New Zealand: Day 1

 DAY 1
  Left MSP at 7:30 am and flew to Atlanta and then 5 hours later arrived in LAX at 2:00. First time in California! Met up with the group and went to check into our international flight at 4:30 and then roamed the airport till we boarded our flight to Fiji at 8:30.
   It was a long 11 hour flight but I slept, read, and watched Polar Express. I am reading Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. During our flights we were fed plenty of food. It wasn't terrible but it was food and kind of gave me a stomach ache with all the food but just sitting there and it sitting in my stomach. We landed in Fiji at 6:00 am just as the sun was rising. The Fijians were very nice. Bula means hello and Vinaka means thank you.
   It was pretty cool crossing the international time line because we never experienced Dec. 28,2013! Weird right? Next, we hoped onto another plane to Christchurch for 4 more hours on a plane. So that totalled 22 hours on a plane for me!
   We got to Lincoln University inthe town of Lincoln around 12:45. Yes, we left Lincoln, Nebraska to arrive at Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand. The area had an earthquake in Sept. '10 and Feb. '11 and multiple buildings on campus are now condemned.
   Our group is housed in Hudson Hall and they are quaint little dorm rooms. We all finally got to shower after traveling for nearly 30 hours. BEST SHOWER EVER!!!
   Sack lunches were h ad and they put eggs on nearly everything and are quite proud of theur CookieTime cookies that are chocolate chip, double chocolate and even apricot flavored.
   Next, we had a short orientation of the university and our itnerary by Heather Stevenson our main host. As we went through all of our activities, it made me giddy realizing how amazing of a trip this is going to be!
   The landscape is so diverse here that within a 150 mile radius you can be surfing or snowboarding. We'll go from plains to mountains and glaciers to rainforestto fijords and then incredible oceanic and night sky views. This truly will be a trip of a lifetime, no doubt!
   We had some free time so LaNae and I ventured around campus snapping pictures. Later went to the New World market grocery store in town for some toiletries. Logan and Jared joined me in hopes of buying some alcohol since the legal drinking age here is 18, but Logan forgot to grab his passport so instead they  simply got to escort me there and back.
  At 6:30 pm we had a BBQ dinner. Kiwis sure like their meat has we had five options; chicken, steak, lamb, and three flavors of brats. The food has been amazing thus far. Their dairy products are unbelievable, especially the ice cream.
   After dinner, about 25 of us sat around in the TV lounge and drank the local beers for an hour before heading into town to the local pub. It was a nice mile or so walk, but we arrived at the Famous Grouse and were quickly accepted by the locals. I enjoyed a litrr of Speight's Gold Medal Ale. Csn't quite figure out what to compare it to back home. Gold's beer is like Coors. It was an entertaining trip with some individuals learning new tricks from the locals. I have videos for proof. Later, Katie and I played pool with Reese and Nate. We all headed back around 11. It doesn't get dark till about 10 and the sun rises around 5:30. Once I hit the bed, I was out till 6:45 am.