so this is new...

i was inspired yesterday to start this blogging thing after seeing how much fun jacob was having with his blog crush, kim, who knits hats and writes about it. i dont do anything neat like knit hats, but i'm hoping that my travels through new zealand will provide me with enough inspiration to write interesting things. or atleast having a blog will keep my family aware of my where-abouts.

so, this new zealand idea started about three months ago, in august, in bar harbor maine. i was waitressing at mckays public house, and had yet to make any plans for the winter. a number of things i considered were: moving to san francisco and finding a job (and crashing on my big brother's couch), moving to santa fe and working in a museum, staying in bar harbor for the winter and thereby submitting to the inevitable mental degradation, or following the bates train right on down to portland. well, by chance, i met a lovely little person this summer by the name of michelle, who had spent a winter in new zealand a few years back. after finding a kick-ass cheap flight online, i decided to just make the leap. so here i am, sitting on my brother's roomates' bed in san francisco, only 5 days away from new zealand.

i arrive in auckland on november 20th, at 5 in the morning. at the moment i'm torn between a few hostels, but all are in the downtown area, on queen street. i'm planning to stay in the city for the shortest period of time possible, since the hostels all cost around $25 a night, and i'm terrified of cities. then i will be hopping a bus tour (not the geriatric kind, mind you, but the kind aimed at lil 20something backpackers like me) that will take me all over the place and finally drop me in christchurch. from there, i will commence the WWOOFing / finding odd jobs. for however long, until my money runs out.

i will do my best to keep a-postin' here and there when exciting things happen. so far, san francisco has been great, i saw jen taylor, jacob perkins, and even ran into peter granquist on the street. the president of bates college, the infamous ETH (elaine tuttle hanson) was staying in the same hotel as my family and me. which was bizarre. i sat next to her at the phi beta kappa dinner and wowed her with my ambitions of being a waitress in bar harbor after college. so she should remember me. and i saw dylan spaulding, one of my fellow teaching interns from MMA, at UCBerkeley, where i was touring for the day and checking out the antho department. crazypants. i went to a Feist concert last friday, which blew my frikin socks off. i love that woman, she is a terrific performer, it was absolutely mesmerizing. big props to pops for getting mom and me tickets!!

ok ok ok, gotta run and explore the city- mom gave me $40 to decorate liam's room, thoughts?
alli