| hoveround
August 20, 2011
11:35:07 AM
Entry #: 3785114
| Now that I've finally reached a break in my studies, I found that this is an appropriate time for me to send another update before things start getting hectic again.
It's hard to believe that I've already been in New Zealand for seven weeks. It seems like just yesterday I was back East soaking up the sunshine. Yesterday I finished up my sixth week of classes. So far the last couple weeks I've been pretty busy with assignments. I spent a lot of time in the library working on essays for a couple classes and have taken three exams in the last three weeks as well. The essays and exams are pretty on par for what I've taken so far in college. Though one difference is that all three exams so far have been 100% multiple choice. I like this a lot for the obvious fact that multiple choice tests are far easier than the ones with short answers/essays. It gives me a greater chance of doing better on the exam. I'm pretty happy that I don't have any assignments or exams to worry about for the next three weeks or so. Next week all I need to do is show up to my classes and take good notes. Then the following week is our spring break, and then the week after that I won't have any work assigned either. It's going to be a relaxing next few weeks.
For spring break, some friends and I are driving the entire length of the country (twice) on a massive road trip. We leave next Friday night and will be driving through the night to reach the northern point of the South Island by morning. After a three-hour ferry ride to Wellington, we'll drive the ten hours to Auckland. It'll be a long haul, but definitely worth it. After staying in Auckland for a couple days, we'll hit up Matamata (where Lord of the Rings was filmed), Rotorua (hot springs), Lake Taupo (good skydiving) and parts of the western coast. I'll be sure to take hundreds of photos and have as much fun as possible.
Two weekends ago I went with some friends to visit Invercargill, one of the southernmost cities in the world. We were visiting a friend and his family and had a great time. We visited a couple farms and I got some sweet pictures of the sheep - which was pretty much the reason we wanted to go to the farms. We even got a small tour of a dairy farm and were able to get pretty close to the cows in the wild. It was a particularly rainy day, so it was hard to distinguish between the mud and cow pies. The cows are kept in their area by an electric fence, which of course I was shocked by. It didn't really hurt too bad. At least now I get to say I was once semi-electrocuted and nearly run over my stampeding cows (luckily they just went around me instead).
Also while in Invercargill, my friends and I went to a couple beaches. At the one beach were ginormous rocks that we climbed to see the water from the top. That day it was VERY windy and the waves are crashing in pretty hard. It was quite a sight. After that, my friend Jan and I were climbing some more rocks in the area. There's a photo of me that he took where I was climbing up the side of a crevice, and when he gave the camera back to me, we dropped it. It fell down the crevice, breaking the lens on the way down. We were able to recover the camera, but it's currently unusable (I've since bought another camera online). It was a bummer not having a camera for the rest of the trip, but it was worth it for the adventure we had climbing the rocks.
A pretty big highlight of my trip to New Zealand so far was when I met the Prime Minister. He was in town to dedicate the new rugby stadium and to officially open on of the University's new libraries. A friend and I originally went to the event because there was going to be a student protest. Students were gathering across the street from the new library to protest the PM's arrival, because he supports a bill that is currently in Parliament that they don't like. We stood on the other side of the road watching the protest (though I figure half the students were only there to make noise, not really knowing what they were protesting). Regardless, Prime Minister John Key arrived, paying no attention to the protest. My friend and I followed him inside and watched the press conference about the opening of the library. After the press conference, Key walked around the library, talking to students. When he came to me, we shook hands and talked about how I was from the States, where he visited just a few weeks before. We even talked baseball! Though unfortunately, it was a Phillies game he attended (probably could have picked a better team to watch). All in all, it was a great opportunity to meet someone with such power and leadership. My photos from Invercargill/the protest can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150286031839556.351782.854484555&l=3d6214d74f&type=1
Aside from the occasional traveling and school work, the last few weeks have been pretty standard. We even got snow again last week, cancelling all my classes on Monday. I'm really starting to get used to the Kiwi life. Hard to believe I only have exactly three months left. With that in mind, I'm going to start making the most of my opportunities.Before I know it, I'll be back in Etown!
- Micah
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