One thing I didn’t really think about before moving was how much my hobbies at home depended on warm weather. In Hawaiʻi, I could always go to the beach, lay in the sun, or swim whenever I wanted. But, as it’s getting colder and windier in New Zealand heading into winter, I’ve had to find different ways to spend my free time. Lately, I’ve started coloring and watercolor painting, which has actually been really relaxing. It’s been nice having something creative to do indoors,

Toward the end of the trip, we were definitely starting to slow things down a bit, partly because we’d been doing a lot all week, and partly because the weather wasn’t great. It was pretty rainy, so we were trying to find things to do indoors that didn’t cost much, which is how we ended up at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The museum was such a good option, especially since it was free for students. We went in thinking we’d be in t

The zoo ended up being way bigger than I expected, and there was honestly so much to see. There were heaps of different birds, which were cool, but the main attraction was seeing a kiwi, which felt pretty special. Then you’ve got all the usual big zoo animals as well, separated by habitat on different walking paths, such as the South East Asia Jungle Track, the Africa Safari Track, and Te Wao Nui (Aotearoa New Zealand). Probably the most interesting part was their animal hosp