I’m officially moved in and living in my university city: Dunedin, New Zealand! It’s close to the east coast and farther down on the south island. I am really liking it here so far, but it’s a definite adjustment from everything that I am used to. For example: partying here is a lifestyle, not a weekend activity. I was shuttled here from the airport 2 days ago when I arrived and the first thing I encountered upon arriving at my flat (another term for house/condo here) was loud music coming from the house across the street, clad with a bunch of guys chilling on their couch on their roof with lots of beer. From what I understand this coming week gets pretty crazy, as it is orientation, which is called “O Week” here. Apparently couch burning is quite a big event as well. We like our couch though, so unfortunately I don’t think I will be participating.
Anyways, enough of the party talk. My flat is very nice and getting homey as we all settle in. I will show pictures and explain more about that in another post. I live with 3 flatmates, named Maxine, Paula, and Asma. Maxine is the Kiwihost, meaning that she is the New Zealand student in our flat. Paula is from Canada and Asma is from the Netherlands. They are all very nice and we get along well so far. We are all a pretty moderate bunch and have a good level of respect for each other, which is really positive and definitely not something that can be found in every flat. We talked yesterday about details of living together, like food and bills and cleaning. It’s a definite adjustment for me to have to make all of my own meals but I am sure I will catch on, especially since we have decided to live on a budget and cook for each other 4x per week, so each of us is responsible for one dinner between Monday and Thursday each week. Food and health products here are quite expensive here and going to the grocery store is still not a fun task for me, for the financial part and also because i am so unfamiliar with brands and what's good/not. It makes sense that things are more expensive here because New Zealand is an island and it costs more to either ship things here or build a whole factory to manufacture products. But I went to K Mart (I know, random thing to have abroad) today and spent $60 just on a few things like shampoo and hangers and sunscreen. Sunscreen alone is about $15 a bottle, but I have to have it or my skin will fry off in about 5 minutes. Geesh, I’m making it sound horrible. It’s really fantastic and I am loving it, you’ll just find that I tend to share the unusual and surprising things about living here. Then we also have to pay for electricity, which is a big cost in addition to our flat rent. Electricity is actually also quite expensive in NZ and we have to be very conservative to try to keep costs down. We each have to contribute about $15 NZD per week, so $60 for our flat per week for electricity. Even though I think that is ridiculously high for electric, it’s good that I will be forced to be more conservative, as I can always use a lesson in that. I hung my clothes out to dry on a line for the first time ever today, and it was a great success : ) Anyways, the moral of all of this is that I just need to make a good budget for myself and really stick to it and be frugal. Never before have I so appreciated my shampoo and conditioner. It’s a good lesson, really.
So…let’s back up a bit. A few days ago, before I left for Dunedin, we spent our last full day in Rotorua. That was another adventure day where we went to this small town called Waitomo (population 47!) to go caving. I went on the tubing adventure, which was so cool. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed cameras in the caves, but I did get some before and after shots. Click here to see the updated Rotorua album. They put us in full wetsuits and we played in a lot of mud along the way. The coolest part of the cave was the glowworms. They are these worms that breed within the caves and sit in the larvae stage for 9 months out of the year. Now here is the interesting part: they make these sticky strings that hang down from where they are settled on the ceiling of the cave and their feces glows to attract food, which will ideally get stuck in the sticky strings hanging from the ceiling. That’s right, they have glowing poop. It’s actually a really pretty turquoise color and when everyone in the cave shuts the headlamps off and you look at the ceiling it looks like the night sky. Here is a picture I found online:
So the cave was a really cool experience. At the end of the cave we also saw these things called Weka, which are really huge nocturnal bugs. They are harmless to humans but still scary-looking as they hide out in the cave during the daytime hours. Check it out:
To round off the day we went out into Rotorua in the evening and got fish and chips for dinner, which here means fried fish and french fries, made fresh and wrapped in newspaper. It’s a New Zealand favorite and really fun, though the place we went was a bit sketchy and the fish didn’t have much flavor but I am going out with my flatmates and some friends tomorrow to the Farmer’s Market and for fish/chips and we’ll see if it’s any better…I have a feeling it will be.
So yesterday we decided to explore a bit of Dunedin and check the area out. Needless to say, this is a really big campus compared to Grove City and definitely a bit overwhelming for me. But I am familiar enough now that I can get from my flat to the university and back and also to the main shopping street where all of the buses run. Speaking of shopping, there is a lot of really good shopping here. It’s definitely a big ‘ole college town. We caught a bus and went to the beach, called St. Claire’s. It was incredibly beautiful but so cold. It was very windy and the water was freezing. I suppose that the fact that all of the surfers were in wetsuits would have been some indication that it might be a bit chilly. But we had a ton of fun nonetheless and got some really cool pictures. Click here to see them.
Today was also a bit overwhelming at times but good overall. I got up earlier this morning so that I could try and beat the crowds at course approval. Otago goes about scheduling classes differently than what I am used to. In the U.S. we sign up for classes and when they fill up no more students can take them. Here students pick what courses they want and then have to go and see respective advisors over these next few days and get them to sign off on each course. Then Otago takes all of the courses that students want and assign times and professors to teach them based on the number of students that want each one and then we get our schedules – called timetables here. It’s actually a good system, but definitely overwhelming for me to have to go and hunt down these advisors when I am so unfamiliar with the campus layout. But I did it and competed course approval, so that’s a feat! Then we took our trek to K Mart and then came back and ordered pizza – Hell’s again. I here is a picture of their witty menu:
Also, I went out on a limb and decided to try this drink here called Gingerbeer. I have heard of it in this last week and seen people drinking it. It’s non-alcoholic and a very interesting concoction. It basically tastes like carbonated ginger. Go figure.
Something that has been incredibly encouraging in my time here so far has been familiarity. Yes I am really excited to be in this new and foreign place but it’s funny that it’s really warming to hear an American accent or just see a recognizable face from the Australearn group. I am so glad that I decided to study through Australearn; the Culture/Adventure Program really helped to prepare me for my transition here. I have also been really encouraged in meeting fellow believers. I’ve run into several people already and it’s just so cool to have that instant connection with someone, knowing that you share a common foundation. I understand that Otago has some pretty established Christian fellowship organizations on campus too, so I’ll be excited to check those out. And then the church search begins on Sunday! Until then, enjoy the pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment