9.33 am Hello. Did you think that’s I’d fallen off a castle in a true Disney Death fashion? Or maybe you thought that I’d changed my mind and decided not to go and didn’t have the balls to update this blog.
Well, both of these are untrue. Except for, well, the balls part. But that’s biology not figurative speaking so let’s move on shall we?
Right now I am 18 minutes into my 11 hour bus ride from Auckland to Wellington. Its pretty much the first time since I last posted (3 November? I’m writing this without internet so to be honest I have very little idea) that I’ve had time to just stop and think back about all that has gone on in the past month and a half. And there was a lot.
My first self imposed break was-
Ooooh! We’re stopping to pick up people at one of two of New Zealand’s theme parks. Rainbows End. Its shit. I’ve never been there... but you can tell. The sign we passed says ‘NZ’s Premiere theme park.’ Premiere my ass. Not gonna waste my money on that when I have been to Disney.
- anyway, the first reason that I wasn’t able to blog was because I was focusing on my last exam. And I’m glad I did. I finished the last semester of my degrees with straight As despite my last paper having almost my worse course marks since I started university! Score! However, that exam did begin to mark the long stream of goodbyes that I have had to survive.
I think it was pretty telling that when someone posted in the AU/NZ Disney Facebook group they were sad to say goodbye to people the post had about 4 replies in 30 seconds. It’s not like I haven’t let a place I call home before. But that was Wellington and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t really close with anyone from high school, largely because I went to an all girls school and was a bit of a computer nerd before everyone else realised computers were useful. That just left my family and I knew I was going to see them again. I mean... you know, Christmas etc etc. But this time around... I guess it would have happened either way with my year graduating. But there are people who I like and get on with but that aren’t close enough for me to seriously believe that I will keep in touch with them.
By uni cohort was pretty tight (we take about 80% of our papers together minimum) so straight after our last exam we had drinks at the student bar and had a mini prize giving ceremony which I helped organize. Kind of made me realise how much I’ve missed out on over the last three years (I have a tendancy to sleep in a lot). Saw a lot of people there for the last time, even if I didn’t realise it at the time.
There are people I will keep in touch and I was sad to say goodbye to them. Since my last exam I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to hang out with people so I’m glad I did get together sometimes.
Ack, someone has sat next to me on the bus. There goes my plans of spreading out. Oh well. We’re off again. He smells funny, like some sort of spice candle. I can’t put my finger on it. Not bad, just strange. He can probably read this... eh. Hope there aren’t too many long stops. No wonder this will take 11 hours. Now he’s giving the blurb about no smoking, no drinking blah blah blah. No hot food. Which is fair enough I guess. Now he’s mentioning travel sickness. NO THANK YOU. I have been travel sick only once, which was in Italy. I think that was because of the roads and my dad’s shoddy driving. Didn’t throw up or anything but before that I was proud of my stomach of steel. Now I sympathise. Feeling fine right now, hope it lasts... No toilets on board. Actually, there is one but Health and Safety doesn’t like them so they won’t let us use them. The bus is 15 minutes behind schedule already. Bleh.
Okay, so if you’ve read this far you’re probably glaring at the screen like ‘dude, this is a blog about DISNEY. Stop bitching about your road trip and all this sentimental crap.’ Well, guess what. I don’t give a crap. You can skip this if you want. Personally I think its all a part of it. Also, this will be a practise run for the blog I plan to write during my super long trip from NZ to the states. Its like running a marathon... you gotta train for it!
10.15 am - We just passed Pokeno! If you are ever driving to or from Auckland and you have an opportunity to stop at Pokeno do yourself a favour and go to the ice cream store. It is awesome and surprisingly cheap. Not that we’re doing that this trip!
Anyway, back to something Disney related. Shortly after my final exam, it was time to go and get my visa. Luckily for me, the consulate is in Auckland and I could go whenever I felt like it, but I was putting it off because I decided I would go with someone else from the program.
So, very late on the 15th I met Hayden as he got off the bus from the airport, having flown up from Dunedin so he could get his visa sorted too. By that point my flatmate had pretty much moved out (I would do likewise a week later) so he stayed at my place. That night was weird for me, mostly because I was a little bit upset over someone calling me stupid on a post on facebook. For helping someone out. *le sigh*. I found out later that the person I was trying to help had appreciated my help and was surprised that someone else had gotten all uppity about it. It kind of freaked me out. But knowing I had helped when I talked to Atlanta a couple of days later made me feel better and now, aside from being less immediate with my answering of questions, I’m over it. But that was sort of the second reason that I hadn’t posted till now. I would not have been a happy blogger.
To be honest, that is what I am most worried about. That I will go to America and I’ll get there and I will put everybody off somehow. Or it’ll be like high school all over again I won’t really find anyone who I can discuss geeky things like Kingdom Hearts and Fringe and Doctor Who. There are (among the gazillion Disney ones) groups on facebook with the same interests so its unlikely... but I don’t want to be in that place again where I don’t feel like anybody would ever think twice about me if I vanished one day.
I should thank Hayden for helping me to chill out about all the facebook crap though. About what was said and not being so know-it-all-y. Look, I already fessed up to that a few posts back! What did you expect!
But in any case, on the 16th Hayden and I went to the Consulate downtown and (mostly) got our visas sorted. I think America tries to be intimidating on purpose. To be fair, that was the nicest looking security checkpoint I’ve ever been through. On the other hand its still kind of unnerving to have someone look through all your stuff. But that’s the world we live in now I guess.
Lol, my bus buddy has fallen asleep and is threatening to fall onto my shoulder. Poor guy. Glad I’ve got the window to do that if I do end up needing a nap. I should give this guy a name. Hmmm. Well, until I learn otherwise his name is going to be Ansem. There’s already like gazillion Ansems in Kingdom Hearts already, so what’s one more? On a side note the driver has finally turned off the crappy Christmas Music. Thank Baby Jesus. (Okay, that was probably poor taste. Moving on)
Anyway, like I said, visas were mostly sorted out. My only advice is to take every possible piece of related paperwork that you can. Every letter from Disney, every receipt from SEVIS and bank statements and things like that. You probably won’t need them but while my guy was pretty sweet and only asked for a couple of things (although he could possibly see the rest of it) the guy that Hayden got was a bit of a prick and asked for everything possible and of course he hadn’t bought it all. I think he just had to scan and email it in later, so its not like he had to fly back up or anything. So it was mostly sweet. While we were there though, some skinny white hipster got his visa rejected for some reason or another. He walked away and shouted a naughty word! (It was Fuck, for the record). It was kind of awkward at the time since you’re sitting there waiting to be approved and you don’t want to be rejected for being a douche but in hindsight... almost the best part of the day.
I then dragged Hayden to the mall. He’s such a small town boy. He was so brave catching the train for the first time! (lol, now there’s potential for a Don’t Stop Believing moment). But nah, it was cool, he got some presents for his family that he wouldn’t have found down south, which was nice. I don’t think I bought anything.
Well, I’ve nearly been writing for a full hour and a half. Kinda getting board of it all so I’m gonna go play my new Nintendo 3DS! 15% of the way through this bus ride. Could be going worse.
3.56pm I have discovered my bus buddy’s name could not have been Ansem. Sadness. He got off about an hour ago (while I was asleep, meaning I didn’t realise I could stretch out a little) and left his ticket behind. His ticket only had the first letter of his name! So the mystery remains... I suppose I will just have to come up with another name for him. Balu? It works somehow.
Right now we are passing along the desert road, which is only so because it is so arid and cold. Of course the mountains that are worth seeing are all on the OTHER side of the bus. Minor fail there. Oh well, I do enjoy seeing Ruapehu and Ngarahoe (Better known as the stand in for Mt Doom in the LOTR movies) even if it is only in passing. They still have a little bit of snow on them, even though its summer now. We’re pretty high up at the moment ourselves.
There are four bags with my on this bus. Six if you count the two smaller ones I bought to my seat. I don’t know why I have so much crap. I mean honestly, it’s been a month since I THOUGHT I put most of it in storage, after I moved apartments since my old lease was running out. It’s one of the reasons why I am catching the bus: flying would have been crazy expensive. Whittling what I’m taking home down to what I’m taking to florida and NOT buying stuff I want to bring home is going to be really really hard for me.
A lot of space is being taken up by books I got for super cheap at Borders since its closing down. The rest is just... STUFF. Presents and clothes and computers and make up and lotions and containers of food and a bottle of vodka. I don’t know how it takes up so much space, it just does! It’s why I am seriously considering buying an e-reader: I have a weakness for books. I thought my mum would have been able to take more down last month but that didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped.
We just passed the Waioru Military Museum which is one of the only places that acknowledges the existence of any sort of armed forces in New Zealand. Let me share a video about them:
My 3DS battery and my phone nearly gave out so they’re both off now. I should probably take note of that for my flights when I will want them both for games and music.
Still haven’t decided what I want to do about my phone. I was considering buying a new iPhone but it’s so complicated! They’ve announced that they’re releasing unlocked models through apple, which is probably what I will have to go with but that’s expensive. Then I actually have to go out and figure out what plan I want. I think my family is under the impression I’m giving my one up when I leave... they may end up being wrong and I’ll take it anyway.
I’m not too badly off as far as money goes. I really shouldn’t be since from the day of my visa interview through to yesterday, the 16th November to 23rd December I have had exactly two days off where I wasn’t working, and one of those days was at a careers workshop. I’ve been getting about $620 after tax per week, which isn’t too shabby. My new job’s holiday payout came to just over $500 as well. Apparently I earned $7744 since June... which is great but my account only has $3,500 in it. Thats after tax and kiwisaver, flights to America, my storage costs , my visa stuff I guess. Its more than I was expecting to have but I still feel poor! Oh well, I’ve survived a move with less money. Just gotta be careful how I spend it. Still waiting on ~$1,000 from borders and the refund on my apartment bond, which is another $600.
I think it’s been worth working so much, even if it means I’ve neglected a lot, like glee, my friends and this blog. I want to have FUN in the states. I don’t want to be worried about something happening I can’t get out of.
SEVERAL DAYS LATER... So I gave up on writing. Made it home safe and sound. Christmas was great, etc etc. Less than a week to go! Eep!
Written too much already, I’ll post again in a couple of days about packing =)
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