Who Shot Rock & Roll

On Monday we spent the morning with Erika talking about problem based and project based learning. So we basically had a little mini class period and then we headed into the city. We took a tour of the Auckland art gallery and then walked back through the exhibits we wanted to spend more time at. Right now they have a special photography exhibit from New York called Who Shot Rock & Roll. It was AMAZING!! I love photography and I love music and concerts so it was perfect. I literally spent a good two hours in the exhibit and I’m now convinced that I need to be a photographer on tour with musicians. Seriously, it was so cool! Most of the pictures were taken before the performers were famous so they captured really intimate and real moments with them. It was awesome. After that we tried to catch the end of the super bowl but we didn’t get to the sports bar quick enough. But we did find a really yummy cookie place! It was delicious. On Tuesday we went to the Auckland war museum. We went to a “cultural experience” where we got to see some traditional Maori dancing and singing. It was so cool! Then we spent a lot of time looking at all the exhibits in the museum. They have an awesome discovery center there for kids that I wish more museums in the states had. It would be so fun to take kids to that museum for a field trip. There was also a really sweet volcano exhibit with a simulator. You sit in a room that is set up like a lounge in a house and you go through a simulation of what would happen if Mt. Rangitoto were to erupt that day. It was freaky but really cool. The top floor was probably my favorite though. It was all about WWI and WWII. It was set up very similar to the war museum in London. It was cool though because it was all from New Zealand’s perspective. There are so many things that I didn’t know about those wars because we only learn about America’s perspective. Super interesting. Then we went to Parnell and ate dinner and Erika took us to a chocolate place and let us all pick a treat! I had a Milk Chocolate Submarino. It was basically a real Belgian hot chocolate. They bring you a big glass of steamed milk with pieces of chocolate in the bottom. You stir it up and it makes the most delicious hot chocolate ever. It tasted just like the one I had in Belgium. Yum! Then on Wednesday we went to the beach and just hung out some people from church. It was so chill and it felt so good to just take a break. Then today we had to crack down on our homework because we leave for the south island tomorrow and everything has to be done before we leave. It took forever!! But I finally finished… and then I had to pack! And that took another two hours and now here I am at 2:00 am trying to finish this blog post. Hahaha, I just wanted to get it done because I don’t know when or if we will have internet access at all for the next two weeks. I’m super excited because hopefully it will be a really fun trip. It’s going to take me out of my comfort zone quite a bit but I’m ready for it! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? …

 The art gallery!

 Cultural experience!

I found Dory!

And Nemo and his dad!

 Yummy hot chocolate :)