Roadtrippin' New Zealand

Hey everyone!
First day out of school(Yesterday) was a bit crazy...due to "top secret" circumstances, I had to go alone to Matamata, and see Hobbiton, a movie set of the "Lord of the Rings". However, this gave me a lot of flexibility, I could do the stuff I wanted to do. So, I went to the car rental company and as there is always problems with such, today wasn't different. I booked the smallest offer and unfortunately these were not avaiable anymore...so I had to be satisfied with a luxury stationwagon...hehe. Anyway, I decided to drive to Piha Beach and visit a friend at the Surf Shop first, a place you really should check out once you are there in Piha. Following this, I went on, heading for Matamata/Hobbiton. As a result of having been able of catching an early tour, I could go on and drive through narrow winding roads with tempo limit beyond the beyonds...was freakin' fun. I saw a living Kiwi in a Kiwi observatory station that also featured other common "New Zelandish" animals, enjoyed a cup of coffee in the middle of nowhere and had dinner in Hamilton before heading back to Auckland. Have a glance at this marvellous day!

Still looking for this ring I once lost here...someone must have taken it away.

With dvd player and rear camera...etc =D

Should be a Kiwi...(black Kiwi-looking dot) They are nocturnal.

New Zealand features the highest density of volcanoes per square kilometres in the whole world!

Hamilton

Hope you appreciated this!
Flo

EF Graduation

Hej folks!

As everything comes to an end sooner or later, this extraordinary and flabbergasting experience with EF Sydney and Auckland does so too. Unfortunately. Last Friday featured the EF graduation of quite a few students. Everyone here had apparently a great time and I was not the only one who had difficulties with saying goodbye to so many lovely and fantastic people.Having eventually achieved the objective for which I have strived the most, say, becoming Cambridge Proficiency Exam dignified, I would like to honour my two main teachers. First of all, "Jerry-berry" Pham, a fantastic young and always-smiling teacher who pushed us hard so as to make sure we all passed CAE during the time in Sydney. Despite this, he cared a lot about us and our cultural activities, in which he often took part as well. His wittiness and feeling for our needs made it a really pleasant time to work with him. I wish him all the very best for his prospective endeavours! Secondly, I must name Phil Last, my teacher in Auckland. He was often the one who laughed Last and best due to our absolute willingness to supply him with tons of cookies, cakes and whatsoever. We had heaps of fun – sometimes a bit too much (which was immediately punished by an order of cookies from the teacher’s side). Sweet as. School was not school anymore the way I knew it. It became rather a familiar aspect which was on the one hand due to the small size of the C2 class and had on the other hand an amazing impact on our speaking and vocabulary skills which were urgently needed. Despite this he never forgot the superior aim, to accompany and teach us us as much as possible concerning language development. Thank you and all the very best for you and your family’s future.

I also met a lot of people during my stay in Sydney and in Auckland. In addition, there were heaps of relationships built outside school. I just want to say thank you guys. This stay and my travels, which will be continued until beginning of April, became so fantastic and memorable mostly because of you. A lot of tightly-knit friendships were created and I am already looking forward to seeing a lot of you back in Europe. Cheers and Kia ora.

=D

In the following pictures you will have the opportunity to receive an overview on how EF Auckland looks like. The first picture is the view out of my window at the Empire student accommodation which was, considering its price, fair enough.

Have fun!
I'll have some too - travels start next tuesday!! Yheeww!
Flo

Cultural Weekend

Hey folks!

A little culture doesn't hurt! - Despite that it can be really interesting so as not to say that I was pretty thrilled to see the Maritime Museum in the harbor area and the Auckland Museum in the city's oldest park, the domain. Besides, there were some other things going on this particular weekend! Have a look!

Americas Cup winning boat 1995

Americas Cup trophy, the oldest trophy in the world

The skipper's socks believing, they bring luck.

Had to kill some insects in my new room!

I CAN see the sea! xD

Auckland museum in the Domain.

Some impressions of Maori Culture are depicted here. The museum itself features not only Maori Culture but also sections of natural history including a rather interesting part with the volcanic history of New Zealand. I didn't know, for example, that I am currently living on a volcano! =D

Kiwi

Everybody in Switzerland would freak out if we had such an earthquake. Here it seems to be quite normal.

Maori cultural performances were pretty interesting too.

The museum features also a huge section of New Zealand's wars.

The Domain

View from a bridge over the highway, the students accomodations are to the right, I live in tower 1, to the very left here. In the backgound Rangitoto Island is clearly visible.

With the very best regards

Flo