Surrealism at its Best

Have you ever had that feeling that what you're looking at or what you're doing is just so incredibly amazing that it can't possibly be real, it can't possibly be your life actually happening?

I've been getting that feeling a lot here lately. And I love it. I've been seeing so many amazing sights, and just doing things I never thought I would do! I'm starting to think one year of New Zealand just isn't going to be enough. Maybe a job here after I graduate? But I suppose it's a bit too early to be thinking about that...

Anyways, I had some more adventures today! We went down the Otago Peninsula, and it was gorgeous! We had perfect weather, and the scenery is just unreal. The colors everywhere are just so vivid and unexpected.

So after staring at the scenery for awhile, Sara and I decided we needed get up close and personal with some sheep. We made our friendliest "Baaa's," but those sheep just didn't want to know us. Perhaps another day they'll be more sociable!

Next we went to the Albatross Colony all the way at the end of the Peninsula. There were more seagulls than albatross, but they were kind of cool. The best was getting to stare out at the ocean, what an amazing sight (complete with lighthouse)!

After that, our quick tour of the peninsula was done, and I got to enjoy a lovely, scenic ride back to our flat, with a quick grocery stop on the way. Where I tried this Nestle Aero bar, that was weird. But really delicious. But anyways, back to the point about the scenic ride. I enjoyed it from a backseat/mattress in a super sketch van with curtains that will still run when the keys fall out. Because that occasionally happens. Can definitely put that on the list of things I never thought I would do! Nonetheless, Vanette, as her former owner affectionately named her, got us there and back safely, in a way that was much more fun than the average van ride!

And before I forget, here are almost all of my flatmates! We were heading out to a circus themed birthday party, and managed to grab this shot! Best flat ever? I like to think so. 

Wish you all could be here!

New Zealand Lately...

Sorry it's been awhile, but life has been busy lately! Amazingly fun as always though! So let's recap...

Snow Day
Dunedin had snow!! It was only a few centimeters, but it brought everything to a halt. They just don't get snow, or ice, around here. So most of my profs couldn't even make it to class, so I had a day off! To celebrate, two of my flatmates, a friend of ours, and I decided to go sledding. The thing was, we didn't really have sleds....so we improvised of course! For various reasons we had a large whiteboard in our living room, so we used that. There wasn't a ton of snow, but we made it work! Here's Liam and Adam, taking the first run!

After that we went home and did our best to stay warm!

So the next couple days I spent working on a presentation for my energy management class. Actually having to do school work again is not too fun.

Weekend
So then we get to Thursday night, and in Dunedin, Thursday is the new Friday. And you always start early and end late. Which is exhausting. But so much fun!! And a word to the wise, be careful when someone tries to get you to play electricity. Also, I learned that Brits don't just sound like geniuses, they actually are really smart. At least when it comes to having a good weekend!

So looking ahead to this weekend, I have Adam's birthday party tonight! It's supposed to be a circus theme, so i'm thinking I'll go as a trapeze artist. That way, I can get away with wearing my long underwear out in public. And as a flat, we will all be wearing floaties. Yep, you read that right. Floaties. As in those little mini intertubes that 4 year-olds wear in the pool because they can't swim. Liam has 6 or so of them, and we decided not to make too much fun of him for it, and just use it to our advantage!

Miss you all, but I'm off to go have some more once-in-a-lifetime experiences!

Beach!!

So on saturday, I went to St. Claire's Beach! It was a beautiful, sunny day, too. My friends Sara, Kevin, Michele, Sophie and Sophie's flatmate all took the bus through the city, and got off just a few yards from the beach! First we went to the "second beach," which is all volcanic rocks. It was so pretty, and made the coolest sound as the waves dragged the rocks back. I may not be a surfer yet, but I can already tell the waves in Dunedin are going to be great for surfing!

Then we climbed back up and went over to the sandy beach. There we took of our socks and shoes, and played in the waves! It was so fun, and my feet were happy to be out of their socks for longer than a few minutes! After our frolicking, we were a bit tired out, and a little cold too! But that didn't stop us from having some fun at a beachside playground...

Minor Differences...

As most of you could probs guess, there are a few differences between Kiwi culture and the American culture I've grown up in. So I decided to highlight a few them in this blog post!

Cheese
It's really expensive here. Like obnoxiously so. I'm gonna have to cut back on my cheese intake, and dairy intake in general, if I want my funds to last more than a couple months.

Accents, Accents, Accents
The accents are crazy here!!! I didn't even think about it before I came here, but the Kiwi accent varies from region to region, just like in the US. I've met some Kiwi's that almost sound American, others that sound English, and even more that just don't sound like anything else I've ever heard. Sometimes I have a major problem understanding them. Like while I was in lecture the other day, it took me a full minute to understand a Kiwi trying to tell me he liked my rain boots. Literally sounded like another language.


Gingers
They are everywhere. Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place. Maybe southpark was right about them taking over the world.

U's instead of O's
As expected, Kiwis say "mum" instead of "mom." Not expected, they put u's in place of o's in other places too. Like instead of "nom nom nom," they say "num num num." Which I personally find even funnier.

Dunners
That's what they call Dunedin for short, makes me laugh every time!

Hitchhiking
It's quite popular here. Not sure whether I'm willing to try it myself, but according to everyone here, it's perfectly safe.

Male Hairstyles
Guys seem to spend more time on their hair here than I ever do. The funny thing is, these hairstyles include what I refer to as "stylized bedhead," a weird mohawk thing that isn't quite a faux-hawk, and rattails. They're all kind of gross actually. Especially the rattails. I even saw one guy that had multiple rattails, one of which was braided. Super gross.

Nature Valley Bars
They're even better here than they are at home. Like, a million times better. Soooo delicious!!!

Lecture Wear
Back home, the most popular outfit for college students sitting in class all day is sweats. Here, people actually look really nice. Like they didn't just wake up five minutes ago and could totally go out to a fancy restaurant at the end of the day without needing to change. I've never felt so underdressed for class before....

Z
The letter, is pronounced "zed" here.

Class Size
So I was in my lecture for Marketing, about a hundred students, and the teacher said, in absolute seriousness, "I see we have a smaller class size here, with 130 enrolled..." WHAT?! 130 students is not small!! It's giant! And yet it's still not my biggest lecture by far!

So those are a few of the differences I've noticed so far, though there are a million more out there!! But that being said, a lot of things are still the same, too!

Another update, I am meeting lots of awesome people here!! Plenty of other international students of course, one of whom spent the last few weeks in a van driving around all of New Zealand! I think that sounds like so much fun! I've also met a few people that know how to surf, so I'm hoping they'll be able to teach me!! I've literally met so many people these last couple weeks, I doubt I could pick them out of a line up. Who knew I could be so social?!

Well I'm off to continue having the time of my life, more to come soon on my beach adventures from this weekend!

Sitting in the library...

Waiting for my next class to start, and taking advantage of some free internet. It's weird that classes have started already, but I think I'm really going to like all of mine so far. Although, my judgement hasn't been the greatest, being sick the last few days. But I've slept a lot, and I'm almost completely better! Yay for good health! Being sick definitely made me super homesick though. I really miss everyone!! Thankfully I got to skype with some of you last week, but sometimes I think skyping and stuff just makes me miss my friends more. And then I avoid talking to people for, like, a day. And I just end up thinking not being able to talk to people I know is even worse. Guess it's just something I have to get used to.

But enough of being a downer, I've got a funny story to share! So, the first day of classes was yesterday, and I was sick and feeling awful. But I told myself "Lauren, suck it up, you have your first day of New Zealand classes! Get pumped!" So i tried that, somewhat sucessfully. And walked to campus. And found my first lecture hall pretty fast. Only it wasn't the right time. And my real first lecture was across the river and up four flights. So I walked as fast as I could, got there late, had to be let in because the door was locked, and generally felt incredibly embarrassed for the next hour. Thankfully, I made to the rest of my classes alright, and I've had friends in every one of them! And today in Geology, a Kiwi complemented my gummies, which are also know as wellies, which are also known as rainboots. I felt so bad when he first said something to me, because I literally had no idea what he said. Sometimes those Kiwi accents are just too much for me!

So classes are good so far, and I have to go to one right now. So talk to you all soon!! And Amber, I'm working on that Kiwi (the bird) picture, I won't forget!

In Dunedin (and beyond!)

I'm finally in Dunedin! And (almost) settled into my flat, and I love it so far!! I have a roommate from china, two from the US, and my Kiwihost! I've met a bunch of other international students, but not too many kiwis. So far we've been having a great time, as you can see below...

Yesterday, Otago sponsored a train trip to the Taieri Gorge, so we got the chance to go to the countryside, and see some more of New Zealand's incredible beauty!! And we got to see it from this great old train, it was sooo cool! Here's one of my favorite pictures, but it still doesn't do the landscape justice! 

And before we left Rotorua, we went to a traditional Maori hangi dinner. It was delicious!! Even with a fearsome Maori warrior nearby!

Looking ahead, I start classes on monday, and hopefully during the week I'll have time to walk around the botanical gardens nearby, and maybe even do a hike next weekend! I'll be sure to let you all know of course. 

Miss and love you all!

finally here!!

New Zealand is so much more amazing than I ever could have dreamed!! It is so beautiful, I can't wait to share pictures, although they can hardly do it justice! I've had the most incredible experiences so far, and I've only been here three days. Which is awesome, because that is what I came to do.

So, the first day, I walked around Auckland with some friends in the afternoon, and then had the most delicious (and cheap!) calamari. Auckland was interesting, but very American, so I really still felt like I was at home. Especially when we left the city the next day, and there was immediately pastures full of cows! Although unfortunately, cheese is fairly expensive here. That could be a problem.

So anyways, the next day we had left Auckland for Rotorua, and went through Hobbiton! Only for a few minutes, but I'll get back there eventually to see more! So when we got to Rotorua, we had some free time, and then we learned the Haka! The same one the All Blacks do! I don't think I was quite so fierce as they were though...

So today we went caving!! I even volunteered to be the first of my group to repel down, so I was down at the bottom all by myself for awhile, and it was the coolest thing! I turned off my light, and it was absolutely dark. You can't imagine it until you see it for yourself, or not see anything in this case. So then we walked through caves, and then we ziplined!! I decided to do that in the absolute dark too, and it was the most incredible feeling ever. And of course I laughed the entire way!

Check my facebook for more pictures soon! Miss you all, but I'm still having the time of my life!