Fountains, Tim Tams, and Rain (at least briefly)

Another week gone, just like that. As we were walking today, Laura and I came to the realization that April is next week. This is crazy!! Where did March go?! Although it is good in that we have break the last two weeks of April, it’s not so good because I have a 2,500 word paper due the day before break begins. Gosh darn it. I always hate when professors have work due right before or after a break. In this case, I have both. Grr…oh well.

This week started out with a bang right after I finished writing my last blog. Turns out that boys are still stupid even here on the other side of the world, and some girl time was needed immediately. Laura, Nicole and I grabbed some Wine Bubbles (wine spritzers of sorts?) and headed to the fountain in the park near my house. We had way more fun than should be allowed on a Sunday night. A lot of it involved just running around, laughing, and being together. I’m so lucky to have found two close friends over here. It definitely makes being away from my other friends and family much easier, since we’re all going through the same thing. I don’t know what I would do without them and their silliness (for proof of the silliness, check out the latest pictures…or really any pictures of us). 

After that, the week calmed down. Monday meant back at school, although we went to pizza night as always. We experimented with a new type of pizza this week that involved buffalo mozzarella. Sounds kind of yucky, but it was absolutely delicious. We only got a small last week to try it out, but there’s already been a consensus to just get two larges of that type this week. Needless to say, I will probably dream about it tonight in anticipation.

The plan was to go to Zealandia this weekend, a nearby nature conservancy. However, Laura’s class schedule had her busy in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, so we decided to wait until Sunday. The three of us decided to do a little shopping and see a movie after Laura was finished with her work. Although a relatively unsuccessful shopping day (probably a good thing!), the movie was interesting. Most of the movies and TV shows here are American, but we decided to see a movie that had been written and produced in New Zealand. It was called “My Wedding and Other Secrets,” and involved an Asian girl hiding her relationship from her strict parents. It made me think back to good old Centennial. Afterwards, we hit up to grocery store on the way home. I needed to buy my share of garbage bags for the house. Instead of charging for a garbage service in Wellington, you have to use a specific bright yellow bag, and it costs over $10 for five bags. Yuck. Luckily, we don’t have to pay to recycle, so we do a lot of it! We also picked up some Tim Tams, the absolute best cookies ever. They’re chocolate wafers with chocolate cream in the middle…covered by another layer of chocolate. Kind of hard to go wrong! After our purchases, we headed back to my house to watch some Sex and the City. It was a lot of fun, as always!

Today, Sunday, we (Laura, Nicole, Sarah my “roommate” and I) decided to head to Zealandia. Unfortunately, it was pouring by the time we got downtown to catch the bus, so we decided to can the idea until next week. We weren’t about to go rushing off to spend $20 each (and that’s with the student discount!) if we were going to get soaked. So instead we decided to revert to a true and trusted plan...Tim Tams and Sex and the City. Sound familiar? This time we also included gummy bears. Yum! Of course, as soon as we got back up to my house, the weather cleared up and it was a perfect day outside. Silly Wellington weather. It reminds me of England weather, although the rain was more severe than I’m used to, making us think that it might rain all day. Apparently not…maybe before I leave I’ll get the best of Windy (and Wet) Welly.

And now here I sit, typing up a blog entry instead of reading my religion articles. I’m sure I’ll get around to it eventually. I am enjoying the laid back lifestyle that I have here, and I’m becoming worried that I won’t be able to get back in to high gear once returning home. Something tells me I’ll get back into the groove of things. Who knew that studying abroad could also be a break from usual stressful and jam-packed schedule of working, schooling, and fluting. It feels really good to be able to read for fun more than twice a year and hang out with my friends every weekend without worrying that I’ll be up all night working to make up for it. At the same time, I’m excited about everything that will be happening once I get back home. I’ll get myself back into shape with my two jobs and some weekly flute playing once returning so that I’m ready to go when school rolls around.

There are no plans to go out of town next weekend, but there are plans to try to get to Zealandia again and to get to the rugby game on Saturday. It should be an interesting experience to say the least! I’m so excited that break is coming up and that my parents will be here soon. Today the screensaver on my computer came on and the girls were excited because a picture of my parents had popped up, so I did a little family album tour (don’t worry, Mom, you looked fine…although they still don’t think we look anything alike). I’m really lucky that I have my family visiting me while I’m here, as most of my friends won’t see their families until they get back home in July. And they’ll be here right after my birthday! Hooray! But first, there is the rest of March to get through. Hope everyone has a great week!

NZ Week 6 Pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=629956&id=597595706&l=321200ff6e

Another Week in Welly

Another week has passed! Time passes quickly when I’m concentrated on school all week. This week was largely uneventful…continuation of classes. I did, however, decide to drop my music class. For all of you who know me well, this may look like a typo. What? A MUSIC class?? Never! But I assure you that it is true. First of all, I judge a class before I ever enter the classroom. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I can’t be sure. But when there is no e-mails or Blackboard posts, no teacher listed, and the building the class is held in doesn’t exist on my campus map, I have some concerns. I did manage to find it the first week, to find that it was in fact a combination of two classes: an introductory music class and a Maori Studies diploma class. From what I gathered about diploma, it seems to be a version of community college here. The girl I spoke to in class was taking the year-long diploma program in order to improve her grades and earn admission to the university. The class was also based on chants and singing, with no instruction on traditional instruments. Lastly, the grades were largely based on group work…oh, group work. My experience is that one person does all of the work, with the rest either glad to be relieved of the problem or miffed because you decided their work wasn’t up to snuff.

So, anyway, here I am with only three classes. Three. For those aware of my normal 20+ semesters along with two part-time jobs, you may feel that I am an imposter. Dropping a music class and only taking three classes? Has New Zealand kidnapped Mary and put an auto-bot in her place?!?! I assure you that I am still alive and well, thriving on the other side of the world. I have so much free time, sometimes I didn’t know what to do with myself. Then I rediscovered reading….for FUN! Since then, I’ve completed two trilogies, started on a third, a re-read a few old favorites. I am loving my Kindle, although I do miss having a “real book” from time to time. However, the ability to have all my books stored on a device smaller and thinner than a regular book is fantastic! I highly recommend it for any travelers, or those of us who insist on carrying two or three books at all times “just in case.” I won’t bore you with all the titles and my reviews and such, but certainly let me know if you would like more info, or can recommend anything really good!

In keeping with the tradition of experiencing something new every week (what else would I write about in my blog?!), Laura, Nicole, Jessica and I headed out on Thursday night to celebrate our Irish heritage…in the traditional Irish way. During the day at school, I didn’t notice a whole lot of people wearing green. It was a little strange, but I found all of them downtown later that night. I know at least a few of them were there for the majority of the day, in fact, so perhaps that explains the lack of greenery on campus. When we got downtown to Courtenay Place, where the majority of the bars and clubs are situated, we discovered a raging and unbelievably crowded “Molly Malones.” I guess we could have expected that. In order to avoid the crowds, we continued down to Boogie Wonderland...which was deserted.

But we were actually looking for Alice, the bar I previously mentioned in a past blog post. Apparently, you must walk through Boogie Wonderland and through the door marked “Toilets” in order to reach Alice. Almost as secretive as going down the rabbit-hole! There were a few people there, but it is a very small place with a quarter of the space taken up by the bar. That works for me, as I’m not one for big, raging parties. We had two drinks that were meant to split four ways (perfect): one called Pimm’s #1 Cup and the other known as Doormouse’s Brew. Pimm’s #1 Cup contained lots of fruity slices and was kind of brownish colored. I couldn’t tell you what was in it, and it wasn’t detailed on the menu. Doormouse’s Brew was a red-wine sangria, so it had a bit more punch to it. Then we delved into the fancier side of the menu for our final drink. Nicole got “Queen of Hearts,” which was a plum daiquiri in a martini glass, and had hard candy pieces on the rim. Laura got “Off With her Head,” with had a ton of raspberries in it. Jessica had “Curiouser and curiouser,” which involved mashed kiwifruit and ginger beer, among other items. Mine was “The Duchess,” and had peach slices and raspberry puree. Yum! Overall, we laughed a lot, took some interesting pictures, and had a good time. After a stop at Burger King for some late night munchies, we headed home to bed relatively early.

On Saturday, the same group headed down to the waterfront to check out Te Papa, the national museum. After a stop at Wholly Bagels, of course; the vegetarian bagel is still holding on to its number one spot. There was so much to see and read and do in Te Papa. There were four or five floors of exhibits (I lost count), and it was FREE! Fantastic! We spent a good three to four hours exploring. My favorite exhibit was photographs of Brian Brake. He traveled the world, later on for Life Magazine, and has some historical moments caught in film; monsoons in India, Mao in China, landscapes of his native New Zealand. It was astonishing and beautiful.

Today, in continuing with trying new things, I cleaned all three showers and two toilets in the house. We have a cleaning cycle, and my week has come up. I dismantled the enormous empty toilet roll pyramid that was in our bathroom window. If you need more info on this, refer to the blog entry about the toilet paper situation here. I’ve just come to accept it for now…although I will photograph the next TP tower to show as evidence. Luckily, I don’t have to clean anything for another few weeks now. Perhaps by then my lungs will have recovered from the amount of bathroom cleaner I ingested. Yuck.

Lastly, I had an epiphany of sorts this week as well (it’s been a packed one for sure!) There are material things and material people that I miss from back home. But you know something that I miss? Hugs. A good old-fashioned hug. Think about it: you hug people that you love, people that you are good friends with, people that you feel comfortable with. I came to New Zealand with none of the above. Although I now have some great friends, and it’s not like I haven’t hugged anyone since I’ve arrived, it’s not quite the same. I’ve known these people for less than two months. Hugs are more special the more connected you are with someone. It’s something I guess I’ve always taken for granted. And hugs don’t translate well over Skype (I’ve tried), and typing *hug* in an e-mail doesn’t really quite convey the right feeling. Hugging yourself, besides being a little weird, doesn’t really get the job done. So, there you go. Go hug someone now that you’ve read this!

Now that you’re back from your hug, you’ll be disappointed to read that all I have left to say is…see ya next time!

A Day of Fantastic Views and Hurting Knees

Just got back from an awesome weekend! It was action-packed, and I am tired and sore…just in time for Monday and another week of school! Oh well, it was worth it (as always!).

Friday after classes, Laura picked up our rental car and I headed over to load in my stuff. We found a rental car place that was not only cheap, but also allowed drivers under the age of 21 for no extra cost. And we were all still covered with insurance, which not all car companies will do here if you’re not at least 21. Fantastic! We all piled into our very nice Camry and headed out for the National Park. Laura, Emmi, Nicole, and Devon joined me on this adventure; we all met through Australearn and the four of us not including Emmi were living together in Rotorua. Party!!

After a few traffic jams, some authentic fish and chips, and some crazy night-time mountain swervy road driving, we made it to the lodge. We were greeted with only a note letting us know which room we were in…no key or anything. Strange? Turns out they don’t bother to lock anything around there, which turned out fine. We walk into our room to find that we are five out of nine…and hey, it’s co-ed! Where are the bathrooms? Well, there’s a single toilet downstairs, but if you want a sink you’ll have to go to the next building. Okey dokey! Besides the lack of showers, sinks, and toilets for the eighteen people in the building, it was nicely set up. There was a decent-sized kitchen and sitting area right outside the two sleeping rooms, so it was easy to make food and to get to know other people. While we were there, we met some more Americans (we’re everywhere!), a Korean man who grew up in the U.S. but now lives in Italy, two Japanese people (but one lives in Vancouver) and assorted others. Interesting stuff.

After a fitful night of half-sleep (the bunk beds were arranged so there was another guy’s feet in my face…), we arose early to prepare for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. After putting on our thermals and subsequent layers, we ate a quick breakfast and headed out on the bus. The bus ride immediately showed us what we had driven through the night before, but hadn’t been able to see…lots of mountains!! I was super excited already, and we were only on the bus. Hooray! We arrived and were dropped off right outside the wonderful bathroom facilities at the beginning of the Crossing. Although there were only a few bathrooms available along the 17km track, I passed…on them all. If you had been there and smelled them, you probably would have as well. So we started our trek at the bright and early hour of 8AM. The sun was shining and it was going to be a great day!

…Then we got to the first hill. It was rough, to say the least. We had to stop and rest at the top for a while and get a little more food into us. Then we looked at where we were headed….a much longer, steeper hill. Oh man. Emmi and Devon soon pulled ahead of the rest of us less athletically inclined (I was last 95% of the trip). It was a killer hill. Once we finally topped it…there was another hill. Is there no rest for the weary?! Honestly, if there had been an option to turn around, I might have taken it. As Devon said, it was a good thing that we had been climbing the hills in Wellington for a few weeks. If not, it would have been even worse (which is kind of hard to imagine). Of course, as I’m climbing, my small bit of brain activity remaining is saying “but now all the hills in Wellington will seem so easy!” Highly doubtful. I have yet to test the theory, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I will struggle up the hill back home…probably more so in the next few days while I’m still sore.

But to make up for the hills, there were some pretty awesome views. Someone we met along the way described it as a kind of moonscape, and I would agree. It was barren, and yet beautiful. Instead of looking at trees and foliage, we were looking at bare rock, craters, and volcanoes. But in the distance beyond the close up reds, browns, and blacks, you could see the distant mountains among the clouds. It was definitely other-worldly. It was almost as if we had been transported to Mars, but could see Earth and its familiarity off in the distance. Crazy!

After the worst of the mountain climbing was accomplished, we stopped for a lunch break. Much needed!! We only had one small hill left to climb, from the looks of it. Once we reached the top, we could look down at two brightly colored thermal pools as well as a shining lake in the distance. So awesome! And then, we had to climb down the hill. Let’s talk about the climbing conditions. There is no paving of any kind, just some poles to point you in the right direction. Loose gravel is the majority of the climbing material for the first half of the hike, which means slipping and sliding all over the place. Although it was problematic on the climb up, it was deadly on the way down. The only way to not slip and slide all the way to the bottom was to dig your heels into the pebbles, allow them to enter your shoes, and skid a little before taking another step. It was dangerous and slow work. I managed to make it almost all the way down with no mishaps, and even was able to stop and take a picture for an Italian guy (I had to re-take it since my first attempt didn’t meet his standards…boo hoo). After reaching the bottom bit, I became too cocky and my feet slipped out from under me. Nothing but a sore butt and some rock ingrained in my palm were the results of my fall, luckily. But I got to dig it out later that day with tweezers, which was an adventure.

With one more hill to climb to the lake we had seen earlier before descending towards the thermal pools, we confidently began our trekking again after a few photo ops by the thermal pools. We rounded the corner of the mountain we had climbed and the crater we had slip-n-slided down into, and began our descent. Our long, painfully long, descent. Even though the view was amazing, it was the same one for the last three to four hours. And we were just zig-zagging back and forth across the mountain’s side, working our way down slowly. We eventually reached a more plant-friendly area, which was a little strange after no plant life all day. After we had adjusted to that, we descended further into the native bush, which basically looks like a jungle. Thinking we were close, we pounded on ahead without any breaks…then we saw the sign saying “only 1.5 hours to go!” Ugh. But we powered through, and after what seemed like an endless amount of time, arrived in the car park. Hooray! The bus from our lodge was there, and had room for all five of us. Mission complete, in only seven and a half hours. It was an absolutely draining experience, but I’m glad I did it. You won’t see me rushing back anytime soon, though. Devon recommended a “reunion tramp” in thirty years, when we all have recently turned fifty. I don’t know if fifty-year-old me could handle it, especially since twenty-year-old me almost couldn’t handle it! But you never know…by then I will have forgotten all the hard parts and just remember the fantastic scenery and the funny stories. This must be how our minds trick us into repeating experiences that were not totally enjoyable, just partially so.

After all of us admitted to falling asleep on the bus ride back to the lodge, we showered (a wonderful experience, let me tell you!), and changed into clean clothes. After creatively finding ways to hide our clothes from the day, which were beginning to get close to the “toilets on the trail” smell, we found some food and did some hardcore lounging for the rest of the day. Definitely slept better that night (and the guy with the feet wasn’t there either!).

This morning, we arose early-ish, around eight. And by “arose,” I mean “all sat up and groaned for the next ten minutes as we attempted to get out of bed.” Talk about sore. The worst things for me are my upper back and shoulders (from my backpack) along with my knees (which took a beating from the stairs we had gone up and down during parts of the hike). After starting off around nine, we stopped to see some waterfalls along the way, and it was my turn to drive the second half home. Hooray! It wasn’t even really that disconcerting to be on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road. No problems! Except the turn signals were on the left side of the steering wheel…I did better than the rest until I got flustered and goofed up, setting off the windshield wipers. As I was driving the second half, I missed out on the windy mountain driving, and instead got the experience of driving in the city center of Wellington. Not fun. Not only do I not enjoy driving in cities, we also were unsure of where we needed to go, since we take so many pedestrian shortcuts. Eventually, we made it to our destination: the grocery store!! And the big one all the way downtown. We were taking advantage of the trunk and not having to lug groceries up the hill.

After finally arriving back, unpacking groceries, banishing the dirty and stinky clothes to the wash, and taking a shower in order to truly feel clean, here I am laying on my bed typing this up. Once again, my experiences in the lodge have taught me to not take my own room, my own bed (which isn’t bunked), my house and having a bathroom, sink and shower only a few doors away…for granted. Now if only I didn’t have to do all my homework readings for class tomorrow, I would be really pumped. But alas, I must be off to read about the wonders of yoga for my religion class. Perhaps they’ll have some good tips for shoulders and knees!

NZ Week 5: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=627468&id=597595706&l=32353c077f

Back to Work

Hello all, sorry that my posts have become less frequent lately. Usually I wait for something super exciting to happen, but now that school has started, this may be happening less often...but you never know!

So, first of week school taken care of and out of the way! As I briefly described last time, I'm currently enrolled in four classes:
RELI 106: Prayer, Meditation, Trance and Ecstasy
MAOR 122: Te Puwhenuatanga o te Moana-nur-a-Kiwa/The Peopling of Polynesia
SPOL 314: Sociology of Health & Illness
MUSC 151: Maori Music in Aotearoa NZ

It is definitely a little strange to be taking four classes, as I have mentioned in the past. The first week I definitely had a lot of free time, although it will get busier as the trimester goes continues. Let's take a look briefly at each one and my first thoughts and impressions:

RELI 106
It's a big lecture class, and I know at least five to ten people in the class from Australearn...lots of Americans everywhere! The class only meets once a week for an hour and fifty minutes, which is also a little strange, but is apparently not all that uncommon. We will also be divided into several tutorial groups--I can't remember if I've previously talked about tutorials, but they are similar to discussion sections, except mandatory. From what I can tell, they will cover the same material as a typical discussion: going over questions from the lecture, looking more in depth at the readings, and preparing for tests or papers. A big difference: the "tutors," as they are called, are very different than your typical TA. They are mostly professionals who have completed a Masters. Although not all of them have been properly introduced, one said that she works as a consultant three days a week and then tutors two days. When talking to my international buddy, Sarah (a big source of "aha" moments), she said that they actually pay them. Crazy! At home, TA's work for "free," but with discounts to their tuition rates (from what I understand). But obviously Victoria must be paying decent money if professionals are willing to come in and take these tutoring positions. Interesting! Anyways, the class in general seems straightforward, although it should be informative. I've never had the chance to take a class solely looking at religion, although it has been incorporated into many classes. I get to write a research paper on the end explaining something as a "religion," and using what I have learned in class to back it up. The professor described it as "the fun option instead of a test." Time shall tell.

MAOR 122
Another lecture class, although smaller. The room reminds me of the lecture halls in the PUP building, for those of you who are familiar. It's kind of a round shape with risers, and chairs all facing towards the centered lecture thingy (the proper name is escaping me...) It also seems pretty straightforward, but informative. It's really cool to take a class like this, because it is definitely something that I wouldn't get a chance to take at UMBC. And it's history, so it's not hard...memorize, memorize, memorize. Interesting at times, boring at times. You all know what I mean. Also a tutorial for this as well, but tutorials have yet to start, so I will have to fill you all in on them later. Taking so many first year "papers," as classes are called, means I'm stuck with a lot of mandatory tutorials about how to cite properly, how to reference correctly, how to write a paper, etc. Oh boy. It takes me back to....the beginning of time?? How long has this been drilled into us? At least I could possibly help anyone nearby who is struggling...or do something incorrectly and get knocked down off my high horse. Both are possibilities.

SPOL 314
My only major-related class! So far, I am pretty pumped for this one. I enjoy the topic of health, and I'm very excited to see it from the New Zealand side. And I've already covered a lot of the material, so it will be re-learning and seeing a different spin on things. We were looking at graphs comparing different countries and health inequalities, and I found myself constantly looking for the U.S. It was missing in a lot of them...although it did turn up in health spending (who would have guessed??). It's very unusual for the focus to be on a country that I know little about, as well as little about their healthcare system. Another thing that struck me in this class was the amount that the professor spoke out about his personal political views. He referenced John Key, the prime minister (not sticking with any small, little-known policy here!), and totally called out his domestic policies. Apparently, Key is against helping those who are poor because he believes that they all made bad lifestyle decisions to end up that way. WOW!!!!! I need to read more on this, but that blows me away! Especially with Obama in office at home right now, I am used to a totally different attitude. Plus, now I feel like I need to go slap John Key across the face and knock some sense into him. My goodness! Anyways, I also noticed that my professor talks really softly. I'm starting to notice that everywhere...sometimes I have a hard time hearing those in service positions when they're ringing me up and such. I've also noticed that at church, everyone kind of mumbles responses. Or is it just that Americans are that loud?? It's possible. This is the first time that I've really felt...loud. Usually people are asking me to speak up, not the other way around. Perhaps my ears will adjust.

MUSC 151

This class...is interesting. I have a tendency to pass judgment on classes that I feel are poorly organized before I even walk into the classroom. This is one such case. Therefore, I'm not sure if my initial feelings about it are due to my annoyed- ness due to the lack of teacher, Blackboard, building, or e-mail contact before the start of class, or if I actually don't enjoy the class. I'm going to hold off on going into detail until I think about it some more and decide my course of action from here, so bear with me!

Other new things for this week...the weather. After two absolutely perfect weeks of weather, the wind and rain hit together this week for the first time. I was soaked on Wednesday, despite the fact that I fortuitously brought my raincoat to school. It was rough. The night before, the winds (and the earthquake!) hit big time. My room is all windows, as I have described. I can FEEL the wind on my body through the windows when lying in bed. I also more closely observed my outside surroundings, and have found that at the corner of my room where my head is at night, there is a tree right next to the windows. That knocks into them repeatedly when windy. Also, on either side of the slim tree trunk, are power lines. Lovely. Whoever came up with the idea of above-ground power lines in "Windy Welly," I hope you have a good reason. We have yet to have problems, but it's worrisome to have them so close. So, I think I may have slept an hour or two that night...so little that I began to have delusions about people breaking into the house. Don't ask, I'm not really sure where it all came from in my head. But it was pretty real for me, so that didn't really help with the whole "sleeping" bit. I did sleep like a log the following night, though! Bonus!

The rain again got the best of me last night, when Laura, Nicole and I had planned to spend the night in the city. Our first night out, woohoo! And my first night even being able to go out, due to the under 21 restrictions back at home. But alas...rain struck. And it would not have been fun to walk all the way downtown in the cold, the dark, and the rain. For some reason, I am wildly interested in seeing a bar called Alice, which is "Alice in Wonderland" themed. Not that I've ever been a huge fan of the books or movies, but it just seemed cool. Plus, they serve drinks in teapots. How much classier can it get?! So we'll see if we ever make it down there.

Another first of the week: never in my life have I been more astonished about toilet paper. That's right, toilet paper. I am fascinated, confused, and slightly disgusted, all at once. Intrigued yet? Read on:
I bought an 18 pack of toilet paper on this past Tuesday, as in six days ago. I first noticed something was up on Thursday, but didn't bother to investigate. On Friday, I counted: there were ten rolls left. What?!?! Eight rolls, seven if you don't count the one by the toilet, gone in less than four days?? I let it slide...Saturday comes around. There are eight left. WHAT IS GOING ON?? Now I'm concerned. Early this afternoon, around 12:00, I counted six remaining. Hold on, I'll be right back...

TWO!!!!! THERE ARE TWO LEFT! Is there some kind of conspiracy going on?? Are people stealing toilet paper and selling it on eBay?! After mentioning my concerns with Alex a few days ago, he recommended a "square count" each time the bathroom was vacated in order to determine the average "square usage per person." And then issue warnings. I laughed at the time, but geez....

Anyways, so that's this past week in a nutshell. Class, earthquakes, wind and power lines...and toilet paper. Whoever knew someone would say the words "toilet paper" so many times in such a short amount of time. Exciting upcoming events (so stay tuned!) include this week of classes and the beginning of tutorials, the decision about what to do about MUSC 151, and next weekend's trip to complete the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. So so excited. It's ranked as one of the top ten best one-day hikes in the world. I might die a little bit, but I will have amazing pictures and an amazing time. Later this week I'll be off to Kathmandu to invest in some Under Armor-like apparel to keep me warm and some waterproof pants. Bet you all can't wait to hear about that. Oh, and perhaps the toilet paper saga will continue...you never know. So you'd better check back! Until then, kia ora!

NZ Week 4 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=623959&id=597595706&l=a1be45a18a

First Earthquake!!

I know that this is something I should not be excited about, but it was kind of cool! A 4.5 earthquake, according to the New Zealand Herald, hit Wellington tonight. I was sitting at my desk typing when something that at first I mistook for a strong gust of wind rumbled through my room. My desk and my room legitimately shook. Then I suddenly realized what it must be! It was strange though...some of the girls in the house felt it, others did not. One screamed in terror, one was in the next room and didn't feel a thing other than rumbling from furniture shaking. Crazy, right? Anyway, I'm glad to have experienced something new (that's what coming here was all about, after all!).

Speaking of something new, this week was the first week of classes. So far, I've been to my Religious Studies class (taught by a professor from Buffalo, NY) and my Maori Studies class (pretty sure he was a Kiwi!). Tomorrow I will have my social policy class, and then Thursday is the first day of NZ music. So far, I am not impressed by the many warnings I've heard about "how hard" it is, and how "no one gets A's." We'll just see about that.

Today being Tuesday, I had no class. Strange, but true. So I went to the post office and window shopping and grocery shopping instead. At the 2 for 1 pizza restaurant (a new Monday tradition), I tried a ginger beer, after it was described as "ginger ale, but a stronger ginger flavor." I love it! So obviously I went and got some today, along with tea which I have been craving for some unknown reason since I arrived in New Zealand. I know Alia is proud that I have finally converted :)

Anyway, just a short update due to the recent exciting events...it's getting late, and the wind is absolutely insane here, so it might take a bit to fall asleep. Especially since my room is all windows...and in the front of the house...where all the trees are...should be interesting! See you next time!