“He found the truth and now he was looking for something better.” ~smash

Today (the fourth of July) our other international flatmate arrived. We were told that it would be a girl, but it’s a guy. His name is Scott and he’s from Vermont. He has a bunch of friends here from his college and we hung out with them. A group of us went to buy beer, and I legally purchased alcohol for the first time. After looking at my ID the cashier said, “Al’ right, you’re cool, mate.” It was thrilling. J Then we went to this barbeque at someone else’s flat. There must have been at least thirty people there, all American except for Perrine. Afterwards she told me she really didn’t understand much of what was being said. Americans do speak pretty quickly. Three people from Richmond were there. I knew Chris, and I had seen the two others around campus, Reed and Tommy, but didn’t know them. It was strange to wind up in an apartment in New Zealand with three other Richmond people who I didn’t even know would be at the party. The people that I was hanging out with all went to a bar afterwards, but I wasn’t up for it (my body is still adjusting to the time difference) so Perrine and I came back here. It was good to meet some new people; they were all really nice, even though they seem a bit wilder than me (not that that’s saying much). It’s a little strange, though, because it seems like everyone knows each other. Scott has all his buddies from Middlebury and they’re all, like, best friends. I have trouble opening up to new people (I even have trouble opening up to people I know well), and when they all know each other already, that’s difficult. But they’re all incredibly friendly and I’m sure it’ll get easier. I’m excited for all the New Zealanders to get back. Right now it’s basically just international students in town because we have to be here early for orientation. The natives will be back this weekend because classes start next Monday (a week from today) and I’m excited to hang out with them. Now I’m going to be a bum and climb into bed and read my book.

Random Revelation: you should not be able to see your breath when you’re inside your house.