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
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