“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” -Henry Miller
Well I think Saturday marks the day I officially fell in love with New Zealand. I fell in love with its beauty and its way of life. The indescribable bliss I feel sitting and admiring this new country I reside in. It's pretty amazing.
Since I haven't written in a while, I will catch you up on the past week, which was the first week of classes. I am proud to announce that I did not have any problems getting to my classes. Well, only one. But that is because it is in the basement of a building and it's not marked. Humph, way to make it easy on the new kids. But other than that, I felt like a pro navigating my way through a brand new campus with twice as many students as my own university at home. So far my course load seems doable. I am enrolled in Music Technology I (which I call my DJ class. A large portion of my grade requires me to remix a song in Garage Band!), Bodies, Sexualities and Selves (an introductory gender studies course), Maori Society (which is an introductory study to the native people of New Zealand. It is a lecture of AT LEAST 400 students), and Marketing and Consumption (gotta throw in a little bit of business since that is my major). Something that is new to me is the tutorials that go along with a course here at the University of Otago. For example, tomorrow I have my Marketing and Consumption tutorial tomorrow morning. I hear basically it is like a review of what went on in the class that week prior. Kim, my Kiwi host, called these optional, which we all know doesn't mean optional. Luckily all of my classes are only 50 minutes. After enduring mainly 1 hour and 50 minute classes at home, 50 minute classes are a godsend. I also don't have any classes on Fridays so you know what that means...more time to travel!
Looking to get more involved in the student life on campus, I signed up to partake in a course called 'Discover Wine'. The description reads: "What are all those great tastes in wine? To answer that, you’ll be treated to a fun journey of discovery into the world of wine. Our hands-on tasting sessions, with Geoff’s plain English wine-talk will educate you on everything wine. Every bottle has a history and a story. The door to loving and understanding wines will open for you in a bright and breezy way. You may be wine educated or a complete novice—it doesn’t really matter. These sessions take you into a general initiation to grape varieties, wine tasting terms used in the industry and the process of wine making. Tastings include foreign wines, still reds and whites, the super sweet “stickies”, French Champagne, Port and bubbly various medal wines. You’ll discover and learn about new wines, their fresh characteristics and ways of evaluating them, while meeting other wine people. How to appreciate all those tastes in a glass of wine is good fun. As a special treat in the final session you’ll get to visit the worlds most southern winery - western winery. This is Geoff’s (the tutors) own small commercial winery ten minutes from the city. For the last “grand tasting finale” in the winery you are asked to bring any bottle* of your choice to taste alongside some of Geoff’s wines. There is a generous food platter provided for this session." Talk about adult status right there! ;) Being that my dad is very into wine, I have grown an interest in learning what all the fuss is about. And I mean why not take a course about wine while studying abroad in New Zealand that has some very great wineries just outside of the city? My point exactly.
Well yesterday, as you can see in the picture above, I went on a beautiful hike. Not too far from our flat lies Mount Cargill, known in Maori as Kapukataumahaka. Try saying that five times fast. Actually, just try it once and let me know how that goes! ;) It apparently was once a shield volcano and overlooks the entire city of present day Dunedin, as my pictures will show you. Kim's friend Megan, who is also a Kiwi host just a few flats down, drove Alyssa, Hira and myself over to the start of a trail that would eventually lead us to The Organ Pipes. These are the long rocks you may see in some of my pictures. Sitting on top of these rock formations, the wind powerfully blew through them, creating a whistling noise. Suddenly the light bulb above my head came on. So that's why they are called The Organ Pipes! Pretty cool actually! We then discovered another trail that took us to the tip top of Mount Cargill. Now coming from Colorado, a mountain just over 2,200 feet doesn't seem that impressive. But when you get the view I got, it is like you are standing on top of the world. It literally did not seem real. The way the mist hugged the tops of the hills below, the orange glow on the horizon, the rolling green hills that surrounded us every way we looked, the ocean that seemed to stretch forever. It was simply incredible.
On our walk back into town, we passed Baldwin Street, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the steepest residential street in the world. No, we didn't walk up it. After hiking for a good chunk of the day, there was no way my legs were going to allow me to climb that. I obviously have to before I leave, but yesterday was not going to be that day. In total, I think I probably walked 10 miles yesterday. Oh believe me, I am feeling it today. But it was definitely worth it!
On our downward descend from Mount Cargill, we ran into 2 girls, Jen and Elise, who live in the same flat, just directly below us. After our hike we all decided to clean up and meet for dinner at this restaurant called Indian Spice. Even though there was a BYO at the table next to us that got pretty noisy, the food was delicious! Yes, parents, the Indian food was GOOD! :) We then swung by Megan's house to celebrate her 22nd birthday that was over break. Played some more games, and met some more people! Hira, Jen, Elise and I had decided to attempt to find this bar called Sammy's that was putting on a free concert for U of O students. Well, once we walked to the Octagon, we decided to call it good and settled for Stuart St Mac's Brew Bar. Since it was such a nice day, we grabbed a few beers and a table out on the patio (beneath the heaters of course. It is still winter here). Sitting there, talking to those great girls, admiring the hubbub of the city around me, it hit me: I am really happy. Of course I miss all my loved ones at home, and Colorado will forever be my home, but man, this place is something else. Something I will remember for the rest of my life.
Thanks for reading! I know it was a long one. I will write again soon!
Since I haven't written in a while, I will catch you up on the past week, which was the first week of classes. I am proud to announce that I did not have any problems getting to my classes. Well, only one. But that is because it is in the basement of a building and it's not marked. Humph, way to make it easy on the new kids. But other than that, I felt like a pro navigating my way through a brand new campus with twice as many students as my own university at home. So far my course load seems doable. I am enrolled in Music Technology I (which I call my DJ class. A large portion of my grade requires me to remix a song in Garage Band!), Bodies, Sexualities and Selves (an introductory gender studies course), Maori Society (which is an introductory study to the native people of New Zealand. It is a lecture of AT LEAST 400 students), and Marketing and Consumption (gotta throw in a little bit of business since that is my major). Something that is new to me is the tutorials that go along with a course here at the University of Otago. For example, tomorrow I have my Marketing and Consumption tutorial tomorrow morning. I hear basically it is like a review of what went on in the class that week prior. Kim, my Kiwi host, called these optional, which we all know doesn't mean optional. Luckily all of my classes are only 50 minutes. After enduring mainly 1 hour and 50 minute classes at home, 50 minute classes are a godsend. I also don't have any classes on Fridays so you know what that means...more time to travel!
Looking to get more involved in the student life on campus, I signed up to partake in a course called 'Discover Wine'. The description reads: "What are all those great tastes in wine? To answer that, you’ll be treated to a fun journey of discovery into the world of wine. Our hands-on tasting sessions, with Geoff’s plain English wine-talk will educate you on everything wine. Every bottle has a history and a story. The door to loving and understanding wines will open for you in a bright and breezy way. You may be wine educated or a complete novice—it doesn’t really matter. These sessions take you into a general initiation to grape varieties, wine tasting terms used in the industry and the process of wine making. Tastings include foreign wines, still reds and whites, the super sweet “stickies”, French Champagne, Port and bubbly various medal wines. You’ll discover and learn about new wines, their fresh characteristics and ways of evaluating them, while meeting other wine people. How to appreciate all those tastes in a glass of wine is good fun. As a special treat in the final session you’ll get to visit the worlds most southern winery - western winery. This is Geoff’s (the tutors) own small commercial winery ten minutes from the city. For the last “grand tasting finale” in the winery you are asked to bring any bottle* of your choice to taste alongside some of Geoff’s wines. There is a generous food platter provided for this session." Talk about adult status right there! ;) Being that my dad is very into wine, I have grown an interest in learning what all the fuss is about. And I mean why not take a course about wine while studying abroad in New Zealand that has some very great wineries just outside of the city? My point exactly.
Well yesterday, as you can see in the picture above, I went on a beautiful hike. Not too far from our flat lies Mount Cargill, known in Maori as Kapukataumahaka. Try saying that five times fast. Actually, just try it once and let me know how that goes! ;) It apparently was once a shield volcano and overlooks the entire city of present day Dunedin, as my pictures will show you. Kim's friend Megan, who is also a Kiwi host just a few flats down, drove Alyssa, Hira and myself over to the start of a trail that would eventually lead us to The Organ Pipes. These are the long rocks you may see in some of my pictures. Sitting on top of these rock formations, the wind powerfully blew through them, creating a whistling noise. Suddenly the light bulb above my head came on. So that's why they are called The Organ Pipes! Pretty cool actually! We then discovered another trail that took us to the tip top of Mount Cargill. Now coming from Colorado, a mountain just over 2,200 feet doesn't seem that impressive. But when you get the view I got, it is like you are standing on top of the world. It literally did not seem real. The way the mist hugged the tops of the hills below, the orange glow on the horizon, the rolling green hills that surrounded us every way we looked, the ocean that seemed to stretch forever. It was simply incredible.
On our walk back into town, we passed Baldwin Street, which is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the steepest residential street in the world. No, we didn't walk up it. After hiking for a good chunk of the day, there was no way my legs were going to allow me to climb that. I obviously have to before I leave, but yesterday was not going to be that day. In total, I think I probably walked 10 miles yesterday. Oh believe me, I am feeling it today. But it was definitely worth it!
On our downward descend from Mount Cargill, we ran into 2 girls, Jen and Elise, who live in the same flat, just directly below us. After our hike we all decided to clean up and meet for dinner at this restaurant called Indian Spice. Even though there was a BYO at the table next to us that got pretty noisy, the food was delicious! Yes, parents, the Indian food was GOOD! :) We then swung by Megan's house to celebrate her 22nd birthday that was over break. Played some more games, and met some more people! Hira, Jen, Elise and I had decided to attempt to find this bar called Sammy's that was putting on a free concert for U of O students. Well, once we walked to the Octagon, we decided to call it good and settled for Stuart St Mac's Brew Bar. Since it was such a nice day, we grabbed a few beers and a table out on the patio (beneath the heaters of course. It is still winter here). Sitting there, talking to those great girls, admiring the hubbub of the city around me, it hit me: I am really happy. Of course I miss all my loved ones at home, and Colorado will forever be my home, but man, this place is something else. Something I will remember for the rest of my life.
Thanks for reading! I know it was a long one. I will write again soon!