First Couple Days

I have no been in Wellington for 4 days so am running out of excuses for not having updated my blog yet. I arrived early Saturday morning (8 am) and it was hot and sunny. Overall the flight over was uneventful and even though I barely slept at all for the entire trip, I was wide awake and ready to get settled in Wellington. I was an hour early for meeting my RA so I was dropped off at a little café by my airport shuttle and killed time by drinking coffee (excellent coffee btw, NZ has great coffee!) and reading my book. At 10 am I caught a taxi up to University Hall where I met my RA Monique who showed me my apartment. It was disgustingly filthy and made me laugh at how we used to call our kingston house dirty, it was nothing compared to this house. She was disgusted as well and assured me that it would be cleaned before I got back from backpacking as all the other current housemates were summer students and would be moving out shortly. If they didn’t clean it themselves they would be charged for having a professional cleaning service come in to do it.
My room is medium sized but has an awesome view over the city and harbor. I unpacked all my stuff and then went exploring around the city with one of the housemates. He showed me around the main parts of the city, all are connected or within easy walking distance and it reminds me of Boston a bit in that aspect. Although the waterfront is considerably nicer than Boston’s. We had a beer at a pub/bar on the terrace and then walked along the warf before taking the cable car back up the hill to the University. The cable car is really funky in that it is built on an angle so that the car is perpendicular to the hill rather than to gravity. It was very cute and ‘old’ feeling. We then walked up through the university back to our flat where I proceeded to pass out promptly at like 8 pm. I was exhausted.
The next morning I got up and went for a run. I ran down through the University and then along Lambton Quay (which is a main street) and then attempted to take the stairs that cut up the hill back to University. There are SO many stairs and they are wicked steep and I died. Literally died. Could not move I was in such pain. But I made it up ¾ of them and then took a 30 second break, then finished them then walked the pathway back to the street. Then I ran the rest of the hill up to University, then walked through University, then ran the last couple minutes from University back to my flat. So overall I would consider myself out of shape, but we don’t have hills like this back home! (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it).
I had a pretty chill day on Sunday as everything was closed and it was sorta grey and overcast. I read my book and relaxed and caught up on sleep. Went to the grocery store with Monique (she has a car) and got closer with her. On Monday I went for another run (through the Botanical Gardens this time, also killer hills there, still in pain) then took my computer down to Starbucks to use internet. Chatted with people and went through my various e-mails before heading to the bank to set up an account. I was successful with that and then returned to Starbucks for more internet before heading home for a nap and then dinner. I walked down to Te Aro which is a little village-y type place at the bottom of my street with a movie store and café and mini grocery mart type thing. Bought some things for dinner and rented a movie (stop-loss…it was ok). Passed out early again and then woke up and my legs were in so much pain I decided against the run. Went to Starbucks to use the last of my Internet time and then met up with a woman that I had e-mailed the previous day about an ad for a pay-as-you-go phone. Bought her phone off her, set it up, and then went to the Library to set up an account there. Tried to rent some books but they didn’t have any of the ones I wanted in so got out David Warsh’s “Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations” which is all about the economic discovery of 1990 by a young recent phd graduate from University of Chicago. So far its quite interesting and a good read, but I’m only on chapter 4.
Woke up today (Wed), its again a grey overcast day, am debating whether to run or not. Probably will, before hading down to starbucks for some more internet. Supposedly there are lots of café’s with internet all over the place, but Starbucks is close by and has outlets, so even though its super American of me…I’m sticking with it. Plus it has my favorite caramel frappucinos and its been too cold for them back home so I’m getting my fill of them now:D I need a reward after all these steps, hills, and runs!
If the weather perks up a might go for a walk on one of the trails outside the city, but I’m waiting for a friend to do those so that I’m not lonely. I’m trying to pace how much of Wellington I do in this week, as I’m here for quite a few months and want things to do once I make friends. Maybe I’ll explore one of the museums today. I’m not sure yet.