Tuesday 7-3-07 & Thursday 7-5-07
So I decided to move to New Zealand for a semester of school. I left Denver, CO on July 3rd, said good-bye to all my family and friends and arrived in NZ on July 5th. NZ is 18 hours ahead of Colorado, so jet lag wasn’t something I was looking forward to. I had a few hour flight to San Francisco, a 13 hour flight to Auckland, NZ, and finally an hour and half flight to Christchurch on the south island. At first, the trip just felt like another big vacation, but once I finished my third movie on the long flight I realized I was leaving my home for a long time. So I arrived at customs with one less bag then I started out with. Sometime during my ‘wonderful’ airline experience, they ended up losing my kayak bag with my boat, paddles, and snowboard inside. Then it took me almost 2 hours to get all my gear searched, shoes washed, and to find my new roommates at the airport.
My first roommate named Will picked me up with a friend of his Jamie and we went straight to my new home. Houses are called flats and roommates are flatmates in this part of the world. So I got to check out the new flat, went out to do a little general shopping, and then hung out with some of Will’s other friends. Will is in a band called Fingerprint and everyone I’ve met so far were all his band as well. Everyone seemed to be really nice so far and we soon went out for lunch. I had avocado chicken sushi, something new to me and very weird. I took a short nap and then found myself at the bar already. Will and another band member, Nick, played an acoustic session and other friends arrived to drink a little for the evening. Since the bars don’t close until 4 or 6 in the morning I ended going home early and sleeping on the floor in my sleeping bag. It is the start of winter right now and my new flat has no insulation and only a fire for warmth. So in the morning it was only about 40 degrees F inside the house and I soon realized I would want to get some more blankets.
Friday 7-6-07
Woke up freezing and put on long johns, my down vest, and a winter hat. It’s so cold in the morning, but it warms a little during the day. I went for an early walk to check out some of the neighbourhood and waited for Will and some of his other friends to wake up. It was a late start to the day, but everyone sleeps in as long as possible to avoid a super cold morning. They also take showers to warm up before they go out for the day. I don’t know anyone or any places to go just yet, so I’m simply following Will around for the moment. I’d like to buy a car at some point, but I think it might be difficult to find something that is affordable and won’t break down during my time in NZ. Also, these crazy people drive on the left side of the road and that’s really hard to get use to. I sit on the left side of the car and pretend to steer even though I’m in the passenger seat.
I also need to set up a bank account soon, but for now using my debit card works just fine. Just figuring out what necessities I need for living is a little more difficult then I though. And a bed is something I think I would like to get as soon as possible. It’s just that much colder on the floor, but I’ll make due for a little while. Any way, the airport delivered my kayak after it had been searched through and poorly backed back together. Finally, I have all my gear and I’m just trying to settle in as much as possible. Will and his two friends from Auckland want to go out to the bars tomorrow night, so it looks like I might be drinking sooner than I wanted. I’m not even over my jet lag just yet.
Saturday 7-7-07
Woke up and took my first hot shower on Saturday morning. Decided to walk down the street to the bakery for some breakfast and then Will took me to the mall to set up a bank account. We went to an ASB Bank and it was pretty easy to create an account and they even gave me a debit card right away, but they call them Eftpos cards. Now all I had to do was put money into my account. I was able to extract money from an ATM with my U.S. debit card and deposit that into my account, but needed to make a wire transfer as soon as I could contact my bank in the states. We also walked into a cell phone store so I could get a prepaid phone and set up to contact all my new friends. Since cell phone calls are so expensive here everyone simple texts one another. Expect for house phone calls to local numbers are free. And when I want to call home I have to use a phone card. I also bought a big blanket and then we went home to watch a movie before we went out.
Sunday 7-8-07
We were out until 4:30 in the morning last night. We started out eating damn McDonalds and buying some beer for home. We played a few normal drinking games and then got a taxi into down town. We spent a good while bar hopping and trying new types of beer. I even ended up dancing a little bit, but the amount of beer I drank may have had something to do with that. We had a great night, made it home late, and slept in even later. We hung out and took Will’s friends to their squash tournament that they were in town for. Had lunch and watched another movie to kill some time.
Now I’m playing with my stupid cell phone and realize I don’t even have anyone to text just yet. Hopefully I’ll meet some more people when school starts. I also need to start taking pictures of everything I do. Today was first day it was sunny outside and the buildings here are pretty cool. Houses have the same style that I would imagine for places back home to be like in the 50’s. I’ve only been a few places in town so far and can see some small hills in the distance. Although I know the ocean and real mountains are close by. It’s hard to get around since none of my flatmates have a car and it’s also about $7 a gallon for gas. I might wait a little while before I look for a car as I’m sure everyone would want to borrow it for everything.
Monday 7-9-07
Last night we kept the place pretty warm with a good size fire. The wood we have burns really clean and fast, so if the fire isn’t raging then the whole house stays pretty cool. The last two mornings have been about -10 degrees C or about 14 degrees F. And I always see my breath throughout the day. It’s freaking cold after enjoying hot summer weather in Colorado. Any way, we had some pasta for dinner and watched another movie. Not much to do when it’s dark and cold and you don’t have a car.
Today we’re going to the airport to drop Will’s friends off and then we’re going to run some errands. I figured out how to pay for rent as everyone here simply deposits money into a flat account every week for rent and utilities. We also visited campus and I got the quick tour and tried to figure out if I really needed to go to the orientation for study abroad students. We met with a few people and got most everything taken care of, so now I have a few more days to spend before school. This now allows me to travel with Will’s band to another college town called Dunedin, although I have to be back in a few days to register. And the foreign exchange office is advising me that I’m taking too many credits and suggest I might want to drop a class. But I’m going to test it out and see what happens for the first couple of weeks. I also picked up a phone card so I can call my worried parents. It’s been five days since I left the states and spoke to them and I still don’t have the internet so I thought I should give them a call.
Thursday 7-12-07
So Tuesday morning four of us packed into a Land Cruiser with a ton of band equipment. We were ready to take a four hour drive to the college town Dunedin. We passed a lot of farm land with enormous tree fences built to block the wind. And I finally encountered all the sheep that I’ve heard exist in NZ. The drive down actually reminded me of home as the mountains in the distance looked similar to the Front Range. We also stopped at a beach to check out some big spherical rocks that are a good tourist attraction. They’re called Moeraki Boulders and they’re as large as six feet in diameter. They were intially created under the seafloor through cementation and calcite precipitation. It is estimated that it had taken about 5 million years for about 150 feet of seafloor to be removed, sea level to drop, and for these boulders to reach the surface as we know it. So they were pretty cool, but we didn’t stay long as these guys needed to go and set up to play music for the evening. We finally arrived in Dunedin, which was pocketed inbetween hills right up next to the ocean. This town was also bigger than I expected and their streets were even more confusing than in Christchurch. I was told that early settlers in the area copied a map of the streets in London or Paris and plotted them over the land to create Dunedin. And suposedly the street names are even the same. So the streets were definetly different to drive on.
That evening I watched these guys play a show and the next morning we woke up for something called the Cook A-thon. Students gathered at a large bar in the middle of town and drank all day. We were able to buy food tickets so we could eat throughout the day, but basically people drank from 9 am until as long as they could stay up. Then house parties lasted most the evening as well. I was happy to see a new town, but wasn’t looking for a drinking trip. Well, we stayed with some friends and left earlier the next day to go back to Christchurch. We got back in time for me to run to campus and enroll for classes. Everything should be set up for school now, so I’m trying to go snowboarding tomorrow. Oh, and I still need a stupid bed.
Sunday 7-15-07
Stoking the fire again! Well on Friday I thought we were going snowboarding, but our ride ended up backing out. So I walked around campus again and looked for a bed on TradeMe.com. It’s like e-bay, but for NZ. Didn’t have much luck so we had curry for lunch at a place near school and hungout the rest of the day. Luckly I was able to e-mail some paddlers and on Saturday so I got to go snowboarding. Just met two other boaters and we were off to the smallest ski field in NZ called Rainbow Mountain. Half way through our drive we headed up an unmaintained dirt road and encounter a jeep club with 24 jeeps, landcruisers, and 4-runners. We ended up driving past the ski road so on the way back we decided to have some fun. We attached a rope to the hitch on the car and while one person drove, two others were towed on their snowboards. It was a lot easier then I thought and a lot of fun when we got going pretty quick. Well, we soon made it up to the mountain and there were two simple rope tows for lifts and one small building for a lodge. I had to rent this harness that fit around your waist, it had a metal clamp that you swing around the rope tow, and it pulls you away. Skiing wasn’t that great, but it was really cool to be in the mountains. I then came home and met my second male roommate and our female roommate as well. They both seem pretty cool so far.
Wednesday 7-18-07
Over the last few days I’ve just been getting to know my new roommates and I actually was able to go skiing again. This time we headed to a ski field called Mount Hut and this was more like a real ski resort. They had two normal lifts and one quad ski lift. Still the snow wasn’t that great, since it hasn’t snowed that much, but the views were incrediable. Mount Hut is located on the eastern side of the Southern Alps and up high enough to see the Pacific Ocean. Then on Tuesday everyone else had school so I went to campus again, signed up at the Rec. center, and bought some books I needed for school. Then I spent some more time with my roommates Andy and Dani. Andy is a junior national weight lifter, but he’s not really that big, and he also plays guitar with Will in their band. Dani is also a student at Canterbury and is a cool girl to live with. And on Tuesday evening I finally got a bed delivered along with an electric blanket that my mommy bought for me since I’m a wuss! I slept pretty good and I now have my small room all organized.
Today was my first day of class and I was actually excited to see what other classes besides engineering would be like. I’m currently taking a Hip-Hop Culture class, Astronomy, Human Evolution, and a Film & TV course. All these classes seem pretty interested although I’m not very excited to have to do any school work again. But the best part about my first day at school is that I got three phone numbers from girls I didn’t know. Well, I needed to introduce myself to three new people in one of my classes, but I’ll take it. Other then that campus seems like any other school you might attend in the states. The biggest difference is that after lunch classes start at ten after instead of on the hour.
Sunday 7-22-07
For the last few days I’ve spent most of my time in class. Just getting started with all my classess and becoming more familiar with campus. Friday after I finished school I forced myself to lift again. I hate the weight room, but I feel like I need to do something and it doesn’t hurt to try and stay in shape for kayaking. I’m starting to have more normal days and evenings with my roommates. Saturday we took a bus into down town and I bought a bus pass. We had lunch and walked around the town square before the rugby game. We went to a friends house to watch the game and have German sausages. The NZ team is called the All Blacks and most the nation is intense about ‘their’ sport. They played Australia and right before they play, the All Blacks performed an intimidation dance with a lot of yelling, called the Haka. It was funny to watch especially since the other team had to simply stand there and act tough. Watching the game was interesting and it was good to see a sport with different strategy then I’m use to, but I still like American football better. Maybe that’s because I’m just use to it.
Any way, I didn’t go out Saturday night because I thought I would be going kayaking on Sunday. I was trying to get a ride to the West Coast, but no one was interested in paddling low water and in the cold. So I hooked up with two other paddlers that wanted to surf the ocean. I borrowed a play boat and we were off to a near by town called Sumner. As soon as we got there we noticed the surf to be flat. It was great to see a beach again, but we didn’t end up paddling. We got coffee instead and went for a drive up into the surrounding hills that overlooked Christchurch. I finally understood where everything was located in relation to the mountain and ocean. And since we didn’t boat we did the next best thing, we watched kayaking videos until dark. It was good to meet some more paddlers and I think I finally found some good boaters to show me around.
