So I promised pictures for this blog entry, unfortunately for you the best I can do at this time is to post pictures of my flat (which I meant to do initially, but never did). I was planning on going out to take pictures of the campus on Sunday, but I was feeling particularly lazy and ended up just lounging around for most of that day. I hope to get pictures of the campus this upcoming weekend (I'm choosing not to do it during the week because I feel quite awkward being the kid walking around in between classes taking pictures of buildings that students see everyday) so maybe I'll finally get motivated to do that. There isn't a whole lot to update on this week so I'll do my best to keep this interesting.
Classes have continued to go well. I have a few papers and midterms coming up in about two and a half weeks. It's kind of crazy to think that I have a chunk of work to do in the next few weeks and then I have a three week break. I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do for that big chunk of time, but I hope to get a chance to do quite a bit of traveling because I'm finding it a bit hard to get motivated to plan out the logistic of weekend trips. Maybe this extended break will give me a kick in the pants to get things worked out and to make travel arrangements. Two of my flatmates went to Queenstown this past weekend with some friends to bungie jump and go jetboating (although I'm still not entirely sure what that is). I was contemplating going, but I was pretty run down by the end of last week and figured I'd lay low rather than go on a trip and come back sick. However, those two did recently acquire a car so that'll make it easier to go on trips around the country.
I mentioned last week (I think) about joining clubs and contemplating joining the tramping (hiking) club. Well I looked through their little pamphlet and decided that it was a bit too intense for me, the fact that I owned none of the equipment necessary to go on the majority of their hikes was a bit of an indicator. A few of my friends went on the introductory hike this past weekend, which was supposed to be "easy" and said it was more intense than they expected and they're people who actually hike (unlike myself). Thus, I think I'll just have to plan on going on small day hikes with a few friends in the upcoming weeks rather than the extreme mountain sprinting hikes that the tramping club will be going on. I have, however, been going to ultimate frisbee for the past two weeks. The club meets on monday nights for about an hour and a half to play. Last week was just an introduction to the rules and techniques, which was helpful because I've never actually played in a semi-competitive nature. I brought along two of my flatmates, Zach and Scott, and they ended up enjoying it enough to join the league so that was cool. Anyway yesterday was the first game and my team played Zach's. Unfortunately we lost by one point giving him the prestigious right of gloating. The other club I joined was the commerce society called UCom. They're having a big kickoff BBQ this friday as well as a pajama (interestingly spelled pyjama here) party the night before. I'm planning on going to both events (if I'm lucky I can score a fabulous pair of footy pajamas before then) and I think most of my flatmates will go too so that'll be a fun way to end the week.
Other than going to class the majority of the academic work I have as of now is reading, which I need to catch up on since I got my textbooks a little late. It seems pretty manageable, but I also should probably start research for some of the papers I need to write in the next few weeks. I've found that the motivation for procrastination is much stronger here than it is back home. Combine this with my long hiatus from school work and it's not the best combination. No worries though, I'm sure I'll be able to stay on top of my work I always seem to manage that. There may be more distractions here in terms of new things to do, but at least they only have around six TV channels. Premium cable is really not that common here, I mean we have it in the village's rec room, but our flat only has basic cable (which is really fine by me, I never watched that much TV in Boston anyway). It's just a bit odd because cable, internet, and cell phones are treated so differently here than in the states. I pay for my internet access here and, rather than pay monthly rates, I pay by the gigabyte, I'm still not entirely sure how that works, but it's a very odd system. Most people get cell phone plans with a large amount of texts because calling is still somewhat pricey even with a plan (this is probably because there are only two major cell phone service providers). It's very different than being at home where I'm always connected to the internet and calling/texting/etc. on my cell phone. It's been interesting to see the difference in the way technology is used here as opposed to how it's used back home.
That's pretty much all I have to update on for right now. Sorry if this entry seems a little scatterbrained. I just woke up from a nap and feel a bit out of it, hopefully the whole thing is somewhat coherent. With any luck I'll have a more lively and interesting entry to post next time full with amazing photos of campus and other events, but you'll just have to wait and see.
Classes have continued to go well. I have a few papers and midterms coming up in about two and a half weeks. It's kind of crazy to think that I have a chunk of work to do in the next few weeks and then I have a three week break. I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do for that big chunk of time, but I hope to get a chance to do quite a bit of traveling because I'm finding it a bit hard to get motivated to plan out the logistic of weekend trips. Maybe this extended break will give me a kick in the pants to get things worked out and to make travel arrangements. Two of my flatmates went to Queenstown this past weekend with some friends to bungie jump and go jetboating (although I'm still not entirely sure what that is). I was contemplating going, but I was pretty run down by the end of last week and figured I'd lay low rather than go on a trip and come back sick. However, those two did recently acquire a car so that'll make it easier to go on trips around the country.
I mentioned last week (I think) about joining clubs and contemplating joining the tramping (hiking) club. Well I looked through their little pamphlet and decided that it was a bit too intense for me, the fact that I owned none of the equipment necessary to go on the majority of their hikes was a bit of an indicator. A few of my friends went on the introductory hike this past weekend, which was supposed to be "easy" and said it was more intense than they expected and they're people who actually hike (unlike myself). Thus, I think I'll just have to plan on going on small day hikes with a few friends in the upcoming weeks rather than the extreme mountain sprinting hikes that the tramping club will be going on. I have, however, been going to ultimate frisbee for the past two weeks. The club meets on monday nights for about an hour and a half to play. Last week was just an introduction to the rules and techniques, which was helpful because I've never actually played in a semi-competitive nature. I brought along two of my flatmates, Zach and Scott, and they ended up enjoying it enough to join the league so that was cool. Anyway yesterday was the first game and my team played Zach's. Unfortunately we lost by one point giving him the prestigious right of gloating. The other club I joined was the commerce society called UCom. They're having a big kickoff BBQ this friday as well as a pajama (interestingly spelled pyjama here) party the night before. I'm planning on going to both events (if I'm lucky I can score a fabulous pair of footy pajamas before then) and I think most of my flatmates will go too so that'll be a fun way to end the week.
Other than going to class the majority of the academic work I have as of now is reading, which I need to catch up on since I got my textbooks a little late. It seems pretty manageable, but I also should probably start research for some of the papers I need to write in the next few weeks. I've found that the motivation for procrastination is much stronger here than it is back home. Combine this with my long hiatus from school work and it's not the best combination. No worries though, I'm sure I'll be able to stay on top of my work I always seem to manage that. There may be more distractions here in terms of new things to do, but at least they only have around six TV channels. Premium cable is really not that common here, I mean we have it in the village's rec room, but our flat only has basic cable (which is really fine by me, I never watched that much TV in Boston anyway). It's just a bit odd because cable, internet, and cell phones are treated so differently here than in the states. I pay for my internet access here and, rather than pay monthly rates, I pay by the gigabyte, I'm still not entirely sure how that works, but it's a very odd system. Most people get cell phone plans with a large amount of texts because calling is still somewhat pricey even with a plan (this is probably because there are only two major cell phone service providers). It's very different than being at home where I'm always connected to the internet and calling/texting/etc. on my cell phone. It's been interesting to see the difference in the way technology is used here as opposed to how it's used back home.
That's pretty much all I have to update on for right now. Sorry if this entry seems a little scatterbrained. I just woke up from a nap and feel a bit out of it, hopefully the whole thing is somewhat coherent. With any luck I'll have a more lively and interesting entry to post next time full with amazing photos of campus and other events, but you'll just have to wait and see.
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