Day Five: June 10th, 2011

          We started the day early, catching the public bus to take us to the Redwood forest for a hike. Unfortunately, the weather did not agree with us, and the rain just kept coming down. However, it was a cool experience to take public transportation in a foreign country, and to talk to the local school kids who were just trying to get to class on time. The forest was gorgeous, and when we were finished hiking we went looking for the other group, and ended up standing in the rain for close to a half hour until we spied them walking down the road, singing as always. A little rain never hurt anyone!
Once the bus reached the stop, we set off on our way back to the hotel to put on some dry clothes and head back to Auckland for the night. After another three hour drive, we made it to Rangitoto College in Auckland for a party with the students there. Although it is called a college, Rangi is really a high school. I met so many incredible people, including my pen pal, Rebecca. I loved chatting with them, comparing and contrasting our everyday lives. It was a great night, filled with singing, dancing, and tons of food! Meeting kids from another country and realizing how much we have in common was definitely an eye opener for me, showing that it doesn't matter where you live, teens will be teens!

Prompt: Reflection of morning and night, include any thoughts running through your head.
          Hiking through the Redwoods today, I had very mixed emotions. On the one hand, the autumn-like colors of the trees as well as their great height and numbers were absolutely breathtaking. On the other, it was rainy and we had to wait a long time for the public bus as well as the other group to catch up with us. I can't complain though, because the beauty of New Zealand makes up for just about anything and everything in my book.
          Meeting the Rangitoto students tonight was also fantastic and more than outweighed the wet hike of this morning. Everybody at Rangitoto College in Auckland was so sweet. Seriously. They were all so welcoming and hospitable. I loved the carefully planned decorations, the food which the students helped grill themselves, and the music, some of which was American and some which was not. Mostly I loved the people. The Maori kids did a welcome, in which you touch noses with the other person, and they also did a song and dance just for us. They also taught us how to dance the haka, and it was hysterical doing it against each other, half the room versus the other half. Rebecca, my pen pal, proved to be a lot like myself, and it was really hard to say goodbye, even though we had only known each other for three hours. I really do hope we stay in touch, and she vowed to email me as soon as she got home. I checked my inbox; she kept her promise. Talking to everyone was just so easy and it was so much fun to see what we all had in common. I also loved when they tried to immitate our accents. All in all, I had a fantastic night. I loved those Kiwi kids! It was incredible to see how much they cared and how excited they were to have us visit; we were treated like celebrities, us small town average Joes. The New Zealanders are some of the nicest people I have ever met, whether they were in Rotorua or Auckland. I will definitely never forget this experience, and I will have to return here some day (or at least I'd hope to). Today was fantastic. One of my favorite nights by far.