Stereotypes, misconceptions and surprises:

Misconceptions we may have about NZ:
There are more sheep than people, true- but there are more cows than sheep.
Not everyone knows everyone else by first name.
This isn't some naively safe country. Stuff happens, but it is still relatively safe as long as you are not alone at night.

Surprises:
There are many gang problems in NZ. There are wannabe Bloods and Cripps here- in fact, I saw a bit of grafitti that said "West side Cripps" in sharpie last night. According to the New Zealanders, all of these people are posers who would love to come to America and join these gangs. Not only would they not last 2 seconds if they did go over, but I also think they have no idea what it actually entails. TV is to blame I think.

Speaking of Grafitti: Everything is tagged. Grafitti is everywhere. Most of it is like back home, mindless and stupid, but some of it is clever, uplifiting, or funny. I'll try and get some pictures up of it.

Parkour (freerunning) apparently is pretty big here. This is according to the people i have met, but it may be a misrepresentation.

American stereotypes here:
We are all big, dumb and loud, and ignorant of other countries.
We all carry guns and can and will shoot you if you piss us off.
We are very work oriented, and don't relax enough.
We say words like Aluminum and Methyl strangely. We spell Sulfur (Sulpher) and Color (Colour) and such words 'wrong'.
We like to talk about America alot.
Apparently a guy here convinced some Americans he was half hobbit. I refuse to believe anyone could be that stupid.
Also, apparently some Americans tried to convince one of the NZ students here a year ago that NZ was the 51st state. Again, I really don't think anyone could be that stupid.

So, yeah, not the best stereotypes. I do, however, find it funny that people think that everyone in America carries concealed guns, and are extremely dangerous. It makes me feel... more intimidating, almost :) Who knows, I might just be a regular old gunslinger!

I hope that people here will put these preconceived notions out the window when they actually get to know me, and I think they will. I just find it sad that these are the stereotypes being portrayed through the media the world sees. I'm going to show them that they are untrue!

Until later!