Today was a good day, a little bit boring but good! We learned how to use very fancy machines that measure sediment falling velocity in my Coastal and Marine Geography lab which was pretty cool, but other than that it was a normal Thursday. Tomorrow will be pretty busy- I want to go into town and shop in the morning, then I'm meeting my International Relations partner to work the presentation that we have due next week, and then..... a bunch of us are going to my friend Bruno's farm. He lives 45 minutes from here, and he has a whole bunch of horses. He's going to take us out to ride horses on his farm! I'm SUPER excited!! I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures.
Also on Thursdays merchants set up little tables with jewelery and scarves and things right on campus so I got a really cool necklace that looks like an antique pocket watch that actually tells time, and a blue plaid decorative scarf. It's still quite warm during the day but at night it gets a little but cooler.
Marine Ecology field trip this weekend! Busy busy!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Day 39
Today was pretty good- my Coastal and Marine geography exam went well!
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that we tried Feijoas, which are green, egg shaped fruit that grow on trees in people's yards. You cut them in half and scoop out the fruit. It tastes a little like perfume, but they're pretty good. One of the kids in one of my classes brought me a bunch of them for me and all of my friends to try.
Also, I figured out what I'm doing during my break in April. My friend is flying in from England and we're renting a camper van and we'll be driving around the east side of the north island and part of the south island and we'll be diving and exploring along the way! I'm super excited!!!!
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that we tried Feijoas, which are green, egg shaped fruit that grow on trees in people's yards. You cut them in half and scoop out the fruit. It tastes a little like perfume, but they're pretty good. One of the kids in one of my classes brought me a bunch of them for me and all of my friends to try.
Also, I figured out what I'm doing during my break in April. My friend is flying in from England and we're renting a camper van and we'll be driving around the east side of the north island and part of the south island and we'll be diving and exploring along the way! I'm super excited!!!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Day 38
I don't have much to report- I have a test tomorrow in Coastal and Marine Geography and I'm busy studying for that!
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Day 37
Not much to report today, especially compared to my weekend. Back to classes! One of the kids in my class gave me a bunch of Feijoas, which are dark green egg-shaped fruits. Apparently they grow on a tree he has in his backyard, so he gave me a bunch to share with my friends. We have to wait a day or two though until they're ripe. I'm excited to try them!
I also went for my first run around the city by myself, right after dinner. It doesn't get dark here until after 8, so I went when it was still light out. It was really really nice! Also, passing people on the street is great motivation to run and not walk. I'm really enjoying how active New Zealand is, and I absolutely cannot wait to get back in the water and go diving again! Something about being 40 feet below the surface of the sea and listening to only your own breathing is just so amazing.
I also went for my first run around the city by myself, right after dinner. It doesn't get dark here until after 8, so I went when it was still light out. It was really really nice! Also, passing people on the street is great motivation to run and not walk. I'm really enjoying how active New Zealand is, and I absolutely cannot wait to get back in the water and go diving again! Something about being 40 feet below the surface of the sea and listening to only your own breathing is just so amazing.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Days 35 and 36 (Bay of Islands!!)
The trip this weekend to the Bay of Islands with the Auckland University Underwater Club was amazing!! It was probably my favorite weekend in New Zealand so far. I got out of the city, made a ton of new friends and had an amazing adventure!
The adventure started sooner than I thought it would, at about 11:00 pm when we were just about 10 minutes away from The Cowshed (backpacker’s lodge where we were staying). We saw a whole bunch of cars parked on the road so we hopped out to see what was up. Apparently, there was about 100 meters of flooding along the road, so the cars couldn’t pass through it. We decided that we wanted to sleep in the beds that we paid for, so we took our pants off (it was dark, don’t worry) and waded through the water, holding our gear over our heads! The water was up to our mid-thighs, and I had the bright idea to put my diving booties on so that I could easily walk through the water. There was literally a river of water flowing through cow pastures, over the road, and down a person’s driveway. I guess they usually didn’t have that problem, except that the moon is so close to the earth right now, and it’s a full moon, which means, spring tides, which are really high high tides and really low low tides. We ended up sleeping in dorm beds (ten people were sleeping in the room I was in, all bunk beds!).
Saturday morning we awoke to have a quick breakfast and we hopped on a boat to go dive the wreck called The Canterbury. It’s an old frigate ship that Northland Dive (the company that also owns the Cowshed) bought the wreck for $1 and spend a long long time cleaning it out and getting permission to sink it. They sunk it three years ago, and it’s currently covered in sea life, and home to a ton of fish. It sits in about 85 feet and we were only able to stay down for about 26 minutes. It’s so cool to look in. If I were a more experienced diver I could have gone inside part of it! There’s also an old phone box that you can open and answer the phone!
After that we had lunch on a beach on one of the islands. It was amazing sandwiches with egg, ham, and cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, etc. Cut up egg on a sandwich is SO good! Not like egg salad which has a lot of mayo. After lunch we headed over to Potato Island, which is about 45 feet deep. There were a lot of kelp covered rocky boulders to explore. I also saw my first moray eel here and my first white spotted eel as well. Then we came back, washed all of our dive gear, and then I waited in a line for a shower that was probably 10 people long! Two showers for 46 divers was definitely not enough!
Saturday night was the club’s 50th anniversary dinner, complete with tons of wonderful food (including spit-roasted pork) and kumara (local sweet potatoes). I really liked the salad because they put feta cheese in it! Over dinner I also got to know a lot of the older members. Then, all of the members started drinking together, playing games, and they served a cake covered in fondant (edible frosting) sea creatures. It was the coolest cake ever!!
After a pretty late Saturday night, it was up early again to dive on Sunday! We dove south of Motowheke Island and in Whakapae Bay, both of which were dives to about 16 meters deep (about 52 feet). They were dives on the bottom of an island made completely out of volcanic rock, so you jump off of the boat and descend down the anchor line to sand, and going up at an angle is the base of the island. It was SO cool just to poke around in the nooks and crannies and swim through all of the kelp. We saw a yellow spotted boxfish, which I guess are pretty rare around here, as well as a puffer fish, and another moray eel. Diving here is out of this world, with schools of fish swimming by. Visibility underwater wasn’t as great as it could have been, but the diving was great. There was a lot of runoff from the islands, because it poured Friday night and all day Saturday, but it made for some sweet waterfalls down the steep sides of the islands!
I also successfully took my first underwater photos with my new camera (thanks Mom and Dad!). I LOVE my camera- it was so much fun! When you look at the pictures, just pay close attention, chances are there might be a fish that blends in pretty well with the background!
To see the rest of the pictures, go here: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3345496026/a=5301477026_5301477026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
The adventure started sooner than I thought it would, at about 11:00 pm when we were just about 10 minutes away from The Cowshed (backpacker’s lodge where we were staying). We saw a whole bunch of cars parked on the road so we hopped out to see what was up. Apparently, there was about 100 meters of flooding along the road, so the cars couldn’t pass through it. We decided that we wanted to sleep in the beds that we paid for, so we took our pants off (it was dark, don’t worry) and waded through the water, holding our gear over our heads! The water was up to our mid-thighs, and I had the bright idea to put my diving booties on so that I could easily walk through the water. There was literally a river of water flowing through cow pastures, over the road, and down a person’s driveway. I guess they usually didn’t have that problem, except that the moon is so close to the earth right now, and it’s a full moon, which means, spring tides, which are really high high tides and really low low tides. We ended up sleeping in dorm beds (ten people were sleeping in the room I was in, all bunk beds!).
Saturday morning we awoke to have a quick breakfast and we hopped on a boat to go dive the wreck called The Canterbury. It’s an old frigate ship that Northland Dive (the company that also owns the Cowshed) bought the wreck for $1 and spend a long long time cleaning it out and getting permission to sink it. They sunk it three years ago, and it’s currently covered in sea life, and home to a ton of fish. It sits in about 85 feet and we were only able to stay down for about 26 minutes. It’s so cool to look in. If I were a more experienced diver I could have gone inside part of it! There’s also an old phone box that you can open and answer the phone!
After that we had lunch on a beach on one of the islands. It was amazing sandwiches with egg, ham, and cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, etc. Cut up egg on a sandwich is SO good! Not like egg salad which has a lot of mayo. After lunch we headed over to Potato Island, which is about 45 feet deep. There were a lot of kelp covered rocky boulders to explore. I also saw my first moray eel here and my first white spotted eel as well. Then we came back, washed all of our dive gear, and then I waited in a line for a shower that was probably 10 people long! Two showers for 46 divers was definitely not enough!
Saturday night was the club’s 50th anniversary dinner, complete with tons of wonderful food (including spit-roasted pork) and kumara (local sweet potatoes). I really liked the salad because they put feta cheese in it! Over dinner I also got to know a lot of the older members. Then, all of the members started drinking together, playing games, and they served a cake covered in fondant (edible frosting) sea creatures. It was the coolest cake ever!!
After a pretty late Saturday night, it was up early again to dive on Sunday! We dove south of Motowheke Island and in Whakapae Bay, both of which were dives to about 16 meters deep (about 52 feet). They were dives on the bottom of an island made completely out of volcanic rock, so you jump off of the boat and descend down the anchor line to sand, and going up at an angle is the base of the island. It was SO cool just to poke around in the nooks and crannies and swim through all of the kelp. We saw a yellow spotted boxfish, which I guess are pretty rare around here, as well as a puffer fish, and another moray eel. Diving here is out of this world, with schools of fish swimming by. Visibility underwater wasn’t as great as it could have been, but the diving was great. There was a lot of runoff from the islands, because it poured Friday night and all day Saturday, but it made for some sweet waterfalls down the steep sides of the islands!
I also successfully took my first underwater photos with my new camera (thanks Mom and Dad!). I LOVE my camera- it was so much fun! When you look at the pictures, just pay close attention, chances are there might be a fish that blends in pretty well with the background!
To see the rest of the pictures, go here: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3345496026/a=5301477026_5301477026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Day 34
Today I spent packing and getting ready for the weekend! Off to the Bay of Islands!!!! I'll post again sometime Sunday night or Monday or something like that.
=)
=)
Day 33
Three girls each carrying four bags of groceries uphill for about 25 minutes really makes you appreciate cars. Njeri, Jo and I went to the grocery store to get some food for my trip (to the Bay of Islands, leaving tomorrow evening) and their trip (with 7 other girls, to Taupo and Matamata). It really wasn't a smart idea to go grocery shopping after the free shuttle stops running for the day, because it took us to long to get back! We were originally just going to take the shopping cart with us, but then we realized that for some reason the shopping carts there won't let you take them past a certain point on the sidewalk. It isn't marked or anything, but all of a sudden the wheels stop and you can't push the cart any further out. It makes sense now why I haven't seen any homeless people pushing shopping carts!
I also got to know my hall manager better. I needed to hire out tanks for the weekend, and it would be really really hard for me to carry two scuba tanks any distance. So, Clive, the older man who lives here with his family in a house next to the dorm (who both owns the place and runs it) offered to take me to pick up tanks. He also said he would help me bring them back on Monday. I thought it was super nice of him but then he told me he is trying to get on everyone's good side because they've been having problems with the alarm system here going off for no reason in the middle of the night. It's super loud and super annoying!
Now I've got to get ready to leave for the Bay of Islands to go scuba diving! I can't wait to take awesome underwater photos!!! To see some pictures that the club took last year at the Bay of Islands look here: http://akunidive.com/gallery/?album=25July2010BayOfIslands You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.
I also got to know my hall manager better. I needed to hire out tanks for the weekend, and it would be really really hard for me to carry two scuba tanks any distance. So, Clive, the older man who lives here with his family in a house next to the dorm (who both owns the place and runs it) offered to take me to pick up tanks. He also said he would help me bring them back on Monday. I thought it was super nice of him but then he told me he is trying to get on everyone's good side because they've been having problems with the alarm system here going off for no reason in the middle of the night. It's super loud and super annoying!
Now I've got to get ready to leave for the Bay of Islands to go scuba diving! I can't wait to take awesome underwater photos!!! To see some pictures that the club took last year at the Bay of Islands look here: http://akunidive.com/gallery/?album=25July2010BayOfIslands You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Day 32
Today I had my logic exam and I feel like I did really really well. Straightforward exams mean good grades for me! I also got more done on my geography lab, which is due tomorrow.
Other than that, not much to report. A student at UConn today got hit by a bus and I was worried that it was Josh or one of my friends, but it turns out I don't know the boy. Send well wishes to the family though, when you see it on the local news.
Other than that, not much to report. A student at UConn today got hit by a bus and I was worried that it was Josh or one of my friends, but it turns out I don't know the boy. Send well wishes to the family though, when you see it on the local news.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Day 31
Today was like any other Tuesday, but super productive because I studied for my Logic Exam with my friend Haley and met with my Geography group to work on our project that's due on Thursday. Wish me luck for my Logic Exam tomorrow night!!
One thing that really surprised me was the number of people barefoot in my marine ecology lecture today... yeah the weather is nice but a lot of people regularly walk around barefoot, regardless of the bits of broken glass on the sidewalk or the very dirty feet they get by the end of the day.
Another great thing about New Zealand is that the professors explain assignments and exams so explicitly, there's no way that you could do the assignment wrong. Today my Logic professor spent an entire class going through our entire exam for tomorrow, explaining exactly what each question would ask, how it would be worded, etc. In the U.S. a professor would give us a few topics or textbook chapters to look at, here they give you the exact exam questions! It's crazy that they do it but I really appreciate it!
I'm also in the process of narrowing down spring break plans, possibly diving for a few days and spending the rest of the time with my friends travelling around both parts of the north island and south island. I'd save A TON of money if I don't fly to Fiji or Australia. The way I look at it, I'm young and I can always find a nice husband that wants to dive and we can come back and visit this side of the world!
One thing that really surprised me was the number of people barefoot in my marine ecology lecture today... yeah the weather is nice but a lot of people regularly walk around barefoot, regardless of the bits of broken glass on the sidewalk or the very dirty feet they get by the end of the day.
Another great thing about New Zealand is that the professors explain assignments and exams so explicitly, there's no way that you could do the assignment wrong. Today my Logic professor spent an entire class going through our entire exam for tomorrow, explaining exactly what each question would ask, how it would be worded, etc. In the U.S. a professor would give us a few topics or textbook chapters to look at, here they give you the exact exam questions! It's crazy that they do it but I really appreciate it!
I'm also in the process of narrowing down spring break plans, possibly diving for a few days and spending the rest of the time with my friends travelling around both parts of the north island and south island. I'd save A TON of money if I don't fly to Fiji or Australia. The way I look at it, I'm young and I can always find a nice husband that wants to dive and we can come back and visit this side of the world!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Day 30
Another Monday- back to being productive! Studied a lot today for my Logic Exam on Wednesday and even made it to a Cardio Funk workout/dance class! The instructor was a little loopy though so I'm not sure if I'll go back. Some of my friends are planning a trip this weekend to Taupo, which is a huge lake in the middle of the north island, but I'm going scuba diving instead!! I'm so excited!!!!!! I'll hopefully be able to post lots of pictures that I take with my underwater camera. I just have to figure out a ride still, and then I'm all set!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Day 29
Today marks a month that I’ve been here- time sure flies when you’re having fun! This experience has been SO much fun! Last night Bruno, one of the boys here at International House, started talking about a weatherman that can tell the weather based on the moon’s distance from the earth and phase and everything and he predicted that since the moon is closer to the earth than it has been in a really long time that we were going to get an earthquake today in Auckland. However, we haven’t felt a thing!
Last night all of my friends and I ended up staying out until 7 am, getting back just in time for breakfast! I cannot believe we were dancing and having fun for so long! Social life here in New Zealand is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
We didn’t end up going to the rugby game last night because the tickets were sold out, and we didn’t end up going to the zoo today because Jo, one of the girls in our group, was going to play for International House in the inter-hall volleyball tournament. Not going was probably a good idea, because it gave all of us some time to sleep before watching all of the halls play each other. International House came in second, which was great because we beat the O’Rourke Hall, which is our greatest rival.
Now, off to bed- lots of homework this week! Also, my first exam!!
Last night all of my friends and I ended up staying out until 7 am, getting back just in time for breakfast! I cannot believe we were dancing and having fun for so long! Social life here in New Zealand is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.
We didn’t end up going to the rugby game last night because the tickets were sold out, and we didn’t end up going to the zoo today because Jo, one of the girls in our group, was going to play for International House in the inter-hall volleyball tournament. Not going was probably a good idea, because it gave all of us some time to sleep before watching all of the halls play each other. International House came in second, which was great because we beat the O’Rourke Hall, which is our greatest rival.
Now, off to bed- lots of homework this week! Also, my first exam!!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Day 28
The internet isn't working that well in our dorm so it's hard to find a free computer in the computer lab but I'm doing well. Today was great to relax, after a really hard "Pump" workout class this morning with weights.
Tomorrow we're going to the Auckland Zoo!
Tomorrow we're going to the Auckland Zoo!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Day 27
From yesterday:
St. Patrick's Day in the city was amazing- tons of people my age, all wearing green and looking for a good time. All of the pubs were serving green spirits as well, which added to the mood. I went out with good friends and had the time of my life! Even though the dining hall didn't serve corned beef and cabbage, the dancing and fun of the night made this year's March 17th the best St. Patrick's Day ever!
We also went to an abs, buns, and thighs workout class, which was really hard because the instructor was really tough and would point you out if you weren't doing the sit ups correctly, or if you weren't holding the right leg position. It's a great feeling to be pushed to workout! My friend Njeri and I are going to be workout buddies for the semester.
Today was a productive day of homework, laundry, washing my dishes and vacuuming my room... nothing exciting! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more to post.
St. Patrick's Day in the city was amazing- tons of people my age, all wearing green and looking for a good time. All of the pubs were serving green spirits as well, which added to the mood. I went out with good friends and had the time of my life! Even though the dining hall didn't serve corned beef and cabbage, the dancing and fun of the night made this year's March 17th the best St. Patrick's Day ever!
We also went to an abs, buns, and thighs workout class, which was really hard because the instructor was really tough and would point you out if you weren't doing the sit ups correctly, or if you weren't holding the right leg position. It's a great feeling to be pushed to workout! My friend Njeri and I are going to be workout buddies for the semester.
Today was a productive day of homework, laundry, washing my dishes and vacuuming my room... nothing exciting! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more to post.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Day 26
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'll have to post later about my day, it's about 4 in the morning here!!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Day 25
The current state of Japan is really worrying me… especially because my friend Stephanie is still there. She was on the news in Connecticut though, here: http://www.wfsb.com/news/27163803/detail.html . I really hope she’s going to be okay with all of the nuclear reactor problems they have been having. It’s so sad that a country has been hit with earthquakes, a tsunami, and now the degradation of nuclear power plants all within such a short amount of time!
As for my life… zumba this morning was awesome! I love that I went with four friends and we actually all got up early. I think tomorrow night we’re going to go to the Abs, Buns, and Thighs workout class. I’d love to get into a habit of going to the gym!
A little bit about food… for dinner we had meatballs and parsnips (which are like white carrots, and just as hard) which was really strange. EVERYONE picked out the parsnips. I also tried something called a kumara, which is like a sweet potato. The dessert was the best part, which was sponge cake and custard, which was really really yummy!
I also had an Underwater Club meeting tonight, where Mandy Alves, the head of the Auckland branch of the Sea Shepherd, spoke! For more information about the Sea Shepherd, go here: http://www.seashepherd.org/ . It was so cool to hear someone that’s part of such a large organization speak out about why we need to speak up for the ocean. Things like longlining (miles of line with hooks every so often so there’s thousands of hooks stretched out) and using drift nets to catch fish over miles and miles of ocean, or cutting the fins off of sharks and throwing the rest of the shark back to suffer on the sea floor is absolutely horrible. Asian countries eat shark fin soup as a delicacy, and at weddings, and a pound of shark fin can get a fisherman over $200 per pound! Also horrible is whaling and capturing dolphins for use in aquariums like they do in Japan. The Sea Shepherd organization works actively to cut long lines, sink whaling vessels, and expose these horrible practices that go on around the world. They also try to stop illegal fishing in marine reserves around the world, and work to stop the Canadians from clubbing baby harp seals every spring. I’m thinking that maybe volunteering with them after I graduate would be an incredible opportunity, I could potentially be diving in the Mediterranean setting fish that have been caught on longlines free. I’m also honestly very sick of hearing about sharks, still alive, sitting like logs on the sea floor because they haven’t got any fins, and listening to stories of Spanish fishing fleets setting out nets and coming back two weeks later, where every hook has a fish but most of the fish are dead from sitting on a hook for so long. This is the reason why I’m so interested in the ocean- people are destroying it and something has to be done. Today I also learned that the world’s shark population is estimated to have declined 90%! I’m hesitant to eat New Zealand fish and chips now, too, because I heard that most of the time, they’re feeding you shark, and it really could be any kind of shark, but they would never tell you that.
Also, I’m thinking about possibly going to Fiji for 7 days over spring break, costing between $1500 and $2000 for flight and diving and accommodation and everything! Could be absolutely amazing!
As for my life… zumba this morning was awesome! I love that I went with four friends and we actually all got up early. I think tomorrow night we’re going to go to the Abs, Buns, and Thighs workout class. I’d love to get into a habit of going to the gym!
A little bit about food… for dinner we had meatballs and parsnips (which are like white carrots, and just as hard) which was really strange. EVERYONE picked out the parsnips. I also tried something called a kumara, which is like a sweet potato. The dessert was the best part, which was sponge cake and custard, which was really really yummy!
I also had an Underwater Club meeting tonight, where Mandy Alves, the head of the Auckland branch of the Sea Shepherd, spoke! For more information about the Sea Shepherd, go here: http://www.seashepherd.org/ . It was so cool to hear someone that’s part of such a large organization speak out about why we need to speak up for the ocean. Things like longlining (miles of line with hooks every so often so there’s thousands of hooks stretched out) and using drift nets to catch fish over miles and miles of ocean, or cutting the fins off of sharks and throwing the rest of the shark back to suffer on the sea floor is absolutely horrible. Asian countries eat shark fin soup as a delicacy, and at weddings, and a pound of shark fin can get a fisherman over $200 per pound! Also horrible is whaling and capturing dolphins for use in aquariums like they do in Japan. The Sea Shepherd organization works actively to cut long lines, sink whaling vessels, and expose these horrible practices that go on around the world. They also try to stop illegal fishing in marine reserves around the world, and work to stop the Canadians from clubbing baby harp seals every spring. I’m thinking that maybe volunteering with them after I graduate would be an incredible opportunity, I could potentially be diving in the Mediterranean setting fish that have been caught on longlines free. I’m also honestly very sick of hearing about sharks, still alive, sitting like logs on the sea floor because they haven’t got any fins, and listening to stories of Spanish fishing fleets setting out nets and coming back two weeks later, where every hook has a fish but most of the fish are dead from sitting on a hook for so long. This is the reason why I’m so interested in the ocean- people are destroying it and something has to be done. Today I also learned that the world’s shark population is estimated to have declined 90%! I’m hesitant to eat New Zealand fish and chips now, too, because I heard that most of the time, they’re feeding you shark, and it really could be any kind of shark, but they would never tell you that.
Also, I’m thinking about possibly going to Fiji for 7 days over spring break, costing between $1500 and $2000 for flight and diving and accommodation and everything! Could be absolutely amazing!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Day 24
Not too much exciting today, I'm ahead in work in one class and behind in the other three but I'm definitely catching up! Today in International Relations we talked a little bit about the U.S. and their impact on the world. Why is it that if something happens in any country (such as civilian uprising against the dictator of Libya, Gaddafi) everyone looks to the U.S. to either intervene and fix things or even just to ask the U.S.'s opinion? How come one country gets to decide the fate of another when in reality they are completely separate? Definitely interesting to debate while a) I'm not currently in the U.S. and b) because I was the only U.S. citizen in the room at the time. I'm definitely glad I'm taking International Relations. Off to bed, I've got to get up early for a Zumba workout class with four of my girl friends at 7 am!!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Day 23
Today was back to school after such a great weekend! I went to my coastal and marine geography class and learned about the tsunami and how it changed the sea level around New Zealand by only a few centimeters. I like this class so much more now, because I met a lot of kids on the field trip and the professor is more relaxed while teaching.
After that, I took the afternoon to catch up on homework and copying down lecture outlines so that I don’t get further behind in my work. By the end of the week I hope to be completely caught up. My weekend was so crazy though and I didn’t have any time at all for work then. I’m realizing that as fun as planning travel is, I really need to buckle down this week and focus on school! Today I was also thinking about spring break, meeting up with some friends in Australia or diving the Maldives Islands, which have phenomenal sea life and are in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Then we had dinner, which was chicken with garlic butter battered and fried- which were very very good! After that we all played volleyball on the outdoor court and even though I thought I played well, I didn’t make the team for the finals this Sunday between all of the residence halls. It’ll still be fun to watch the game on Sunday, though!
Another thought about Kiwi’s: they don’t mind sharing anything! Like if a person in your class forgot their water bottle, they’ll just casually ask for a sip of yours. They’re also very giving, like the type of people that would buy a large pack of cookies if they only wanted one cookie just to have enough to share. I love the hospitality, but I have to remember to buy more than just what I would normally eat as well, so I can share too. We definitely don’t share like that with strangers in the U.S.! They also call green peppers “capsicums” but I think it’s easier to say green peppers…
Kiwis also don’t refrigerate eggs, which kind of grosses me out. They just leave them on the shelf and I heard if you put them in a bowl of water you can tell if they’re still good, depending on whether they sink or float. The kitchen staff will also give you an egg salad sandwich and think it will be good until lunch without being refrigerated. Very different from the U.S.! They also call highways motorways and motorcycles motorbikes. And you don’t go four wheeling, you go quad biking. I love how Kiwis say things differently!
After that, I took the afternoon to catch up on homework and copying down lecture outlines so that I don’t get further behind in my work. By the end of the week I hope to be completely caught up. My weekend was so crazy though and I didn’t have any time at all for work then. I’m realizing that as fun as planning travel is, I really need to buckle down this week and focus on school! Today I was also thinking about spring break, meeting up with some friends in Australia or diving the Maldives Islands, which have phenomenal sea life and are in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Then we had dinner, which was chicken with garlic butter battered and fried- which were very very good! After that we all played volleyball on the outdoor court and even though I thought I played well, I didn’t make the team for the finals this Sunday between all of the residence halls. It’ll still be fun to watch the game on Sunday, though!
Another thought about Kiwi’s: they don’t mind sharing anything! Like if a person in your class forgot their water bottle, they’ll just casually ask for a sip of yours. They’re also very giving, like the type of people that would buy a large pack of cookies if they only wanted one cookie just to have enough to share. I love the hospitality, but I have to remember to buy more than just what I would normally eat as well, so I can share too. We definitely don’t share like that with strangers in the U.S.! They also call green peppers “capsicums” but I think it’s easier to say green peppers…
Kiwis also don’t refrigerate eggs, which kind of grosses me out. They just leave them on the shelf and I heard if you put them in a bowl of water you can tell if they’re still good, depending on whether they sink or float. The kitchen staff will also give you an egg salad sandwich and think it will be good until lunch without being refrigerated. Very different from the U.S.! They also call highways motorways and motorcycles motorbikes. And you don’t go four wheeling, you go quad biking. I love how Kiwis say things differently!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Day 22- Waitomo Caves
Yesterday was great, because we ended up hiking up around a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was amazing to see an island off the beach, home to a gannet colony as well as seeing waves crashing against the beach from above. The weather was beautiful! However, since there was a tsunami in Japan the night before (3/11) the waves were going to hit the New Zealand coast while we were at the beach on Saturday. Thus, halfway into surveying the beach (dune height, sediment type, etc.) we got kicked off of the beach because they ended up closing all of the beaches in Auckland for a while. Never before have I been kicked off of a beach due to tsunami warnings! The tsunami didn’t really have that big of an impact on the New Zealand coastline anyway.
The whole tsunami was scary though because I’ve got a friend in Tokyo. I found out that shell that she’s doing well though! It’s pretty crazy that once I’m stationed in the Pacific Ocean all of these crazy events are occurring, like an earthquake in Christchurch, NZ and then an earthquake and tsunami off of Japan. I’m hoping this will be the end of crazy geologic events!
So then last night we had a bucket party, where everyone pitches in money and everyone drinks out of a bucket with really long straws. Then, we ended up going out but my friend Anna had too much to drink, so Olly and I ended up having an ambulance come and make sure she was okay and help us escort her back to her room.
So today was WONDERFUL! I went with Jo, Bart, Flora, Njeri, Hania, Hannah, and Arleah to the glow worm caves in Waitomo. There are over 300 caves in this area, and they’re all SO cool. There’s tons of companies that offer tours of the caves, and we went with Rap, Raft, and Rock. For $149 we ended up abseiling down 30 meters (about ninety feet), which is basically repelling down a crack in the earth, where you control the rate at which you go down based on how tightly you hold the rope. It was SO COOL! After that we toured the caves, rode tubes down parts of them and over some rapids, and hiked up some areas. Although the entire cave was over 6 km deep, we only go to see about 1 km of it. The BEST part was seeing the glow worms, which cover the ceilings of the limestone caves. The glow worms are actually a form of maggot, or fly larvae, where their rear ends glow. When we turned our headlamps off we could see thousands of glowing greenish dots only about 4 meters over our heads. It was absolutely incredible! Other highlights of the trip were going through “squeezes” which were really tight spaces that you have to wiggle your way through in the walls of the rock, which are SO scary. In one of the places I almost got stuck, but luckily made my way out! We also got to pet one of the 2 foot long eels in the cave, a girl eel named Jeff. Finally, once we were done in the caves, we climbed up a rock face that was about 90 feet back up! So exhausting but probably my favorite day in New Zealand thus far!
I also got some great pictures because our tour guide took photos of us at every step along the way. I’ll show you the rest when I get back to Connecticut!!
The whole tsunami was scary though because I’ve got a friend in Tokyo. I found out that shell that she’s doing well though! It’s pretty crazy that once I’m stationed in the Pacific Ocean all of these crazy events are occurring, like an earthquake in Christchurch, NZ and then an earthquake and tsunami off of Japan. I’m hoping this will be the end of crazy geologic events!
So then last night we had a bucket party, where everyone pitches in money and everyone drinks out of a bucket with really long straws. Then, we ended up going out but my friend Anna had too much to drink, so Olly and I ended up having an ambulance come and make sure she was okay and help us escort her back to her room.
So today was WONDERFUL! I went with Jo, Bart, Flora, Njeri, Hania, Hannah, and Arleah to the glow worm caves in Waitomo. There are over 300 caves in this area, and they’re all SO cool. There’s tons of companies that offer tours of the caves, and we went with Rap, Raft, and Rock. For $149 we ended up abseiling down 30 meters (about ninety feet), which is basically repelling down a crack in the earth, where you control the rate at which you go down based on how tightly you hold the rope. It was SO COOL! After that we toured the caves, rode tubes down parts of them and over some rapids, and hiked up some areas. Although the entire cave was over 6 km deep, we only go to see about 1 km of it. The BEST part was seeing the glow worms, which cover the ceilings of the limestone caves. The glow worms are actually a form of maggot, or fly larvae, where their rear ends glow. When we turned our headlamps off we could see thousands of glowing greenish dots only about 4 meters over our heads. It was absolutely incredible! Other highlights of the trip were going through “squeezes” which were really tight spaces that you have to wiggle your way through in the walls of the rock, which are SO scary. In one of the places I almost got stuck, but luckily made my way out! We also got to pet one of the 2 foot long eels in the cave, a girl eel named Jeff. Finally, once we were done in the caves, we climbed up a rock face that was about 90 feet back up! So exhausting but probably my favorite day in New Zealand thus far!
I also got some great pictures because our tour guide took photos of us at every step along the way. I’ll show you the rest when I get back to Connecticut!!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Day 21
Today was a day of firsts- my first time ever being kicked off a beach because of a tsunami warning and my first time ever riding in an ambulance because my friend Anna drank wayyy too much and Olly and I had to take her home but she wouldn't listen or walk and she kept vomiting all over herself.
More on this tomorrow, it's already 2 am and I've got to get up early for blackwater rafting and caving and abseiling in the Waitomo Caves. This is what I'll be doing: http://www.caveraft.com/blackwater-rafting/ . Check it out! I promise I'll post more about today's great adventures tomorrow after I get back from rafting! Sorry this is a short post but I have to get to sleep.
More on this tomorrow, it's already 2 am and I've got to get up early for blackwater rafting and caving and abseiling in the Waitomo Caves. This is what I'll be doing: http://www.caveraft.com/blackwater-rafting/ . Check it out! I promise I'll post more about today's great adventures tomorrow after I get back from rafting! Sorry this is a short post but I have to get to sleep.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Day 20- Beaches Field Trip day 1
Today was a fabulous day. I decided that I love my Coastal and Marine Geography class, just because today was so much fun. I didn’t go for a run because when I got up at 6 it was still dark out and I didn’t want to run around a dark city by myself. We took a convoy of 12 person vans out to the first beach, called Omaha, which is about an hour and a half north of Auckland. It was a beautiful white sandy beach with big waves. We used Dumpy levels to measure the elevation of certain parts of the beach (for more on what a dumpy measure is, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpy_level). It’s pretty neat; you look through basically one binocular that has a cross in the center of it and match up the cross in the lens with the corresponding height on a really long pole with centimeter markings on it that someone else is holding down the beach. It’s a great way to measure sand dune height, whether the beach “steps” down as you move out to where the waves break, etc.
We also measured sand grain sizes and calculated falling velocity by dropping a handful of sand into a measured amount of saltwater in a graduated cylinder. The last thing we did was go out to where the waves break and figure out their breaking height, how many waves pass by in a minute, and the width of the break zone. I never knew that there was so much science to a beach. In this class we’re learning about different types of waves and the difference between deep water and shallow water waves, and I’m supposed to be learning equations that deal with wave energy, among other things. We also went to Jones Bay, which has beautiful tumbled dark rocks and Orewa, which is a sandy beach popular with the retirement community of New Zealand. Both were amazing. We ended up all going for a real swim at Jones Bay, because the waves were really small, it was hot and sunny out, and the gravelly beach dropped off very quickly. The visibility is also amazing, so that you can even open your eyes underwater briefly. I’d go back to any of the three beaches we visited today in a heartbeat.
Another really enjoyable part about today was just driving around the countryside. I realized today that most of New Zealand is hills, because the roads constantly twist and turn and go over huge hills, many of which were lined with barbed wire fence on either side, home to sheep, geese, goats, and cows. It’s complete farm country once you either move out of the city or away from the coast. New Zealand really is amazingly green and beautiful!
Best part about today: I get to do it again tomorrow! We’re surveying two beaches on the west coast tomorrow, where supposedly the waves are so big and the currents so strong that there’s a local show called “Rescue Piha” where they rescue swimmers at one of the two beaches we’re going to tomorrow.
We also measured sand grain sizes and calculated falling velocity by dropping a handful of sand into a measured amount of saltwater in a graduated cylinder. The last thing we did was go out to where the waves break and figure out their breaking height, how many waves pass by in a minute, and the width of the break zone. I never knew that there was so much science to a beach. In this class we’re learning about different types of waves and the difference between deep water and shallow water waves, and I’m supposed to be learning equations that deal with wave energy, among other things. We also went to Jones Bay, which has beautiful tumbled dark rocks and Orewa, which is a sandy beach popular with the retirement community of New Zealand. Both were amazing. We ended up all going for a real swim at Jones Bay, because the waves were really small, it was hot and sunny out, and the gravelly beach dropped off very quickly. The visibility is also amazing, so that you can even open your eyes underwater briefly. I’d go back to any of the three beaches we visited today in a heartbeat.
Another really enjoyable part about today was just driving around the countryside. I realized today that most of New Zealand is hills, because the roads constantly twist and turn and go over huge hills, many of which were lined with barbed wire fence on either side, home to sheep, geese, goats, and cows. It’s complete farm country once you either move out of the city or away from the coast. New Zealand really is amazingly green and beautiful!
Best part about today: I get to do it again tomorrow! We’re surveying two beaches on the west coast tomorrow, where supposedly the waves are so big and the currents so strong that there’s a local show called “Rescue Piha” where they rescue swimmers at one of the two beaches we’re going to tomorrow.
Day 19
Today was alright, spent time in the computer lab for my Marine Ecology and Coastal and Marine Geography courses, learning how to interpret the data that we collect on our field trips. I also found out that Thursday afternoons on the student quad a whole bunch of people set up tables and sell clothes, pet clothes, jewelery, purses, etc. to college students like me. I bought a ring today that was made out of the inner spiral of a seashell. So cool! I need to remember to leave my purse at home in the future though, because otherwise I’ll come home completely broke.
I also got a care package in the mail from home today! It took 16 days to get here and the cost to ship it was outrageous but I love love love being reminded of home. Also, I won’t have to buy snacks for a while and it included some essential items like scissors and a stapler which I desperately needed. Never before have I wondered where my next staple would come from… College students here seem to not ever like to spend money, so a lot of students will go without things like staplers and scissors if they can borrow it from a friend. In the U.S. we’re all so accustomed to having our own things and just going out and buying whatever we need. I’m trying to adapt to this Kiwi lifestyle and saving some money along the way.
I also went to a Shakesperian play tonight called Richard III (I think that’s the name of it anyway). Our hall director gave away ten free tickets and it was on campus so I went with all the other International House students. I left after intermission though, because I forgot that Shakespeare created three hour long plays and I’ve got to get to bed if I want to get up early! The actors were really good but the story line was a bit confusing. It was neat though because, like the other play that I saw last week, they set up an outdoor theater. I’m trying to make myself go to whatever artsy experiences are available (especially the free ones) because they usually have a lot to offer and I’d love to gain more perspective on things.
I’ve decided to go for a run before my field trip to the first three beaches tomorrow, so I’ll be getting up really early. I’ll let you know how it turns out tomorrow!
I also got a care package in the mail from home today! It took 16 days to get here and the cost to ship it was outrageous but I love love love being reminded of home. Also, I won’t have to buy snacks for a while and it included some essential items like scissors and a stapler which I desperately needed. Never before have I wondered where my next staple would come from… College students here seem to not ever like to spend money, so a lot of students will go without things like staplers and scissors if they can borrow it from a friend. In the U.S. we’re all so accustomed to having our own things and just going out and buying whatever we need. I’m trying to adapt to this Kiwi lifestyle and saving some money along the way.
I also went to a Shakesperian play tonight called Richard III (I think that’s the name of it anyway). Our hall director gave away ten free tickets and it was on campus so I went with all the other International House students. I left after intermission though, because I forgot that Shakespeare created three hour long plays and I’ve got to get to bed if I want to get up early! The actors were really good but the story line was a bit confusing. It was neat though because, like the other play that I saw last week, they set up an outdoor theater. I’m trying to make myself go to whatever artsy experiences are available (especially the free ones) because they usually have a lot to offer and I’d love to gain more perspective on things.
I’ve decided to go for a run before my field trip to the first three beaches tomorrow, so I’ll be getting up really early. I’ll let you know how it turns out tomorrow!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Day 18
Today was a pretty great day! I spent the morning trying to figure out if I should travel to Thailand or Fiji, and the afternoon figuring out that I might not have the money to spend on either. I did, however, pay for two weekends of diving with the Underwater Club for just under $400. I’ll be going to The Poor Knights Islands in April and the Bay of Islands during the last weekend in March. I’m SO excited about seeing these phenomenal places! Our spring break runs from April 8 to April 26, so I’ve got a lot of time to explore the south island as well as do some more local diving. I also met a girl tonight, Jordan, from South Carolina, who is going to get certified next week and then she really wants to dive with me. I’m super excited to get to know more scuba divers!
Some strange foods for the day: at breakfast they served creamed corn- which is not my idea of a good breakfast! For dinner they had sausages in gravy with onions, which is also something I could live with never eating again! They sound good, but they just aren’t! They also often serve cauliflower in like mustard sauce with eggs, kind of like potato salad. It’s not bad! I must say we eat either cauliflower like I just described, or pasta salad, or potato salad, or coleslaw every single day! They also serve salad (sometimes just lettuce).
I only had two classes today, one of which got out early because the fire drill went off even though there was no fire. In my second class, my teacher’s watch was wrong so she ended up letting us out five minutes late, which plenty of students complained about. One thing predictable about all college students around the world- they know exactly what time they get to get out of class!
Njeri had her computer fixed by a boy in International House, so as a way to repay him she made him a Chocolate Coma cake, and then she made cupcakes for the rest of us! They were: chocolate brownie with white chocolate chips on the bottom layer, nutella (which is hazelnut spread you can get at the supermarket) in the middle, chocolate cake on the top, and chocolate ganache (which is a mix of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, cream and butter) as the frosting. They were amazing! Then we all shared the bowl that held the ganache by dipping various items into it, such as apples, popcorn, pretzels… Overall a great evening!
Now as I’m posting this there’s strange opera music coming in my window… not sure if someone is listening to it or singing it!
Some strange foods for the day: at breakfast they served creamed corn- which is not my idea of a good breakfast! For dinner they had sausages in gravy with onions, which is also something I could live with never eating again! They sound good, but they just aren’t! They also often serve cauliflower in like mustard sauce with eggs, kind of like potato salad. It’s not bad! I must say we eat either cauliflower like I just described, or pasta salad, or potato salad, or coleslaw every single day! They also serve salad (sometimes just lettuce).
I only had two classes today, one of which got out early because the fire drill went off even though there was no fire. In my second class, my teacher’s watch was wrong so she ended up letting us out five minutes late, which plenty of students complained about. One thing predictable about all college students around the world- they know exactly what time they get to get out of class!
Njeri had her computer fixed by a boy in International House, so as a way to repay him she made him a Chocolate Coma cake, and then she made cupcakes for the rest of us! They were: chocolate brownie with white chocolate chips on the bottom layer, nutella (which is hazelnut spread you can get at the supermarket) in the middle, chocolate cake on the top, and chocolate ganache (which is a mix of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, cream and butter) as the frosting. They were amazing! Then we all shared the bowl that held the ganache by dipping various items into it, such as apples, popcorn, pretzels… Overall a great evening!
Now as I’m posting this there’s strange opera music coming in my window… not sure if someone is listening to it or singing it!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Day 17
Today I learned how to eat a kiwifruit like a Kiwi. You’re supposed to cut them in half and eat them with a spoon, rather than peel them and cut them up like I’m used to doing in the U.S. It’s kind of sad though, that New Zealand buys their fruit from Italy, since new Zealand is so famous for Kiwis. I guess they only import Italian fruit during the New Zealand kiwifruit off-season.
In talking to my Kiwi friends today I found out that they don’t have hot pretzels at the malls. They do have quite the variety of asian snacks though, a lot of which I don’t have the guts to try. They always sell bags of what look like dried fruits but the writing is Asian so I’m not sure what they actually are. I usually don’t try anything unless I know either how you’re supposed to eat it or what it exactly is. The dining hall had beans on toast again this morning, but I still don’t have the heart to try it.
Today was another day where I had a lot of time between classes but not enough time to walk back to International House. I read a few chapters today but lately I’ve been so tired during the day from staying up and doing homework (and still recovering from climbing Rangitoto!) that it takes a lot of energy to stay awake during the day. I’m going to try to get a lot of sleep tonight so that I can be well rested for tomorrow. I also need to catch up on reading assignments for my courses.
The days are starting to blend together now, and I really feel like a university student again. It took a while to sink back into though, because I’ve had 3+ months off. I also watched the documentary “Food Inc” tonight, to teach myself a little bit about where industrial agriculture comes from. I’ve decided that I would LOVE to live on a farm, where I grow most of my own vegetables and collect eggs and either raise animals just to have as pets, or learn to appreciate them and eat them. I don’t think that I could ever kill one of my own animals though, so I might turn into a vegetarian if I raised my own. I’m not sure how a farm would fit into a future as a marine science professor though! Also, I tried to be a vegetarian but I forgot and had chicken lo-mein style pasta for dinner! Oops!
Another interesting thing is that in public restrooms they have a cloth towel on a roll (like a roll of paper towels) and you use either that or a heated hand dryer to dry your hands. New Zealand is huge on not wasting natural resources, such as paper. Also, I found out that there is a country called “Zealand” and I guess it’s in Europe near Iceland and that is what New Zealand was named after.
No pictures again today, not too much exciting is going on!
In talking to my Kiwi friends today I found out that they don’t have hot pretzels at the malls. They do have quite the variety of asian snacks though, a lot of which I don’t have the guts to try. They always sell bags of what look like dried fruits but the writing is Asian so I’m not sure what they actually are. I usually don’t try anything unless I know either how you’re supposed to eat it or what it exactly is. The dining hall had beans on toast again this morning, but I still don’t have the heart to try it.
Today was another day where I had a lot of time between classes but not enough time to walk back to International House. I read a few chapters today but lately I’ve been so tired during the day from staying up and doing homework (and still recovering from climbing Rangitoto!) that it takes a lot of energy to stay awake during the day. I’m going to try to get a lot of sleep tonight so that I can be well rested for tomorrow. I also need to catch up on reading assignments for my courses.
The days are starting to blend together now, and I really feel like a university student again. It took a while to sink back into though, because I’ve had 3+ months off. I also watched the documentary “Food Inc” tonight, to teach myself a little bit about where industrial agriculture comes from. I’ve decided that I would LOVE to live on a farm, where I grow most of my own vegetables and collect eggs and either raise animals just to have as pets, or learn to appreciate them and eat them. I don’t think that I could ever kill one of my own animals though, so I might turn into a vegetarian if I raised my own. I’m not sure how a farm would fit into a future as a marine science professor though! Also, I tried to be a vegetarian but I forgot and had chicken lo-mein style pasta for dinner! Oops!
Another interesting thing is that in public restrooms they have a cloth towel on a roll (like a roll of paper towels) and you use either that or a heated hand dryer to dry your hands. New Zealand is huge on not wasting natural resources, such as paper. Also, I found out that there is a country called “Zealand” and I guess it’s in Europe near Iceland and that is what New Zealand was named after.
No pictures again today, not too much exciting is going on!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Day 16
Today was pretty uneventful for a Monday. I had geography and marine science, but also my first ever International Relations course! I dropped physics officially in order to learn a little bit more about the world. Today we learned about globalization, and how countries are becoming more interconnected. This class has 353 students in it, including Steph, Hania, Anisha and Flora all from International House. My Monday and Tuesday afternoons are poorly set up, because I have class 12 to 1, then an hour break, then 2-3, an hour break, then 4-5. If I could have all of the classes back to back that would be much better.
I was also very productive this evening, copying down notes for my Philosophy Class as well as my Marine Ecology Class. I’m feeling so much better now that I’ve accomplished something with my evening! I love the feeling of buckling down and being able to cross things off of my very long to-do list.
Nothing too much exciting to say, except that walking around looking at the cafés on campus I noticed one store sold “American Hot Dogs,” where they take gross looking hot dogs, place them in giant buns and cover them with melted cheese and ketchup and mustard. That’s not at all what I think of when I think of a hot dog. Other things they don’t really have here are Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, and they only eat hard boiled or poached eggs for breakfast. On the plus side, I found a café that sells pancakes right on campus, so one of these days we’re all going to go out for breakfast and use homemade maple syrup!! I want my Kiwi friends to try it out.
Another thing I have to do this week is head to the library because all of my classes put books on reserve at the library where you have to check them out for an hour or so, do all of the course readings and then return the book so other kids in your class can do the readings as well.
All in all, New Zealand is really expensive. I have to keep telling me that with the conversion rate, I’m only spending ¾ of the cost when I convert prices to United States currency. Everything is expensive though, down to sending letters, printing things (ten cents a page), pens, books, bus fares (the two times I ever rode a bus!), etc. Never again will I take prices in America for granted!
Also, while in my Marine Ecology lecture today, I remembered why I’m so fascinated with the ocean. My professor was giving a lecture about trash in the middle of the pacific ocean. There’s a “trash island” twice the size of Texas just floating in the middle of the pacific, due to the ocean circulation (called an ocean gyre). But then, he told us that there’s a pile of trash floating in the middle of every ocean, and there’s bits of plastic as far north as the north pole. Humans have succeeded in spreading industrialized products to every corner of the globe. To learn a little bit more about this, go here: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/blue-august-plastic-is-forever.html and watch the video.
In addition, I’m getting back into reading up on ocean sustainability, thinking about giving up seafood unless I know where it comes from and how it was caught. It might be a good idea to do this for land animals as well. The dining hall has vegetarian options at every meal, so going vegetarian is something I’m considering! At least until I get home, where I will know where at least seafood and venison come from!
(sorry no pictures today, not too much exciting going on!)
I was also very productive this evening, copying down notes for my Philosophy Class as well as my Marine Ecology Class. I’m feeling so much better now that I’ve accomplished something with my evening! I love the feeling of buckling down and being able to cross things off of my very long to-do list.
Nothing too much exciting to say, except that walking around looking at the cafés on campus I noticed one store sold “American Hot Dogs,” where they take gross looking hot dogs, place them in giant buns and cover them with melted cheese and ketchup and mustard. That’s not at all what I think of when I think of a hot dog. Other things they don’t really have here are Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, and they only eat hard boiled or poached eggs for breakfast. On the plus side, I found a café that sells pancakes right on campus, so one of these days we’re all going to go out for breakfast and use homemade maple syrup!! I want my Kiwi friends to try it out.
Another thing I have to do this week is head to the library because all of my classes put books on reserve at the library where you have to check them out for an hour or so, do all of the course readings and then return the book so other kids in your class can do the readings as well.
All in all, New Zealand is really expensive. I have to keep telling me that with the conversion rate, I’m only spending ¾ of the cost when I convert prices to United States currency. Everything is expensive though, down to sending letters, printing things (ten cents a page), pens, books, bus fares (the two times I ever rode a bus!), etc. Never again will I take prices in America for granted!
Also, while in my Marine Ecology lecture today, I remembered why I’m so fascinated with the ocean. My professor was giving a lecture about trash in the middle of the pacific ocean. There’s a “trash island” twice the size of Texas just floating in the middle of the pacific, due to the ocean circulation (called an ocean gyre). But then, he told us that there’s a pile of trash floating in the middle of every ocean, and there’s bits of plastic as far north as the north pole. Humans have succeeded in spreading industrialized products to every corner of the globe. To learn a little bit more about this, go here: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/blue-august-plastic-is-forever.html and watch the video.
In addition, I’m getting back into reading up on ocean sustainability, thinking about giving up seafood unless I know where it comes from and how it was caught. It might be a good idea to do this for land animals as well. The dining hall has vegetarian options at every meal, so going vegetarian is something I’m considering! At least until I get home, where I will know where at least seafood and venison come from!
(sorry no pictures today, not too much exciting going on!)
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Day 15- Hiking up Rangitoto!
Today was the craziest day of my life as a Kiwi so far. We all got up and met for breakfast early and took peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit from the dining hall. Njeri, Flora, Anna, Anisha, Olly, Kenny, Jo, Laura and I all took a long walk down Queen Street to the ferry terminal. We got there right at 10:30 and heard that the ferry left without us! We were super bummed but then we found out that they held the ferry for us, so we were able to get on the boat!! So we jumped on board, headed for Rangitoto, which is a dormant volcano-island with hiking trails all the way up to the top. The walk was hard but great, not as steep as I would have thought until the very end, and we walked on cooled-lava gravelly rocks and some harder packed lava rock. We got to see beautiful sea views and just had a wonderful experience out of the city.
Our first detour was to some lava caves, which are basically underground cave systems that you can crawl though- but you have to squeeze! Two of the ones we went into today came out in a different part of the mountain. I must say I’ve never done anything like that before, where you essentially climb down into a hole in the ground where there’s spiders and groundwater drips on your head, only to follow the cave as far in as you can.
After that, we hiked all the way to the top, which would have only been an hour and a half long hike if we went there directly. From the top, you can see all 360 degrees of the island, surrounding water, other islands, Auckland City, etc. It was SO cool! Next to the summit was a giant crater where the actual volcano collapsed, but it is now covered in trees so you can’t really see a lot of the actual volcano. If there was more time I would have loved to hike into the crater.
So from the summit (where we had a picnic lunch) we took our sweet time walking back to the ferry, hoping to catch the earlier ferry home. It turns out, we made it to a dock (probably another hour’s hike) only to find out that we were at the wrong dock and had to hike back across the island (thankfully not back up the mountain…) for another hour and a half to get to the right ferry terminal. This was stressful because we were already exhausted and found out that we had to get to the correct ferry terminal by 5 pm, but it was 3:33 pm when we left. It was also really stressful because the 5 pm ferry out of Rangitoto was the last one of the day. If we missed it we would have to just hang out on the island until the morning ferries came. We hiked pretty quickly over tons of hills and ended up making the last ferry.
Then, on the way back we stopped at Countdown, the local grocery store, and ended up walking quickly all the way back up Queen Street, then Symonds Street with bags of groceries. We had to beat the clock yet again today because they stop serving dinner at 7 pm, and after a crazy day like we had that would have been the last thing I would have wanted to do! We were all starving- I’ve never heard all of my friends be as quiet as they were when they got their plates! Roast chicken and gravy and potatoes have never tasted so good! On the plus side, we arrived at dinner rather late and got the chef to give us each two helpings of chicken.
Now, we’re about to watch the film Book of Eli which is really really good, about having faith after the end of the world. It’s definitely worth seeing!
Our first detour was to some lava caves, which are basically underground cave systems that you can crawl though- but you have to squeeze! Two of the ones we went into today came out in a different part of the mountain. I must say I’ve never done anything like that before, where you essentially climb down into a hole in the ground where there’s spiders and groundwater drips on your head, only to follow the cave as far in as you can.
After that, we hiked all the way to the top, which would have only been an hour and a half long hike if we went there directly. From the top, you can see all 360 degrees of the island, surrounding water, other islands, Auckland City, etc. It was SO cool! Next to the summit was a giant crater where the actual volcano collapsed, but it is now covered in trees so you can’t really see a lot of the actual volcano. If there was more time I would have loved to hike into the crater.
So from the summit (where we had a picnic lunch) we took our sweet time walking back to the ferry, hoping to catch the earlier ferry home. It turns out, we made it to a dock (probably another hour’s hike) only to find out that we were at the wrong dock and had to hike back across the island (thankfully not back up the mountain…) for another hour and a half to get to the right ferry terminal. This was stressful because we were already exhausted and found out that we had to get to the correct ferry terminal by 5 pm, but it was 3:33 pm when we left. It was also really stressful because the 5 pm ferry out of Rangitoto was the last one of the day. If we missed it we would have to just hang out on the island until the morning ferries came. We hiked pretty quickly over tons of hills and ended up making the last ferry.
Then, on the way back we stopped at Countdown, the local grocery store, and ended up walking quickly all the way back up Queen Street, then Symonds Street with bags of groceries. We had to beat the clock yet again today because they stop serving dinner at 7 pm, and after a crazy day like we had that would have been the last thing I would have wanted to do! We were all starving- I’ve never heard all of my friends be as quiet as they were when they got their plates! Roast chicken and gravy and potatoes have never tasted so good! On the plus side, we arrived at dinner rather late and got the chef to give us each two helpings of chicken.
Now, we’re about to watch the film Book of Eli which is really really good, about having faith after the end of the world. It’s definitely worth seeing!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day 14
Sorry I didn’t get around to posting yesterday, I had quite a few friends over last night and they stayed pretty late! Yesterday was wonderful, I’m so glad I don’t have classes on Fridays. I went with Jo (an Australian girl) to see the Sky Tower, which is Auckland’s most famous landmark. It’s the highest point in the southern hemisphere, and we went up 60 floors, to the observation deck. The whole tower is over 1,076 feet high and the views are amazing. You can also walk around the outside of it if you pay for a “sky walk” or you can jump off of it bungee style. We didn’t do either of these things but we watched other people jump off of it! There’s also multiple restaurants at the top and we stopped and got a cappuccino at the top at the café.
It’s really cool because you can see all of Auckland, surrounding islands, highways, and Rangitoto (which is the volcano island we’re going to hike up tomorrow). The elevator in the sky tower also has a glass floor, so you can see yourself travelling further and further from the ground. There’s also panels in the ground of the observation deck of 38 mm thick glass that you can stand on so that it appears you’re standing over nothing at all. Supposedly standing over the glass is the same as standing on the concrete floor.
After spending some time in the Sky Tower we took a half hour bus ride to a shopping center which had cheaper clothes and jewelry than you can find in the city. It was a free shuttle- I feel like now I’m getting a little bit better of a hold on the city bus system.
Last night I also had a ton of friends over and we all played a whole bunch of card games and really got to know one another.
Today was a recovery day, as I haven’t had a chance to just relax ever since I got here. If the weather was nicer we were going to go to Waiheke Island and relax on the beach, but it was cloudy and rainy all day. We walked to the bookstore where I returned one of the books I had gotten for physics and then did some homework. Finished off the night with a New Zealand ice cream bar and “The Parent Trap” film with some good friends!
Off to hike a dormant volcano tomorrow!!
It’s really cool because you can see all of Auckland, surrounding islands, highways, and Rangitoto (which is the volcano island we’re going to hike up tomorrow). The elevator in the sky tower also has a glass floor, so you can see yourself travelling further and further from the ground. There’s also panels in the ground of the observation deck of 38 mm thick glass that you can stand on so that it appears you’re standing over nothing at all. Supposedly standing over the glass is the same as standing on the concrete floor.
After spending some time in the Sky Tower we took a half hour bus ride to a shopping center which had cheaper clothes and jewelry than you can find in the city. It was a free shuttle- I feel like now I’m getting a little bit better of a hold on the city bus system.
Last night I also had a ton of friends over and we all played a whole bunch of card games and really got to know one another.
Today was a recovery day, as I haven’t had a chance to just relax ever since I got here. If the weather was nicer we were going to go to Waiheke Island and relax on the beach, but it was cloudy and rainy all day. We walked to the bookstore where I returned one of the books I had gotten for physics and then did some homework. Finished off the night with a New Zealand ice cream bar and “The Parent Trap” film with some good friends!
Off to hike a dormant volcano tomorrow!!
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