For those of you trying to picture the setting I'm in right now, Auckland is definitely a legitimate city. There are skyscrapers, chain stores, an IMAX theater (which I plan to see Harry Potter in)--you can find pretty much anything you need. But unlike most other cities, a wide variety of outdoors activities and geologic hot spots are just a short drive or ferry ride away. My initial impression of New Zealand is this: like other beautiful countries, it has SO much to offer (Queenstown, a small city on the south island, is known as the adventure capital of the world), but it is all awesomely compacted into a small pair of islands roughly the size of Colorado. Not half bad!
Getting Oriented
Here's a Google Maps image of downtown Auckland (click to make larger):
The "A" is WSA, my home away from home. The University of Auckland is the tan-shaded area just to the NE (with the little cap and tassel icon). As you can see, WSA is at quite a convenient location. It' s less than a 5-minute walk to campus. The long yellow, almost vertical strip to the left of WSA that runs through the "Auckland" text is Queen Street, the main strip in Auckland. Most of the shops and bars are along Queen Street, or just off of it. A free bus called the City Circuit goes around the area, making getting around even easier. For the short amount of time I've been here, it deceivingly feels like I've seen quite a lot of Auckland, but I know there's really so much more to explore.
Queen Street with Sky Tower in background