the long awaited return

I'm back! I apologize for my week long hiatus, i know my loyal followers were eagerly awaiting another brilliant entry and I let you down. I was a bit bogged down writing a history paper and studying for my exam this past friday, both of which turned out okay (at least I think so we'll see what the people grading those assignments have to say about that pretty soon.) and i just finished up my rough draft for a sociology paper that is due in a couple of days so I'm feeling somewhat accomplished. I have to hand it in and then I have another exam this coming thursday and then I will have attained freedom for the following three weeks. Although I plan on trying to get a head start on a paper that's due shortly after the end of that break (we'll see how that goes, I feel like I'm being a little idealistic in the assumption that I'll actually do work over break.)

Anyway not much has gone on in the past few weeks. I've spent times hanging out with friends, gone out on a few select nights, but spent most of the time doing things academic related. It's been weird to work on academic related things once again (this past week was the first time I actually had anything due this semester). I feel like I'm starting to get back into the swing of things, which is a good thing. A few friends and I went to a small local brewery last week in Christchurch. We got an interesting tour of the process of brewing beer and got to try different kinds of beer that they brew at the end. It was a fun time and actually gave me a newfound respect for the process of beer brewing. I don't think college students really appreciate beer for the effort that goes into making it as much as the alcohol it contains, but it was really cool to hear someone talk about the technique and thought that goes into creating different types of beer. I think that was the only real noteworthy adventure of the past week. Ultimate frisbee is coming to an end this week (although there is one more match the week after assuming that enough people show up to play since it's after the break starts.) It's been fun to play on a team again, I can't say I'm the best ultimate frisbee player that ever lived, but it's a good way to spend a Monday night after a long day of classes.

Well since I don't have much of an update in terms of actual events in the past few weeks I might as well give another update on the going ons of my inner thoughts regarding study abroad and life. Also I should probably stop with these introduction sentences and just write what I'm going to write (you probably just wasted approximately ten seconds of your life reading those past two sentences that really hold no valid content). Sorry about that :-). I've come to realize that I'm slow to adjust to situations. I probably should have realized that after it took me over a year to get settled in and actually enjoy college, but this experience somewhat reaffirms that sentiment. After going off to Boston initially I found that I missed everything about going to high school and growing up in a small town. Everything I had appreciated, under-appreciated, not appreciated at all came to the forefront of my mind and I spent months trying to reconcile these feelings with how I was going to deal with this entirely new environment. Eventually I realized that the two situation are entirely different and can really in no be compared. Once I realized that I found that I really could enjoy myself, and what do you know I actually love going to school in Boston now and all that it entails, but it took me awhile to get there.

I've found that this is a bit of the same situation except I don't think I'll be here long enough to really fall in love with New Zealand. Don't get me wrong I am fully enjoying myself and am having a good time, but people would say before I left "oh you'll have the time of your life!" and now when I talk to people the first thing they'll say is "how's New Zealand I bet you're having the time of your life!" To be honest, I really dislike the term "time of your life". As I realized when I went from high school to college, you can't compare these experiences. The only way to truly enjoy where you are during your short existence here on earth is to take every day for its potential to hold new and novel experiences. No one can every legitimately say "I had the time of my life" because there's really no point where you can definitively know that. You can call me out as a literalist if you want, but literal or not, it's still true.

Anyway I feel like I haven't done a whole lot over the past few months. Probably because it takes me so long to settle in. Hopefully the upcoming break will force me to go out and travel and get some new experiences under my belt. The problem is I'm content with just hanging out with friends and getting to know people better or spending time by myself walking around listening to music. I think I just value human interaction and self-reflection more than seeing sights and traveling. I think that the study abroad experience kind of forces you to travel, it's an expectation (not that that's a bad thing it's just the way it is) because I know when I get home people will ask me all about my experiences and where I went and what were the coolest things I saw were. There's an expectation to have stories about sightseeing and tourist-y things because if I respond to that question by saying I met some really awesome people and didn't travel much the conversation pretty much ends there. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there's so much expectation and pressure placed on experiences like this that it's almost pre-defined before you step on the plane. Universities advertise the experience in a certain way and students go abroad with that ideology in their minds and experience everything that they're "supposed" to experience. Thus when they come back they have all the right stories and anecdotes to prove that they really did go abroad for a semester. I'm guessing I'm probably in the minority in this belief and most people would say that I'm not making the most of the potential this experience holds for me, but again this an entirely personal thing.

This trip has really just felt like another semester so far, a bit of a different setting and different people to meet, but when it comes down to it, I don't feel the need or desire to cram a whole slew of drastic and different things into a five month period. Most people probably do, and maybe I'm just a weirdo, but I think it's best to not worry about what other people expect or want you to get out of study abroad (or any experience in life for that matter) and to do just what comes naturally and enjoy yourself. This is not meant to be a bitter entry by any means (it might sound a little harsh and dramatic, but really it's not meant that way). I'm having a good time over here so no worries about that. The last thing I'd want to do is have someone come away from this entry thinking I'm bitter and upset half a world a way because that is certainly not the case. To be honest I like it here (I don't yet love it, perhaps that'll happen before I leave, perhaps not) and I do miss home, but so would anyone who has amazing friends and family and is half a world away from them for almost five months. I hope all is well with everyone reading this and with any luck I'll be back in a weeks time to give you another update. Oh, and if the next time I talk to you you accidentally say the phrase "time of your life" I promise I won't freak out. I'm not thaaaaat dramatic. :-)