Author Archives: etr5030

Homeward Bound

I’m heading back home tomorrow after nearly 6 months hanging out here in New Zealand. I have to say I am really excited to be going home. I can’t wait to see my family and friends. 

I had so much fun here and met so many great people. I know I’m going to miss all of them, all the Kiwis and the other foreign exchange students. Its been sad seeing them all leave one by one.It has just fermented that this is all coming to a close. 
Coming here, I learned so much about myself and what travelling alone really feels like. What its like to be in a foreign place with other people who just want to see the world. I formed a makeshift family here, life long friends and its been my reality for awhile. It just feels odd knowing that once I get on the plane this will just be a part of my past. 
All I can say is that this has been one heck of an experience and worth every moment. 

Location: Lincoln, New Zealand

Snow Day

It’s full blown winter here now and it’s starting to get a little chilly. Cold enough in fact for it snow down here in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was a record -1 degrees C and the coldest June day they have had in 30 years. Which means of course Kiwis are far from prepared for such weather, even if it is just an inch of snow. So campus was basically completely shut down for 2 days and the first day of exams in the two week exam period were cancelled. To celebrate this occasion a bunch of us had a snow ball fight out on one of the lawns and made a snow man. 

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I haven’t played in snow like that in a really long time. 


Location: Lincoln, New Zealand

Pre-birthday party party

A little under 2 weeks from now it will be my 20th birthday. Since I can remember my family has always done cake and icecream for birthdays. No matter where we are, from my parents in Iraq to my older brother at school we always find a way to sing happy birthday and get them a little treat to show how much we love them. It’s a family tradition.

Even when you know it’s coming you are always excited, you always smile and you occasionally laugh if the fire alarm gets set off because of the number of candles on the cake.

This year I thought I was going to miss that, the off key singing, the silly gifts and reading the cards out loud. All of it. 

But my mum was having none of that. So a few days ago (just a little early) I opened an unexpected box from home containing a homemade, shrink wrapped cake, a can of icing, party hats and cards.

My mum had sent me my birthday all the way from the U.S. A little ahead of schedule because she thought it would take much longer to get here. But it had to be the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me for my birthday.

So I iced it up with my friends, who were quite excited for some homemade cake, and had a mini pre-birthday party party.


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Best early birthday gift ever. 


Location: Lincoln, New Zealand

Kaikoura on a whim

It was a Tuesday like any other, except that it was a field trip day and that no one has any classes on Wednesday. Thus, a particular group of people, 5 to be exact, decided at dinner (at 6:30 pm) that they were going to take a spontaneous trip. So by 7:30 pm we loaded up the car and headed off to Kaikoura a mere 2 hours away.

Being well aware that the best part of heading to Kaikoura was the drive to the town, so we thought it best stop and camp somewhere outside of the area so we could get the full experience in the sunlight. Our token kiwi Claire, our RA, knew just the place. That happened to be Gore Bay, some 30 minutes outside of Kaikoura. With a little difficulty we managed to find a legal spot to camp on a bluff above the beach. It was less then fun pitching the tent in the rain and cold, it was surprisingly comfortable to pile into a 3 person tent. We spent the night talking and eating snacks until we fall fell asleep…

And woke up to this lovely sight first thing in the morning.

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It was completely breath taking and we were lucky to find such a great place to watch the sun rise. We hung out for a while on the sands of Gore Bay while the outside of our tent dried. We found a crab which we dubbed Mr. Krabs (from Spongbob) and drew him a house in the sand.

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We also took some token jumping pictures and lazed in the sun until we decided to head the rest of the way to Kaikoura.

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The drive was just as beautiful as we had hoped. On one side of the road are hills but to the other is nothing but the purest blue water.

Once in town we filled out bellies with breakfast and ducked into a few shops for fun we headed down to the water. It was a little rockier and less sand so we spelled things with the white rocks we found and watched the tide come in.

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One of the coolest parts had to be on our way home. We wanted to stop and take pictures of the view from the road and maybe find some seals. Of course we were lucky enough to do just that. We found several seals lounging about on rocks sunning themselves and got some pretty nice shots of them. They were rather interested in us as well. 

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Despite the chilly air it was such a good time. In order to have the most fun sometimes you just have to go with the moment.

Until next time, cheers. 


Location: Kaikoura, New Zealand

North Island Exploration

Warning: Any apparent misspellings are due to me typing in New Zealand English on my Microsoft word.

The second week of my Easter Break has been spent traveling around the North Island. Two of my flat mates and I hit 5 cities in 10 days. So of course I have to break the North Island down city by city.

Auckland

 Thursday the 12th we took a flight out of Christchurch to Auckland. It only took an hour and cost about $60 NZD. It was pretty expensive to stay in Auckland but we managed to find some pretty decent logging with YHA. YHA hostels are all over the country and always have really great reviews. I would suggest getting a membership if you plan on coming here and backpacking. It’ll save you a lot of money.

We only spent a day in Auckland but the city was immaculate. It reminded me of New York, bustling and full of people. First we headed to The Sky Tower. It was built as a tourist attraction and stands at 328 meters. You can go up to two different levels to look down on the city and you can also either pay to walk around the perimeter (on the outside of course) or jump off its highest accessible point (192 meters up.) We decided to just go up and look down on the city. It was very pretty and very quiet.

 

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DSC_0869.JPGDSC_0890.JPGFrom there we decided to take a journey to the Auckland Museum. It ended up being much farther away than we expected so we got to see a lot of the city being lost. We got a good look at Auckland University and we stopped in a park with the most eclectic looking trees and a huge water fountain. We hung out/ slept there for a while and got to see a group of people dressed up doing a scavenger hunt. The best costume was of course Pikachu.

 

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521675_10150667518252592_654877591_9885913_1732882595_n.jpgOnce we got to the museum we spent a few hours checking it out. Needless to say it had to be one of the oddest museums I have ever been in. Every floor and every section had a different theme so it was hard to see a thread or a central idea going through all of it. Mostly it just seemed like a complete mess. There were heaps of cool artefacts but there were few explanations for them so usually I had no idea what they were. There were a lot of Māori artefacts and stuff from wars. Including a Japanese plane which they never explained where it came from. The weirdest thing of them all had to be the stuffed elephant in the childrens section. It was creepy and I jut could not bring myself to photograph it.

 

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156584_10150689707067592_654877591_9936490_670613251_n.jpgThe following day we took a bus to Hamilton.

Hamilton

 When you first get off the bus in Hamilton the city feels really drab. I said to my friends that it felt as if it were dying even though we had been told that it had the best shopping in all of New Zealand. Unable to find this shopping district we decided to head to the local zoo after dropping off our things.

The Hamilton Zoo was rather extensive and had plenty of exhibits. Most of these sorts of places you can get into with a student discount so it’s advantageous to carry around your student id. My favourite animal is the giraffe so naturally most of my pictures and attention was spent on them but there were plenty of other interesting animals to see like chimps, baby rhinos and oddly enough piglets (on sale for $50).

 

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DSC_0998.JPGDSC_1046.JPGDSC_1068.JPGMy friend also got chased by a particularly territorial duck who would poke is beak through the fence to try to bite her shoes. Of course we may have teased it a bit and kept walking by over and over again to get its attention but it made for a good laugh and funny photos.

 

576218_10150689708102592_654877591_9936503_1476842110_n.jpgThe following day we were determined to find this shopping district. So after a bit of wondering and asking around we found a questionably white washed Narnia-esk side lane that led into a French Quarter feeling patio surrounded by shops. It immediately held a feeling of elegance with its concrete horse caped water fountain, hanging gardens and wrought iron tables. We knew we had finally found it. Every shop window displayed the products of elegant boutiques and trendy cafés. It was a place where even a paperback book would run you $30. Through the lane and back out into the open on the other side lead way to a many others stores, eateries and a mall full of people.

 

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DSC_1090.JPGWe managed to spend the whole day shopping before catching the 7pm bus to Rotorua, the spa capital of New Zealand.

Rotorua

Be forewarned that due to the plethora of natural hot springs in Rotorua, that have high sulphur content, the entire city smells like rotting eggs.

But don’t be deterred because eventually the smell becomes tolerable and the place is quite wonderful. There are plenty of sulphur spas within walking distance of city centre and a lovely museum. There are also plenty of places for backpackers to stay. My mates and I decided to stay at CRANK; an oddly constructed accommodation that mirrors a warehouse and has a rock climbing wall in part of the building. They also get their customers great deals with local attractions including “Hells Gate”.

The first day there we were attracted to a Wild Life Refuge that boasted the ability to allow tourist to “pat the lion cubs.” The brochure showcased a young girl holding a lion cub in her arms so of course in pure excitement we got their as soon as possible only to discover we were literally only allowed to pat them through chicken wire cages with a plethora of other people around. Though it is still pretty cool to say we were able to touch lions it was not nearly as interactive as we had hoped but they were super cute.

 

 

DSC_1100.JPGDSC_1156.JPGThe rest of the refuge was still quite charming despite the first upset. It was more of a nature walk that was set up so strategically that it made me feel like we were discovering some of the animals in the wild. And toward the end it turned into a petting zoo style with goats, sheep and mini horses that children (and I) loved.

 

DSC_1118.JPGDay two was explore the town day. We hunted for the beach and any interesting shops just to stumble upon a life size chess set in a park. After the current game finished we played a few games the reigning park champion and only beat him once. The pieces came up to the middle of my thigh, were solid wood and King was heavy enough to warrant dragging it across the board. It felt like Wizards Chess from Harry Potter even though the pierces didn’t move on their own.

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464171_10150667434467511_544167510_9901512_717983979_o.jpgThe following and last day in Rotorua was spent at the thermal spa “Hells Gate”. We got a great deal through CRANK (a tour, mud spa and sulphur spa for $60) and I had a pretty good time. Hells Gate is a large plot of land that is the thinnest layer of crust in all of New Zealand. Thus allowing the magma to heat the water table above it hot enough in some places that it could kill a man if he fell in. It was incredibility fascinating to learn about how it was discovered and what the products that came from the land were used for then and now. Maori used the different pools for everything from healing to throwing their enemies bodies into for disposal. Since each pool is fuelled by a different water source they all have different sulphur content and temperatures. The muds there are also rich in all sorts of minerals that they package and sell. They have a unique mineral content that opens the pours and removes oils with ease and can even level out skin tone and increase circulation.

 

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DSC_1178.JPGAfter the tour we were finally able to indulge in the magic of the mud bath (but only for 20 minutes since extensive exposure can remove too high levels of vital fluids from opened pours.) Everyone is reduced to a 5 year old boy smearing mud all over their bodies and throwing it at each other.

 

459033_10150667437792511_544167510_9901534_1609456848_o.jpgAfter were removed from the mud we had to take a mandatory cold shower to close the pours and remove mud before the sulphur spa. It was less then enjoyable and we did it quickly. The last spa section was a sulphur tub that mimicked a hot tub but smelled like eggs. Once you get in the water makes your skin tingle and is supposed to decrease muscle pain and make you relax. To be honest it was quite fantastic.

Napier

The Art Deco Capital of the world.

This place has a classic 1930s feel that you just cannot miss. The buildings, statues and cars all flash back to that definitive period and possess such a friendly atmosphere.

 

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1140062_f520.jpgWe spent most of our time here wondering around the lovely town, popping in and out of boutiques, resale shops and book stores. It’s one of the best places to go to buy unique gifts for friends.

It is also right on the water, so it was nice to be able to go down and get some sand between my toes and feel the ocean breeze.

Though we didn’t do much else there it was one of my favourite places on the trip.

Wellington

The great capital of New Zealand.

Though it does not have the hustle and bustle of Auckland it is still a rather busy place to be.

There is constant movement and always people on the streets, which I love.

We had a lazy first day (since we got there in the afternoon) there and hung around the YHA, did a little walking around and site seeing. This town is filled with all sorts of random sculptures and art depicting everything from rugby to just a giant ball of wire hanging in the air.

The following day we headed down to the Parliament building to do a tour. The most striking building is called The Bee Hive for obvious reasons.

 

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Oddly enough there are two other buildings attached to the Bee Hive that look nothing like each other. And by the way, the Bee Hive is not even the Parliament Building. It is just used for organization dinners and things of that sort. But the building next to it is the Parliament Building and the building next to that is the Parliament Library. It was weird for me to see such inconsistency and living so close to Washington DC where there is a clear theme running through all of the architecture. It really felt like they just developed the buildings in different time periods and went with the popular design of the decade and didn’t think about them blending together. Then just plopped them in the middle of the city on top of a hill. They just look…random.

 

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575314_10150689714352592_654877591_9936584_1948997623_n.jpgBut despite this the tour was rather nice. Sadly they did not allow you to take pictures so just take my word for it that it was a pretty cool tour and I actually learned things about the NZ government. Like the fact that they dissolved their upper house in 1950. Now the room where it meetings were held for the upper house is used for formal occasions.

From there we headed to the cable car. The car will take you up the side of a hill so you can get to the gardens and so you can look out over Wellington. Different ones can take you all over the city and some people use it like we use the Metro in DC. The view was really spectacular.

 

 

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DSC_1231.JPG543317_10150689714602592_654877591_9936587_503188780_n.jpgThe last thing we did was go to the national museum, Tepapa. It is a huge museum that covers everything from contemporary art to women’s revolution in New Zealand. (Which reminds me that on my tour of Parliament I learn that NZ was the first country to give women the right to vote) I was personally partial to the entire contemporary art floor and spent most of my time there. And I got a cool picture of an exhibit before I saw a sign that told us not to take pictures. But I really like it so I’ll post it anyway.

 

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Though it was a lot to undetake in just 10 days I had such a good time on the North Island. I’m really looking forward to some more adventures.

Until then, cheers.

 

 

 


Location: Auckland, New Zealand

The Best Do’s and Don’ts for a roadtrip

The internet in this hostel is a little crummy so the pictures still won’t load. Surely by the time I am in Christchurch again it will be much better.

The first week of my Easter Break is nearly over and I have a few does and don’t from my own personal experience to share after spending the past few days traveling around the South Island.

Don’t: Waste your money going on a glacier hike. The group of people I decided to go on the trip with all booked hikes up fox glacier. Though hiking it sounds pretty cool and you think you’ll get a lot of cool/ priceless pictures, please save your money. At about 80 US dollars it’s hardly worth tramping around on a solid block of ice. It’s entertaining for about an hour but then you still have about 3 hours of the half day trip to do and it gets really old really fast. All I can say I got out of that was a good case study for my Tourism 101 class due after break.

Don’t: Camp out unless you really love to or really have to. The South Island is riddled with temping free (or max $6 a person) camp sites. Though it seems cheap and easy it’s less than enjoyable. Every location near water is inhabited by sand flies. Mean little buggers that have the same bite as mosquitoes. They particularly enjoy ankles and hands. They always find their way into your tent/car and are impossible to get rid of because there are just so many.  The public restrooms are always way below a comfortable standard and tend to leave you feeling like you should take a shower (which they only sometimes have and you have to pay extra for). The South Island is also constantly damp. It rains frequently wich can leave you quite unhappy in your sleeping bag once the condensation starts to build on the tent or if you have a leak.

Do: Book hostels. Never underestimate a roof over your head and the ability to shower as you wish. It’s nearly always possible to find an open room in the cities and if it’s got a high rating its worth your money. Always check details on websites like nakedbus (which does to hostels cheap) or other reputable sites.  I’d say look for single rooms or rooms with friends mostly because then you feel safer and more comfortable than getting a dorm style room with 7 other people you don’t know.

Do: Stop on all the great nature hikes along the track from Hokitika to Queenstown. You can’t miss them, they are everywhere. Green signs stick out with yellow type claiming the great walk/ hike you could take in anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours. This is where I had the most fun this week. They are usually off the beaten track and once you get to the end of it there is always something beautiful. Huge waterfalls, deep glacier fed pools, giant man made or natural rock formations and even rainforest.

Don’t: Go to Milford Sound unless you are 100% sure it won’t be a cloudy/ rainy day which is almost impossible to guarantee. I have heard countless people telling me it’s a must see but in reality it is the biggest tourist trap known to man-kind and when it’s raining you can’t even see the peaks of the mountains where the waterfalls begin. The cruises are expensive and there are only 2 places to stay if you plan on spending the night. They are of course both expensive and capitalise on their middle of no-where locations.  This also leads me to…

Don’t: Rent a car without inspecting it and also getting comprehensive insurance. Most companies only rent out manuals (a stick) and if you do want and automatic it will cost you a pretty penny. Even with someone in our group who drives a stick back home getting up some of the mountains in a rental is impossible because they are so cheap they lack the power to handle it. On one instance the car stalled in the middle of a hill which we had to correct by pushing it up the hill. The second instance, while leaving Milford Sound, the car died in the middle of the one lane tunnel which happens to be the only way to get in and out of the area. We then had to restart it, pop it into neutral and roll out of the tunnel and to the side of the road all on the side of a mountain. After which two of us got a ride on a tour bus back down the mountain to Milford to call the rental company. It then took 3 hours for a tow-truck to get to Milford Sound because it is in the middle of no-where and tow us back to Te Anau where we then waited another 2 hours for a bus to take us back to Queenstown where we picked up another rental the following morning. That same rental car ended up blowing a tire less than 24 hours later and less than 30 minutes away from campus. What a great way to end that trip.

Do: Try to give everyone in the group your traveling with a chance to pick places to stop on your trip. There is nothing worse than always having to stop at places only one or two other people want to go. It just makes you feel miserable and resentful toward the other people. Sometimes this is hard to avoid but don’t be afraid to stick up for yourself and get what you want. Otherwise you won’t have any fun and that’s the biggest reason people study abroad.

 

Until next time, cheers.


Location: Queenstown, NZ

Field Trips and Rugby

This is way over due but geoblog/ possibly the internet provider here has not wanted to let me upload pictures lately. It just sits there forever and doesn’t process my request for some reason. I’ve been able to put a few pictures on but that’s all. But anyway…

I’d have to say last week was rather tame minus a few hick-ups and fun activities.

The first fun event to take place involved a field-trip in my Management class to a dairy farm to check out their water usage and to see how they are using the river that cuts through it to generate their own power. On this little excursion to the end of the 10 kilometer long farm we traversed some less than safe and rather narrow unpaved roads of sand and dirt in a bus. Up and down several hills with no guard rails with a river on one side and a gully on the other. But the fun didn’t happen until we come down one hill onto a patch of road of pure sand. Though the bus had managed to make it way that far the sand provided unstable enough ground for its left side to slip down into a sizable ditch and completely beach the bus.

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Of course I happened to be sitting on the left side next to a friend of mine, who was closest to the window, and proceeded to jump into my lap when the bus started to go down. With everyone screaming and the emergency alarm going off the professor simply told us to get off the bus via the main door and we would continue the field trip…

Needless to say I was completely shocked that the trip continued because I know in the States that would have been the end of it for sure. Instead we left the driver with the bus and continued on for four hours around the farm before one van showed up taking only 15 guys, who all rudely rushed forward without a caring that they were the only ones who got to leave, before taking off. It was another hour until another bus showed up to take the rest of us and a backhoe belonging to the farm owner came to pull out the first bus.

But before we left I did get a glimpse at the bus flipped on its side completely in the ditch. The sand had given way under the pressure of the bus so the bus had kept going. The professor was not too keen on us getting shots of the bus in that condition though.

 

This past Saturday I got a chance to go to a Canterbury Crusaders game. The stadium was irreparably damaged in last year’s earthquake so the team had nowhere to play until this temporary stadium was made. (There are currently plans being made to build a bigger permanent stadium in another location) It was really interesting to get to see a live game and the differences in how kiwi’s act at sporting events compared to Americans.

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The Crusaders played against the Cheetahs from South Africa. I could safely say that I did not see a single person in clothes representing the South African team. There was just a field of red and black and the whole stadium was sold out. Before the game started a Calvary of knights on horses (The Crusaders) came galloping across the field, waving their swords about and pumping up the crowd. Free team flags had been handed out at the gate so it was a challenge to get a good shot of the riders without catching a corner of a flag, everyone was really excited.

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The big differences between American sporting events and New Zealand ones game about when the other team made a try (goal). At Penn State football game, for example, if the other team scored everyone would have booed and shouted how awful the other team was. But here when the other team scores everyone claps. Like saying “good job on getting closer to beating us,” but really it’s just amazing sportsmanship. The same thing also happened when the referee would make a call against The Crusaders. At a Penn State game everyone would have booed and shouted obscenities but here everyone claps.

In the end The Crusaders won (28 to 21) and fireworks/ celebratory torches were shot off and everyone was quite happy and filed out in an orderly fashion. There was no rush, no fights and no yelling. When people bump into one another they say “sorry” and give way. The atmosphere just seemed so calm and relaxed.

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Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

Surfer Girl

The weather has been fantastic around here lately so of course my flat mates and I decided it was time to take advantage of the sun. So yesterday we headed out to New Brighton Beach to soak up some rays and perhaps catch a few waves for the first time ever.

There were plenty of shops to choose from to rent gear there so we took our pick and got fitted for our wet suits and two boards for two hours. It only cost us $35 for all of it and we were ready to hit the beach without any instructions.

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Needless to say the first hour was mostly spent flailing around and getting taken out by wave after salty wave.  I probably swallowed more salt water in one day than should ever be ingested by one person.

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 But after getting a few tips from a local on how to keep your balance and how to time the swells it got much easier.

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I was able to get as far as getting one foot flat on the board a few times before getting taken over by the water but I thought it was quite an accomplishment for the first time out. I’m still completely exhausted and my arms are so sore from trying to push myself up on the board over and over again.

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In the end it was really tiring and a lot of fun. There will definitely be a round two in the future.

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Location: new brighton beach, NZ

Arthur’s Pass and Wildfoods

This past weekend I traveled with a group of about 30 kids (along with 3 RA’s) on a weekend trip to Arthur’s Pass and Hokitika for the Wild Food Festival.

Taking off Friday morning we stopped a place or two along the way including Castle Hill, a series of speculated rock formations that are beyond fun to climb all over. There was a group shot taking under them before we were able to explore for a little over an hour, taking pictures and the guys daring each other to climb the highest most impossible rocks and jump from one to another (which was really unsafe) but thankfully no one got hurt.

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We then continued to drive through the Southern Alps, still covered in green, and took pictures off all the great rock formations and rivers that cut through the Alps’ valleys.

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Once we got into Arthur’s Pass we found our cabins not too far from the center of town, claimed beds and then went off for a hike up to Devil’s Punch Bowl. It wasn’t too hard of a tramp but it leads you up to one of the most fantastic waterfall with a big pool at the bottom that the group did not hesitate to go down the slippery wet path and into the freezing pool. I must say it was completely worth it, even though I had a cold at the time. I discovered it’s really windy and loud near a waterfall so it’s hard to hear people near you but the gest of most conversations is how cold it was. Of course all the guys just dove right in and swam around and I took it a little slower easing into the pool so my legs would numb up but of course with how slippery everything was I ended up falling right in anyway and getting soaking wet. 

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Saturday was spent in Hokitika or Hoki as the locals call it. There we went to the Wildfoods Festival and spent a few hours looking at all the booths and eating crazy foods. You could get anything from rocky mountain oysters to fresh honey comb there. The weirdest thing I partook in had to be the sheep brains. It was so disgusting that I could only eat a small portion of it, no one could finish more than a small bite, and ended up gagging at least 3 times. It was watery, had the weirdest consistency of anything I’d even eaten and was of course covered in barbeque sauce. 

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The best food there by far was the shark on a slice of bread with lemon and tartar sauce. It was so good I was ready to go back and get another helping if I hadn’t been saving my hunger for other oddities. 

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After we left the festival we headed down to the beach and lazed about in the sun till it was time to head back to Arthur’s Pass so we could take off first thing Sunday morning.

Of course one tourist stop was made in the mountains where we took a van group shot before hoping back in and making it back to campus around 1pm in order to recuperate for classes the next day.

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Location: Hokitika, NZ

Classes and Akaroa

Classes started this week and honestly it has been hectic. I’m only taking 4 classes but trying to figure out which ones I want to take and what they could possibly count for back home is really difficult.

Since this is a specialized agriculture school they don’t have general education credits or just a class you can just take for fun like astronomy or skiing. Every class people take counts toward their major and people don’t take classes outside their major. They also generally don’t change their major so it’s not possible to ask one person about classes in a several different disciplines. Instead I’ve taken to sitting in on lectures for classes that interest me this first week just to get a taste of what I want to stick with.

In my last post (which for some reason isn’t showing up in my achieve but can be found here http://geoblog.psu.edu/2012/02/1-week-down.html) I mentioned the setup of classes and how there are large blocks or full days where there are no classes, this is because they have a lot of outside class time for the classes which they call ‘papers’. There are things called “tutorials” which set up through the instructor on your own time where you meet up with other students and talk about the class topic. They’re mandatory but not on your schedule till your sign up. The labs for classes are also set up on your own time and aren’t put on your schedule until you sign up for them. There are also days where certain classes have field trips so classes for students that don’t have field trips are cancelled for the day.

Times of classes can sometimes overlap, meaning they will be at the same time so you have to watch for that because their scheduling program doesn’t keep you from doing it.

Students and teachers are also on a first name basis which I learned very quickly when I accidently called one Professor and he gave me the oddest look. The instructors also tend to know their students of hand and recognize them outside of class because the campus and classes are so small. My largest class this semester is 70 people but I have heard of someone having a class as small as 5. Thus, people tend to be blown away when I tell them there can be hundreds in a class at Penn State. But the odd thing is that they don’t put caps on how big the classes can be. Instead people can come and go for two weeks and after that you are not allowed to switch classes anymore without it being on your record. After that teachers have to put in a request for a bigger or smaller room depending on what their class size ended up being. Many classes are also team taught by multiple people that will cover a very specific area of the course.

As far as grading goes they do many more projects and paper for grades instead of test. Written exams are also more common or at least partially written and the have to count for at least 40% of your grade according to the school rules. Needless to say I was flabbergasted and plan on studying like mad in order to ace the exams since due to the grading scale it is hard to get an ‘A’ but nearly impossible to fail. I’d rather pull of A’s just to be safe.

But to be honest this week hasn’t been all work. The halls tend to get together after classes and watch movies, eat dinner together or plan trips around the island. Yesterday I had the pleasure to travel just an hour away from here to Akaroa with my RA, who was playing in a touch rugby tournament, and a girl in my flat. We were only there a few hours but it was really beautiful on the water and we got the best advice from a local, my RA, on the best fish and chips and town. I’m determined to go back there and get more because it was that good.

We stopped up over a ridge to take a look over the peninsula first before going down and the sky manged to open up and provide some good shots of everything below us. It was a little cold so we didn’t go down on the beach but we did get some pictures next to the water and get to walk the streets. 

It was the perfect time to be on the water because once the sun started to set it looked like the sky was on fire over the mountains. It was completely worth the cold weather.

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Iplan on doing a video soon on some of the words and pronunciations used in New Zealand. I have a lot of them so it may end up being a two part thing. So keep an eye out for that!


Location: Akaroa, New Zealand