Day one in New Zealand

Hello from NZ :)

My flights went pretty well. No major hold-ups or anything. Just a 6-hr layover in LA that made me wish I had somewhere to lay down. I got to Dunedin at 9:30 or so in the morning and Kristin picked me up. She kept me awake until about 9pm so that I could get a normal night's sleep, which I did. I feel great today.

For anyone who is curious, in the US your time is as follows:

Michigan (Eastern time): It's 6 hours later than here, but you are one day behind me. So if it's noon here on Saturday, then it's 6pm there on Friday.

Pacific time, it's 3 hours later there and still one day behind.

Right now, Kristin's getting prepared to head out for a field collection (I'm going too) that is about 4 hours west of Dunedin. It should be really warm and very pretty! Up higher, but much windier. I'm finding out how terribly unprepared I am. I don't own a filter for my water bottle, I don't have a daypack for hiking, no coffee travel mug, no hat, etc. I guess I just didn't really know what i was getting into fully. Maybe I can pick stuff up used or online for a bit cheaper.

When we get back, hopefully I'll meet all the lab people and get started with payroll and lab work. I'd like to develop a project that can be completed in the time I'm here.

I haven't been able to get a phone yet, nor have I been able to get my computer to access the wireless at Kristin's house yet. So right now I'm fairly disconnected. Haven't been able to call home yet at all. :( I did find out that international text fees are 50 cents/text, so for now I'm just going to keep texting to a minimum, but that will be my primary mode of communication until I can get a local phone/plan!