Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, on the 15th of February 2007, Shah Baharuddin has officially touched down at Auckland International Airport. The captain of the flight, gives us the standard info, local time and temperature, which was 21 degrees celcius. In my head, that was quite hot, but then again, it was still summer in New Zealand.
When we got off the plane, we went straight towards immigration, for which already had a long queue. Standing in line, I looked around, and saw a handful of Malaysians queuing up as well. I shared this info with Iylia, who told me, none of them are going to Palmy (short for Palmerston North), which is kind of a good thing as it gives me more reason to mix with students other than Malaysians. So we got pass the immigration officer, who I have to tell you, would not cut it if he was working in another country as an immigration officer, because, he was too polite and nice, all the officers were. I can definitely say, that friendliness really comes naturally to them. Waited at the baggage claim to obviously claim our bags. We needed to be quick, and get to the Domestic terminal, as our flight was only 2 hours away. Got our bags, and went through the "nothing to declare" lane. So far so good.
Got to the domestic flight in time, and checked in our bags again for the trip to palmy. Our aircraft this time was a small airplane, of maybe 25 passengers, but nonetheless, the flight was smooth. The stewerdess didn't look have bad as well.
Arrived in Palmerston North Airport at 5.00 PM. When we entered the airport, our transport was already there. They were Ezim (Iylia's cousin) and Caroline, (Iylia's friend). We got our bags, and got into the car. When we left the airport, I had my own perceptions of what Palmerston North would look like. The three of them, sarcastically implied how boring the place is. To me, Palmy surpassed my expectations. I honestly thought that Palmy was a "pekan Koboi" and there were only 2 places to shop for everything. When they drove me around (yes it was a short drive round) I saw supermarkets, loads of different restaurants, shopping complexes, McDonalds, Burger King.....in short I honestly didn't expect much.
So we arrived in Massey University, which was 5 minutes drive from town. First impression was that I liked it. It felt right to me, the trees and buildings. Alhamdullillah, finally I get to experience a real university campus. We drove on, to the hall I would be staying in. Its called Walter Dyer Hall, which was just up the hill from the main campus. I used the electronic device for releasing the lock on the main door of the Hall for the first time, my thoughts at that point were "Giler Cool Sial !!". I climed the the stairs to the first floor, and searched for my room number. 1.11 was the second last room at the end of the hall. I put the keys in, and unlocked the door. Went in, and there it was. My room for the next year. It was an alright room. It's almost like my room at home, except without attaching toilet, so I was comfortable enough. Dumped the bags, and left for town to get Dinner. After Dinner, went walking a bit, into Downtown, which was what Ezim says the "OU" of Palmy. Hahah. The cinema was there, so definitely a future hangout place. Went to pack n save after that, which was one of the lowest priced supermarkets. Bought bread and nutellla for breakfast. Off to the hall again, and settled in for the night.
