Janessa's Adventures Abroad: No more class!!!

I can’t believe it’s almost February already! Time is going by so quickly! Monday was Auckland Appreciation Day so we didn’t have class. Erika rented a van and we all went to the beach and spent the whole day there! It was awesome. And I am so tan now! Haha, it’s great. We walked around Orewa for a little bit and then we headed into the city to see what was going on. Me and Brooke knew that Of Monsters and Men was playing at the Laneway Festival but tickets were really expensive so we just wanted to see if we could stand near the stage and listen to them. When we got there we saw that a bunch of people had climbed on top of the playground just outside the fence blocking off the festival so we climbed up there, too. We could totally see the stage but there was a tent blocking part of it so we could only see the band every once in a while but we could hear them and it was awesome! They are so good live! Then we walked around the wharf for a little bit and then we decided to go watch the sunset at one of the west coast beaches. We got some fish and chips on the way for dinner and then we sat on the beach and watched the sunset. It was so beautiful. Then Tuesday and Wednesday were our last days of class! Woohoo!! We made rockets and musical instruments in science and talked some more about social studies. It was pretty fun. Today we had a guest speaker from the University of Auckland. She talked to us about the Maori immersion program she helped start and how awesome it is! It’s pretty great and she created an app to help people learn some Maori. I definitely downloaded it right away so I can learn some more Maori. I love it! After that we went over to the zoo with Kylie and Brooke. It was so much fun! We saw the cutest little monkeys and baby baboons. So freaking adorable! Then we went to Kmart and the mall to get some snacks and things for our trip to the temple and Rotarua this weekend. I’m so excited! Also, I forgot to mention that I ate a mussel for the first time the other day! It was surprisingly not that bad. I actually kind of liked it. Granted it was deep fried but still… haha :)