I think I'm in America?

 Pretty much all of the new international students have arrived now; it's brought back good memories of my arrival as I watch them excitedly running around as they try to see and do everything! The vast majority of internationals this trimester are American, including two of my four flat mates (Drew and Andrea); my other two flat mates are Dutch (Klaas) and Kiwi (Liam). They're all really nice and we had a good home made Mexican dinner and butterscotch kisses together last night to get to know each other.

 I warn you now that a lot of this past week has been spent eating very good food as Liam loves to bake and Mealiny (French) has had me round for really good French food a few times. (In the above photo Juliette, Claire, Mealiny and I have just had gratin and tarte de pomme before my first taste of poker.) I've also had hardly any opportunities to cook for myself as there are constant potluck dinners or BBQs going on.
Because I'm one of the few internationals that's been here for a while I've been playing the role of tour guide for  my new flat mate and loads of other Americans. I've shown them plenty of good places to eat and drink coffee, with samples along the way!

Above is a photo from our tramp along the Skyline walk from Johnsonville to Wellington. I felt very outnumbered amongst 10 Americans and one Canadian.
To the left is a photo of my new flat mates. (from left to right - Klaas, Liam, Drew and Andrea).
I'm hoping to meet even more new people over the next couple of days, hopefully some non-americans, as it's international orientation and there are some buddy events. My buddy this trimester is called Maria and is from East Timor; it's really interesting hearing about her culture as it's so different to anything I'm used to.
I'm both relieved, and very happy, to have all my flat mates hear and know that they're all great people and it's certainly nice to have permanent friends again after my months of travelling.