The first weekend

The weekend was beautiful – the sun stayed out the whole time!

On Saturday Anna, Josh, Carly, Ian and I woke up early and went to a farmers market in Lyttelton. It was about a 40-minute bus ride away. I got some tomatoes and broccoli and tried lots of other yummy things that the local people made (such as hummus). We then stopped in a really cute, local café and enjoyed bagels and soups and hot chocolate.

Ian and Anna with their soup at the cafe

The view at the farmers market

After walking around the harbor we headed back to Christchurch city centre and walked around there. We saw Cathedral square and some really cute stores and restaurants. It’s a pretty small city compared to ones in the USA so it was easy for us to navigate around.

The center of the city

Anna had heard from someone who used to live in Christchurch that we HAD to go to wool world. We got directions and were really looking forward to buying some wool clothes to keep us a little warmer. When we got there it ended up being called knitting world, and only sold yarn etc. It was a funny adventure though and a reason to walk around the city. Last night my flatmates and friends and I went into town for the big All Blacks game vs. South Africa. We went to a sports bar called The Holy Grail. It was a huge/popular place and had stadium seating to watch the game on the gigantic screen. It was really fun to be surrounded by die hard rugby fans (plus NZ won!) After that we stopped at a couple other bars and clubs and then took the metro bus back to school. This morning we decided to take a bus out to a small town on the water called Sumner. We ate lunch at a café and then walked on the beach and got ice cream. It was really pretty and there were a lot of families there with kids playing in the water and climbing on the rocks. It was a great way to spend our Sunday afternoon.

The beach

Carly, Anna and Josh with their ice cream

Me looking really cool

The view from where I was standing

Tonight I plan on relaxing and then going to bed early. We’re all going to wake up at 6:00am to watch the World Cup final at 6:30! And then classes start tomorrow. I only have one but I am actually very excited for all of my classes I hope that they will be interesting.

I still haven’t made myself a real dinner yet. I’ve been surviving on yoghurt and the free popcorn and chips at the events the Apartments are putting on to meet people. Those events ended today though, so I guess I’ll have to start cooking…