Christchurch

I've been in Christchurch for two days and I already feel at home. The city is pretty spread out and my university, the University of Canterbury, is about a 20-30 minute walk from the center of the city, Cathedral Square. So I decided to buy a bike. Nothing too special, just enough of a bike to get me safely around Christchurch, and maybe through some city parks. So a girl from my trip and I set off to the bike shop just down the street. Unfortunately Dave, the owner of the shop, didn't have any used bikes for us, but he did tell us about a nice used bike shop called Around Again Cycles, about 5 miles from the University. So, we hoped on a city bus, and walked to the bike shop where we were lucky enough to find two decent used bikes, and then biked the 5 miles back to campus, stopping briefly in the town center to look around!

Christchurch is famous for its beautiful European churches that are scattered all over the city. The one above is pretty iconic becuase it is the cathedral in Cathedral Square, where is seems that street prefprmers and adavde chess players like to hang out.

About a 5 minute walk from Cathedral Square is Hagley Park. This place is huge, and its right outside the city center. A couple of my friends and I spent the day yesterday walking around the park and exploring the city.

I'm pretty settled in the dorms. They are pretty big and have a kitchen, but no dishwasher. So it looks like I'm going to be washing a lot of dishes. My room is pretty big for a dorm room with big sunny windows.

So far I'm pretty impressed with Canterbury and Christchurch, and I look forward to exploring it more!