19-02-09: Everything's N00B!

Welcome to yet another attempt by me, Travis aka Snake Eyes aka DragonFlashLightningFoot, to keep a blog of semi-daily happenings. This time, I'm in New Zealand! My year will be full of the following swashbuckling adventures:

Travis Vs. Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Auckland
Travis Vs. Writing a Novel
Travis Vs. Picking up some Slang
Travis Vs. Listening to lots of The Boss

Since I just arrived yesterday after 30+ hours of cramped air travel, I figure the first adventure I will fill you in on is Travis Vs. The New Home.

I am living in a furnished student apartment in an area of Auckland called Grafton, that I've already discovered is full of really old cemetaries, lots of good coffee shops, and great food. Here are some pictures of my new room for a year (I'm still not sure that it compares to the basement).

Here is a view of my new quarters. Yes, the bedding was provided free of charge, and Yes, I think it came from a hotel that went out of business. You can't tell from this picture, but the color scheme is essentially sea greeen and cream. Yes, I am living in the 1970's dorm. I love it!










Here is a picture of the front wall. I have my own fridge, which currently is holding a bottle of weird champagne I got for free on my flight from Fiji. You can also see a cord trailing into the distance. I only have 4 outlets and way more appliances, so right now it gets kind of crazy, in a sci-fi way.






This is a view of my desk/bookshelf. In case you can't tell, I am bookending my books with five king-size cartons of Rainbow Nerds. Thanks King Family!









This is my bathroom. I totally forgot to bring towels, so this morning I walked to "The Warehouse" which is like Walmart NZ style. I think the tan goes well with the sea green, don't you?!









This is a picture of my "back yard" from my window. My neighbors John and Ola are excited because it is a great window to put speakers against if there is ever a backyard BBQ or shindig or the NZ equivalent. Yesterday a cat plopped down outside and watched me unpack. I tried to go talk to her, but she wasn't having any of it. I need to work on my suave-ness when talking to the ladies, I guess.








Last, but definitely not least, here is the artwork that ties the whole place together. It is a painting that was given to me by Maddie King as a going away present. It's above my bed to remind me that no matter how much I get stressed over all the intensive school stuff, things will always be all right. It's like my own slice of Miyagi.







So that's the place. I came, I saw, I kicked some butt. I will keep you posted on further adventures. But let me leave you with one of my first NZ lessons. Just like driving, walking is done on the left side of the sidewalk. I was a little dense to this at first and it looked kind of like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3m4e45bTo

Until next time,

Snake-Eyes