First Week of School

It hailed today. No Really, It Legitimately Hailed Today.

Okay, so after being in New Zealand/Dunedin for a couple weeks, I feel like it's about time I started sharing some general observations about life...

1. Asian tourists are the same everywhere.

2. On the other hand, it is unnatural for people, who are obviously ASIAN, to have New Zealand accents. (This seriously might be on my Top 5 Things About NZ That Takes Getting Used To...)

3. Dunedin is part-city/part-college town. The college town part of Dunedin is just like any college town in the U.S. Except that the legal drinking age is 18 years old. Except that there is a bar on the university campus (right next to the central library). Except that the all the furniture (couches, armchairs, benches, tables, etc) is moved outside because students party on their front lawn.

4. People walk around barefoot all the time. Even when the beach/harbour/coastline is at least two miles away. Even when going to class. Even when there's broken glass on every sidewalk in North Dunedin. I feel like this last thing is really not the smartest thing to do. Whaterror

5. Besides the whole "broken glass on the sidewalk" part, Dunedin and the rest of New Zealand seem to be pretty litter-free. COOL/Yay for the Environment. The weird thing is trash cans (rubbish bins) are very rare... you usually have to hold onto your trash until a rubbish bin magically appears.

6. If a guy is...

a) wearing "Stubbies" (aka short shorts)

b) has an braid like Anakin Skywalker

c) has any hair style that is or slightly resembles a mullet

d) running/exercising with a backpack on (not a camelpack, but a regular bookbag)...

He is from New Zealand. Hands down. No exceptions.

That's all I've got for now... moving on to Daily Life in Dunedin slash Coolness...

- I live half a block away from campus... ten minutes max to class/library/bank

- I live next to the Leith River (which also runs through parts of campus).

- I can see and hear the Bell Tower from my house. (It's a very old/historical/famous building at the University of Otago).

- My room is in the front of the house and so my window looks out onto my front lawn and Montgomery Ave (my street). I really really really really really really really really really really really like this part of my living situation because... Whenever friends come by to visit or say hello or wake me up, they bang/knock/throw stones at my window and when I open my window for them, they just climb into my room. This is the best. It always makes my day :) :)

- I live very close to lots of people from AustraLearn and the campus is pretty small, so I run into a lot of people everyday. Rarely Rarely happened in Boulder, so this has been pretty nice.

- No bike. No skateboard. I Walk/Run/Jog everywhere around town. Everything is very close which is nice.

- First week of school is good so far. Three classes = five lectures and two tutorials per week = No classes on Monday or Friday = super nice.

- Awesome Purchase #1 = textbook for my New Zealand Sociology class! Originally $98.99 at the University Book Shop. My classmate got a used copy for $70. I bought it at Hamblyn's Quality Secondhand Books for only $40!!

- Awesome Purchase #2 = The Backpack! In the U.S., new backpacks are about $450 and secondhand packs usually go for $150-$250. So I was talking to a friend today about where I could potentially find a used backpack and his friend overheard us talking and she popped in the room and was like No way, I've a backpack that I'm trying to sell! Turns out this girl (she's American too) JUST bought this backpack right before she left for New Zealand - she already had another backpack and decided that she didn't need this second/new one in NZ after all. It was brand-new and she only used it once (on the airplane as a carry-on). So I checked it out, liked it a lot (it's a good size for me, 39 liters, and has the features I was looking for YESS), and asked her how much she paid for it. She said she only paid 150 US dollars. So then I offered her 150 New Zealand dollars (which is really only 103 US dollars) for the backpack and she took it and It Was A Deal! SO PUMPED!!

Got class at 10am and 1pm tomorrow/Thursday and I still have to finish some readings. And then Friday I'm going to the Catlins (in the Southland region of the South Island) for the weekend so that should be a really good time :)