continuations

Kia ora. Alright, to continue where I left off. Once we got down to Dunedin, we spent the first couple of nights in a hostel on the southern part of downtown Dunedin. It was a pretty cool place with a rooftop garden and not too long of a walk to the Octagon, the central part of the city. We just kind of kicked it at the hostel and started wandering into the city to see what was up. We didn't really do anything too constructive but get our bearings for where we were and stuff. I did make it a point to get myself a sweet, ghetto and used pay as you go cell phone. It seems like all of us international students have the same exact one, so its somewhat amusing whenever someone gets a phone. Just add it to the mass. One afternoon/evening, 6 of us decided to stop in this buffet place for some dinner. Little did we know that we were going to be assaulted for being so "stupid" and uninformed about the US. Some crazy ass conspiracy theorist who moved here ten years ago recognized that we were Americans and started talking to us. It wasn't long until he started ranting and raving about how screwed up America is. He insulted us intentionally by talking about "facts" that little to no one has ever even heard of. According to him, we all spend too much time dicking around and playing xbox. Thats not an exaggeration of what he said to us. This rant went on for probably about 20 minutes before he got too upset, gave a final insult to our stupidity, and left the restaurant. Then his wife gave us a much more relaxed explanation about how screwed up our government is, before he came back to bestow even more knowledge upon us. Overall, it was a pretty unique and crazy buffet experience.

Anyway, apart form being attacked by conspiracy theorists, we did get to know a lot about where everything is in the city and such. One day, Megan, Jesse, Hanna and myself decided to take the bus out to St. Claire beach. That was definitely a lot of fun to just get out to the beach and walk around for a while. Took lots of pictures, walked barefoot and got seriously cold feet, attempted some backflips, and then got some much needed hot chocolate as we waited for another bus back into town. St. Claire is a beach that I'm gonna try and frequent while here cause its very nice to just go and hang out. Also, I think Trevor and I are gonna hire boogie boards and wetsuits sometime and head out there. The waves have always been good the couple times I've visited the beach.

Fast forward a few days... Trevor, Greg, J-Bo and I bought a car! A '91 Mazda 626 wagon with a manual transmission to be exact. Its pretty sweet, as you can see for yourself.

The first weekend of owning the wagon of hoss, five of us made the trek up to Wanaka for an adventure. Trevor, Greg, Megan, J-Bo and I drove up at 6 in the morning with it not getting light out until like 8, so that was kinda weird how late the sun comes up down here. I'm assuming its because we are in the middle of winter. Anyhow, we made the 3-4 hour drive and arrived at SnowPark to do some skiing. We had to drive up this sketchy access road with tons of switchbacks, cliffs, and no guardrails. When we got to the top, we turned the corner and bam, outta nowhere was Snowpark. I did not bring skis down here to NZ, but I did bring my boots. I

showed up and asked if they rented or did demos for skis. No dice. However, the girl in the retail shop directed me in the way someone points in a location and says go there to a girl sitting outside at a picnic bench. The skis she had could not be used by her cause the bindings were too big. So, after a quick convo, the girl lent me the skis for the day! Schweet. Now, let me try and describe these dope ass skis for you. Just imagine some beat up skis that have no business being on snow anymore, and you'll be set. These things were Armada twin tips with bases that were pretty much non-existent. I'm talking straight up holes in the ptex stuff. And the edges, or what was left of them, were pretty gnarly. Rusted, sticking out and haggard looking. Took to the hill with these bad boys. It was an adventure. They faired me well though, considering I had to pay absolutely nothing to use them for the day. After cruising around the mountain for the day, we made our way to the residence of Roarke and Travis, friends of Megan who happen to be living in Wanaka. We kicked it with them for a while and then made our way to the winter fest concert thing, which turned out to be a lot of fun with some good people watching of a man we affectionately referred to as buttons. Not gonna bother trying to describe him. Anyway, the next morning we couldn't get pour Penelope started because one of her doors had been left open all night. Found the manager of the complex and got a jump, making everything all good. The drive home was really cool and scenic with little to no cars around. Or people for that matter. At one point we stopped to stretch, check out the sunset, and in Greg's case, chase some sheep. The ones in the picture at the top of this page actually. So that was our exciting Wanaka adventure. Woot.

So, the monday after our trip, classes at Otago began. Kinda weird to have the first day of class on July 12th. List of papers(classes) I'm taking: Philosophy of Science, Maori Society, Management and Organisations, and History of Sport. I can't really complain about any of them. Philosophy and Business are both pretty boring but Maori and Sport are both interesting and I really enjoy them. My biggest issue with class is in Philosophy. I fell that no matter what philosophy class you are in, all you do is talk in circles and never accomplish anything worth-while. So, its a bunch of BS. But thats just my opinion. Oh, and unlike school back home, my classes are pretty spread out with a lot of free time, so its kinda weird. I'm not really complaining though.

First week of class, done. Weekend, another really nice one. Weather wise it wasn't the best, but it was definitely a quality weekend. Saturday a few of us slept in a little and then roamed the streets of Dunedin while going to various shops to check stuff out. It was nice and low key. Then, on Sunday, Megan and I hired(rented) bikes for the day and took a ride out to the Otago Peninsula. We rode for something like 4 or 5 hours and covered a total of about 40 km, or approximately 25 miles. The road we were on was right along the water the entire time and it was very curvy and smooth. During the ride we took a few pitstops to take breaks and just look at our surroundings, as well as eat some lunch at one point. This was actually my second trip to the peninsula b/c a few days before hand, four of us drove out in hopes of seeing some albatross, penguins and seals. We didn't go at the appropriate time of day to see these animals though, so another trip out there will definitely be made soon.

Another week of class, blah blah, nothing too too exciting about that. At the end of the school day on that Friday I did manage to finally buy a bike though, so that was a big plus. I had been looking for one ever since we got here, so it was very satisfying to finally get one. Its just some used GT bmx bike but I like it. That Saturday, I went into town for some reason that I cannot remember, but that afternoon I decided to take the bus out to St. Claire beach again. I wanted to go for a nice walk and that seemed like a good destination. I ended up walking for like 3 hours, just taking pictures and listening to music. A very simple but enjoyable afternoon on the beach.

Next day, IFSA-Butler had a trip arranged for us. Nine of us, plus Guy our student coordinator dude, got driven to Nasby by our reliable bus driver Gerald. The days events included site seeing at an old quarry as well as one that is still in use, curling, and luging. Yes, curling. Needless to say, everyone was stoked to slide 42 lbs rocks down some ice and try to get them in the scoring zone. There is definitely a lot of technique involved in curling. Fun fact, its called curling because of how the stone curls depending on which way to spin your wrist when you initially release the stone down the ice. None of us were too good at it, but everyone had a lot of fun. Luging was cool as well. Kinda sketchy track and sleds, but fun.

There was one unfortunate part about this weekend however. Remember the aforementioned Lady Hoss? aka our car. Yeah, well she kicked the bucket. A few peeps took her up to Queenstown for the weekend to get some skiing in and she didn't make the journey back to Dunedin. Apparently, liquid got into the radiator or something, the head gasket cracked, and the motor was just shot overall. It was by no fault on our part though. Apparently the previous owner didn't have anti-freeze in it or something and the change in altitude from way up on the mountain to the base was just too much for her. Needless to say, it was a sad day for the four of us. I'd say the other three had a rougher time with it though cause they had to deal with all the shenanigans of getting her towed and stuff. I just heard the sad news when they got home. We had to have an Irish Wake in her honor. She was a champ for the few short weeks that we knew her. No need to dwell on the past though. Life happens, and right now, my life is incredible. There are always random points where I'll just think about where I am right now, and that simple thought will bring a smile to my face. I'd say that is a pretty common feeling amongst my fellow study abroad people. I'm definitely trying to make the most of my time here.

Well, that pretty much brings you up to speed with everything that has been going one here. Tomorrow, I'm going on a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate factory, so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. Peace out for now.