June 8th 2011

At first, I expected New Zealand to be a foresty area with culturally native people completely different from us. Most of it was right, I didn't expect to see many fast food chain restaurants. Also, I managed to see allot of exotic plants while we drove through the country. I noticed how everyone speaks with a strong Australian like accent. I noticed how everyone noticed us (our EF tour clothes) and were curious about what we were doing. Some culture shocks include, driving in the street on the left side. I thought I could be used to it, but the more I try not to focus on how people drive, the more interested, I'm in on it. The 2nd culture shock is the local courtesy. Most of the time people came up to us was because of our travel clothing, but they were also very friendly. Many people wished us good luck on our trip, some other people like a shop owner gave us information on how New Zealand taxes as compared to the US. As well as a man we met at the Luge rides showed us some interesting animals commonly found in New Zealand. My last culture shock was the smell. I was told the geothermic areas gave off the smell, and it was worse than I expected it to be. What I'm exited for tomorrow is mostly the Ogoing and visiting the Agrodome. Also, I'm happy to be able to talk with my parents (via text) since we landed in New Zealand.

To summarize the day overall, we began by landing in Auckland and meeting our tour guide for the whole trip, Alec, who is an expert in the land. Primarily in his home town, Sydney Australia. We road from Auckland to Rotorua in a bus ride that took a couple hours. After we dropped off our stuff at the hotel, the first place we visited was a small shopping center where we ate and talked to a few people. Afterwards, we went to go Luge riding on top of a hill. It was very fun, despite me almost falling over on one of the hills. Soon afterwards, we visited a jade workshop to see where they find it and how they design it. Once night had come we went to one of New Zealands personal fast food chains, Berger Fuel. As soon as we finished, we stopped at a store to get some supplies and then we went back to the hotel to retire for the night.