SNOW

This week was the second week of my papers.  There has not been much change in them.  My maths class is still my least favorite but it is improving because we now have tutorials where we are in smaller groups and work on problems.  For the CHCH class we had some readings about caring.  This week are going to meet and discuss what caring is and why people sever (as in volunteer to help).  In my Psyc class we learned about nature vs. nurture.  We also had our first lab for this class.  In this lab we discussed how people automatically try to figure out someone personality when they first see them.  We also participated in a demonstration how people with positive personality traits end up friends with people who also have positive personality traits.   In my Geol paper we are learning about what causes earthquakes and how they are measured.  CHCH is a great place to be learning about earthquakes.

There have been a couple of small aftershocks since I have been here.  Friday morning around 5:30 AM there was a 5.1M earthquake about 40km away that woke me up. I woke up and was laying in bed thinking about if I should move and go under my desk but I did not because all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep.  It has been interesting hearing how different people reacted to that earthquake.  My Kiwi flat mates did not think too much of it, they were more annoyed that they were woken up by it.   One of my friends in one of my papers said that she got up and packed a bag in case she had to leave.  Another person I know thought about leaving and another one were rather freaked out because he lives on the sixth floor right next to the elevator and he could hear it banging against the wall.

This weekend was somewhat exciting.  Well Friday night was not so much; I fell asleep around 9:30.  On Saturday I went to the gym (they have group classes everyday at the gym that I have started going to) and then went grocery shopping.  I got some work done that afternoon.  That night the group of people I met at the orientation for international students, some of your flat mates, and I went out  for dinner.  We went to Hell’s pizza.  I had a good pizza that was ham, onion, garlic, and parmesan.  We then went to an Irish bar.  I had to show ID to get in but I was legally allowed in. On Sunday I did not get up to much.  I did some work and went to frisbee.  It was really cold and it started kind of raining.  It is now about 0C outside and kind of snowing.

 It is really exciting and we are all hoping that it will snow over night and stick so in the morning there will be snow on the ground.  It is weird that in July I am hoping for snow.  There are many things here that are different from the US but that is for another blog post. 

UPDATE: So it is now snowing outside and we all went outside and I was standing in the snow in my jandles.

 

Flat – The way flat is used often is to describe where you live so for me it is the floor I live on

Jandles – flip flops

Papers Have Started

It has been my second week in NZ and my first week of lectures at UC. 

Let me tell you a little about my papers.  I am taking a geology course about hazard management.  So far, this has been my favorite paper.  It is interesting taking it here in CHCH because we are able to use what has happened here with the earthquakes as examples.  My next paper I am taking is personality psychology.  Right now, it is interesting but we are still going over some of the introduction things.   There is also a lab component to this paper; I am excited to start it.  My third paper is math, It is Logic, Automata, and Computability.  Right now, I am not really enjoying this paper but I think it will improve soon.  For this paper, we have a tutorial, which is where we get to work on problems.  My last paper is CHCH101.  I am still unsure what I am going to be doing for this paper.  I am going to do a service project in these coming up weeks.  From what I could tell about the paper the point is that the goal is to help us learn about ourselves and how we affect a community by helping them out.

One of the big differences between UC and Bates is the lecture size.  My geol and psyc lectures are really big (like a couple hundred).  This means that the professor does not know who I am or care if I show up to lecture.  My maths class is simply but not nearly as big but during lecture the professor just lectures to us and we take notes.  The idea for that class is that the tutorial will be the time we get to make sure we understand the information. 

This week I did not get up to too much because papers have officially started.  One afternoon I took a walk around campus and surrounding areas.  I found this short path by the river that was nice to walk around.

One morning when I woke up before the sun I saw a really pretty sunrise out the window.

 On Tuesday morning, I went to clubs day.  This was a lot less intimidating then the clubs fair at Bates. I ended up signing up for the University of Canterbury Canoe Club (UCCC) and the Ultimate Frisbee club(UCUC).  I am excited for the UCCC to start (right after the mid semester break) because it is going to be a great way to see some pretty scenery.  Today (Sunday) I went to a UCUC practice and that was a lot of fun.  It was fun to be playing again and just to get some exercise. 

The night of Wednesday the 13^th/the morning of Thursday the 14^th Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out.  I was not able to see it at midnight because the tickets were sold out but I was still able to see it before everyone in the USA got to.  I went Thursday night and saw it in 3D.  I thought it was good but not perfect.  I did go dressed up because that is fun to do. 

On Friday I went to this dinner hosted my Operation Friendship.  It is a group of families from around CHCH that take groups of international students to their house and host a dinner for them.  It was nice and not just because I did not have to cook. I really enjoyed interacting with local families.  It was also nice to be around such a range of people, from little kids, through college students, to adults.  It was a lot of fun and the good was great.

This week has been fun and I am excited to continue with my papers.  Until next week have fun.

Weekend adventure

I last left off right before going to orientation.  Orientation itself was not very exciting.  At orientation, we learned about how to enroll the next day and then we heard about different opportunities we had here at UC and in CHCH.  We were told about a paper, CHCH101, which is about doing service projects in CHCH.  There was also a representative from Opportunity Friendship which is a program done by the local Kiwis where they host dinners for the international students.  Two guys from Tour New Zealand also told us about some trips that they will probably be taking this semester that we can join in.  We were then given lunch.  At lunch, I met four other international students.  We hung out, talked during lunch, and then decided to walk around campus after for a while.  It was nice to be interacting with other people and walking around.  The next day I had to enroll.  Enrollment went smoothly for me and I got all my papers.  I am going to be taking mathematics, geology, psychology, and CHCH101 paper.  I walked around campus some more.  On Friday, I did not do much besides go to the grocery store (I feel like I am going to be doing that a lot, at least it is a less than 10 min walk).

This weekend I went on an adventure around the south island.  One of the friends I met at orientation had met a person that was going up to the north part of the island to pick up a motorbike she decided to join and go site seeing along the way.  On the way, we past many farms, many sheep and cows.   Even though there are more sheep than people in NZ (I have been told) they still feel like there should be fake sheep lying around. 

We drove up on the east coast of the island.  The ocean on this coast was the Pacific Ocean.  I thought this was weird because that is the same ocean on my coast at home.  The weather that we got was not too bad.  It was raining at some points but that just made some rainbows.  At one of the points we pulled over there was a rainbow over the water. 

As we drove, we pulled over at a town and here we were able to go and touch the water.  It was cold. 

Another place we pulled over was this café.  It was really pretty inside and it also had a lawn outback that went to some more water. 

We finally made it up to Picton.  This is where you could take a fairy up to Wellington on the north island.  Here we went tromping along the sound for a short while.  It was really pretty and green.  We went out to this grassy area and there was a toilet there.  This toilet was one of the nicest toilets on a trail I have ever seen.  Inside  there was a little bottle of soap, and a jug of water so you could wash your hands and then a towel that they say they wash every two weeks.  

That night we stayed at a backpackers.  It was a very nice one.  There was a great kitchen where we cooked ourselves some dinner.  There was also a lounge with a fireplace and couches, a spa, pool table, tv room, and they served ice cream and apple crisp in the evening and had breakfast for us.  We were also able to play SET.   That night was also the finals of the Supper 15 Rugby (I hope I got the correct) and it was a NZ team from Canterbury and one from Australia.  We went to a local pub (yes I am legally allowed into them here) to watch the game.  It was really fun to be in that kind of atmosphere for that big of a game.  Throughout the game I tried to learn the rules, I think I mostly get them now.  It was really exciting because the Canterbury team was winning for a while but sadly by the end they were not. 

To get pack to CHCH we went through Nelson.  In Nelson we went to a botanical garden like place where we walked around a pond where there were many ducks. 

We continued on our way and stopped at some beaches and scenic views.

We then went thought the mountain pass where there was some snow. 

I am going to be trying to use the language that is used here so at the end of each post if I feel that there are new words/abbreviations I will let you know what they mean. 

UC-University of Canterbury (not the University of California or University City)

CHCH-Christchurch

Paper-classes/lectures

Kiwis-People of New Zealand

NZ-New Zealand

Tromping-hiking

Toilet-this is the bathroom not just the thing you sit on

Backpackers-a hostel

Move in day

This is going to be my blog about my adventures studying abroad at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch New Zealand.  The way I am going to try and work this is I am going to post pictures from life here and tell you about what is happening.  (I am not an English major and am not very good at spelling, grammar and the whole writing thing so I am trying my best but it may not be perfect.)

I finished packing all the things I would need into two large suitcases.  These ended up being very close to overweight, one was 49.5 lbs.

My two suitcases, the grey was was 49.5 lbs

I then made my way to NZ.  This was not a very exciting adventure.  My flight from SD to LA was a short flight.  We were delayed for 30 min on the run way because there was fog in LA and when we finally took off it was for a 24 min flight.  (I was sitting on the runway longer then I was in the air for.)  I made it to LA and met up with one of my friends.  The flight from LA to Auckland was also not very exciting.   On the flight we were served dinner and then we went to sleep.  After sleeping for probably around 8 hours we both woke up and watched some things on the TV and colored.  We were then given breakfast about 2 hours before we landed.  After we landed, we went through customs and immigration.  To get to the domestic terminal we had to go walk outside.  It was nice a cool outside, not that cold.  On the way I saw my first NZ flag flying. 

There is a small flag in the background

That all went smoothly.  Since I was more than 2 hours early for my flight from Auckland to Christchurch I had to wait around with all my luggage for an hour and then I checked and went through security.  It seemed that the security there not very tight like in the US.  We did not have to take off our shoes or take out any liquids.  There ended up being three of us going to UC on that flight.  We got dropped off at the apartments and checked in.  I got my key card and key and told where my room was and I headed up.  There was one Kiwi girl who was on my floor.  Later that day she showed me to the grocery store.  After that, I continued to move into my room.  There are two French girls also on my floor who are here and two other Kiwi girls who are not here yet.  I have started decorating my room. 

This is what my room looks like right now

(I have only put up a small portion of my pictures.)  Today I also went on a walk.  It was a nice day.  I was like an early spring day, a little windy but sunny.  When I was walking around it was weird seeing people driving on the left side of the road.  I was trying to figure out where I have to go to orientation tomorrow and had to cross a road, which was kind of, nerve racking.  I am excited for orientation tomorrow to learn more about being here.  I will let you know how it goes.