I promise I'm a student

I've been doing so much, but nothing really related to school yet, since I was here for two weeks without having class. This last weekend there was a big rugby game in Dunedin. The Highlanders vs. the Chiefs. My flat and lots of other friends (not to mention a large percentage of uni students) dressed up and loaded onto chartered buses to the game on Friday night. Most students dress up for the rugby games, and we were no exception. We all wore "overalls" which were basically zip up suits that painters wear. There are legitimate overalls from Speight's Brewery that are given away before games, but we missed that boat, and had to go to a home improvement store and buy cheap white ones and some blue and yellow spray paint. I lucked out and got to wear a real pair from one of Abby's friends.

The game was exciting but difficult to follow since I know virtually nothing about rugby except that you can't pass the ball forward. At half time, my friend/flatmate Sam and I went to the bathroom, but then couldn't find the rest of our group when trying to get back in. So we decided to leave and meet them at home. Poor choice. We didn't realize how far away we were, and started walking in the wrong direction. After asking for directions at a few stores and hearing that we were ages away, we decided to stop for some fish and chips, which we devoured in a nearby park. After continuing our attempt to walk home, we decided to give up and call a friend to pick us up, and we finally made it back.

On Sunday, we decided to go back to Sandfly Bay, which is about a 20 minute drive away from my flat, and is known for its sea lion and penguin populations. I went there two weeks ago, and there had been 3 sea lions, but this time there was only one. The bay/beach is beautiful, and it was a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

We've been grocery shopping and cooking as a flat, which has worked out really nicely. We go on big flat shops once a week, and then each of us cooks one dinner a week, and we all fend for ourselves for one night. Kumara, which is a mixture between a sweet potato and a potato, is my new favorite vegetable, and we've all been trying to incorporate it into as many meals as possible. So good.

I had my first day of classes yesterday, but only had one class - New Zealand Cinema. I was surprised that it only has about 40 students in it, but I think it will be a really interesting class. We have film screenings every Monday night. Last night we watched two shorter documentary style films, one of which showed clips from several of the movies that we will be watching this semester. From the little that I've seen, I can already tell that New Zealand films are going to be darker than most of the films I'm used to seeing.

I have my first class of the day, Theories of Social Power, in half an hour. I'm not sure what to expect from this one either, since it's a 300 level and may be a smaller section as well. I have a class called Maori Society today at noon, which I can guarantee will be hundreds of students, which will be an interesting change from 12 student classes at Whitman.

Looking forward to getting in more of a routine, and seeing how the rest of my classes are. Thinking about joining the tramping club so I can get free hiking/camping gear, and potentially going on a hiking/camping trip this weekend!

I'm alive!

It's amazing how uninformed I feel sometimes when I'm at Whitman, and the same feeling applies here. I didn't know about the earthquake in Christchurch until my Kiwi host Abby's friend came over and told us about it. Christchurch is about 4 hours away from Dunedin, and while there were small aftershocks felt in Dunedin, I didn't feel a thing. It's been all over the news, and rightly so. I'm not sure of the specifics, but there were at least 65 dead yesterday, and roughly 300 others reported to be trapped under rubble. It's crazy that something of this magnitude happened so close to me and caused so much destruction, but I can assure you that I am completely and totally fine and safe in Dunedin.

Yesterday there was a train ride for all international students which went through the Taieri Gorge. My flatmates and I walked to the train station and boarded at 1 with the other 300+ international students. The ride to Middlemarch, which was our destination for a barbecue, took about 2 hours, and was beautiful. The whole trip took about 6 hours, which was a little long, but relatively enjoyable nonetheless.

Classes start on Monday, and I'm excited to have some sort of a routine again!

Steep Streets and Ice Cream

We don't start classes for another week and a half, so it's kind of strange not having anything to do here, but it's been great just exploring Dunedin. The past two days I've run to (and walked up) Baldwin Street which is the world's steepest residential street. It's killer, but the view from the top is great.


Abby, my Kiwi host, has been very good about taking us to see various parts of Dunedin. Two days ago, she drove a few of us to Sandfly Bay, which is a beautiful secluded beach in South Dunedin. It's known for its sea lions and penguins, and we were lucky enough to see three sea lions basking in the sun on the beach. They're BIG. And according to Abby, they can move very quickly, so I didn't get too close. No penguin sightings though. We had to walk down an incredibly steep sand dune to get to the beach, and there were sheep grazing in pastures on all sides. Go figure.

Yesterday, we went to Signal Hill Lookout, which gave us a beautiful view of a good portion of the Otago Peninsula and of Dunedin. The weather has been really warm and sunny the past couple of days, and even though I put on sunscreen, I managed to get burned yesterday while playing pick-up soccer at a nearby rugby pitch. Walked around in town today, and got mint chip ice cream from a "dairy" which is basically just a corner store. Delicious.

I really love the vibe of New Zealand. Everything seems so much more relaxed in a sense. Maybe that's just because it's summer and classes haven't started, who knows. The one thing I'm having trouble getting used to is the driving on the opposite side of the road. It's absolutely bizarre! I've gotten pretty used to looking right and then left, though, so hopefully the rest will feel more natural soon.

Loving Dunedin, excited for classes to start, and looking forward to meeting my other flatmates!

Down in Dunedin

After packing up and catching one last (bumpy) flight, I am finally in Dunedin. We got in at about 4 p.m. yesterday (Saturday) and found our taxi driver waiting for us by the baggage claim. The first thing I noticed about Dunedin was the climate. After being in the muggy heat of Auckland, Dunedin was a breath of fresh air, literally. The air quality and general climate feels similar to that of Portland - it had been raining periodically before we got there, but had lightened up by the time we arrived. Kelsey and I piled into a taxi van with 8 other international students and got dropped off at our various locations. We stopped to pick up our keys, then continued on to our flats. Kelsey and I live on the same street, just about half a block away from each other, which is quite convenient. We both went to our respective flats, met our "Kiwi hosts" and then unpacked a bit. My host, Abby, was the only other one there. She's incredibly personable, and was very excited that I had arrived. 

My flat has six bedrooms - 4 of them are upstairs, including mine, and the other two are downstairs. There is a kitchen and living room downstairs, along with two bathrooms and a shower, with a washer and dryer in one of the bathrooms. Upstairs, there is a single shower. My room is relatively large, and has a balcony with glass doors. 

After unpacking a bit and taking a much needed shower, Kelsey and I ventured downtown to find dinner. We ended up running into another Whitman student who joined us for dinner at a little burger joint called Velvet Burger. I felt somewhat awkward asking for a "Velvet Lady" burger but it was delicious. After dinner, I went back to the flat and found out that another flatmate, Antoine, and his friend Oliver had arrived. They are from Paris, and have been driving around New Zealand in a "hippie van" for a month. We all hung out in the flat, then went out to a nightclub downtown. That was quite the experience. People here generally get more dressed up to go out, which will be an adjustment.

Today, after sleeping in my sleeping bag and using my North Face jacket as a pillow, I got up and went for a nice run through Dunedin. I was initially trying to find the Botanic Garden, but I realized after I got back that I had gone the opposite direction. I didn't realize that Dunedin was going to be quite so hilly though. Although I suppose I should have guessed since Dunedin is famous for having the "World's Steepest Street." Decided to go grocery shopping with Kelsey, too, and so we walked 20 minutes to the only grocery store we were aware of. $90, 6 bags, and two hours later, we made it back to our street, only to hear from Abby that there is a much closer grocery store. Ah well. At least I have a real towel now. I was bemoaning the fact that everything seems so much more expensive here, but felt a little better after finding out that Antoine and Oliver had spent $500 on groceries for the two of them for a week. They were just sitting down to a gourmet meal with wine included as I left to go use Kelsey's internet, and they mentioned something about filet mignon. Go figure.

I will hopefully have internet in my flat tomorrow, so communication will be slightly easier. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of my flatmates in the next couple of days, and to settle in to life in Dunedin. 

Fush and Chups and Auckland

Baxter

The few days that we spent in Muriwai Beach were really wonderful. Guy and Bridget and their two kids Hana (7) and Baxter (5) were so welcoming. The kids showed us all around their house and yard, and insisted that we play with them. Their garden was amazing, and had a chicken coop, vegetable garden, big trampoline and rope swing. Absolutely beautiful. I went on two runs during my time there, and despite the intense humidity, both were pleasant experiences. There are several trails that run through the native bush and have long flights of stairs. The noise of the cicadas on the trail was even more intense, because the trails were so narrow. The view of the beach from the top of the trailhead was breathtaking, and I'm quite certain that I could spend much more time in Muriwai. But, today we decided to head into the city center part of Auckland prior to our flight to Dunedin this coming Saturday.

Hana

Bridget and the kids dropped us off at a bus stop and we headed into Auckland. We had no idea where to get off in order to get to our hostel, but the bus driver was friendly enough and dropped us off then gave us directions on how to find the street we needed. I had all four of my bags, and Kelsey had her two, so we headed off to find our hostel, Base Auckland. I had looked it up the night before, so we knew the general direction to go. We walked downhill for about a mile or so, and then finally found the street. However, the sign over the door said "Base ACB" which was the name of another hostel in my guide book. We asked some other girls in the lobby if it was Base Auckland, and they had the same Lonely Planet guide that I did, so they directed us to another location which was about 6 blocks farther down. So, we headed back out into the heat and walked the 6 blocks. When we got there, Base Auckland wasn't there either, but there was a place called Nomads, and after asking the shopkeeper next door, he said that Nomads had been called Base Auckland a few years before but had changed their name. We went in there, and they told us that Base ACB had taken the name Base Auckland, at least for online bookings, when they had changed their name. At this point, everything was so bleak that it was funny, and despite the serious weight of my backpack, the fact that my smaller backpack kept falling off of my suitcase, and Kelsey's serious foot blisters, we trudged back up the hill and finally checked into the right hostel. After getting into our room and relaxing for a bit, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, so we headed out to Occidental Belgian Beer Cafe. After Kelsey's fish and chips (or as the Kiwis say it, "fush and chups"), my chicken salad, and one cold Stella Artois each, we headed back. The feel of the hostel is nice and relaxed, and it's somewhat comforting to be around other travelers.

I'm looking forward to exploring Auckland tomorrow sans luggage, and am also thoroughly excited to get to Dunedin and have a more permanent living situation.

Muriwai Beach - Worth the wait

I can't believe I'm actually in New Zealand. Finally. Part of me felt like I'd never actually make it here, yet here I am. My flight to LA was quick and painless, and I got to LAX with more than enough time to prepare for the big daddy flight to Auckland - a 13 hour trek across the Pacific on a two-story plane. I hung out in the airport for awhile, had dinner, read, walked around, and waited for Kelsey to arrive. Turned out that she happened to run into every traveling roadblock possible between SeaTac and LAX - oversized baggage that had to be divvied up into boxes, 3-hour delay of a flight, and poor directions from airport staff on how to get to the Air New Zealand terminal. I was mentally preparing myself for a 13 hour flight by myself until she finally showed up at 9 pm, with 15 minutes to spare. The flight actually went by surprisingly fast, and we landed in Auckland at around 7:30 am. After going through customs and getting my luggage (Kelsey's didn't make it...poor Kelsey) we set off to try to figure out what was next.

We did a quick little money exchange at a kiosk in the airport to get some NZ change to use in the payphone, but then spent close to fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to use it. Apparently cell phone calls are super expensive here, which we found out by trying to call my dad's client, Guy, on his cell phone. We had put $8 into the phone, but it wouldn't let us dial. We resorted to using a little pay-as-you-go computer to email him, which proved successful. Guy and his family live about 40 minutes away from the airport and Guy's wife, Bridget, was going to the airport to drop off her dad, so we waited around for about 2 hours to be picked up. We were both exhausted and a little sick of being at the airport, but it was TOTALLY worth the wait.

Bridget needed to run a few errands, so we stopped at a local fish market with her, and then at a produce stand to get some fruits and veggies. Everything was pretty familiar, although there were a few different names for things, like bell peppers are called "capsicums". Anyway, after we stopped at those two stores, Bridget gave us a driving tour of their surrounding area as we made our way to their house. They live a short walk from a beautiful beach where surfers and swimmers abound, and there are lots of walking trails nearby. There are TONS of cicadas in the trees which makes everything sound so alive. It's warm and breezy, and I can tell just by standing in it for a minute that the sun is so much more potent down here. This is the ideal beginning to this adventure, and I can't wait to go explore Muriwai Beach.