For Any Other Reason...

“It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one's present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason.”

- Latin proverb

The past 6 days have been so wonderful! I want to tell you all about the field trip but lets first rewind and talk about last week and the beginning of my weekend…

Thursday:

The woman who was in charge of placing me and other IU/Iowa students into our schools and homestays had us over for some drinks and light refreshments. It was so wonderful finally meeting her and seeing some of my IU friends again! Us girls then walked a bit and had some flatbread pizzas at an Italian restaurant. Of course the first place I eat out is at an Italian place! Then we went to a wine bar for some delicious Sauvignon Blanc – YUMMM (tastes even better in NZ). It was so great meeting new people and catching up with some friends who I know we will become so close after the next couple months.

Friday:

School was fine, it was a day 1 and I hardly have anything so I was a “Relief” aka a sub for a couple classes - all I basically did was answer more questions about America. Then after school on Fridays some of the staff gets together in the teachers lounge (there is a deck outside with a beautiful patio) and have some beer and wine. This was a great opportunity to get to know more of the staff and have some great wine!! I LOVEE this – it is such a great idea – the staff was surprised that if teachers do this in the states we would get fired. Then after dinner my host parents took Allison and I downtown Auckland and we walked around the Warf and all along the water. It was beautiful seeing the city lights. We ran into a event that was soooo awesome. Every Friday people go downtown and watch a movie on a Silo – it is usually a classic (this week it was Indiana Jones) and FREE! They take blankets, drinks, food, and just hang. There were also food trucks and little shops open as well. It was really cool to run into this! To bad next Friday is the last one of the year – I will be on another trip so I wont be able to go and enjoy. It was a great walk though and glad I went J

Saturday:

Two words… Beer. Festival.

Two of my IU girlfriends Jordan and Brittany and I decided late Friday that we would find out way downtown and go to the New Zealand Beer Festival. I figured out the bus system ALL BY MYSELF (yay for me! For those who know more getting around a city/bus system is not my strong suit) and successfully made it downtown in time to meet the girls outside of the Sky Tower. We walked towards Queens Wharf and killed some time walking by the water, sailboats, and restaurants. The Auckland Beer Festival was held in The Cloud, an oddly shaped building that juts out over the water. It was built to accommodate all the people that would be in Auckland for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was a great venue that overlooked the water and the city, and it was nice to be able to go outside when we wanted to because it was another gorgeous day. There were bands and food trucks outside and the beer was indoors. Outside there were also long picnic tables were everyone could sit and talk which was great opportunity to meet people. There were over 150 types of beer and several food vendors set up inside and out. We sampled a wide range of beer: cider, IPA, lager, pale ale, amber ale, you name it. But my favorite was an Apricot wheat beer – DELICIOUS!!!

And for the most hilarious part of my day…

Jordan’s host “dad” (he is like 10 years older than us) told his friends who were at the festival to be on the look out for a tall American girl (Jordan) and two other American girls. Either Jordan is really tall (I don’t think she is) or the three of us were very noticeably American because they were able to find us with only that brief description! CRAZY! We hung out with him and his friend for a bit and then we left to go get some dinner and walk around the city. We ate pizza and drank some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc by the water and talked about how we wanted to spend our two week fall (we are opposite seasons here) break that is coming up – probably heading to the South Island! After a long day of being in the sun, walking around, and drinking lots of beer we called it a night. I figured out where my bus was back to my house and took off! I had an early morning of packing and tramping in the morning and a 8:20 bus to catch in the AM!