of the time). After a ride through the city I finally arrived at my apartment building where I checked in and had to inspect my room before signing the agreement. I have to admit my room didn't look that good at first sight and it kind of scared me. Is this the place I have to spend the next five months I was thinking to myself? Maybe it was because there were no roommates in the apartment or because I was tired or there was only one elevator working that day. Maybe it was all those things together, but the first sight didn't really excited me. So I went down to the reception, asked if it was also possible to stay for a short period if I end up really not liking my room. Now almost a week later I can see myself living here for the next five months even though the apartment isn't really that great, or maybe that's because I'm used to a whole different living environment.

It turned out that there was already one roommate living in the apartment (Nils), but he was at his internship when I arrived. The next day my second roommate (Nick) would arrive late in the evening. So two guys, both from The Netherlands and so far I think we are getting along fine with each other. On Friday Nick and I went to the orientation at the office of New Zealand Internships by bus. The bus system clearly shows which bus to take to get to your destination, but once you are on the bus you have no idea where to get out, because they don’t show or announce the next bus stop. On our way back Nick and I found out the hard way because we got off the bus a few stops too early and we both had really no idea where we were. Eventually we found our way back home after some walking around.

On Saturday Nick, Nils and I went for a hike to Mount Eden which gives you a great view over the city once you are on the top of it (see photos). Unfortunately the weather wasn’t really that great that day so the photos turned out looking a bit grey. On Sunday we went to the harbour of Auckland, but when we got there it started to rain and we ended up not really seeing anything of the harbour.
Today it’s Monday and for me it was a really exciting day, because I would get to meet my intern coordinator, Roger Wilkinson. After a 40 minute bus ride I arrived on our meeting point, Fencibles Football ground at Highland Park. But there was nobody there so I decided to call Roger and he asked me to meet him at this small café across the street. Here we got to know each other and discussed the first part of my assignment and the rest of the time we talked about football. It’s always nice to talk about football with someone who’s also a fan of Johan Cruijff and his vision on football. After our meeting Roger gave me a lift back to my apartment, but he didn’t drove the same road I came from. He drove by the coastline to show me a great beach which turns out to be not really that far away from my apartment. I will definitely go there sometime when it’s not raining and it’s a bit warmer than it is right now.

A short summary of my first impressions of Auckland: big city, friendly people, a lot of beautiful things to see, but also pretty expensive
So far my first blog about my first days in Auckland. I hope you enjoyed reading it, if not I don’t care.
I will try to post a blog every Sunday or Monday. If you want to see all the photos I take over here you should send me a friend request on Facebook, because I will be uploading them on my Facebook page.

Have a good day!
Yours truly,

Ronald Aalders