dolphins & sharks: tales of akaroa

I'm done for three weeks and it feels quite great. I finished up last week by handing in a paper on Wednesday and taking a test on Thursday, both of which I think went well. However, I won't know what I actually got on any of my assignments until after the break is over so I'm choosing to not worry about anything academic related for a few weeks. I suppose I could start on some of the papers and projects I have to do after break (and I actually do have to do a short online assignment during break for one of my classes), but I'm going to put most of it off until after break and just enjoy the time off. After all that's what study abroad is for, right? I kicked off my break but going out for drinks with some friends and just chilling out for a few days. I literally slept and laid around for most of Friday, which was quite nice (even if I did feel a little worthless towards the end).
On Saturday I woke up early to go into the city to book some things for the break. I'm traveling around the North and South Islands, doing a smattering of fun activities with four friends whom I haven't had a chance to spend a whole lot of time with yet, so it'll be fun to break away from the people I hang out with everyday for a few weeks. Not that I dislike them or anything, I just like varying the people I spend time with and getting to know new people better. What better way to meet new people than to spend weeks crammed up in tents, hostels, and cars with them? Anyway we went and rented a car and booked some accommodations and activities on Saturday morning. After doing that we hopped in the car, went back to campus and packed our bags for an overnight trip to Akaroa, which is about an hour and a half outside of Christchurch (all the pictures in this entry are from Akaroa by the way). We had booked time to swim with dolphins and were cutting it close on time seeing as how we didn't have a concrete idea of how to get there, but we made it with a bit of time to spare which was good. We suited up in uncomfortable wetsuits that smelled of mildew and got on a boat and went out into the ocean searching for some Hector's dolphins (which I've learned are one of the most endangered species of dolphins in the world). It was a really cool experience to travel along the coastline of New Zealand and then get to go out in the wander and have pods of dolphins swim around you.

After swimming with dolphin's we went and checked into our hostel, which was a funky little pink building, and went to acquire some bottles of wine and beer. After eating a deliciously deep fried dinner at a local fish & chips place we went and sat out on the docks and just hung out for a few hours talking, drinking, joking, and skipping rocks. It was a really fun laid back time. Akaroa was a nice contrast to Christchurch. It has the vibe of a really small beach town, that gets pretty quiet once the sun goes down. We walked back to the hostel to drop off a few things and then went to a bar around the corner. Whereas the average age of the Christchurch bar population is around 20, I'd say this bar was pushing around 40. It was complete with a really corny DJ ("DJ Steve" specifically) who played some pretty good "bad music". It actually turned out to be a really really fun night, there was a mini-bachelor party that was going on at the bar which was interesting to say the least and it was just a really quirky scene altogether.
The next day, after going to bed at quite the late hour, we woke up early once again. We grabbed some coffee and quick breakfast and headed down to the docks to meet up with a guy who charters a fishing boat and takes people out to do deep sea fishing. It was the five of us along with a group of six or so 30-something guys. We ended up spending most of the day out on the water and just hanging out, fishing, and talking with kiwis. I caught a couple of fish (and one tenacious shark who was about 3 feet or so big). I'm not much of a fisherman, but it was still a lot of fun and a great way to kick off break with something new and different. We came back after a day on the sea and packed up our stuff and hit the road.I ended up driving back (for the first time in New Zealand). It was a bit stressful being on the other side of the road especially since the drive back featured lots of hills, narrow roads, and very windy turns. However, I ended up getting used to it pretty quickly and I'll definitely be good to go when I drive on the rest of the trip. Speaking of the rest of the trip we're going to Fox Glacier tomorrow which is about a 6.5 hour drive. We'll be staying at a hostel tomorrow in a nearby town and then going on an organized hike around the glacier on Tuesday. Then we'll come back to Christchurch for another night before heading out on the long portion of our journey to Abel Tasman, Queenstown, the North Island, and various other spots. I'll have more pictures and updates on the break when I return. I'm not sure when my next update will be seeing as how my internet availability might be somewhat sporadic in the coming weeks, but I'll get to it when I get a chance.

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. :-)

and now for something different

Aloha everyone. This entry is a bit of a departure from my previous endeavors into the blogging world so if you're only curious as to my day to day activities then feel free to skip over this entry and wait for my next update on my New Zealand adventures. For everyone else I offer a break from routine and a grounded entry into the workings of my mind (I know, I know, sooo fascinating).

I've come to realize, through various nights out on with friends sharing conversations of no great importance as well as spending late nights/early mornings out on the balcony with nothing but myself, my iPod, and a carefully crafted playlist that there is so much of the study abroad experience that goes unspoken about. Aspects that people don't bother to question or look into. The personal growth and expansion that happens from being more alone and separated from home than ever before. I don't mean home in the purely physical sense either, I refer to home in the abstract sense of more than a building/town/location/etc. I mean the home where you feel comfortable with yourself and who you've established yourself to be. where everyone that surrounds you knows you for all your past experiences, achievements, and mistakes. These months away allow a person to reinvent themselves however they choose, to act in ways outside of the personal characteristics and habits that home has established. This time is not just a break from American culture to see a new place in a foreign land, it's a time to break away from yourself in a sense (that may sound "deep" and esoteric, but it's not meant to be and I think that most people get the general gist of what I'm talking about if not the whole thing).

I've been over here for over a month and i can honestly say that I'm not the same person I was when I left. I suppose that type of change is to be expected, but until you actually experience it for yourself, it seems relatively abstract and unattainable. Going off to college initially offered a similar sense of space and separation, but not like this (not to this degree anyway). Being away has given me an increased amount of perspective. I can look back on home and realize the things that I cannot go without, the things that I truly value in life, and the aspects that truly matter to me most. On the other hand it's also allowed me to view the aspects of life i feel I'd be better off without. Being so far away (approximately halfway around the world) physically and mentally allows for this in a way that I really hadn't anticipated. This includes things both external and internal to my life. I've seen aspects of myself and others that are both admirable and shameful (which is a harsher word than i would like to use, but it's late over here and I'd rather not bust out my thesaurus to find a more appropriate word). I think this has really set in over the past few weeks and honestly it's an odd feeling, but also a very liberating sense of self.

To be able to completely reinvent myself if I so choose is a very odd place to find myself in (although I wouldn't go to that extreme because I happen to quite enjoy the person I've come to be over the past 21 years). Again i think the reason that you don't really hear about these aspects of study abroad is that it's so hard to convey (I hope I'm doing a somewhat suitable job in this blog entry, but this may or may not be the case in actuality). Upon talking with people back home the questions asked are largely the obvious ones that I would ask to someone else who was studying abroad like what I've been up to, how do I like classes, what's the culture like, how am I adjusting, etc. (and I suspect that the questions asked upon my return will be largely be the same). Thus, I'm taking this blog entry as a place to delve a bit deeper into the personal growth of my time halfway around the world.

After growing up in a small town and having a very close, tight-knit group of friends in Boston it's a very foreign experience to be surrounded people that know so very little about me. I suppose that's part of the appeal of this journey too though. a lot of people get a bit caught up in their college experience a few years in and desperately need a breath of fresh air. While this is not the exact case for me i can definitely see how people come back from their time abroad with an altered outlook than when they departed. again, I don't think I've drastically changed or anything, so for those of you who liked me the way i was there should be no worries and for those who disliked me i guess you're just out of luck :-).

that's pretty much all I've got to say as of now. I didn't have a whole lot in the way of updates on classes, travel, and whatnot so I pretty much just wrote this entry about what was on my mind in one fell swoop. Thus, I apologize if it's a bit repetitive or incoherent at times (it's also a bit late so my stream of conscious thought is not as sharp as it might have been at an earlier hour). Hope all is well with everyone reading this!

another week (or so) another post

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.

First Week of Classes: Done!

So after my lengthy hiatus from classroom learning I ventured back into the world of academia this past Monday. Luckily it was a smooth transition back into the process of learning. My four classes are Environmental Economics, Game Theory, Social Movements & Change, and Religion & Violence. All of my professor seem to be very down to earth and insightful, which is definitely a good thing. It's hard to tell which courses will be difficult, interesting, etc. in the first week especially since classes only meet for a total of two hours a week for lectures (some classes have tutorials which account for additional class time). Most of what was covered this past week was introductory aspects of the course like going over syllabi and whatnot. My class size ranges from about 20 to 80 and most of them are strongly focused on lectures with a bit of discussion thrown in. Hopefully the portion of the classes dedicated to discussion will increase as the semester progresses and people become more comfortable interacting in class.

Unfortunately due to an issue of transferring credit from University of Canterbury back to Northeastern I will have to change my Religion & Violence course out with Modern World History. I'm have not been a huge fan of history courses in the past, but I realized after reading over the course description that much of contemporary history is really interesting to me I just don't know a whole lot about it. Hopefully there won't be anymore requirement issues with my classes and that history class will be interesting (it meets tomorrow so I should have a general idea of what the course is about after lectures). It was slightly frustrating to have to deal with switching out courses, but I'm sure it'll all end up fine and while I enjoyed the first few lectures of Religion & Violence it wasn't exactly what I had imagined the class to be when I first signed up for it a few weeks ago.

My overall first impressions of classes are that they aren't a whole lot different from classes at Northeastern, obviously the student demographic is different. I hope that this difference will become more pronounced as discussion and interaction between students takes place over the course of the semester. Aside from that though the professors and the way the lectures are set-up is very similar to how it is back in Boston. One other difference I noticed was that professors enforce the use of the campus library and actual physical books as sources rather than the internet more than they do back home. This might be due to the fact that most of the classes I took back home assigned papers that required minimal sources and citation, but even so professors here seem to make it more of a requirement (and not an option) to use literary sources over the internet. This is all fine by me, I just hope I remember how to hold a large hardcover text from the library, it's been oh so long.

For a large portion of this past week they had tents sent up on a few of the quads representing student clubs for people to walk around a peruse. I went around with a few friends and managed to sign up for the ultimate frisbee club and the commerce society. The latter of the two is mainly a social club that has parties and barbecues, so I figured it'd be a good way to meet some new people. The ultimate frisbee club meets tomorrow to go over basic skills and rules so I'm dragging all my flatmates along to see if I can convince any of them to join up as well. The league meets every week on monday nights and seeing as how my body has been desperately lacking anything resembling physical exercise for awhile I figured it would be a good way to stay in shape. I also looked at a hiking and cricket club (those are two separate clubs, although a combination of those two could be kind of interesting). I'm planning on going to a hiking (or as the New Zealanders call it, tramping) club meeting first before deciding whether or not to join. I figure I'll be able to gauge how intense it is from the meeting because I enjoy going on casual hikes, but I would hardly consider myself a veteran hiker. We'll see what happens with the cricket club, I was trying to find a club that was very open to beginners, but I'm not sure if that exists here. The people and information at the booths seemed to indicate that the clubs weren't entirely beginning friendly, but I plan on keeping my eyes and ears open about it (I think I'd be a damn good cricket player once I got the hang of it).

Aside from classes and clubs day I spent a lot of time lounging around this past week, letting my body get used getting up early for classes (this involved a fair amount of napping). Luckily my schedule isn't super demanding, I only have two days of early classes and no friday classes (aside from a bi-weekly tutorial for environmental economics). It was probably good that I rested up this week though because I'm pretty sure all my flatmates were sick this week. Some illnesses lasted longer than others, but I managed to avoid coming down with anything (which may be the first time in history that's ever happened to me seeing as how I'm always getting sick).

This past weekend I went to a rugby game with some friends, which was fun. I can't say I followed the entire game, but it was fun to see how much fans get into and try to work out the rules. After the game we went out into the city and went to a decent number of bars. The first of which was a sports bar where everyone was watching the last bit of the cricket match that was on. New Zealand ended up winning so everyone there was very pumped (I did my best to act like a thrilled native, but I don't think I quite pulled it off, my accent still needs a bit of work). However I guess the big nights to go out here are mainly Thursday and Saturday. There were a decent number of people out at the bars, but they weren't packed by any means. Oh well, I guess that just means I'll have to go out into the city centre again this coming weekend (I know, I know, I lead such a tough life).

It rained straight through Saturday and everyone in our flat pretty much laid around for the day, which was fine by me because I love lazy days. We were going to go out to a flat warming party for someone who is friends with my flatmate Zach, but the weather was awful and the party had already died down by the time we were ready to head out. It was fun to just stay in the flat with all the roomies and hang out though. I've started to realize that what I've really enjoyed about the experience so far is just meeting all the new people. Talking and hanging out with people is what I really enjoy the most whether it be here or back home. The first questions people usually ask you after a trip are along the lines of where'd you travel to and what'd you see? While I'm still interested in traveling and seeing the country I think people oftentimes overlook the social piece of study abroad and put a lot of emphasis on the touristic aspects or maybe it's just that the social interactions are so hard to convey to people who weren't on the trip that others just don't ask about them. Regardless of the reason I've started to realize that the social part of this experience will likely be a much more prominent part than I had originally thought when I was first writing my pre-departure entry.

Also along the lines of social interactions I'd just like to say to my friends and family that I miss you all and it's been very weird to be this far away from everything that's going on back home. It's definitely a very odd feeling and I'll have to get used to it, but I'm constantly thinking about you guys and gals. If you're reading that and haven't talked to me recently then let's chat and catch up. It always helps to hear from voices back home (or from home voices that are currently abroad as well). That's about all I have to update you with for now (again sorry for the lack of pictures I swear I'll start carrying my camera around more soon).

The First 1.5 Weeks

So I have now been in Christchurch for about a week and half and what better time to update all my loyal followers on what is happening in my life? We arrived initially in Christchurch at the airport to find that our scheduled taxi pick-up was nowhere to be found, but a phone call and a little while later we were exiting the airport on the chilly grey day into a cab heading to the university. The cab driver was quite jolly and gave us a little crash course of the city as we drove (I'm not sure if it's okay to use the term crash course in a sentence about driving, but I'm going to do it anyway). One interesting fact he told us was that Christchurch is called the garden city because of it's expanse of parks and public and private gardens and apparently they get really pretty foliage here so that will be something to look forward to being the loyal New Englander that I am.

The university was only about a 5-10 minute drive from the airport and when we arrived we checked into our rooms and received a welcome bag and shirt. Then, at long last, I got to unpack. There's something very fulfilling about making your new bed and hanging up/putting away all your clothes that is very appeasing. Three of my roommates (or should I say flatmates) had already arrived when I checked in, two girls (Chelsey and Kate) who go to school (Rowan) and are from New Jersey and one guy (Zack) who is from Taronga on the North Island. The fourth, and final, flatmate Scott arrived a few days later and is from Hamilton, which is also on the north island. We all get along great and it's really nice to have a balance of the familiarity of people who are from the states as well people who have lived in New Zealand their whole life. Also Zack and Scott have friends who also go to University (or Uni as everyone here calls it) so it definitely increases my social circle by having friends from here.

The flat is really nice. There's two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, small balcony/deck area, and five single bedrooms (with double beds!!!). It's relatively similar to what I lived in back in Boston and, as always, it's great to have a single bedroom (no matter how much I enjoy my flatmates). We've put a few chairs out on our little balcony area (we're on the fourth floor) so it's nice to go out there and relax anytime of the day/night. Looking out over the city, the first thing you'd notice is the lack of tall buildings. The city feels a lot like a large town in that way. There are no skyscrapers that we associate with so many U.S. cities and, while there are many retailers all around, it is hardly the consumerist culture that so many americans are used to. It was appalling to find they only had a portion of an isle allocated to cereal and only one or two brands of peanut butter (honestly, how do they live!?!). All kidding aside it is a bit liberating to not have to choose between ten brands of mundane items. Another liberating thing is not having a phone (which I will inevitably have to get, but have been avoiding for the time being). You don't realize how compulsively you rely on technological items until you go cold turkey and abandon them. It's been great to use skype to keep in touch with people, but being able to go out and not worry about someone texting you or ringing you is a very free feeling.

The dynamic of the student population is a bit different here in that there are only a handful of major universities in New Zealand. So if you come from a medium or large high school you likely will know a lot of people from your high school at university. Also college is not so much a brand here like it is in the states. Not to say they don't have sweatshirts and t-shirts, but they don't push it to the extent that american schools do because honestly who needs collegiate brand keychains, shot glasses, stickers, pins lanyards, sweatpants, hoodies, hats... you get the idea. I took some time to walk around the campus in the first few days I was here before the hordes of other students arrived. Unfortunately I don't have pictures to post yet, but hopefully I'll get around to taking some soon. The campus is nice, the architecture incorporates a lot of cement, which isn't always a recipe for aesthetic appeal, but it incorporates green areas and plants nicely. There are a few big athletic fields nearby (one of which was flooded with cricket players all dressed in white, it was quite heavenly really).

All the international students attended an orientation in the first few days we were here. It was informative, but a bit long. Aside from that and enrolling for classes (which required working your way through a maze of an academic building stopping about 15 times on the way) there wasn't a whole lot related to academics in the first week. So, like any good college student, we went out frequently and slept in late. The flatmates and I went into town one night, but realizing that cabs are quite a bit more expensive out here (and buses oftentimes don't run very late) we've elected to stay closer to campus recently. There's an on campus bar with pool tables and a good outside lounge area. It's odd to see so many things here sponsored by beer and alcohol companies. The drinking culture is definitely much more embraced and relaxed than in america. I can't imaging the 18 year old drinking age doesn't hurt this either. It's been fun to go out and meet a lot New Zealanders in a relaxed setting. It's always a good time to shoot back questions about New Zealand life vs American life over a beer. I also experienced my first toga party this past week, which obviously no college experience should be without. Oh, and in case you were wondering the answer is yes, I do look dashing wrapped up in a bed sheet.

I started classes today, but I shall save that for my next entry. Although it was fun to go out most nights and sleep in til the early afternoon I'm glad to start being on a somewhat more normal schedule. I haven't really been a full time student in about 9 months, so hopefully I'll be able to easily get back in the swing of things. I'll have more on my adjustment of learning to learn again next time. Again, my apologies for the lack of pictures, I realize my words aren't nearly as interesting as pictures of kangaroos and koalas.

The Flight & Sydney

Well it's been a bit over a week since I left the country so I figured now is as good a time as any for an update. The flight was... how should I phrase it... long. Aside from the 20+ hours of actually being in the air there was the approximate two hour delay in Boston in which we waited in the terminal because they had to switch out aircrafts because the one we had planned to depart on was not suitable to fly (I'm thankful they found that out before we actually took off, but the delay was a pain nonetheless). This delay caused us to miss our flight in L.A., but we only ended up having to wait an additional hour for the next flight. However, L.A. was not to be outdone by Boston and their petty two hour terminal delays. No, the plane we boarded in L.A. would be delayed about two hours as well, however, this delay was be spent, in its entirety, on the plane. Needless to say the whole journey was a very long ordeal and hopefully the trip back won't have as many hiccups (if any at all).


Upon finally arriving in Sydney, jet-lagged and exhausted, we waited about an hour for the shuttle to pick us up and drop us off at Macquarie University where we stayed for the next eight days. The University was about 20-30 minutes outside of Sydney, but there was plenty of buses running frequently to and from the city. The campus has a large green expanse with a pond in its center, which was really nice to just walk down and sit by. The flat we stayed at had five single bedrooms, each with their own bathrooms, which was very nice. However, the lack of air conditioning in the mid-80 degree heat got a little tiresome. I don't know if it was because my body wasn't ready for summer yet or if it was unbearably hot or a combination of the two, but the heat really threw me for a loop, so much so that I wore shorts, and for those of you who know me well, I don't think I've worn shorts in 3 years. I also noticed, upon waking up the first morning there, that we had a lizard living with us. I later figured out that there was a pretty large gap at the bottom of our back door where creatures were pretty free to come and leave so I decided to not worry about it and enjoy the company of reptiles. I figured lizards are like the mice of Australia (although Australia has mice too so my logic might be flawed).


Aside from being jet-lagged and the hot weather the trip to Sydney was a fun time. We went to visit the Opera House which is really a phenomenal building to see in real life. It's a bit odd to actually see something that you've viewed so many times in photographs right in front of you. We also visited the Royal Botanic Garden which is located right next to the Opera House. It's a rather large garden/park with a lot of cool looking trees and birds. Oh and I cannot forget about the bats, there were hundreds and hundreds of large fruit bats hanging from almost every large tree in the garden. Aside from the terrifying bats, the garden itself was beautiful and a good way to kill a few hours in the city.


Sydney itself seemed to be a pretty laid back and friendly city. I can't say I had legitimate time to really see the ins and outs of it, but I enjoyed the parts that I saw. Aside from the Opera House and garden we had a chance to visit the Art Gallery of New South Whales, which was free and air conditioned (two big plusses) and the Sydney Zoo. The gallery has a pretty impressive array of artwork from all time periods. A lot of paintings, some photography, and some sculptures. I still get a bit stunned when I see paintings that takes up almost an entire wall and the amount of detail the painter has been able to incorporate into them. I just don't think I'd ever have the patience to spend that much time on a single project, especially a painting. The zoo was fun as well, although I did feel bad for all the animals holed up in there. I got to see kangaroo, wallabies, koalas, giraffes, elephants, penguins, lions, gorillas, orangoutangs, zebras, and a whole slew of other animals. Unfortunately, the platypus were off display because their habitat was under construction, but aside from that I'm pretty sure I saw all the animals you would normally associate with Australia.


The Australian cuisine I enjoyed was quite exquisite. Due to the near proximity of a large shopping center to campus and the pure laziness of not wanting to have to deal with groceries for an eight day trip, my diet consisted of a lot of food served very quickly. McDonalds, Subway, Hungry Jack's (a.k.a. Australian Burger King), etc. It was truly a delightful gourmet eating experience through and through. However, I did learn that Coca-Cola made with sugar is definitely better than when it's made with high fructose corn syrup. I had been told this before, but now I can confirm that it is indeed fact.


Another accomplishment that I made during my stay at Sydney was to learn the basic rules of cricket, although I can't take full credit for this. There was a series of matches on tv over the course of my stay and I started to watch and pick up the basic rules bit by bit. However, when a games score board has both decimals and fractions it's very easy to get lost. Determined to get to the bottom of what this game was really about, I turned to the source of all wisdom (wikipedia) for answers. However, the sheer size of the wikipedia article and my lack of willingness to read that much about cricket quickly deterred me from that solution. Luckily on the last two days of our trip another flatmate moved in (we had previously had the entire apartment to ourselves) and she brought a friend who was a cricket fan. After spending a night watching the end of a cricket match and asking him a lot of questions I can now confidently say I know the basic rules, and man oh man am I proud of that.


Although I enjoyed the trip it did get a bit tiresome to be living out of a suitcase for eight days and not being able to really settle into any routine. Thus, I was eager to leave campus and depart for New Zealand at six this morning. I am currently finishing up my first day at the University of Canterbury, but I shall save that portion of my journey for the next entry seeing as how I have already wrote a fair amount and any more will likely cause readers to wander off (assuming they've stayed with me up to this point). Pictures of my flat and the campus to come in a week or so.