Welly the Magnificent

First, I must apologize for the lack of posting. My lack of internet ability (we are only given a small amount of usage per week) teamed with some laziness/ being busy contributes to the solitude.

But I have now been in Wellington for a week and this city maybe be one of the greatest cities in the world, no joke. The view from the harbour is amazing, the night life is great, the architecture is breath taking, and there is always something to do. To quickly sum up what we've done... Swimming, the beach, drinking, rock climbing, partying, eating. So I can't really complain about life right now. There is a big rock climbing wall all but a 7 minute walk from our hostel/ house/ dorm and me and my buddy George are going to get a 5 month membership so we can go more often. There was also a huge music festival that is called "Homegrown" and all local bands and what not come for the weekend, so there were A LOT of people around here. The festival was accompanied by a break dancing competition which was cool to watch on the water front. The other day we also all went to a rugby match which was really cool, very different yet very similar to football in the states. As I mentioned earlier, the architecture is amazing here. The buildings are all so different, the sculptures that litter the water front are awesome, and they have sayings, phrases, and quotes all throughout the city etched into stone, on signs, on benches, etc. It really is a cool city.

Last night was the first night I didn't go out since I've been in NZ, so it was a little different for me but I needed a break because the night before, Saturday night, I experienced something that I never want to do a second time, I got sprayed with pepper spray. Family, don't freak out I'm fine. There was a fight on the street while we were walking by. The fight got a little pushy and they pushed one of the girls we were with so I stepped in between them so the girl wouldn't get thrown into a pole. Soon enough the cops got there to break it up so I stepped back and let them take care of it. One of the guys started resisting the cops and started fighting him so the cop had t call for another to help. The man was still fighting so they had to mace him but they carry their mace in a squirt bottle so the cop missed the guy for the first spray and hit me and the bouncer of the bar. The whole right side of my face got plastered, eye, cheek, and mouth. It was like fire, literally fire. The waitress at the bar brought me and the bouncer water and ice and I got some free drinks out of it so that helped the situation a little. But that is the craziest thing that has happened here so far.

Class doesn't start until next week so we may try to take a trip down to the south island or go backpacking somewhere for a couple days, we shall see. I am running out of money though because food and the living situation needs supplies... and alcohol is pricey. They have a ton of wine here, more than any I have every seen, the beer is really good, however they tax hard alcohol a lot here so that is what gets expensive. But like I said before, life is good, living the dream. I will post more often from now on. So I will finish by saying the Boilers are now in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten so Boiler Up!

-Karl

Oh and I almost forgot... here are my addresses:

Letters: Packages:

Karl Reiter Karl Reiter

Apartment 913 Apartment 913

Stafford House Stafford House

PO Box 8050 40 The Terrace

Wellington 6143 Wellington 6011