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!
No comments:
Post a Comment