I love everything about rain.I love the smell of it, I love the feel of it when it first starts to fall, I love the sound of it when you are sitting inside and can hear it falling through the trees. I especially love the feeling of it as it drips down my neck and shoulders.Most people think I am insane when I say I love rainy dismal weather and that it is the best to go for a run in (which it is, try it sometime) but it is true. There is something so incredibly peaceful about even the most violent rainstorms; maybe it is the feeling after it passes, where even the dirtiest of cities feels fresh.Lucky for me Auckland is one of the rainiest cities I have ever lived in (I know that is only one of three, but still).Last month in July it rained 27 of the 31 days, and to be sure August will be just as wet.

Usually I am happy to stroll along to class and get a little wet but last week I broke down and finally, for the first time in my life bought myself an umbrella.It is a sad day when I have to buy an umbrella.I have always said "getting a little rain on you does not hurt you" but what I was not aware of was the completely erratic behaviour of Auckland weather, and probably New Zealand weather in general. I will look out the window to see the sun shining and blue skies, go down 9 floors to the lobby of my building and it might as well be the storm of the century outside. It felt a little bit like a rain cloud was following me for a while there.I would step outside and it would start raining and rain just long enough for me to get to my lecture, or to a meeting, or a cafe.Usually this would not bother me in the slightest, but when you are carrying an assignment with you and it gets soaked through, lecturers are not too keen to give you good marks so I splurged and bought a five dollar umbrella at Foodtown, the local supermarket. It was getting a little bit awkward while waiting for the walking green with 3 people around mewith umbrellas as it pours down on my expensive textbooks, do I inch over to get underneath someone else's umbrella? Or is that not okay?

Thankfully last week it did not rain as much as it was forecasted, allowing me and my fellow travellers from the States to attend the magic that is an All Blacks match.Allow me to explain: when I arrived in New Zealand I was told many things to expect ("they are wicked friendly", "those accents are amazing!", "the water spins the other way when you flush the toilet!") but nothing could have prepared me for the emotional connection the entire country has to rugby.Sure, we Americans pride ourselves on our "American Pastime" of baseball and Red Sox Nation is an important part of my life in New England, but rugby is a way of life for Kiwis.Mention the fact that the All Blacks lost the tri-nations last year and it will bring a tear to the eye of any Kiwi.Actually, it is quite similar to the Sox curse that was recently destroyed: The All Blacks have not won the world championships since its inception.

One of the coolest things about Kiwi culture is the connection that they strive to keep with the Maori culture, and it is very clear in rugby.Before each match the entire team performs a Haka, a traditional chant/performance that is designed to intimidate your enemy and was done by Maori warriors before a battle or fight. It involves a lot of eye bulging and sticking out tongues and really is quite frightening.Words cannot really describe what is it like to see the All Black's Haka; in this match against the Australian Wallabies the Aussie team can do nothing but just stand there and look small and scared.If it was not meant to be so frightening it would actually be quite beautiful; the synchronized movements and expressions in time to the rhythmic chanting, it is almost like a dance.

Rugby, for lack of a better way to describe it, is like American football on crack. There are no pads, no helmets, and nothing more than a jersey to protect the players from the brutal tackles and scrums that they get into.It was not uncommon to see a close up of a player on the jumbo screen and have him bleeding from the head or badly bruised.But aside from all of the obvious hazards it is really amazing to watch and even more amazing to watch with a bunch of die hard Kiwi fans.And the best part was -The All Blacks won, by a long long way and the Wallabies had to go back to Aussie land as losers (I am sure you are wondering what the third country is in the Tri-Nations tournament, and believe it or not it is South Africa, another die hard rugby nation).

Aside from the match and buying an umbrella not too much has changed or gone on in Auckland. New Zealand STILL has not won a medal in the Olympics and seems to be losing most everything.They lost 4 to 0 to the US in women's soccer (awesome game if you get a chance to see it) and the only event that they really seem to excel at at the moment is rowing.It is really hard to watch some of the events, I want New Zealand to win a medal but then again, when they are playing the States I have to cheer for my home country.

I will hopefully survive the next couple of weeks before my mid-semester break in September where I will be visiting the Bay of Islands, getting some alpine training, and then tramping down South before coming back to study hard again before finals.Now that I have joined the smarter (and drier) population of umbrella owners I will hopefully be spending less time drying out my papers and more time planning trips and understanding biochemistry.