January 2, 2006

After celebrating a 9 p.m. New Year (midnight back home in Kentucky), we loaded onto the nearly empty flight and began our journey across the ocean to the land of the Kiwi. With friendly in-flight service, a game or two of Mad Libs, an eight-hour sleep, and a fantastic sunrise, I was not only in heaven but also a few minutes from landing.  Looking out the plane window, only one thing appeared to be different: the roads.  Rather than being the bland grey I’m used to, the roads appeared to be black as if they had been freshly paved.  Upon a second more detailed glance, it was clear to see the cars were also all traveling on the opposite side of the street.  “Watch Out!” I heard Evan Brothers yell to the speeding cars below.  It was then that I had to remind Evan that indeed the cars were safe and traveling on the correct side of the street, but that it was instead a “cultural difference” between New Zealand and the United States— case one of cultural learning.

Similar to Syllabus Day at the beginning of each term, the first day in New Zealand was marked with introductory things: we settled into our rooms, caught up with a few students already in the City, took a basic tour of Auckland, and finally began to recover from a bad case of jetlag. All in all, the day was a beautiful start to a new year, term, and experience.