Saturday, May 28, 2011

Grades, Food...and Pleather


Another week has passed, and suddenly I only have one week left of classes and only five days until it’s time to have some fun in the sun in Tonga! Time is flying, as is to be expected when there are lots of deadlines to meet! Although all but one of my essays is complete, it’s another research paper…technically I have until June 19th, but I’d rather not leave it all for when I get home on the 15th. We’ll see how this week goes!

As I warned, not too much excitement again this week. It was mostly spent with the schoolbooks, and there is still a lot more to do. I just found out that my Maori Studies final, on June 21st, will be three hours long and involve all writing. Writing is usually a strongpoint of mine, but I have to say that I have lost confidence since I’ve been here. I can be a bit arrogant when it comes to school—I know that I am smart and I know that I can do the work. So when I get most of my assignments back with B’s (they just looove B’s here), it gets depressing. I know that I should not complain, especially as my grades will not transfer back to my GPA at UMBC, but it’s sad. Especially when it’s pouring rain every time you’re walking home after receiving the assignment (good old wet Welly). Anyways, I will have a lot of studying to do if I need to write for three hours. Yuck.

Today was quite a nice sunshiny day, although a bit chilly, so Laura and Nicole and I took to the streets of our city. First stop was bagels (of course!), and then up through the shopping district (we stopped at the 80s store again and played our game…this time I ended up in pleather skintight pants and an awkward see-through leopard print top courtesy of Nicole) and onto Bolton Cemetery. My parents and I discovered this cemetery when they were here and staying on Bolton Street, conveniently right next door to the cemetery. It is a very pretty spot, although the motorway runs right through it which can be disturbing at times. I feel bad for the some 3,000 bodies that they moved when they were building the motorway…they’re now placed in a large common gravesite to one side of the road. After walking up the hill via the cemetery, we stopped at the Botanic Gardens (or the Botans as the girls call it) for iced chocolate…and a scone….and fries. Lots of yummy food in one day!

This week will be the same as usual until we hit Friday! I will reach Auckland from Wellington about 5PM on Friday and then have to wait around until 10:05PM for our flight to Tonga. This was due to a lack of cheap seats available on a later flight that Laura and Nicole were going to take. However, Laura and Nicole’s flight was due to arrive only 35 minutes prior to our departure on our other plane, which started to cause alarm when I went back to the tickets and saw that we were supposed to be there minimum of an hour prior to takeoff. Turns out that there is no way for them to make the Tonga flight, and the next cheapest flight up to Auckland that day cost an exorbitant amount…so they’re driving. Eight hours of driving. I guess I got the better side of the deal after all!

We will be in Tonga from early Saturday morning (our flight gets in at 2AM), and will leave late on Wednesday night. We’ll have to spend the night in the airport (about five hours) before catching the early flight down to Wellington, in which we will arrive at 7:45AM. My sleeping schedule will be so confused…after less than twenty four hours, Laura and Jessica and I will be back on a plane heading to Dunedin. I expect to be ridiculously tired upon our eventual return on the 15th (another reason to finish my essay early!). So I will apologize in advance if I am lacking with the blogging over those two weeks…I’m not sure what kind of internet availability/affordability there will be. But I am so excited!! Traveling is really the reason I came to New Zealand (no offense, Vic Uni), so it’s great to be back exploring new places. Plus, only about a month until I’m back at home!! It’s so crazy, and a bit bittersweet. I miss my family and friends from back home, but I know that it will be a very sad goodbye both to New Zealand and to my new best friends Laura, Nicole and Jessica. Let’s not think about that part yet. Instead, I will focus my attention on my essay, Tonga, and the South Island!

NZ Weeks 16-17: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150610856600707.678259.597595706&l=0ac3dfa5d2

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