March On [3/2]

Welcome back.  I want to introduce the concept of a 'cruel irony' for a moment:

Say I were to spend a couple hours of my afternoon writing a wonderful blog post recapping the second half of February and how things are going at school so far.  Fine.  At the end of my blog post, I decide to mention some of the things that have taken some getting used to as a NZ college student.  Not a problem, adversity is healthy.  One of the things I might mention would be the fact that Course Registration and Approval is NOT paperless or electronic at the University of Otago.  After that, I might mention why I'm thankful for a place like Boston College, where I can open my course registration on my computer and add, drop, or change classes with a simple click.  After that I might go as far as to promote the convenience and efficiency of using technology to help with these kind of things, and how some countries are on different pages.  I might sound like I'm bursting with pride! And while bursting with pride, I might find that my entire blog post, accompanied with 60-some photos of my experience, never got published and was deleted entirely.

I'm not going to say if this happened to me.  Let's just say I'll be typing my posts in Microsoft Word from now on.  That is all.

---

I have now been in New Zealand for over 5 weeks.  Time is absolutely flying by and I still feel like I landed in Auckland yesterday.  If time flies by this quickly for the rest of my life, I may just go ahead and open my IRA right now.  Playing it by ear.

School is in full swing, and the first week went by in a blur.  I am taking two electives in Psych: Sensation/Perception and Social/Applied as well as two Econ electives: Econ. of Health & Education and Labor Economics.  These classes will count toward full credit for my double major at BC, which is nice.  I tried to squeeze in a fifth class of Improvisation, but I already have way too many timetable clashes that require signatures from department chairs who are holed up in God-knows-where department offices.  We'll see if I make it out alive.  It's interesting though - regular students at Otago only take 3-4 classes a semester for a full workload.  I would be interested to see what some of the workaholic BC students (6-7 classes) would say about the kind of academic climate here.  My professors seem friendly though.  My teacher for Sensation and Perception grew up and lived about 7-8 minutes from my house (along Arapahoe road in Littleton), which definitely made the world feel a bit smaller last Thursday.

February has provided some great weather which has been convenient for students looking to get out and do activities in the area.  One notable activity was my first rugby game in New Zealand, where the Otago Highlanders and Hamilton Chiefs squared off in a viscous match at Forsyth Barr Stadium, about 5 minutes from my flat.  The stadium was filled to its 30K capacity, and the experience was as close to college football as the University of Otago gets.  Students and locals from Dunedin dress in these massive blue and yellow paneled jumpsuits to cheer on the Highlanders.  They also wear jester hats of the same color and look very funny...the costumes that were worn into this game could rival any NFL fans' getup, no problem.  See photos below.  We stood in the student section called the Zoo and watched the game (See the Zoo Harlem Shake http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/highlanders/247265/video-highlanders-harlem-shake).  One funny moment of the game was when students in the first and second rows began to rip off these giant wooden planks that were being used for advertising.  These planks (about 9'x5') were passed overhead all the way to the top of the student section.  This wasn't planned at all, but provided a good laugh.  I'm not going to say that things were complete mayhem, but um, if the security/ushers had needed to control the crowd for any reason, they wouldn't have been able to.  Tear gas would be a bare minimum.

I wanted to get the chance to fly fish while the weather was still good.  I am just getting into fly fishing and wanted to catch one damn fish on my fly rod while in New Zealand.  Earlier this month, I had emailed the Otago Anglers Association asking if I could attend the weekly meeting in Dunedin with the hopes that I'd meet some people interested in getting out and fishing the rivers of the South Island.  Chris, the president, invited me to the meetings and also invited me to go fishing last weekend!  Chris, his brother Aaron, Colyer (another Otago student), and I set out at 6am on a Sunday morning for a two hour drive to the Upper Taieri River, determined to go after some NZ trout.  We fished for a couple hours to no avail. Then, sometime around 11am, the fish started to rise and feed.  It was like they were boiling over or something.  I started to heave my fly into the ripples caused from the rising fish.  I connected with a ripple pretty decently, and within three seconds a fish had struck my fly.  I reeled the thing in as fast as I could and told Aaron to hold the net out while I lift the fish into it.  I raised my rod up and out came the fish.  Just as I was hovering the fish over the net, the hook came out of the fish's mouth.  It started to free fall, and I watched with horror as the situation was no longer under my control.  The fish hit the outside rim of Aaron's net and luckily bounced right into the netting.  I about lost my insides while watching, but was so happy to have caught one fish for the day.  One nice NZ trout was all I needed.  I didn't feel it was worth taking all the way back to Dunedin, so I let 'er go. Success.

Dylan, Josh, Marie, Sami, and I decided to have an old-fashioned summer night at Long Beach recently.  We grabbed some pizza, a football, sleeping bags, and a tarp and headed out to this secluded beach about 30 minutes north of Dunedin.  The beach was surrounded by some very rocky cliff walls, with countless sheep grazing up top.  The rocky cliffs also had some great sea caves where we could set up our sleeping area.  I felt like I was in Castaway!  The water was warm to swim in and there were crabs all over the place.  The crabs would hide underwater and under the sand.  Occasionally you would step on one and it would attack your foot, which caused quite a surprise to whoever was the target.  I got to toss the ol' pigskin around and we all stayed up for a decent look at the stars which were more clear than I have ever seen.  The actual cloud of the milky way was very visible in the sky and the shooting stars were out and about.  One cool highlight were the bioluminescent crustations that appeared on the shore at night.  These were little shrimp that glowed blue and look like little Christmas lights.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  The beach was something out of Jurassic Park and I'm glad I got to take part.

Yesterday, Andrew (my BC buddy), Sami, Marie, and I drove Scarface (a '97 hunk of metal sedan) out to the Catlins, a National park located on the southern tip of the Southern Island.  We went to Cathedral Caves (one of the longest sea caves in the world, apparently) and walked around the area.  The cave is around 100ft tall at some places and is flippin' cool.  We also made it out to some nice points and bays, and also to McLean Falls which was cool.  Andrew and I were starving for a good dinner, so we ended up finding this bar at this town in the middle of nowhere.  The bar's entertainment for the night - a sheep shearing contest!  While waiting for our burgers, we watched a live announcer commentate on how fast these men could shear a sheep.  They brought the sheep out carrying it by its armpits with its legs hanging outwards.  It looked like a large child.  People were getting a kick out of this contest and I did too.  The shearer would rotate this sheep with his hands like it was on a pottery stand or something, and fluff was flying everywhere.  Only in New Zealand, I guess.  At least I feel "cultured."

I must say there have been many times where I find myself pretending to be Bear Grylls while outside in NZ.  I think this is a good thing.  Perhaps it is a defense mechanism that kicks in which allows me to pretend to know exactly what to do in any situation in the outdoors.  I'm not quite sure.  

The initial feeling of being on vacation in NZ has worn off, but it is being replaced with the joy of meeting new people and hearing their stories.  There's still some acclimation that has to be done here, in terms of getting into a routine with classes and a social life that has the support system needed to live abroad.  I do miss my family and friends very much, both in Colorado and in Boston.  I find myself appreciating life in America and the people that I have grown up with.  So far, my time in NZ has allowed me to respect the solid footing that my life rests on - people, places, and faith have given me the freedom to feel supported and loved no matter where I am in the world.  That's what allows someone to carry on, and that's just what I'll do.

Cheers!

A few funny differences as a NZ college student:

In NZ, pedestrians do NOT have the right-away on major roads, or anything like that.  It's every man for himself here.  I find this a little bit strange, something you might expect out of a New York or Boston type of driving climate, but not in a peaceful country like this.  When crossing streets look RIGHT then left and then (most importantly) make sure no one is making an unprotected right turn which will certainly damage your left ACL, MCL, PCL and left side of your body.

The entire course approval process is NOT paperless and not electronic.  That means you have to get a signature from the department advisor for just about every add, drop, or change of classes on your schedule.  Registration day was filled with lines where people have to wait for hours just to get a bloody signature.  Students are also issued a new ID card every year which means that 20,000 students have to line up and get their picture taken, which results in a two-story line that trails along just about forever.  I am not going to analyze this or make any comments because I'm afraid this blog post will be deleted agin.

Doors open inwards, mostly.  This can take some getting used to if you like to book it out of houses at full speed when you are late.  Also, some doors I've encountered can only be unlocked with a key, even from the INSIDE.  If this isn't the biggest fire hazard of all time, I don't know what is.  

Cafes and restaurants close around 4-5pm.  Gas stations, in some towns, close at 5pm as well, and there is no credit card accepted.  Plan ahead?