It was an interesting week leading up to my departure for Auckland. I was in Chicago for training just waiting for my Visa to arrive. I got a call from a rude NZ Consulate lady mid-training that said I needed to send more information to them like my resume and college diploma which made no sense at all (this was a Wednesday and I was hoping to leave the following Monday). Anyway, I sent everything out and finally got my Visa on Saturday, Aug. 23. All I had to do was to get my flight approved but my contact in Auckland was away on bereavement leave so I basically just had to sit and wait. My first day of work in Auckland was quckly approaching (September 1). My parents had already left for California so I was all by myself and everyone had already forgotten about me (just kidding, mom). Finally, on Tuesday night (actually Wednesday morning at 1:00 am), I heard back that my flight costs were approved. I was tempted to book my flight first thing Wednesday but then I would have been up all night finishing packing so I booked the Thursday flight instead.
Everything went fine. It was a long flight though (6 hours to LA then another 14 on to Auckland). I also crossed the international dateline so lost a day and arrived in Auckland on Saturday morning at around 6 am. There was supposed to be a shuttle to meet me at the airport, but I think the flight was a bit early and there was nobody there for me so I just took a cab as I was tired of traveling and just wanted to get settled in.
I got to my temporary apartment (The Quadrant) and luckily they had a room ready for me. I spent a couple hours walking around the city and met up with a girl from work who had been assigned as my "buddy" to help me get settled in. We had lunch then I saw the office. It was really a nice office with beautiful views out over the bay towards Rangitoto (a volcano that erupted 500 years ago).
My first impressions of Auckland were nothing special. I was so tired and arrived early on a weekend so nobody was out and about. Since I was exhausted, I went to bed at like 4:00 in the afternoon (was planning on just taking a nap) but didn't wake up until 5:00 am the next morning.
Anyway, I know that was not an interesting entry, but that's sort of how things were the first few days. I was so rushed to get out here and had to start work so quickly that I didn't have time to do anything fun. For now, I've included a few pictures of Auckland (and Pittsburgh for any Kiwis that might be interested).
This was the view from my apartment at the Quadrant in Auckland where I stayed for 2 weeks.
This is the view across the bay from the front of my office building.
Here is the PwC Office Building in Auckland.
Some pictures from Pittsburgh:
PNC Park with View of Downtown Pittsburgh
View of Downtown Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington
Penn State University Football Game. This is where I went to University about 3 hours from Pittsburgh (110,000 People fill the stadium)
