This week has been super long with school work and everything getting hectic very quickly, but this weekend definitely made it all worthwhile! On Friday night I ended up having an extreme change of plans and attended a Pūrangiaho that the Ngāi Tauira (VUW’s Māori Students’ Association) put on. It was really supposed to be for Māori students, but somehow a few girls and I got invited to it and we decided to go (I’m not joking when I say we found out about it 45 minutes before it started). I’m really glad we went because we got to meet heaps of new people, and learn more about Māori culture (I find it extremely interesting, I’m constantly trying to learn more).

On Saturday I woke up with the exciting news that I got a job at home for the 2015-2016 academic year (it’s a promotion from a Community Advisor to a Senior Community Advisor, so I’ll have more responsibilities and help oversee a staff)! Then I ended up going out with my flatmate, Court, to a kiwi party (her friend Henry’s friends). This was really fun, and I got to make some new kiwi friends! The girls I ended up going into town with were really nice and they ended up showing me a bar that plays basically just country and American classics called Dakota. I could not have felt more at home for the quick amount of time that we were there! When you walk in you get a cowboy hat and they had American flags hanging up outside of the bar (I knew I liked it just from that alone). I also got my first picture taken at a bar, and it was actually a good picture, so that made me super happy! Then today (Sunday) I hung around the house and then went to my RA’s flat for an ice cream social tonight. After a long week, this weekend was exactly what I needed.

Feeling at home at a country bar in Wellington, New Zealand (probably the only one)!