I’ve reached the end of my fourth week in New Zealand. We’re about a third of the way through the semester! Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess! I had my first big assignments due this week, a paper for my recreation class and a lab report due for plant science. I think both went well, and I’m glad to have those out of the way! One thing I did discover this week that sort of bothers me about LU is the library hours: they are very short. The recreation center is open longer than the library is… I am used to a library that stays open 24/5, so having the library open only from 8:00am to 9:00pm on weekdays is really hard to get used to. Not that I always up late working on assignments, but when I need to print things for class and do research with books that are only on short loan, those hours can make it a little tough. I guess it’s something I’ll just have to get used to. On a more exciting note, we had some more fun adventures this weekend! On Friday after classes we went to Rapaki Beach, which is about a half an hour from LU. This wasn’t just any beach though. This beach has warm water springs underneath it, so we dug a couple of holes in the sand to put our feet in the water! The beach was also absolutely covered in shells, and I found some sea glass to add to my collection. On Sunday, a bunch of us went to Castle Hill, a.k.a where the big battle scene from Narnia was filmed! We left at about 9:00am and drove for an hour to get there. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, clear and very cold. There were tons of rock climbers bouldering and climbing all over the place, and I was kicking myself for not bringing my climbing shoes with me. But the scenery was phenomenal (like the majority of New Zealand so far), so I quickly forgot about climbing and enjoyed the views. It was another steep hike, but when we got to the top of Castle Hill, there were snow-capped mountains in every direction.
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Alright, well it has been a pretty laid back week for the most part. I’m finally getting back into the routine of being in classes again, although I still don’t like that I’m missing summer back home! It has been pretty chilly here for the last month. There have been lots of mornings where it has been below freezing when I walk to my classes. The days are also pretty short right now… it gets dark between 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm and doesn’t get light until around 8:00 am. But the days are getting longer, slowly but surely! I had a pretty uneventful week for the most part, which I was grateful for. I feel like I haven’t stopped moving for the last month, but I got a chance to catch up a little bit last week and sleep in on the weekend. On Friday, however, we did go out for a pub crawl in Christchurch on a double-decker bus. That was quite the adventure, and we all had a lot of fun! Saturday morning, the Junction Crew (me, Tessa, Liz, Katie, Victor, Felix, and Milo) made a big brunch consisting of yummy bacon, eggs, and French toast, and we watched rugby from our porches for a bit. A bunch of us also went out and got Indian food at Coriander's on Saturday night in Riccarton. When we got back from the restaurant, the night sky was clear and it was really warm, so Tessa and I decided to take our towel out to the rugby field and look at the stars for a while. I tried out some long exposure shots with my camera and got some really neat pictures of the night sky. On Sunday, we watched Narnia in the Workshop, after a group went to Castle Hills where the big battle scene was filmed (I was stuck at home writing a paper…)! Like I said… pretty uneventful week, and I don’t have many pictures to go along with this post, but I figured I should stick to my plan to write every week.
Cheers! Here at LU, there are certain days throughout the semester that are called “field trip” days. These days are set aside for classes to do field trips if the professor wants to. So if you don’t have a field trip schedule for any of your classes on one of these days, you don’t have class. Wednesday this week was a field trip day and Liz, Katie, and I had a field trip for our ecology class. It was a really fun field trip, despite the cold and windy weather. We went to Kaitorete Spit, Kaituna Valley, and Mahoe Reserve. I learned a lot about the plant life in New Zealand and we practiced identifying plants based on various characteristics that we learned in class. Kaitorete Spit is a long strip of land that separates Lake Ellesmere—the largest lake in New Zealand—from the ocean. It is home to a number of New Zealand endemic species, several of which are now only found on the spit. One of the most common grasses on the spit is pīngao. We also found one of the only species poisonous spiders in New Zealand, the katipō. The spider is a relative of the black widow and is also known as the red-backed spider. We found two katipō spiders underneath a piece of roofing on the beach. They make think, messy webs in sheltered areas with sticky strands coming out from the entrance, and insects get stuck in these strands. At Kaituna Valley Scenic, we walk along a little path through a small patch of remnant forest. The dominant tree in this area is called tītoki. This patch also contains a few very large trees that are part of the Podocarpaceae family. Mataī and kahikatea are the two members of this family found at the reserve. Mataī have a really interesting bark pattern that our professor described as “hammer bark” because it looks like it has been hit with a hammer. The kahikatea tree in the reserve is the tallest tree in New Zealand and reaches about 60 meters (180 feet). Another plant that our professor pointed out was “ongaonga” (also called tree nettle) a plant related to stinging nettle. It has stiff spines on the stems and leaves. The spines break off if an animal/human and release a toxin. The toxin is enough to kill a variety of animals, and there has been one recorded human death. Mahoe Reserve is a small reserve in Lincoln about five minutes from LU. The reserve was started by students from Lincoln High School and Sue Jarvis, a professor at LU. The goal was to restore native plants in area. Today, the reserve contains almost exclusively plants that are native to New Zealand. The field trip was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun learning bits and pieces of New Zealand ecology while also getting to see some really cool areas. This weekend it was Felix’s 21st birthday. On Friday, we (all of us in Junction and a few others) had a pizza party and made a bunch of pizzas, played Twister, and had a lot of fun. On Saturday, we went to Little Mount Peel for a hike, which is just outside of Ashburton, NZ. We got up early made a big pancake/egg/bacon breakfast and left for the trail head around 8:30am, and we started the hike at a little past 11:00am. The hike was absolutely gorgeous! The track (trail in Kiwi language) was also extremely steep and icy. We were definitely complaining and in pain on the way up and on the way down, but the views during the hike and from the summit made it all worth it. I felt like I was on top of the world. On one side we could see the ocean, and on the other we had a perfect view of the snow-capped mountains west of Little Mount Peel. The hike took us a little less than six hours. We covered about ten kilometers and gained about nine-hundred meters of elevation. I honestly can’t put into words how beautiful the hike was. The landscapes in New Zealand are absolutely breath-taking, and pictures just do the country justice, in my opinion. After the hike, we went to a sushi restaurant in Ashburton that Felix wanted to go to. There were twelve of us who when on the hike: Liz, Tessa, Katie, and me from the U.S.; Felix, Jonas, Chris, and Björn from Germany; Hagen from Italy; Conor from New Zealand; Victor from Brazil; and Emilio from Spain. My legs and my toes are definitely feeling it today, but the soreness is worth every second of that hike. I survived the first week of classes! It’s been a tough week, trying to get back into the swing of school. I was definitely not ready for summer (if three weeks is considered summer) to end. My favorite class so far is New Zealand Ecology and Conservation. I think it is going to be a really interesting class and I really like the professor. It is a lower level class, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, but I am excited to apply what I already know about ecology to New Zealand ecosystems. We also have a number of field trips for the class to places like Quail Island. My other classes also seem like they are going to be really interesting. So far, the structure of classes hasn’t been very different than from what I am used to. Other than classes, this week has been pretty laid back. We had a Fourth of July barbecue on Monday, and then on Friday, a bunch of us went into Christchurch to explore. We walked around the city and went to a food market and listened to a live band in Cathedral Square. The Cathedral is still in rubble, but it is still a really beautiful building. About six years ago, there was a massive earthquake that destroyed much of the city. There is still a lot of construction going on in the city, and a lot of businesses are still closed. We also went to a shopping center that is made out of shipping containers. I had never seen anything like it. Later, we met up with some other people from LU. We went to a whiskey and cocktail lounge called The Last Word and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. This past week has been full of new experiences, and I’m discovering a lot of new/weird things. Many things are the same, but there are definitely some things that are different. There are a lot of foods here that are called different names. Bell peppers are called Capsicum (which is part of their Latin name); English muffins are called muffin splits; zucchini are called courgettes. That’s just a few foods that are different. Also ketchup and mayonnaise taste really strange here. I don’t know what it is about them, but they are definitely different. Another thing that I found strange about New Zealand, is that they farm deer here. According to deernz.org.nz, there is close to one million deer being farmed in New Zealand. There is a lot of agriculture/farming in New Zealand. In fact, sheep out number humans, the ratio is 5:1!
Now it’s finally the weekend! I feel like I have been constantly running around, going on trips, going to classes, etc. I finally got to sleep in on Saturday. Liz, Katie, and I took the bus to go shopping in Hornby on Saturday. Today (Sunday), I have just been relaxing at the house. I am slowly getting adjusted to everything here. It has definitely been tough at times, but all in all, I have been having a lot of fun. Life has been quite a whirlwind for the last week. From 24 hours of travel to catching sharks off a pier in Akaroa, I think I'm finally adjusting to life in New Zealand! The trip here was an adventure in itself. This is the first time I have ever traveled internationally, so traveling here by myself was a little terrifying at first. I didn’t really know what to expect for the thirteen-hour leg of my trip from Los Angeles to Auckland (North Island of NZ). The food wasn’t great, but I had access to tons of movies and music, so I was able to keep myself entertained. I tried to sleep, but I only ended up sleeping for a couple of hours. The only hiccup in my travel plans was my flight from Los Angeles to Auckland. Catering for the plane was an hour late in LA, so we took off late, which meant that we also arrived in Auckland an hour and fifteen minutes later than expected. Once we arrived in Auckland, I had twenty minutes to get to my flight to Christchurch. There was no way I was going to make it through customs, domestic transfers, and security, so I had to miss that flight and transfer to a later one. All in all, my travel was pretty seamless and easy, and after twenty-four hours, I finally made it to Lincoln University. For the next five months, I will be studying at Lincoln University in Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand. Lincoln is a small town southeast of Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand. There is one grocery store, two pharmacies, a library, and a number of miscellaneous shops, but not much else. I have really enjoyed the small town feel so far. LU is a very small school (only about 2500 students), and campus is fairly small – much smaller than what I am used to at Oregon State. There are around 60 international students here, which seems like a lot given how many students there are total.
I am living in a flat on campus in an area called The Junction with a number of other people, five of whom I have become pretty close in the last week. I wasn't expecting to be living in a house, but so far I am really enjoying it! In each house there are two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and separate bedrooms for everyone. We are the first group of people to live in these houses, so they are very new and very clean! All of us Junction kids are living in semi-catered flats, which means that we get dinner in the dining hall every night, but we are on our own for the rest of our meals. It's been a lot of fun going to the dining halls and eating together every night. Just in the six days that I have been here, I have met so many really awesome people from all over the world. There are people here from the U.S., Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Germany, India, the Philippines, Brazil, Peru, and so many more! It has been fun learning about new other peoples' cultures and meeting such a diverse group of people. I am really looking forward to spending a semester here with so many new people and in a new country. This week we had our LU Orientation! The lectures were extremely long and tiresome, but we also learned a lot of interesting things about New Zealand, especially about the native Māori culture. Throughout the orientation, one of the presenters, Ekara Lewis, taught us various phrases and words such as: Kia ora — "Hello" Ko ____ taku ingoa — "My name is ____" Ko ____ ahau — "I am from ____" Along with general orientation, we were given the opportunity to go on three different bus trips offered by the school. The first trip was to Christchurch and the surrounding areas. We stopped in Hornby, where we went to The Warehouse to buy some essentials for our houses. Then we drove around Christchurch and saw some of the main landmarks of the city. About six years ago, a huge earthquake devastated much of the city, so many of the buildings and businesses are still closed or under construction. However, for the most part, the city is up are running normally again. We also stopped at New Brighton Pier and at Sumner Scarborough Beach along the coast to do some sight seeing. The second bus trip was to Hanmer Springs, about an hour and a half north of Christchurch. We spent the day hiking, sliding down waterslides, and soaking in hot springs. It was wonderful to say the least. We hiked Conical Hill, and the view from the top was absolutely stunning. After the hike, we went to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa. The hot springs were very relaxing, and they helped to ease the knots that had formed in my muscles from sitting on planes and in airports for 24 hours. Our third trip was to Akaroa, a harbor town on the southern tip of Banks Peninsula. We spent the day exploring the town, and we went to a restaurant that, according to one of the Conor (one of the RAs), serves the best fish and chips on the South Island. I finally also got to try Lemon & Paeroa, which is a sweet, lemon flavored soft drink that is made in New Zealand. I think the highlight of going to Akaroa was sitting on the pier and fishing with a hand-line. Conor drove separately than the rest of us and brought some of his fishing gear so that we could fish for a while in Akaroa. I was not expecting to catch anything, but I ended up catching a rig shark! It was only about 10 inches long, but it was a lot of fun to see! Sadly, it flipped off the line before I could get a picture. Overall, Akaroa is my favorite place in New Zealand so far. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we all really enjoyed our time exploring the town. Well, that is my first week in New Zealand in a nutshell. It was packed full of stuff to do and places to explore, and we didn’t even scratch the surface of what this beautiful country has to offer. I am looking forward to more adventures and meeting more wonderful people!
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