Orientation week is here! It is called o-week and it is a big welcome back celebration (remember everyone just returned from summer break to start their first semester).Campus is finally alive! All day long students are hanging outside their flats and at night the streets are full of people, loud music, and parties. All of my flatmates are here as well! Nikita is our kiwihost, she is from the North Island. Mariah is from Michigan, Jay is from New York, and Jeremiah is from Minnesota. They are awesome! It is going to be one crazy semester!
O week is full of concerts, events, specials, and parties. All week there are tents around campus from local organizations. On Tuesday, we attended the annual Toga parade, which is a Dunedin tradition. All the freshman “freshers” dress up in togas and parade downtown. It is tradition for the upper classmen to egg them. I found myself hiding behind bushes, dodging the crazy egg throwing and running to the next street to watch the chaos all over again. The police had no control, it was insane!
Wednesday was the annual cook-a-thon. I convinced Lynsey, Mariah, and Nina to go with me instead of going to international orientation. We woke up at 8 am and dressed up as 80 workout girls to walk to the bar at 9 am. The bar opens at 10 am and serves breakfast and lunch for $10. Everyone dresses up in crazy outfits and stands in line. We were at the bar until 5. It was a blast! The kiwis really know how to party.
On Thursday, I attended the clubs fair. I joined the tramping club here, which is a hiking club that takes trips every weekend. I also signed up for a wine tasting class on Wednesdays in May, which will be fun to actually be knowledgeable about what I am drinking.
On Friday we took a train trip though central otago with the International program. It was a cute, old fashioned train, and they gave us a free barbeque dinner at the end. After that we went to the Blackseeds Concert on campus. We danced to sweet reggae music. We stayed for a little while and then went out to the bars.
Today I went to the farmers market, which is every Saturday morning in town. It has plenty of fresh fruit, veggies, organic food, and homemade goodies. It is worth the early wake up call. O-week continues until next Saturday (March 7th) and classes start on Monday… well Tuesday for me! I’ll write again soon!
I just got back from a 6 day road trip with a couple of my friends! Right before we left, we went to a rugby game right in town. A group of us made dinner, drank some local beer, and painted our faces for the big game. We took the bus to Carrisbrook stadium and watched the Highlanders. Rugby is intense! There is a huge student section in the stadium, which makes the atmosphere more social and fun.
On Saturday, David, Erica, Hannah, Zach, and I rented a car to tour the southern coast of the south island. Originally it was only three of us, so we rented a tiny Nissan. It was quite comical trying to fit all of our clothes, tents, sleeping bags, and food into the car. Haha. We also thought that peanut butter and jelly would be sufficient for 6 days, so we neglected to bring real food and cooking utensils. Oh and don’t forget that New Zealand drives on the left side of the road!
It was quite the adventure! We drove the southern coast and stopped at numerous beaches, lookout points, and waterfalls. We stopped at Nugget Point lighthouse, which was beautiful! Our first campsite was right on the ocean, so we enjoyed our first dinner of pb and j and wine on the beach. The weather was sunny and perfect during the day with occasional rain, and at night, it was quite cold! Many people think New Zealand is warm, but they are mistaken. I will wake up and it will be rainy and freezing, by midday it will be hot enough for a t-shirt, and then by three p.m. it will be back down to 50 and cloudy. Typically, you experience 4 seasons in one day. Craziness! Anyways, back to the trip. The following day we saw a couple waterfalls and tunnels and slept on CurioBay, which is a petrified forest. At night we went out to the beach around sunset and watched 15-20 penguins come in from the sea to meet their families and return to their habitat. We were 10 feet from real live penguins. It was crazy! Sea lions were also everywhere, we had to camp at a certain spot, so we wouldn’t wake up with them on our tent! The next night we camped at Invercargill at the Amble on Inn… haha, we got a kick out of the name. It was an interesting campsite next to a sheep farm, a road, and a carpenter.
The next day was amazing! We drove up to Te Anu and went skydiving! We met a lady at one of the stop offs and she told us how she went skydiving in Te Anu, so we looked into it and booked within 5 hours. We were signing our papers at this small little hut and we asked the owner if we could check the box that said “I have heard all the rules and precautions, etc. etc.” and he said, “oh yea. Well there is the bathroom, we keep the planes there, and you go up one at a time.” And the box was checked! I think it was this point that I finally realized that I was in New Zealand. The sheet also said that if anything were to happen, it is almost impossible to sue in New Zealand. LeeRoy was the skydiver that evening and he was awesome! We each went up separately with only LeeRoy and the pilot in the plane. He gave us a tour of FiordlandNational Park. The scenery was beautiful! You could see lakes, rivers, mountains, etc. After a 20 minute tour we were ready to skydive! LeeRoy attached our harnesses and pushed me towards the edge. My favorite part was when LeeRoy pushed me over the edge, so I was floating while he was sitting on the edge of the plane. We freefell for 60 seconds and it was epic! We were head first flying down while looking at the mountains and sky. Then he opened the parachute and we floated, flipped, and turned all the way down to the ground. It was such an adrenaline rush! I highly recommend skydiving!
We slept on LakeTeAnu the next two nights. It was a beautiful lake with mountains right behind it. The next day we drove up to Milford Sound, which was full of mountains, glaciers, valleys, and water! It was gorgeous. I am excited to do a cruise there when my mom and Deanne come in a couple weeks.
Overall our road trip was a blast! We returned to the rainy, cold weather of Dunedin. I registered for my classes yesterday. I am excited for school to start. My professors seem amazing and the exercise science/physical education department here is sweet as. I couldn’t get into a class because I did not have the prerequisites, so I asked a professor if there was anyway I could still take the paper (what they call a course). He went to talk to the other professor and came back and said, “Can you bring a six pack to the first class?” I laughed and said yes…and that was it, he signed my paper. Haha I am taking psychology of sport, exercise prescription, sport organization, and a philosophy course over morals and ethics. I only have class Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays… and therefore, I have a lot of free time in my schedule.
Orientation week is about to start, which sounds insane! It is full of concerts, tents, parties, and events. Everything here is great. I am getting used to life in New Zealand, the ups and the downs. It is interesting to not have internet at my fingertips, limited electricity, and no central heating, but I am slowly getting used to it. I am stoked for all of my flatmates to arrive and more students!
I am finally all moved into my flat, which is right off campus. It is a cute little gated house, and we are on the top floor (it is like 4 or 5 flats in a house). I have four roommates, but only my kiwi host is here right now. My other roommates will be arriving right before registration on the twentieth. I have my own room, with a desk, dresser and double bed. I have been spending most of my time getting organized and running around town.
On Sunday, a group of us went to St. Clair beach, which is a 10 minute bus ride. The waves were HUGE and there were riptides...even after swimming for 10 years, I decided to sit on a towel and watch the crazy surfers. haha.
On Monday, we caught the bus to go to Larnach Castle, which is supposedly the only castle in the southern hemisphere (were doubtful of this). We got off the bus to find out we had a 4km (45minute) walk up a STEEP hill. haha. It made arriving at the castle ten times better. The lookout from the castle is amazing, but we saw rain and fog. haha. Then we hiked back down the hill to catch the bus home. It was quite an adventure!
We have also been spending a lot of time in town. The main center of town is in the shape of an octagon and there are restaurants and stores everywhere. It is a nice 15 minute walk from my flat.
Everyone in New Zealand is friendly! I love their accents and have been trying to pick up on their slang... cheers, sweet as (meaning cool or sweet... we don't understand why it isn't sweet as candy or something, but nz is a place of its own... haha), hire out (rent out), skull (chug).. etc!
Tomorrow the Institute for Study Abroad is hosting an event. We are taking a bus to the peninsula to see the penguins and seals and then back to Dunedin for dinner. It will be great to catch up with everyone. My friends and I rented a car for the next five days. We are planning to do some day hikes in the Catlins and then a road trip along the coast of the southern part of the island, stopping at some sweet places. I will be sure to blog after that!
I am studying abroad in New Zealand from February till July. I will be attending the University of Otago in Dunedin. Feel free to read my blog and e-mail me!
