Hi y'all I know it's been a minute since I was last on here! I still have a few vlogs and new posts from the past few months to get up but I figured I start out with just a brief catch up of my time living in Wellington.
After my trip to Queenstown I moved up to Wellington which is New Zealand's capital city located on the bottom of the North Island. It's known as the Windy City here and its weather has definitely taken some getting used to with its crazy winds that literally stop you dead in your tracks. For my time in NZ I figured that Wellington would serve as a great home base and a nice place to stay for a good chunk of time to find a job and save some money.
I have been living with our lovely family friends, the Tacons, who have graciously allowed me to stay in their daughter's empty room while I've been in Welly. They've been absolutely wonderful hosts and were great first friends in Wellington to make introductions and support me while I found my footing. It was also great becoming friends with their daughter (who is just a couple years older than I am) and getting to know and hang out with all her friends as well! I'm actually due to go to a concert this weekend with them!
On October 11 I went with the Tacons to watch the first Bledisloe Cup Test Match between New Zealand and Australia. It was my first ever proper Rugby game and it was so amazing getting to see the All Blacks play! It also blew my mind that we could do that and be in a stadium packed full of people. Things are definitely different in this little corner of a basically Covid-free world! Even though it ended on a draw it was still a fantastic day and let's just say my family was a bit jealous I was there.
About three weeks after having been in the city I was able to find a waitressing job at a new Californian/Mexican restaurant and bar, Rosie's Red Hot Cantina, that's opened up at the waterfront. How fitting after my years in LA! Since then I've been working 40 hour weeks and managing to balance that with my social life.
One of my favorite things about Welly is going out to town with friends. The night life in Wellington kind of reminds me of Athens, only on a slightly bigger scale. There's one major street with all the bars and night clubs so you can hop from place to place and you're always running into someone you know. Also shoutout to Corey for being the first friend in Welly I made on my own and making so many introductions. On Halloween I went to my first rave/ warehouse party, which Wellington is known for having a lot of. It was 90's disco theme so it was quite a mixed age crowd which was entertaining.
I've been staying in Island Bay which is about a 30 minute bus trip into the city and 40 minute trip to work at the waterfront. Public transport is fantastic in Welly and has allowed me to have so much more independence and such a smaller Uber bill. The other nice thing about the city is that everything is pretty centrally located so once I'm there I'm pretty much walking everywhere.
Although there's really no need for me to drive here, my dad's buddy, Wayne, who I'm staying with was brave enough to give me a driving lesson. They drive on the opposite side of the car and the road than the US so it was a bit nerve-racking. It gave me flashbacks to Dad teaching me to drive for the first time in the Athens Academy parking lot over 5 years ago now lol.
I really don't think I could've asked for a better place to call home in New Zealand. I have met some truly amazing people and made friends I know that I'll have for life. I showed up to the city not really knowing anyone besides the Tacons and have now made my own little life for myself on the other side of the world. I promise I'll try to keep more up to date on the blog and will have more to come soon!
xx syd
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