About Me

Hi!  My name is Annika.  My husband, Ross, and I moved to Wellington, New Zealand in mid-June 2016 from the United States.  We had lived in St. Paul, Minnesota for the past three years but we are both from Colorado.  We will be in New Zealand for at least three years while Ross completes a PhD in Geology, specifically Geomorphology, through the Antarctic Research Center at Victoria University of Wellington (http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic).

Leaving DIA with all of our belongings.

The purpose of this blog is to stay in touch with family and friends, chronicle our travels around New Zealand and the South Pacific, and describe our experiences adjusting to and living in a new country.  I decided to call my blog "ExPats in Middle Earth" for a couple reasons. First off, as I'm sure everyone is aware of, New Zealand was used in all of the Lord of the Ring and Hobbit movies as the scenery for Middle Earth. Wellington is where the film industry in New Zealand is based and there is even a sign on the Wellington airport claiming it as the "Middle of Middle Earth."

Blurry picture of Gandalf in the Wellington Airport.  I was very jet lagged when I took this...sorry.

Second, I have also always wanted to be able to refer to myself as an 'expat' if for no other reason than when I was young it sounded so exotic.  Clearly anyone who was an expat was leading a more interesting life than I was in boring, old Boulder, Colorado.  Or at least that was my train of thought...

I hope that you enjoy my ramblings.  Please feel free to comment on my posts and I will try to respond promptly.

Thanks!