What day is it again?

Okay, so I still haven't totally adjusted to the time thing. I slept for a total of three hours last night and cannot go back to sleep. Boy am I gonna crash today!

So, I've now done two things that I never thought I would ever do in my life: fly solo internationally and stay at a youth hostel. At first I was very shy, as I tend to be, but the people here (well most of them) are pretty awesome and I've met people from all around Europe. I thought I had left the whole "dorm thing" behind when I graduate from the university, and let me tell you, I really don't miss it. I do enjoy my privacy, but this has been a great learning experience for me, and that I wouldn't trade. It's good to meet and talk to "real people" and locals- the sort of experience that itinerary tours just don't give you.

Yesterday, Sarah and I toured Wellington by foot. There were a helluva a lot of hills, by the way. We went to the free national museum, whose name I will only butcher if I try to spell, and that was pretty cool. There was a modern art exhibit though that focused on the placement of hair on chain linked fences, which I didn't "get", but I do know that it was very creepy.

My favorite place was seeing the Maori meeting house that they have in the museum. We had to take off our shoes before entering, and it was very darkly lit, which only increased it's coolness. Maori art is fascinating and I do have to admit to being totally taken with the swirls and complex patterns. It was fascinating because the meeting house was very reminiscent to me of the Scandanavian meeting houses.

Afterwards we took a walk to the botanical gardens which were awesome as well, but we went through them pretty quickly because the sun was setting and it was getting colder. We stopped at the grocery to pick up some items for supper and I was amazed at the price of bell peppers- anywhere from 8-15 dollars (about 5-9 American). While we didn't get any peppers, we did get some chocolate biscuits which are fabulous and some ice cream (which was like eating marshmallows) called "Hokey Pokey" and had butterscotch in it. We also picked up some golden kiwis. Now, I don't like green kiwis, but golden ones are some of the best fruit that I have ever eaten. After all of this deliciousness, I have to agree with Sarah when she said, "You will never be happy again when you leave all of this." Lol, too true.