LOUISE

WHAT I LIKE AND DISLIKE ABOUT NEW ZEALAND, generally speaking

I love

- how people always say thank you to the bus drivers
- how eating disorders doesn't seem to exist at all, in fact girls apologize for not finishing a meal rather than the opposite --> eating should not be taboo!
- the laid back atmosphere
- the cheap alcohol, in comparison to Swe that is
- the cheap shopping, in comparison to Swe as well
- the kiwi lingo, which doesn't make any grammatical sense but is still catchy
- the extra buttery popcorn, sooo unhealthy and soooo good!
- the hospitality, just the fact how easy it is to hitch hike and a stranger would invite you to their home and share whatever they've got - because that's what kiwi's do!
- how excited kiwi's get when they find out you're foreign (in smaller communities)
- how multi cultural NZ is
- how people come together and co operate in times of despair and crisis, just look at ChCh!

I don't like

- how common drugs are in NZ, even though there are drugs evrywhere it's not even taboo around here, and I find that scary and it makes me feel uncomfortable
- that even though you're working like a maniac you never seem to make any money due to the extremely low wages
- the poor quality of the water in Auckland --> it tastes like chlorine, eek
- all the abbreviatons, reading a text is many times about the same like decoding hidden messages in wartime
- the incredibly slow internet which seems to drive all internationals insane
- the high costs for texting/calling in NZ, it's cheaper for me to call a land line in Sweden than calling within NZ
- the expensive and badly planned bus system - feels like the bus driver just drives around to random places hoping to end up where te passengers wants to go
- that Auckland is filled with homeless people, all ages