Days 23-28: A grandaddy post

Okay, so this is getting a bit out of hand. Updating once a week now? Come on. I really need to get back into shape with these blogs, so they don't become once a week and 14 pages long. Anyway, here goes:

Last Sunday: Consisted of studying for an American Civil war test on Tues. We did a quick cafe stop in town, but nothing much else exciting happened.

Last Monday: More work, and lazing about. Worked on some pictures, and did the norm (hang out with people, read some, homework some, some pictures as well).

Last Tuesday: Had physio in the morning, which was complimented by an 11 am Civil war test. I did well- I am expecting 100 percent. The amount of domestic students who don't study here is appalling, however. It seems worse than home- many of them just don't seem to care if they pass or not. The same is true of the management classes, according to my German friend Fabian. Now, for those of you who didn't drink to the point of coma, last Tuesday was St. Patrick's day. Me and Canadian Comrade (Andrew) decided to go out and see what was up on this day, but we weren't joined by anyone except a random 26 year old Canadian we found at the bus stop who looked like his brains had been perma-fried from smoking too much pot over the past 10 years. He apparently goes to the same home university as Andrew. Anyway, after an empty bus downtown, we decide to hit the irish pub we had gone to a few days earlier.
Wrong move.
The place was packed, with almost no room to move. Guinness had almost doubled in price since the week before, and I felt that if there was an allergy to the color green, I might drop to the floor from anaphylactic shock and be a goner within seconds. Luckily, that didn't happen, and we got out of there after surveying the scene and saying hey to the bartender we had met the week before.
We hit up another place that we frequent, a student bar, but it was the same story. After a minute or two, we decided to leave there as well. As we walk downtown, we realize that everywhere is either irish themed and packed, or operating normally and empty as a post gold-rush ghost town (some of the bars are actually themed that way, oddly enough). Feeling cheated, we decided to bus home.
After walking to the bus stop, we realized we missed the last one home not 10 minutes before. Oh well, we thought, we'll get a taxi (they are cheap here). That didn't work either, as none seemed to be anywhere tonight. We ended up walking back. It was actually pretty nice, being able to have a nice conversation with no worries of someone having to run off to class or dinner- there was just walking. The walk is pretty safe, except if you are a lone female, but we encountered no problems. After we returned, I hit the sack. So much for St. Patty's day. Looking on the bright side, though, at least I remembered mine, which is more than some people can say.

Last Wednesday: consisted of getting things ready for the inter-semester break, and homework. I got some photography done with a friend of mine, as I had a role of film to develop by Thursday, but otherwise not much else happened. Played some basketball on an outside court adjacent to campus with some American, NZ and Italian friends. I feel much more limber and athletic now than I did 6 months ago- my back is getting better through a routine of daily exercises, and I feel that I might be able to run without tripping over my left leg. I won't chance it yet, though, because I still have restrictions. I can't, for example, lift weights yet, which is driving me nuts; I can feel my muscles atrophy every day.

You may notice that when I tell you who I hang out with, I give nationalities. I don't do this to try and convince you of how multicultural I am, or how much cooler my friends are by virtue of their different origins. I have always been fascinated by people of different cultures coming together and sharing an experience that more often than not is life changing- this is why I work at an international house back home, and why I decided to hang with international students here. They are more adventurous, open minded, and in my opinion interesting than hanging out with a group of domestic students from any country (though I do that as well, mind you). So, when I list nationalities, it is not only an easy way for me to remember years from now where these friends of mine came from; is my way of trying to get you uni students out there who are reading this to realize that alot of good comes from the exchange programs universities set up, and the people you meet from other countries can be some of the most interesting friends you will ever make. I encourage you all to reach out and see what international programs go on in your university, and make the most of them; you'll be glad you did.

Thursday: Consisted of a full day of class, followed by intense planning for a 2 week trip down to the South Island of New Zealand. The idea is to take 4 of us down to south island for a week, rent a car (you don't need a NZ driver's license to drive down here. I can drive on my NC driver's license. The same goes for almost any developed country's driver's license), and camp for the first week around the island. In week 2, we are going to pick up 2 more travelers, and hit up the more popular spots of south island, including geothermal springs, volcanoes, beaches and mountains, and of course, glaciers. This took a great deal of planning and strategizing between 6 people to get to work, but we met an accord. That night we went out and heard a live guitarist play some of the best songs of the past 10 years for free (no cover charge on most venues and bars here). It was awesome.

Friday: Woke up, and bussed up to Auckland for Polyfest. We weren't attending the festival until the next day, but we bussed up and stayed with a friend named Estee and her family. A few words about the drive:
The bus was cheap (18 USD for both ways, and it isn't a trivial drive), but beautiful. We saw Auckland from a distance, and the closest city I can compare it to is Seattle, Washington. I don't throw this comparison out because they necessarily look alike, though they do give me the same skyline vibe. I compare them because Auckland is the first city (over a million people) since visiting Seattle in 2006 that I instantly liked. It is clean, beautiful, and on the water. It is the size of Charlotte, NC (1.3 Million people), but you'd hardly know. It is easy to traverse as a pedestrian, from what I saw. Anyway, I didn't see the city up close until Sunday. We arrived at Estee's house, which is an awesomely typical NZ home- the house is surrounded by succulents- Aloe vera, cacti, and yucca, just to name a few. Included are these succulent plants that look like black roses- but they are the flesh of the plant, not a flower. Thus, they stay that way as they technically aren't blooming. The house was one story, but fairly large for a NZ house. It had enough room for 5, out of a family of 6. Cinder block construction, with an A frame roof. The deck had a view of the ocean and surrounding mountains- I did not take photos because I saved all my memory for Polyfest.
Another interesting thing I have noticed here in NZ: No worries from nature. there are spiders with webs, ants, and wetas (large cricket-like things) everywhere, but none of them really pose a threat. I have yet to see fire ants, and only one of the spiders is dangerous, and I have yet to see it. There are no large predators here (there are no large mammals on the islands, and most the predators were birds, who are now long extinct), so really there isn't much to worry about from nature. For all intents and purposes, the people are nice and safe as well. As a result, we all slept in Estee's garage over the weekend, with the doors open- and it felt great.
So anyway, Friday night we went out for fish and chips with some of Estee's local friends, and I stayed up talking to them for awhile while my com padres slept. They are interesting people, and I hope to meet them again.

I also started reading Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", which details his hiking of the Appalachian trail ( a 2100 mile endeavor, for those of you who don't know). The book is hilarious to start, and gets more and more serious as it goes on- Bryson grabs the reader at first, has his admiration, and then delivers his message in a candy-coated shell of laughter and hilarious true happenings. I have been unable to put it down for 3 days. I highly recommend it.

Now, I didn't include polyfest in this because this post is already of a behemoth size, and it deserves it's own post. Trust me. As soon as I get some proper pictures to demonstrate how awesome it was, I will post. Prepare to be entertained.