Friday was another beautiful day. In the evening, the international students had a train trip to some gorge I don't remember the name of, but that was absolutely beautiful. And they gave us a free bbq and I had the most delicious veggie burgers ever! Afterwards Ann, Andee, and I were pretty exausted so we got some famous NZ Hokey Pokey ice cream and watched a movie.
Yesteday I went on a trip to a harbor with Kayaking Club. I'm still deciding whether or not I want to join. The gear is really cool! I've only ever done two person kayaks, and one person is a ton more fun. People were flipping left and right though! The guy who was instructing us made us water exit (aka flip ourselves over on purpose!) to make sure we would be able to get out if that happened to us on a real trip. So we had to do that and it was freeeezing afterwards! I don't know if I've ever been as thoroughly cold as I've been in New Zealand. It's much different from being outside in the snow or walking around in the winter. It's like a damp, bone-chilling cold you can't get rid of. And my feet are all cut up from stepping on clams in the harbor after the water exit! In spite of that though, kayaking was still really fun, and I think would be even more fun on real trips down rivers.
Tomorow is our first day of classes but I just realized...I don't have any! On Mondays I'll have genetics but only for the last 6 weeks of classes, and genetics lab but only every other Monday. So tomorrow I'm free!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Surf's Up!
Okay. Surfing is officially wicked fun. Or trying to surf that is. We got to St. Clair's beach and it was a beautiful day. I never thought I'd see weather in Dunedin that could actually be considered beach weather! Our group was split up to make lessons more managable, so we had some time to lay on the beach. Then, we geared up in our wetsuits and got foam-top boards so we didn't kill ourselves with fiberglass. The water was crazy! From the coast the waves didn't look that big, but being in the ocean and trying to get out far enough was definitely a challenge. We all were thrown around numerous times. Standing up was wicked hard, and all of the girls in my lesson (myself, Erin, Andee, and Kelsey) were doing a pretty bad job, so during the middle our instructer took us to shore and made us practice more pop-ups and told us to do some push-ups for the next time we surfed!
Being in the water was just so fun. It was freezing though-thank goodness for wetsuits! I was so determined to stand up by the end of the lesson that I probably tried riding more waves and wiped out more times than anyone. But finally right at the end, all four of us got up! It was such an awesome feeling!
After surfing the girls decided to stay on the beach for a little and take advantage of the sunshine. Later, I played tennis with Hillary and Justin from my program. It only my second time playing since October, but it felt great. There was also a big ref chair on the court, so we rotating being the line judge which ended up being pretty funny.
Being in the water was just so fun. It was freezing though-thank goodness for wetsuits! I was so determined to stand up by the end of the lesson that I probably tried riding more waves and wiped out more times than anyone. But finally right at the end, all four of us got up! It was such an awesome feeling!
After surfing the girls decided to stay on the beach for a little and take advantage of the sunshine. Later, I played tennis with Hillary and Justin from my program. It only my second time playing since October, but it felt great. There was also a big ref chair on the court, so we rotating being the line judge which ended up being pretty funny.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Highly Suspicious
I finally have internet in my room! It felt so good to skype my mom yesterday and be able to talk to some of my friends.
Tuessday I went to a cardio kickboxing class with Rachel, Ann, Spencer, and Hillary, which was actually pretty fun. After dinner, my Kiwi host and flatmate Nick had organized an international student meet and greet, so we went to that and met a lot of awesome people. During the party Nick played this really weird song called "Highly Suspicious" that has become our flat's unofficial song because it is so strange, catchy, and hilarious, so the six of us got really into it.
Yesterday we had a "mandatory" three hour international student meeting, which I went to but regret doing so. Although one cool thing was the mayor of Dunedin is apparently also an opera singer, so he sang to us. After setting up a bank account, I decided to go for a run, where I ran into many "Cook-a-thoners." The Wednesday of orientation week a popular bar named Captain Cook's Tavern hold's a ridiculous event in which students go stand outside from 10 am on drinking and dressed in costumes (two guys in our program went dressed in dresses.) So while I was running the streets were full of these kids, and I would get random high fives from people dressed as Barney, guys dressed as old ladies ran next to me for about 50 meters, and a girl dressedl ike she was taking a bath fake scrubbed me with her brush. It was so bizarre and hilarious.
Later on Andrew and I went to find a Catholic Church to go to mass for Ash Wednesday. People in New Zealand aren't very religious, but we found a church but it said that the mass was in the Dunedin hospital chapel, so we went there. It was weird going to church in another country. Some things were different like the Lord's Prayer, but something that was cool was at the part where the priest says things to pray for and everyone says "Lord hear our prayer," he let people speak out and say things they wanted us to pray for. One of the New Zealand women said, "For the people of America, so that they will follow their new leader." It's weird how into Obama the Kiwis are. I've been asked so many times who I voted for, and everyone talks about how great he is. However, in New Zealand politics he would be considered a conservative candidate.
After flat dinner, I went over Andrews with some other kids from the program, and we hung out and played Catchphrase. Now I've just eaten the best blueberry muffin of my life, and am about go to surfing!
Tuessday I went to a cardio kickboxing class with Rachel, Ann, Spencer, and Hillary, which was actually pretty fun. After dinner, my Kiwi host and flatmate Nick had organized an international student meet and greet, so we went to that and met a lot of awesome people. During the party Nick played this really weird song called "Highly Suspicious" that has become our flat's unofficial song because it is so strange, catchy, and hilarious, so the six of us got really into it.
Yesterday we had a "mandatory" three hour international student meeting, which I went to but regret doing so. Although one cool thing was the mayor of Dunedin is apparently also an opera singer, so he sang to us. After setting up a bank account, I decided to go for a run, where I ran into many "Cook-a-thoners." The Wednesday of orientation week a popular bar named Captain Cook's Tavern hold's a ridiculous event in which students go stand outside from 10 am on drinking and dressed in costumes (two guys in our program went dressed in dresses.) So while I was running the streets were full of these kids, and I would get random high fives from people dressed as Barney, guys dressed as old ladies ran next to me for about 50 meters, and a girl dressedl ike she was taking a bath fake scrubbed me with her brush. It was so bizarre and hilarious.
Later on Andrew and I went to find a Catholic Church to go to mass for Ash Wednesday. People in New Zealand aren't very religious, but we found a church but it said that the mass was in the Dunedin hospital chapel, so we went there. It was weird going to church in another country. Some things were different like the Lord's Prayer, but something that was cool was at the part where the priest says things to pray for and everyone says "Lord hear our prayer," he let people speak out and say things they wanted us to pray for. One of the New Zealand women said, "For the people of America, so that they will follow their new leader." It's weird how into Obama the Kiwis are. I've been asked so many times who I voted for, and everyone talks about how great he is. However, in New Zealand politics he would be considered a conservative candidate.
After flat dinner, I went over Andrews with some other kids from the program, and we hung out and played Catchphrase. Now I've just eaten the best blueberry muffin of my life, and am about go to surfing!
Monday, February 23, 2009
You can take Americans out of America, but you can't take the America out of Americans
Hello! I am missing everyone at home so much, I can't wait to get internet in our flat tomorrow so I can skype you guys!
Yesterday Andee and I were about to head to the gym for a step class, when a guy from our program texted us to come play pick up soccer in the rain. And it was soooo fun and muddy. Then I went back and cooked my first flat dinner...and it was good!! I'm so proud. Our final flatmate, Rachel from Canada, arrived last night and she seems really nice. Then I played some cards with the flatmates and then headed out to Captain Cook's Tavern to meet up with people from my program. Around 1 we decided that we were all hungry so we found a 24 hour McDonalds! First of all, it was sooo much slower than in America. Not exactly fast food! And inside was DISGUSTING. It was as if everyone thought it was a sitdown restaurant where you leave your dishes to be picked up because there were bags and wrappers everywhere. Also as we were leaving two girls sprinted out, one pushing a huge sign and one pushing a high chair they were stealing. Definitely a weird McD's experience.
Today is the first day in Dunedin without rain (yet anyway...it is on the forcast for later) and it's so nice to see blue skies!!!
Yesterday Andee and I were about to head to the gym for a step class, when a guy from our program texted us to come play pick up soccer in the rain. And it was soooo fun and muddy. Then I went back and cooked my first flat dinner...and it was good!! I'm so proud. Our final flatmate, Rachel from Canada, arrived last night and she seems really nice. Then I played some cards with the flatmates and then headed out to Captain Cook's Tavern to meet up with people from my program. Around 1 we decided that we were all hungry so we found a 24 hour McDonalds! First of all, it was sooo much slower than in America. Not exactly fast food! And inside was DISGUSTING. It was as if everyone thought it was a sitdown restaurant where you leave your dishes to be picked up because there were bags and wrappers everywhere. Also as we were leaving two girls sprinted out, one pushing a huge sign and one pushing a high chair they were stealing. Definitely a weird McD's experience.
Today is the first day in Dunedin without rain (yet anyway...it is on the forcast for later) and it's so nice to see blue skies!!!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Cheers!
I think we're all getting in danger of seasonal depression. It's still raining!!! But it's okay, because I met another flatmate last night--Ann from Michigan. She seems really cool and is really into running and yoga. Today has been a day totally packed with boring errands. I had to do course registration, which I thought would be really overwhelming, considering my flatmate Steve told me it took him 5 and 1/2 hours. But I found this really cool botany professor that was like, "I don't know what's going on either so let's just bluff through this" and signed me off for every course! I'm taking Genetics, Plant Ecology, Maori Society, and The Body in Asian Religions. Tonight I'm cooking dinner for my flat, so I'm a little terrified. I told them I would have a pizza place on speed dial just in case.....
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Crazy Kiwis
Okay. First off, Kiwis are absolutely insane. I have never ever ever seen people drink more. One of my friends told a kiwi that a lot of times in America when you turn 21 you have to do 21 shots in the night, and they responded, "that's all?"
Anyway, yesterday Spencer and I found 5 dollar sushi! Which means 2.50 American dollars. Amazing! Then we went on an adventure to a store called "Warehouse," which is sort of like Walmart, and then walked four miles back to Hillary's flat in the pouring rain to watch Zoolander. I don't understand how it can be raining for so long here! Hopefully it will clear up soon though. For dinner Steve made our flat salmon, mashed potatoes, vegetables (the first carrots I've ever liked!), garlic bread, and some pie made out of a vegetable that begins with an R that was really good. I'm getting terrified for my night to cook! I couldn't find Kraft Mac n Cheese in the supermarket so I'll have to figure something real out!
On a sidenote, I cannot understand half of what my Kiwi-host Nick says. He is constantly mumbling and talking in Kiwi slang. And everything is "as." "Hot as" "sweet as" "good as." And nothing ever comes after the as!
After dinner Spencer and I were going to head over to a party at Sean's....but then the rain and cold made us change our minds and eat some Hokey Pokey and watch 10 Things I Hate About You! But most of our program kept texting us to come over, so we ended up going and it was really fun. [No one here talks on the phone. Texting is very cheap but talking is wicked expensive, so everyone is constantly texting. My Canadian flatmate Steve though says that only about half his friends in Canada have cell phones. Weird!] At midnight though the power went off because Sean and his flatmates hadn't paid the electricity yet! It's definitely weird not being in a dorm and having everything included, and instead having to figure out bills and everything.
I'm off to do a stop-raining dance, miss you all!!
Anyway, yesterday Spencer and I found 5 dollar sushi! Which means 2.50 American dollars. Amazing! Then we went on an adventure to a store called "Warehouse," which is sort of like Walmart, and then walked four miles back to Hillary's flat in the pouring rain to watch Zoolander. I don't understand how it can be raining for so long here! Hopefully it will clear up soon though. For dinner Steve made our flat salmon, mashed potatoes, vegetables (the first carrots I've ever liked!), garlic bread, and some pie made out of a vegetable that begins with an R that was really good. I'm getting terrified for my night to cook! I couldn't find Kraft Mac n Cheese in the supermarket so I'll have to figure something real out!
On a sidenote, I cannot understand half of what my Kiwi-host Nick says. He is constantly mumbling and talking in Kiwi slang. And everything is "as." "Hot as" "sweet as" "good as." And nothing ever comes after the as!
After dinner Spencer and I were going to head over to a party at Sean's....but then the rain and cold made us change our minds and eat some Hokey Pokey and watch 10 Things I Hate About You! But most of our program kept texting us to come over, so we ended up going and it was really fun. [No one here talks on the phone. Texting is very cheap but talking is wicked expensive, so everyone is constantly texting. My Canadian flatmate Steve though says that only about half his friends in Canada have cell phones. Weird!] At midnight though the power went off because Sean and his flatmates hadn't paid the electricity yet! It's definitely weird not being in a dorm and having everything included, and instead having to figure out bills and everything.
I'm off to do a stop-raining dance, miss you all!!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Rain Rain Go Away!
Hey again! So it is still raining here in Dunedin...good thing I overpacked so much I brought rainboots!
Last night I met up with a bunch of people from my Arcadia program at Spencers, and we all went grocery shopping and cooked dinner together. Dessert was hokey pokey ice cream which might have replaced black raspberry as my all time favorite flavor ever! SO DELICIOUS. Then some of us went out to a bar and hung out for awhile...I got my brother Nick what I think is the perfect birthday present, a "National Beerdrinkers Association" t-shirt, free with two pitchers, which Kiwis call jugs. Most of the music played here is American, so it feels weird to here Riannah and Kanye playing. "Viva La Vida" came on and it made me miss summer Trinity!
Today I met another one of my roomates, a girl named Ditte from Denmark. She seems really awesome and is really into tramping (hiking) and rock climbing so I'm planning to go on some trips with her this semester. Besides that nothing really uneventful so far today...except while Steve and I were coming back from the grocery store we saw literally hundreds of bagpipers on the streets! I loooove bagpipes. Dunedin was settled by Scottish settlers so there is a heavy Scottish influence. And I had my first taste of "Tim Tams", this amazing cookie wicked popular with Kiwis and Ausies. Ditte told me the "proper" way to eat it is with both ends cut off, and use it as a straw in hot chocolate and then eat it quickly, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Also, you can't say fanny pack in New Zealand. As Jane described, a fanny is a vulgur word in NZ that means "a woman's front bottom." So here they're called bum packs.
Last night I met up with a bunch of people from my Arcadia program at Spencers, and we all went grocery shopping and cooked dinner together. Dessert was hokey pokey ice cream which might have replaced black raspberry as my all time favorite flavor ever! SO DELICIOUS. Then some of us went out to a bar and hung out for awhile...I got my brother Nick what I think is the perfect birthday present, a "National Beerdrinkers Association" t-shirt, free with two pitchers, which Kiwis call jugs. Most of the music played here is American, so it feels weird to here Riannah and Kanye playing. "Viva La Vida" came on and it made me miss summer Trinity!
Today I met another one of my roomates, a girl named Ditte from Denmark. She seems really awesome and is really into tramping (hiking) and rock climbing so I'm planning to go on some trips with her this semester. Besides that nothing really uneventful so far today...except while Steve and I were coming back from the grocery store we saw literally hundreds of bagpipers on the streets! I loooove bagpipes. Dunedin was settled by Scottish settlers so there is a heavy Scottish influence. And I had my first taste of "Tim Tams", this amazing cookie wicked popular with Kiwis and Ausies. Ditte told me the "proper" way to eat it is with both ends cut off, and use it as a straw in hot chocolate and then eat it quickly, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Also, you can't say fanny pack in New Zealand. As Jane described, a fanny is a vulgur word in NZ that means "a woman's front bottom." So here they're called bum packs.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Kia Ora!
Kia Ora! (That's hello in Mauri, the launguage of the native New Zealanders.) So far I've been so out of contact...life has been crazy! I don't have internet or phone yet in my flat so once the internet happens I should be in much better contact. Anyway get prepared for a long post...
Alright so: I flew to Aukland on Saturday, and suprisingly the 13 hour 10 minute flight went by quickly! Air New Zealand is a wicked nice airline and we had great food and our own individual tvs. I may or may not have watched three entire movies. We got into Aukland at 730 am Monday and had the hard task of trying to stay awake all day to beat the jet lag. I met everyone in my program, and they are all awesome! Everyone has a huge enthusiasm for life and for doing as much as they can with it and experiencing as much as they can in New Zealand. A few of the ones I've so far become pretty close to are Andee (girl from Hamilton who is hilarious and down to earth and immediatly became a great friend), Hillary (also from Hamilton, wicked sweet and a great singer), Lauren (Davidson, lives in my flat complex), Sean (hippyish guy who's really easy to talk to from Roger Williams), Andrew (fun outgoing guy from Hamilton, Hillary Andee and Andrew all knew each other before coming), Spencer (really nice gay guy from George Washington who is a ton of fun and gonna be my squash buddy), and Mike (a shy nice skateborder from Oberlin). Our program leaders were Jane (overall New Zealand Arcadia leader), Kate (University of Aukland leader, those kids were with us on orientation), and Shane (our University of Otago leader). I fell in love with Jane. She is a fiftyish year old woman who has such an enthusiasm for life and New Zealand and did her best to create a geniune friendship with everyone. She seemed to have a story for everything that could go wrong in New Zealand though. I can't count the number of times I've heard her say "Last year this really lovely student from ____" followed by something like "Brown University, had a few too many drinks and got into a fist fight with a transvestite in Aukland and lost, so pleaseee stay off of this street if you go out tonight!" Shane is really cool and relaxed, and a huge rubgy fan, like many New Zealanders.
Out first day in Aukland we walked around the city, which is the largest in New Zealand. It was great to be in the warm weather! We did a little walk up an old volcano and went swimming in the Pacific Ocean, which was really warm and much saltier than any water I've been in before. It was so awesome to be swimming with the mountains in the background! Totally beautiful. And the bottom had sand dollars EVERYWHERE. We then went to an aquarium and saw some cool animals like sting rays and penguins. We then went for pizza (I don't recommend salmon pizza to ANYONE) and then to our hotel. A group of us went later to an irish bar later, where we ran into more people from our program. There was some really cool music (a guy playing a recorder?) and it was really chill and relaxed.
The next day we headed to Rotorua, a town my Kiwi Host Nick refers to as "Rotovegas." On the way we stopped at a farm show, which might have been the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Basically there was a huge stage with tons of sheep and stuff going on like a herding dog running over them...could have done without that trip I think! Then we went to a nature conservatory and saw some New Zealand animals, including the Kiwi which is adorable! We got back to our hotel in Rotorua and walked onto the beach, which was bizaree! Everything smelled like sulfur because of the hot springs there, and there was all this boiling water everywhere. And dead birds.....Anyway a group of us went to dinner for some great Indian food (not as good as yours though Shah!) and then at night we went to the hotsprings, which were like natural hottubs that were HOT and supposedly have healing powers.
The third day of orientation we went to this park where we saw boiling mud (I didn't really get it) and then went to see a geiser errupt, one of like six in the world. Then we saw all this cool stuff like this neon green pond that was all natural due to whatever minerals were there. We went back to Rotorua to get our bearings, and then went zorbing! Zorbing is this weird New Zealand activity in which three people get into a huge plastic ball, some water goes into it, and then you get pushed down the hill. It sounds dumb, but it is SO FUN! Then though, Andee, Andrew, and Justin's zorb popped! Which has only happened twice the place ever. And they got really banged up with fat lips and cuts on their heads and all over their bags, so it was pretty scary. Something bizarre but refressing about New Zealand is that nobody ever sues. Emergency hospital care is free but the other side of that is that nobody sues for car addidents or anything dumb like they do in America. So the people at the zorbing place made sure they were all right, gave them some free t-shirts, and we were off. That night we went to a Maori village, and it was easily the coolest thing I've seen so far in New Zealand. They did some reenactments and sang and danced and we had a great dinner cooked underground. On the bus ride back the bus driver made us sing a bunch songs and it would be corny to explain but to be in it, was a great bonding experience and good last night on the North Island. We ended the night with a trip to a couple of bars in Rotorua, which our program basically took over seeing as it was a Wednesday night, and just hung out and listened to the great music.
The next day, we departed for the South Island. As great as the North Island was, all of the Otago students really bonded, and we felt like we were ready to move down to the more uninabited and (in my opinion) beautiful South Island. The airport had absolutely ZERO security. Nothing. As Jane put it, anyone that would want to take a plane from Rotorua is an idiot. We flew to Wellington and then to Dunedin, and then were all cabbed to our flats. My flat is beautiful. There are six bedrooms, a common room and kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundrey facility. It was just built in 2006 so it's new and juts overall really nice. Only two of my flatmates are here so far (three girls are coming), but the two I've met are Nick and Steve. Nick is my Kiwi host and is completely sarcastic and hilarious. He is a skinny med student who lives in Aukland and seems to hate nature. Steve is from Canada and is also really nice and funny. So I came in, and Steve cooked us dinner (we're going to rotate days of the week...I warned them that the only meal I've really mastered is Kraft Mac n Cheese) and it was delicious. Our flat is in a complex of five other ones, so at night we hung out with a bunch of the students in them and played kings. Nick made us do one of the rules as the (some name I can't remember) rule in which everyone had to stand up and made the Maori war yell and face (which is like sticking your tounge out...reminds me of Jake's bay face!) and that ended up being hilarious.
Today has been very hectic. The Arcadia program had a meeting about picking classes and Monday I'm going to register. A group of us went to get cell phones and run errands. I feel like I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I'll get it all done eventually. Anyway....sorry for the long message, but so far so good! I'm totally falling in love with New Zealand. I feel stranglely relaxed here. No one here gets stressed about ANYTHING. And Dunedin is a really great city. There is so much so close, and there are pretty much only students in it! (Otago is like 24,000 kids). The University is beaitufl as well. The arcitecture kind of reminds me of the long walk and chapel at Trin. The one thing I do miss is the small school way of registering for classes- Monday is going to be hectic! I miss you guys though, and hopefully once my internet gets up and running we'll have lots of great skype sessions! Please let me know what's going on with everyone.
Also, be prepared. I am bringing the term "sweet as" to the states. Just wait for it.
Alright so: I flew to Aukland on Saturday, and suprisingly the 13 hour 10 minute flight went by quickly! Air New Zealand is a wicked nice airline and we had great food and our own individual tvs. I may or may not have watched three entire movies. We got into Aukland at 730 am Monday and had the hard task of trying to stay awake all day to beat the jet lag. I met everyone in my program, and they are all awesome! Everyone has a huge enthusiasm for life and for doing as much as they can with it and experiencing as much as they can in New Zealand. A few of the ones I've so far become pretty close to are Andee (girl from Hamilton who is hilarious and down to earth and immediatly became a great friend), Hillary (also from Hamilton, wicked sweet and a great singer), Lauren (Davidson, lives in my flat complex), Sean (hippyish guy who's really easy to talk to from Roger Williams), Andrew (fun outgoing guy from Hamilton, Hillary Andee and Andrew all knew each other before coming), Spencer (really nice gay guy from George Washington who is a ton of fun and gonna be my squash buddy), and Mike (a shy nice skateborder from Oberlin). Our program leaders were Jane (overall New Zealand Arcadia leader), Kate (University of Aukland leader, those kids were with us on orientation), and Shane (our University of Otago leader). I fell in love with Jane. She is a fiftyish year old woman who has such an enthusiasm for life and New Zealand and did her best to create a geniune friendship with everyone. She seemed to have a story for everything that could go wrong in New Zealand though. I can't count the number of times I've heard her say "Last year this really lovely student from ____" followed by something like "Brown University, had a few too many drinks and got into a fist fight with a transvestite in Aukland and lost, so pleaseee stay off of this street if you go out tonight!" Shane is really cool and relaxed, and a huge rubgy fan, like many New Zealanders.
Out first day in Aukland we walked around the city, which is the largest in New Zealand. It was great to be in the warm weather! We did a little walk up an old volcano and went swimming in the Pacific Ocean, which was really warm and much saltier than any water I've been in before. It was so awesome to be swimming with the mountains in the background! Totally beautiful. And the bottom had sand dollars EVERYWHERE. We then went to an aquarium and saw some cool animals like sting rays and penguins. We then went for pizza (I don't recommend salmon pizza to ANYONE) and then to our hotel. A group of us went later to an irish bar later, where we ran into more people from our program. There was some really cool music (a guy playing a recorder?) and it was really chill and relaxed.
The next day we headed to Rotorua, a town my Kiwi Host Nick refers to as "Rotovegas." On the way we stopped at a farm show, which might have been the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Basically there was a huge stage with tons of sheep and stuff going on like a herding dog running over them...could have done without that trip I think! Then we went to a nature conservatory and saw some New Zealand animals, including the Kiwi which is adorable! We got back to our hotel in Rotorua and walked onto the beach, which was bizaree! Everything smelled like sulfur because of the hot springs there, and there was all this boiling water everywhere. And dead birds.....Anyway a group of us went to dinner for some great Indian food (not as good as yours though Shah!) and then at night we went to the hotsprings, which were like natural hottubs that were HOT and supposedly have healing powers.
The third day of orientation we went to this park where we saw boiling mud (I didn't really get it) and then went to see a geiser errupt, one of like six in the world. Then we saw all this cool stuff like this neon green pond that was all natural due to whatever minerals were there. We went back to Rotorua to get our bearings, and then went zorbing! Zorbing is this weird New Zealand activity in which three people get into a huge plastic ball, some water goes into it, and then you get pushed down the hill. It sounds dumb, but it is SO FUN! Then though, Andee, Andrew, and Justin's zorb popped! Which has only happened twice the place ever. And they got really banged up with fat lips and cuts on their heads and all over their bags, so it was pretty scary. Something bizarre but refressing about New Zealand is that nobody ever sues. Emergency hospital care is free but the other side of that is that nobody sues for car addidents or anything dumb like they do in America. So the people at the zorbing place made sure they were all right, gave them some free t-shirts, and we were off. That night we went to a Maori village, and it was easily the coolest thing I've seen so far in New Zealand. They did some reenactments and sang and danced and we had a great dinner cooked underground. On the bus ride back the bus driver made us sing a bunch songs and it would be corny to explain but to be in it, was a great bonding experience and good last night on the North Island. We ended the night with a trip to a couple of bars in Rotorua, which our program basically took over seeing as it was a Wednesday night, and just hung out and listened to the great music.
The next day, we departed for the South Island. As great as the North Island was, all of the Otago students really bonded, and we felt like we were ready to move down to the more uninabited and (in my opinion) beautiful South Island. The airport had absolutely ZERO security. Nothing. As Jane put it, anyone that would want to take a plane from Rotorua is an idiot. We flew to Wellington and then to Dunedin, and then were all cabbed to our flats. My flat is beautiful. There are six bedrooms, a common room and kitchen, two bathrooms, and a laundrey facility. It was just built in 2006 so it's new and juts overall really nice. Only two of my flatmates are here so far (three girls are coming), but the two I've met are Nick and Steve. Nick is my Kiwi host and is completely sarcastic and hilarious. He is a skinny med student who lives in Aukland and seems to hate nature. Steve is from Canada and is also really nice and funny. So I came in, and Steve cooked us dinner (we're going to rotate days of the week...I warned them that the only meal I've really mastered is Kraft Mac n Cheese) and it was delicious. Our flat is in a complex of five other ones, so at night we hung out with a bunch of the students in them and played kings. Nick made us do one of the rules as the (some name I can't remember) rule in which everyone had to stand up and made the Maori war yell and face (which is like sticking your tounge out...reminds me of Jake's bay face!) and that ended up being hilarious.
Today has been very hectic. The Arcadia program had a meeting about picking classes and Monday I'm going to register. A group of us went to get cell phones and run errands. I feel like I still have a ton of stuff to do, but I'll get it all done eventually. Anyway....sorry for the long message, but so far so good! I'm totally falling in love with New Zealand. I feel stranglely relaxed here. No one here gets stressed about ANYTHING. And Dunedin is a really great city. There is so much so close, and there are pretty much only students in it! (Otago is like 24,000 kids). The University is beaitufl as well. The arcitecture kind of reminds me of the long walk and chapel at Trin. The one thing I do miss is the small school way of registering for classes- Monday is going to be hectic! I miss you guys though, and hopefully once my internet gets up and running we'll have lots of great skype sessions! Please let me know what's going on with everyone.
Also, be prepared. I am bringing the term "sweet as" to the states. Just wait for it.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
NZ Bound!
After three relaxing days in Laguna Beach with my aunt, uncle, and cousins Ryan (3) and Quinn (6 monthes and my godson!), I'm finally on my way to New Zealand. It's been awesome getting to hang out with the family and play with my cousins, hang out on the beach, run in the sunshine, and to get to go shopping and go see a chick flick with my aunt. Ryan almost broke my heart though as I was reading him a bedtime story, and he told me, "You can't get on a plane. You can't get on a plane, okay?"
In about five hours I'll be on a thirteen-hour plane ride (maybe with Ryan and his two shopping bag "suitcases" packed with hotwheels!) Last night I was wicked nervous, but now I'm just excited. After monthes of reading about New Zealand and gearing up for the trip, it feels incredible to be finally on my way!
By the way, if you're on skype and don't have my name already, it's Kris88311, so give me a call!
Bye America!!!!!!!!!!!
In about five hours I'll be on a thirteen-hour plane ride (maybe with Ryan and his two shopping bag "suitcases" packed with hotwheels!) Last night I was wicked nervous, but now I'm just excited. After monthes of reading about New Zealand and gearing up for the trip, it feels incredible to be finally on my way!
By the way, if you're on skype and don't have my name already, it's Kris88311, so give me a call!
Bye America!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
First post!
Hey everyone!
I thought I was allowed to do my first official post since I'm techinically on my way...although really I am spending three days in Laguna Beach with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins to hang out with them and break up my trip a bit. I'm currently on a three hour lay-over in Denver. [Sarah: I've had that annoying french song I filmed you dancing to stuck in my head for the last 2.5 hours. Thanks for making my layover even better :) ] I've also had a layover in Washington and thought I was sooo smart and crafty getting a flight that was only 99 dollars.....and then I had an excess baggage charge of 125 dollars because one of my bags weighed 70 pounds. Typical. So I think when I get to Laguna I might have to ship some stuff home, because one of my future flatmates also just warned me that the weather there is already getting cold, and I packed a ton of summer weather stuff. Maybe I'll just wear tshirts and shorts anyway and think about how much colder it is in New England!
In spite of my bad packing...The Office played on my flight! Which I am taking as a great sign that this is going to be an awesome trip. "One day Michael came complaing about a speed bump on the highway. I wonder who he ran over then."
Love,
Kris
I thought I was allowed to do my first official post since I'm techinically on my way...although really I am spending three days in Laguna Beach with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins to hang out with them and break up my trip a bit. I'm currently on a three hour lay-over in Denver. [Sarah: I've had that annoying french song I filmed you dancing to stuck in my head for the last 2.5 hours. Thanks for making my layover even better :) ] I've also had a layover in Washington and thought I was sooo smart and crafty getting a flight that was only 99 dollars.....and then I had an excess baggage charge of 125 dollars because one of my bags weighed 70 pounds. Typical. So I think when I get to Laguna I might have to ship some stuff home, because one of my future flatmates also just warned me that the weather there is already getting cold, and I packed a ton of summer weather stuff. Maybe I'll just wear tshirts and shorts anyway and think about how much colder it is in New England!
In spite of my bad packing...The Office played on my flight! Which I am taking as a great sign that this is going to be an awesome trip. "One day Michael came complaing about a speed bump on the highway. I wonder who he ran over then."
Love,
Kris
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