Hey World, I'm Legal!

Last weekend was my 21^st birthday! Yay I’m legal! The night before I made dinner for Jesse, Emily, Theirry and myself. Then Bee set up a girls’ night and we did facials, painted our nails, and made my birthday cake for my party. The first cake was a bit of a mess and fell apart when we flipped it, I thought it’d be fine and we should just stick it back together, but Bee insisted we make a whole new one… So we did… after consuming the majority of the first one…

The Big Day started with a nice trip to the farmers market for some delicious crepes with my SLU friends. After chowing down on a pair of plum jam crepes we headed back to Uni. On our way we were distracted by men in jeggings (jean leggings) running toward a large cage set up on the intramural rugby field. What was it??? The Ultimate Dodgeball Competition. The winners of which get to go to Vegas for the actual tournament. We spent a few minutes laughing and cheering and trying to make sense of the whole thing. Suddenly a new team steps up to play and we realize two of those kids look really familiar. Turns out two of our classmates from St. Lawrence signed up for the competition as well! Sadly they were absolutely destroyed in the first round, but it added to the humor of the whole thing. I spent the afternoon of my birthday hanging out with Sam and Emily shopping and resting up!  I came home a few hours later to hundreds of freshers (freshmen) having a carnival in our backyard. They had a moonbounce and hot dogs and loud music. It was a bit of an arrrggh moment as I was hoping for an afternoon nap. A few hours later after getting my hair and makeup done by my wonderfully stylish kiwi host Bee we walked outside to check on the fresher-fest. To our great surprise the yard was empty… and so was the moon bounce! We summoned Theirry out of his room and spent the good part of an hour bouncing around and having fun. It was the best birthday surprise ever! 

Bee and the Birthday Surprise!

Isabel, Emily, Jesse, Sam and Colleen took me out to Indian for my birthday and it was delicious! Then we had a small get together at the flat with some of my neighbors, fellow geologists, and new friends! It was a great night and a successful 21^st birthday!

Yesterday was another celebration, St. Patricks Day. Uni students were decked out in green, and if you’ve read the Otago Times, you can hear about the massive roof party that had to be broken up by the fire department… I wasn’t involved I promise! Emma, Colleen and I don’t have class on Thursday so we started the day off at Isabel and Colleens with a great big breakfast! In the afternoon we decided to bring in the holiday with a tour of the local Speights Brewery. We got to walk through the still-working brewery, learn about the history of beer, and try six of their prized brews. It’s the pride of the south (southern island), and it’s quite good. We befriended many of the people on our tour and they were happy to snap some shots for our parents at home! It was an enjoyable experience and I will probably do it again before I go home. Bee made us a fabulous feast for dinner and then we spent a night out on the town! 

Speights tour!

Tomorrow is one of the biggest parties of the year. More than 9,000 students and friends will crowd Hyde Street for a party that has been dubbed my some as “Better than Christmas!!” Our flat will be going as cowboys and Indians! It’s our first weekend where all five of us are here, which will be fun. Hopefully I will get better at the blog updating. My parents are already in New Zealand and at this point are part way through their bike tour of the southern island. Me and some of my friends will meet up with them in Queenstown next Thursday and spend the weekend there! I am very excited to see them as well as start to see some other parts of New Zealand. The following week four of us are headed off to Stewart Island for a 4 day weekend of tramping (hiking)! I am also mid-way through planning the road trip of a lifetime! For easter vacation Jesse, myself and our new friends Natalie and Ben are setting off for a 10 day road trip around the southern island. We’ll start off heading north to Christchurch, Kaikoura, take a wine tour in Renwick, kayak and hike in Marlborough Sound. Then we’ll make our way west, searching for seals and spending three days hiking in Abel Tasman National Park. We’ll loop back south, catching a brewery tour in Greymouth and conclude the trip by hiking Fox Glacier. Needless to say we are bursting with excitement, and I find myself staying up late planning this week of adventure. *I should probably mention that I broke a rule, I bought a car, but SHHHH don’t tell St. Lawrence. It’s a trusty (so far) wagon that will become our transportation and home over the many adventurous weekends ahead. I am very excited! I hope all is well for everyone no matter where they are in the world. I think of you all often!

Before I sign off I want to share with you a story I heard today.  A friend of mine received an email from his parents today and after sharing the contents, I realized I should share the story with someone else. My friend is from the US and, like me, studying at Otago for the semester. Originally his parents were not going to be able to make it to New Zealand to visit him, but since, things have changed. The circumstances which came about should teach us, or remind us all of a very important life lesson. An elderly man from their church at home was asking my friend’s parents about the New Zealand semester and if they were going to get the chance to come visit their son during his time here. They said they unfortunately were probably not going to be able to. The older man said that perhaps they should get a lottery ticket and see if they could win so they could make the trip. A few weeks later the family received a letter in the mail. It contained a check and a note that said, “Here’s your winning lottery ticket from New Zealand.” The man asked that they enjoy their time visiting their son, and use 10% to pay it forward to someone else. I hope this all inspires you all to pay it forward, not necessarily literally, but when you do something nice for someone else, it’s sure to brighten up their day and yours as well.  (And maybe even make a stranger like me smile!)

Take a wrong turn

The best decision I’ve made academically was to switch my ecology lab to Monday. Why do we care? Well that leaves Thursdays absolutely clear! Emma and Colleen have the same schedule so we’ve turned Thursdays into our travel-eat-take pictures-get lost days. Yesterday we celebrated St. Patricks day and roamed about Dunedin, but last week we rented a car and hopped on Rt 1 headed for the Moeraki Boulders. On our way we took detours whenever we felt curious. A small sign labeled “Shag beach” sparked our interest and after traveling a few miles down a sparsely residential road, we decided it was the best wrong turn ever! We had discovered and absolutely beautiful and breathtaking seal and penguin watching spot. We had picked the perfect day, sun shining, nice and warm and plenty of seals! New Zealand is indescribable. Everywhere you look there is something new, exciting and beautiful. At times it doesn’t seem real and you need to be pinched to remind youself that THIS IS REAL. I’m not sure my pictures can adequately show you how beautiful a country this is. And if you can’t tell, I’m really struggling to even desribe it. It has this essence that’s just screaming out to you that there is no where else in the world quite like this. This wrong turn to Shag Beach, and this entire day in general, was one of those days where I was seeing the beauty and uniqueness of New Zealand everywhere and I couldn’t help but try to soak it all in! 

Emma at the wrong turn

SEALS!

The reward for being curious...

We eventually had to pull ourselves away from our stumbled upon special place and headed off to our original destination – the Moeraki Boulders. Geologic anomoles, that’s all I can say. Esentailly perfectly round boulders spread across a beautiful beach. Science says they are septarian concretions, the Maori say they are eel baskets, but we decided that they are the pods from which geologists break free. Just crack one open and what’s inside? A geologist waiting to be released into the world, only to sit in awe of the beauty and complexity of the Moeraki Boulders.  We had ourselves a photoshoot and a nice relaxing sprawl on the boulders.

Moeraki Boulders

Thinking man

Geologists Emerging

After that we took the advice of my flatmate Thierry and went to Fleurs Place for lunch. If there is one restaurant that you eat at in all of New Zealand, and perhaps the world, you MUST go to Fleurs Place.  New Zealand wine, fresh fish and cockles, home-made bread, delectable desserts; all from a table looking out over the ocean with seals playing in front. Literally this was not real life! I was in awe the entire time and thought I had actually died and gone to heaven! It was not at all a cheap meal, but it was the best bread, cod, cockles, wine, and crème brulee I have EVER had! I am drooling just thinking about it. I am definitely going to get back there sometime in life, perhaps even get myself a little hut on the hill where I can eat at Fleurs and watch the seals every day! 

Not at all a bad place to have lunch

New Zealand wine, fresh fish, fresh cockles.... heaven

We regretfully headed onwards to Oamaru and were at little disappointed, especially after the morning we had had.  We got stuck behind a house on Rt 1 for about an hour. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a 2.5 lane house on a two lane road… not so bright. The poor people on the otherside had to basically go into a ditch just to drive by. We eventually made it by, did a quick loop around Oamaru trying to get to the beach, but with no luck we headed home – getting the rental car back just in the nick of time. Over all an incredible day… let’s hope every Thursday can keep up with that!

This is my life...

Marine Studies Class

Visiting the Peninsula and doing water testing

Things we have to remember. I am here for school. Otago is making this difficult for me. My geology class consists of two week long field trips to incredible parts of the country. My ecology class is taking me crab-digging in an intertidal zone. Two weeks ago my marine studies class took me to an aquarium and the following week we went on a three hour long boat ride, saw seals, beautiful views of the Otago Pennisula, and, to prove I am actually doing work here, conducted some salinity and chlorophyll tests! I wont lie, it’s not all trips and days on a boat.  I am struggling to get used to the massive lectures and lack of grades throughout the semester. The learning environment is completely different and I sometimes leave class wondering why I am such an idiot, and then realize five minutes later I actually DO understand everything. I really am enjoying it and the professors are very interesting and from all over the world. What’s interesting about all of my classes is that there is no set professor. Every week or so we get a different lecturer who presents on their specialty. It keeps the class interesting and reassures me that I am getting accurate information from the people who have made it their life’s work to study that topic. It makes the curriculum a little more jumpy, but different doesn’t mean bad!   

Beautiful views during Marine Studies class!

The university is beautiful, and if you don’t believe me, google some pictures and check it out. I’m pretty sure the geology building is haunted as it is one of the first original buildings. Walking around their late at night was a bit eerie, but it had to be done to get my mapping project done! I will admit that every day I think about the one thing I’m missing at SLU. There are no chapel bells at 5:00. There are bells, every hour, but not to a tune I’ll find myself humming the rest of the evening…. So SLU you’ve got them beat in that aspect! It’s hard to compare the two as they are so different, but I am really enjoying myself and my time here.

Our humble abode

The housing set up is great! We are placed in flats, which are little houses all around the north side of Dunedin where the campus is located. I am lucky and right by campus with a mere two-minute walk to the second floor of the geology building. (I hear my friends in Denmark groaning...) Also as I mentioned before I have a lovely walk to the grocery store through the botanical garden and I’m not more than 10 minutes from all of my favorite SLUzers, shopping, and restaurants. I live with four other students in a little grey and red flat. We each have our own room (WITH A DOUBLE BED!) and we share a bathroom, kitchen and living room. 

My room!

Bernice is our Kiwi-host and the only other girl in our flat. She is the most amazing cook and spoils us with treats galore and gourmet meals. The boys are Taylor, Jacob and Theirry. Taylor and Jake are from the US and Thierry is from France. They are all great and always keep Bee and I entertained with their humor and late-night cooking mishaps. Five nights a week we do flat dinners where one person cooks each night. I am really glad we do it, it allows us all to check in every night and it has definitely brought us closer as a group. We have come up with a bucket list for the semester, which is essentially a list of things we as a flat have to do before the semester ends. I, apparently, need to make the boys cheesecake… I am really enjoying life in the flat. I am having fun, learning the life of electricity bills, the importance of a coffee maker, and the joy of meeting people from all over the world!

Feeding Mitch, our pet spider

Tunnel Beach

Tunnel Beach

On the Sunday of our first full weekend in Dunedin Emma and I decided to hitch a bus to Tunnel Beach. We missed our bus by just a few minutes, so we spent an hour hanging out in the Octagon getting subway – warning: here it’s $7.50 footlong, not such a nice ring eh? We finally got on the bus and ended up getting a cheaper fare. I asked if there was a student discount, the driver asked if I was in school, I said yes, not realizing that school means high school, and saved a dollar. Yay!

After the bus dropped us off we took a nice walk along the road and ended up at the Tunnel Beach entrance. Flip-flops were a poor choice for walking down the hill to the beach.  The view was unbelievable. Sandstone carved by the sea over the years (think geological time) has created massive cliffs, caves and arches. It was high tide and the wind was picking up, but it was still an awesome afternoon experience. I will definitely be going back, with a picnic ready, for a longer stay.

Dunedin!!

I have realized that I am not exactly the best blogger out there. I get a wee bit behind on my posting! Sorry!

The Octagon

I really can’t believe how quickly time is passing here. I’ve been here for over three weeks already – eek! I’ve been living in the vibrant city of Dunedin and I love it!!! Who knew I would really enjoy city life? Don’t get me wrong, I still prefer my small town New England towns full of character, but I love the change of scenery and new experiences. I’ve learned you ACTUALLY need to look both ways when crossing the street, and they really won’t stop for pedestrians.  It’s also really fun to just walk around, getting yourself lost, popping into shops and restaurants and just trying it out. We’ve gone out to dinner the past few weekends and it’s great to just pick up a bottle of wine and walk to one of the many Thai or Indian restaurants. Yum! There are also so many different stores and it’s an incredibly fun place to people watch. Last week I made my first trip to the Octagon in order to catch a bus to Tunnel beach. The center road was identical to the video game “Frogger”. There were speeding alternating lines of cars and a line of busses. We opted not to test our luck and used the crosswalk instead. 

A real-life game of Frogger

Walking to class

It’s been great spending the past few weekends here. Before coming here I planned on leaving every weekend to see New Zealand, but I have found that one of New Zealand’s gems is Dunedin itself! There is so much going on, great food, friendly people and something new to discover every day. The weather is interesting and I’m still getting used to it. One second its 75º and sunny and then a huge cloud comes it, it’s pouring and I’m begging for my sleeping bag. I’ve got to get used to it! It’s only getting colder as winter approaches here and apparently any sort of tolerance I had built up in Canton against the cold seem to be long gone. Any nice day I spend lying outside on the field behind my house, reading some and eating cheese and pineapple… some things never change.

Hopping electric fences and falling off cliffs... I mean, geology field camp

I was notified by some of the fellows in Denmark that my blog was not, in fact, up to date. So here we go again! (I will try to do better in the future, sorry!)

My last blog post was over a week ago and a lot has happened in that time. As I'm sure all of you have heard, wherever you are in the world, there was an earthquake in Christchurch last Tuesday. I am completely fine, and didn't feel a thing. Some people were able to feel the initial quake, while others felt the aftershock the following day. It happened right before we left for our field mapping course in Maerewhenua approximately two hours north of Dunedin. Because of this I was unable to notify anyone aside from my parents that I was okay, so my apologies if I scared anyone! It is a sad time in New Zealand and Christchurch is still in a state of emergency. Think about donating to the New Zealand Red Cross or check your schools/towns to see if there are any fundraisers for relief!

Field Camp!!

The geology trip was interesting. We arrived at camp on Tuesday night and were there until Sunday afternoon. We weren't "roughing-it" as much as I had hoped/thought. The girls and some of the guys were put up in cabins, we all had access to showers, bathrooms and electricity. There was a TV to update us on the disaster in Christchurch, but we spent the majority of our free time mapping. It was incredibly difficult to get back in the mid-set of school work. We would be out in the field from 8:30-5:30 every day. Come back, have dinner at 6:30 and be working on our maps from 7 until we felt sufficiently done. That meant that on our last night we were up until 12:30 am working - OOF!

Holding up some limestone!

One thing I learned on this trip was that I am not an experienced mapper. It's a lot more difficult than I had imagined and pretty much entails hiking around, looking for rocks and every time you see one, writing it down on the map. Then you had to sort of assume where other rock layers would be based on your measurements. This was exceptionally difficult as the majority of the land was covered by farms. However, we used our skills in geomorphology (study of landforms) and other geo classes to come up with these conclusions, and even though I was told my Basalt! was completely wrong - I was sort of getting the hang of it by the end.

First day of sun!

Another thing I learned is that getting electrocuted is NOT FUN. We had two modes of transportation to get around the field area. The FLY-9, our trusty red mini-van equipped with one radio station, and our feet. During our hikes and walks we'd come across fences and fences of barbed wire and electricity. What did we do? We hopped them. Over the course of the week we probably hopped at least 60 fences. No one got barb-ed, but the majority of the group got zapped. I took an exceptionally painful zap to my rear while trying to navigate my way through a tripple-electric-double-barbed fence. My heart has never stopped beating so fast and I literally couldn't move for a minute or so. Emma was yelling at me to keep going, and I was like, I actually cannot move right now. Don't worry Mom I'm perfectly fine now! It was just a bit scary!

NARNIA!!!

We also got to go to Elephant Rocks... WHERE NARNIA WAS FILMED! Tim, Emma, Robin and I were quite the tourists, running around taking pictures of ourselves with the rocks. After a 40 minute photo-shoot we returned to our professors and they asked us about how many measurements we had just gotten from the rocks. We had to admit to them that we had done nothing aside from take pictures of ourselves for our families and friends at home - oops! 

SLU Geologists in Action!

Overall it was a beneficial trip. We got to see some beautiful views of New Zealand and find out more about the local geology. The mapping was a bit difficult, the lunch meat questionable, and the weather was not always on our side, but over all it was a positive experience. We head off to Borland in the Fiordlands in a few weeks, which is more mountainous and will be quite chilly! We are excited, but dreading the work that comes along with it. We've got to keep reminding ourselves that we're here for school as well I guess!

The land with three types of kiwi

Just some advice before I continue on.... NEVER ask a New Zealander if they like to eat their kiwis with the skin kept on -- they aren't cannibals.

Auckland sunrise!

So, after the mess of traveling we finally arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday morning. Jesse, Katherine, and I met up with Brendan and Marta and after a quick stop at duty free (legal here!) we each grabbed a trolley (not a cart), and made it through customs! We changed and attempted to make ourselves somewhat presentable before heading out for a few hours in Auckland. Our first stop was a nice patch of grass on the side of the highway. We probably could have stayed their all day, but it felt a little strange napping on the side of the road. Marta had met a man in the airport who gave her some directions to a Butterfly museum/farm/giftshop/restaurant/playground so we decided to go there for some real food. After a delicious cranberry and brie sandwhich we all whipped open our travel books and started planning all that we are going to do over the next few months -- so exciting!

 

 

We made it!

Goofing around in Auckland

We made it back to the airport plenty early as to avoid any sort of catastrophe like the LAX incident and after a few more attempts at crossword puzzles as a group we hopped on our flight to Dunedin! Jesse and I got to sit next to a really nice lady from the US who had recently published a romance novel. We spent the entire flight playing a New Zealand Trivia game on the TV together and became fast friends. I also started quite a commotion on the plane when I spotted whales outside the window during take-off - oops!

Almost to Dunedin!

We arrived in Dunedin and got into a shuttle with 5 other students studying at Otago for the semester. Our ride into the city consisted of lots of pictures of sheep, the hills, and our driver praying as we putt-putt-ed up the hills. We made it into the city and picked up our house keys at the University security office then the nice shuttle driver dropped us all off at our varying flats. When I got into the flat - home for the next four months - I met my Kiwi-host Bernice (Bee), Theirry, and Taylor. My fourth flatmate, Jacob, I met later that night. Bee and Thierry took me grocery shopping right away and I picked up the staples, hummus, crackers, applejuice, and cheerios. My walk to the grocery store is through a BEAUTIFUL botanical garden that is only about 2 blocks away. It makes the walk to the store a lot more enjoyable, though I need to watch our for what time the garden closes. Last year Bee got locked inside during her walk back - so check back the blog in the future to see if it happens to me!

My walk to the grocery store

After taking a much-needed shower Jesse and Emily came over for a visit and to see my room and only about fifteen minutes after they left, Willy, Isabel and Emma came to visit too! It was so nice to see some friendly faces during the overwhelming settling in time.

On Saturday I slept in until 11pm our time (13 hours of sleep yay!) and then started walking in the direction that I hoped Jesse and Emily lived. It was sort of fun to try to find my way to their flat, and I was surprisingly successful. After seeing their flats and meeting their flatmates, Jesse, his flatmate Nina from Bosnia, and I headed off to the grocery store (again..).  Apparently in New Zealand you can sign out the shopping carts and take them home with you, which made things a lot easier and presented a fun photo-op in the park! Next we went to Kmart and ended up being the very-obvious tourists trekking home carrying laundry baskets full of cups/bowls/towels and other necessities.

Jesse and Nina with the rented grocery cart

On Saturday night Jacob made dinner, pasta, meatballs and red wine, YUM! Then as a flat we headed out to a birthday party which was a lot of fun, except jet-lag took the best of me around midnight and I went right to bed.

Yesterday/Sunday we slept in late, aka I slept until 9am. It was so sunny and warm out so I did some laundry, hung it on the clothesline, pulled out my kindle, and read some more of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (thanks Chantal!). At around 11 Bee started making breakfast, she made eggs, bacon, muffins, spaghetti, mushrooms, and hash-browns - it was unbelievable and we all stuffed ourselves silly. Then we all did the dishes and took an hour or two of digestion-time. Since it was such a beautiful day, Bee suggested we go for a walk up to the Aviary in the botanical garden. Apparently the garden that I cut through to go to the grocerystore/bank is HUGE and contains multiple walking trails, gardens with species from all over the world, fountains, and an aviary with all sorts of tropical birds. It was the perfect weather and a great day to do it to work off the huge breakfast. I am definitely going to spend a lot of time in the garden napping, reading, and walking around over the next few weeks while it's still warm.

The garden and the hills around Dunedin

Our Flat

Pretty flowers!

We came back from the walk and Bee and I sprawled out in the large field behind our house and enjoyed some fruit that we picked up from the grocery store, apparently I have made it a habit of going to the grocery store daily... Then for dinner I cooked up some stir-fried veggies and had them with some leftover and got to chat with Taylor and a couple of his friends from home who are also studying abroad here. It's absolutely insane how many Americans there are here, but it's great to get to know people.


After dinner Emily came over followed by Willy and Andrew. We hung out for a bit with my flatmates and just chatted. Then Em and I put on a couple of episodes of Friends before calling it a night. There are 16 of us here from St. Lawrence, and it's nice to have eachother once in a while. I think we are doing a good job of getting to meet new people and get to know the people we are living with, but it is also nice to get to know eachothers friends/flatmates and check-in every so often.


Today was registration day! YAY! Their registration consists of standing in lines, getting a sheet of paper, going to different departments, standing in more lines for hours, getting signatures, getting in another line to make sure the times don't overlap, and finally getting in line to get your student ID card. I got lucky and the longest line I had to wait in was for Geology and it was a 45 minute wait. There were only about 15 of us in line, but the professor in front was interested in each student and what they were taking, which was nice, but made the line go a little slow. After getting through registration I was supposed to get my ID card, but the line was so long that they had actually stopped people from getting in line. I think I'll try to go back and get that done tomorrow.

Bee and I spent the afternoon shopping in downtown. There are so many stores and places to go that these next few weeks could get dangerous! Now I'm back at the flat, finally decorating my room and attempting to decide what I am going to make for dinner. Starting next week each of us will cook one night a week for the entire flat, so if you have any recipe ideas let me know!

Tomorrow I leave for a 6 day geology field study in Maerewhenua (can't pronounce it). It should be a lot of fun and we'll get in some good hiking. There are 3 of us from SLU on the trip as well as our friend Pat from the airport, and a few friends of friends.

I'm sorry this has been such a long post, this blog is also for me to print out as a journal-type-thing at the end, so it might not all be very interesting to you! Hope everyone is doing well at home or abroad, I will be sure to keep you updated as my adventures continue!