Fourth Day in Auckland/First Day in Omaha Beach

Today we woke up early and took a bus to Piha Beach which has black sand beaches.

 It was a pretty cool day in Piha but the sand absorbs the sun so the sand was incredibly warm. We laid out for about two hours and relaxed. Then we all went up to a cafe in Piha and got pizzas and sandwiches and ate lunch. Then we headed back to Auckland to pack and leave for Omaha. Once Chris picked up me, Patrick, Stewart, and Ben, we started driving to Omaha. We stopped outside of Omaha to pick up groceries then headed to the house. The house was amazing and the view was even more incredible. We all showered and then went out for dinner to the pizza place down the road. It was really good. Then we went back and drank some wine and called it a night.

Third Day in Auckland

Today we went to go visit Unitech. This meeting in my opinion was more geared towards our professions and interests. We met with the head of the architecture program and some of his colleagues, one of them being a man named Mark Mismash. He works for the University but he also owns his own company that does green efficient building. He believes that the leed and green star rating systems are just huge checklists and that they actually do not measure the productivity or the improvement due to design changes in terms of energy efficiency. I would love to talk more to him about these two programs since this is what my research and development project is on. After our meeting, we met with Karen about our research and development project and then we had the rest of the afternoon off. Most of us did some packing and got ready to leave after we finish class tomorrow. We are going to stay at my friend Chris's beach house in Omaha beach. We are really excited for a few days off.

Second Day in Auckland

Today we went to go visit Auckland University and their construction program. A lot of the Graduate students are working on research for Christchurch which has encountered a large number of earthquakes and after shocks within the past year. Some of the graduate students took us on a tour around the campus. Later that afternoon after we all split up for lunch, we met up and took a bus to an area called One Tree Hill. It's funny that it's called that since I was OBSESSED with a tv show called "One Tree Hill" when I was in high school.

 We literally climbed up the side of this huge hill that had sheep running all over it. But the hill was not only infested with sheep, but their poop as well. THERE WAS POOP EVERYWHERE!! You couldn't take a step in any direction without having to try and avoid poop. As soon as we got at the top there was a huge monument. It was extremely windy but it was so beautiful because you could see all of the city of auckland in a 360 degree panorama. It was incredible and it made me feel very free and relieved of stress. Then we took a 20 minute walk down the pathway instead of rolling down the side of the steep mountain. Once we got down to the bottom we went back to the hotel and rested and ate dinner before going to the sky tower! When inside the sky tower we went to the top and viewed the city from an incredible angle. Patrick was so scared of getting close to the glass. Then Anoop bought all of us a beer. We sat and enjoyed the view and then a few of us decided to go out. Jason said he knew a place where a lot of college students go but when we got there it was closed because we forgot that its summer and all of the college kids go home. So we just went back and went to bed. today was a really great day. I really enjoyed our activities.

BRISBANE POWERPOINT

http://www.slideshare.net/mej0011/brisbane-powerpoint

January 22, 2011 AUCKLAND

Well, I spoke too soon. I woke up this morning feeling worse than I did yesterday. I didn't partake in today's activities so I could get myself feeling better. Apparently it rained this morning so I don't feel bad about missing. It probably would have made me feel even more sick. If you would like to hear what the class did today make sure to check out their blogs which you can find at http://bsci2012sadu.blogspot.com/p/contacts.html
Have a great day everyone.

January 21, 2011 AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND

Today we arrived in Auckland. We unpacked and ate some lunch and then met at 7 to go on a walk in a park. 

The park had a lot of open space which I enjoyed a lot and then we were done for the day. The bunch of us went down the street from our apartment which is called the Waldorf, but it is nothing like the American Waldorf. Anyways, we went down the street and looked around and then broke off into small groups and went out to dinner. Emily, Patrick, and I went to a Japanese restaurant and it was really good. Afterwards we came back and I took some cold medicine cause I've been sniffling all day. We called it a night. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

January 20, 2011 MELBOURNE

Today we did the tourist thing. We went to to cricket grounds in Melbourne. It was interesting to see a stadium that is extremely old and so was our tour guide. I'm pretty sure he was borderline senile. But he knew a lot of interesting facts and had some pretty clever jokes.

After our tour we went back and rested until about 7 where we went down to Federation Square where we went to see a play called The Summer of the Seventeenth Year or something like that. It was based off of the history of cane harvesters in the off season who would travel to the city. It was actually quite sad but I guess reality can be sad sometimes. I enjoyed it because it gave me a sense of the Melbourne culture and where people came from. Tomorrow we travel to Auckland New Zealand. I don't really know what to expect but I'm really excited!!