*Fun fact: if you hover your mouse over some images, you'll see a caption appear. I couldn't figure out how to put a caption on some of these images unless I did it like that... Technology is hard!!*
Hi everyone! I have now been in New Zealand for just over two weeks and have had a lot of requests for an update. I had to oblige... it's been a pretty exciting week!
6 July (Monday) was the first day of school. My schedule is not bad - I'm only in class for a maximum of 9 hours per week. I'm used to having 2 three hour labs per week back at Iowa State on top of other lectures so this more relaxed class structure is a welcome change!
Hi everyone! I have now been in New Zealand for just over two weeks and have had a lot of requests for an update. I had to oblige... it's been a pretty exciting week!
6 July (Monday) was the first day of school. My schedule is not bad - I'm only in class for a maximum of 9 hours per week. I'm used to having 2 three hour labs per week back at Iowa State on top of other lectures so this more relaxed class structure is a welcome change!
Thankfully, I can understand all of my professors! Two are from New Zealand and one is from the UK so no one talks "Minnesotan", but they all talk quite clearly so I'm feeling lucky.
Classes here are structured a bit differently. Back at Iowa State, finals are generally worth a good amount of the grade, maybe 30 or 40%. Here, they are worth 50% or more. There is less work through the semester then there are three weeks for finals. I only have two finals (in BusComm we will be writing papers all semester) so I'm crossing my fingers that the finals are early and I can use the rest of my finals time to travel! We'll see.
Ok, that's enough about classes. On to the fun parts of my week!
On Tuesday I took a long walk to Kathmandu, which is like the New Zealand version of REI or Gander Mountain. I bought myself a sleeping bag and a fleece sweatshirt (hooray for end of winter sales!) I needed a sleeping bag because....
On Friday 10 July, Caitlin (my friend from ISU), Patrick (one of my roommates) and I had the amazing opportunity to get away for the weekend and go down to the Catlins!
Classes here are structured a bit differently. Back at Iowa State, finals are generally worth a good amount of the grade, maybe 30 or 40%. Here, they are worth 50% or more. There is less work through the semester then there are three weeks for finals. I only have two finals (in BusComm we will be writing papers all semester) so I'm crossing my fingers that the finals are early and I can use the rest of my finals time to travel! We'll see.
Ok, that's enough about classes. On to the fun parts of my week!
On Tuesday I took a long walk to Kathmandu, which is like the New Zealand version of REI or Gander Mountain. I bought myself a sleeping bag and a fleece sweatshirt (hooray for end of winter sales!) I needed a sleeping bag because....
On Friday 10 July, Caitlin (my friend from ISU), Patrick (one of my roommates) and I had the amazing opportunity to get away for the weekend and go down to the Catlins!
After a brief overview of what we'd be doing ("Get ready to plant and weed and see a penguin!"), we (Caitlin, Patrick and I) climbed in a van with 10 other people and drove about 2.5 hours down to the Catlins. We stopped in a town called Balclutha for dinner. I got Subway, and noticed a few interesting things. They offer fish as a protein and they serve coffee, tea and muffins! That isn't like the Subway back home.
We stayed in the Forest and Bird Tautuku Lodge. Friday night ended with a night cap (tea or coffee or cocoa and cookies... I love this place!!) and we were in bed by about 10 pm. I was very thankful for my new sleeping bag because even with our heater on, our room was only about 14 C, or 57 F. Better than no heat, though!
The next morning we headed out to the Forest and Bird Te Rere Reserve in the South Catlins. It was about 40 km from the lodge, but due to some strong storms a few weeks back, the main road underwent some major slumping. Instead we drove in a huge circle around that road, about a 2 hour drive in all. The 13 of us met up with 25(ish) other people and planted many different types of plants including Lemonwood, Cabbage trees, Fuchsia, Hebe, and a few others. As you can see in the image below, each plant was carefully placed in the ground and tenderly protected. It took all morning and an hour after lunch to plant all 480 plants!
We stayed in the Forest and Bird Tautuku Lodge. Friday night ended with a night cap (tea or coffee or cocoa and cookies... I love this place!!) and we were in bed by about 10 pm. I was very thankful for my new sleeping bag because even with our heater on, our room was only about 14 C, or 57 F. Better than no heat, though!
The next morning we headed out to the Forest and Bird Te Rere Reserve in the South Catlins. It was about 40 km from the lodge, but due to some strong storms a few weeks back, the main road underwent some major slumping. Instead we drove in a huge circle around that road, about a 2 hour drive in all. The 13 of us met up with 25(ish) other people and planted many different types of plants including Lemonwood, Cabbage trees, Fuchsia, Hebe, and a few others. As you can see in the image below, each plant was carefully placed in the ground and tenderly protected. It took all morning and an hour after lunch to plant all 480 plants!
This was an incredible opportunity. The Te Rere Reserve is not open to the public except for one day every year, when volunteers come in and plant 500 plants. I was one of the lucky people who got to come help out and I feel incredibly honoured.
This reserve is 61 hectares (~150 acres) and is a prominent area for yellow-eyed penguins, also known as hōihos. Extensive farming and a devastating fire in 1995 have had a huge toll on penguin populations, so the purpose of the weekend's trip was to try and restore some of the natural land that the penguins rely on.
As I mentioned above, 480 of the plants were planted like this hebe. We planted the remaining 20 plants much closer to the ocean.
The view was alright, I guess...
This reserve is 61 hectares (~150 acres) and is a prominent area for yellow-eyed penguins, also known as hōihos. Extensive farming and a devastating fire in 1995 have had a huge toll on penguin populations, so the purpose of the weekend's trip was to try and restore some of the natural land that the penguins rely on.
As I mentioned above, 480 of the plants were planted like this hebe. We planted the remaining 20 plants much closer to the ocean.
The view was alright, I guess...
We (the 13 of us from Dunedin) sat down near the ocean in hopes of seeing a few hōiho emerge from the water. It's still early in the season, so our chances weren't great. Sadly, after a good half hour of silently waiting, our leaders gently told us it was time to leave. Everyone's spirits were down but it was time to get back to the lodge and make dinner.
As we were walking back to the van, we ran into one of the Forest and Bird Volunteers. "Come quickly!" he said, "I've got a penguin for you all to see!" We all excitedly (and silently) walked about 10 minutes further away from the car, and WE SAW A PENGUIN. Before I left the states, I jokingly told a lot of people that I chose to study abroad in New Zealand just to see a penguin. Well, folks, it happened! Unfortunately all my pictures are terrible, but you get the idea:
After seeing this penguin, I was on cloud nine. I had accomplished what I came here to do and it was only day 14! I suppose I better think up a few more things for my New Zealand bucket list :)
Saturday night, after a delicious dinner of chicken, veggies and apple crisp, some of us walked outside and saw the most amazing array of stars. I've seen the Milky Way before, driving through rural areas. But I've never seen it like that. Not only could I see the white strip of the Milky Way from horizon to horizon, but I could also see the darker areas from space dust. I love seeing the stars. The view might've even beat seeing that penguin - it's definitely a close call. I also saw my favourite constellation, Orion. It was upside down. I'm not sure if that's because I'm in the southern hemisphere or what (clearly I don't know much about stars) but I don't think I've seen the whole constellation that clearly before! We also saw Venus and Saturn. Amazing amazing amazing.
On Sunday the 12th, we packed up camp early and left for Otanomomo Scientific Reserve. This was part dairy farm, part Forest and Bird reserve. We helped weed, which primarily consisted of pulling vines down from trees. To be completely honest, I was a little cranky on Sunday. It was much colder on Sunday, my boots were still wet from Saturday so my feet were cold and damp, and pulling the vines was frustrating work. That being said, we definitely made a difference in the forest. From the time we started to when we took a lunch break, it was possible to see through a lot more trees - there weren't nearly as many vines tangling and choking them out. That was pretty cool to see! Unfortunately, I was pretty numb and dirty from all the weeding, so I didn't get a picture of our worksite.
After lunch we weeded for 45 more minutes then took a walk around the property. Talk about cool stuff. This was basically untouched forest and the plants were super neat to see! We were walking pretty quickly so most of my pictures are green blurs, but I got a few cool ones.
Saturday night, after a delicious dinner of chicken, veggies and apple crisp, some of us walked outside and saw the most amazing array of stars. I've seen the Milky Way before, driving through rural areas. But I've never seen it like that. Not only could I see the white strip of the Milky Way from horizon to horizon, but I could also see the darker areas from space dust. I love seeing the stars. The view might've even beat seeing that penguin - it's definitely a close call. I also saw my favourite constellation, Orion. It was upside down. I'm not sure if that's because I'm in the southern hemisphere or what (clearly I don't know much about stars) but I don't think I've seen the whole constellation that clearly before! We also saw Venus and Saturn. Amazing amazing amazing.
On Sunday the 12th, we packed up camp early and left for Otanomomo Scientific Reserve. This was part dairy farm, part Forest and Bird reserve. We helped weed, which primarily consisted of pulling vines down from trees. To be completely honest, I was a little cranky on Sunday. It was much colder on Sunday, my boots were still wet from Saturday so my feet were cold and damp, and pulling the vines was frustrating work. That being said, we definitely made a difference in the forest. From the time we started to when we took a lunch break, it was possible to see through a lot more trees - there weren't nearly as many vines tangling and choking them out. That was pretty cool to see! Unfortunately, I was pretty numb and dirty from all the weeding, so I didn't get a picture of our worksite.
After lunch we weeded for 45 more minutes then took a walk around the property. Talk about cool stuff. This was basically untouched forest and the plants were super neat to see! We were walking pretty quickly so most of my pictures are green blurs, but I got a few cool ones.
After our walk we piled back in the van and drove back to Dunedin, arriving around 4:30. This left just enough time to take a hot shower, eat some dinner, then just relax. I was exhausted after such a long weekend!
On Monday morning, I woke up to an email that my professor wasn't feeling well so my 9 am was canceled. After a brief celebration (consisting of a big yawn and turning off all my alarms), I went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. That felt wonderful! Throughout yesterday and today I finished up a paper for my PHSE (sociology of sport) class that's due Wednesday morning. It's done, so that's a good feeling.
I don't have much planned for the rest of the week - a trip to the grocery store is long overdue, I need to do some laundry, and I should start thinking about my English project. But life is pretty darn good! I miss you all and I hope you're enjoying the hot summer while I meander to class in a jacket and gloves.
One more thing - you may have noticed that I'm spelling some words strangely (e.g. favourite). This is not because I'm trying to be cool, though I do feel cool! I have to write papers in all three of my classes this semester and I don't want to stand out as "that foreign girl who spells 'color' wrong". I changed my language on my computer to English Australia (NZ wasn't an option) so words keep auto-correcting to insert the 'u' and such. It's kind of fun for me to see all the unique spellings! The one I'm having a lot of trouble with is kerb (curb). It just looks strange to me. But it's all part of the culture! I'm enjoying learning new things, in and out of the classroom!
On Monday morning, I woke up to an email that my professor wasn't feeling well so my 9 am was canceled. After a brief celebration (consisting of a big yawn and turning off all my alarms), I went back to bed and slept for a few more hours. That felt wonderful! Throughout yesterday and today I finished up a paper for my PHSE (sociology of sport) class that's due Wednesday morning. It's done, so that's a good feeling.
I don't have much planned for the rest of the week - a trip to the grocery store is long overdue, I need to do some laundry, and I should start thinking about my English project. But life is pretty darn good! I miss you all and I hope you're enjoying the hot summer while I meander to class in a jacket and gloves.
One more thing - you may have noticed that I'm spelling some words strangely (e.g. favourite). This is not because I'm trying to be cool, though I do feel cool! I have to write papers in all three of my classes this semester and I don't want to stand out as "that foreign girl who spells 'color' wrong". I changed my language on my computer to English Australia (NZ wasn't an option) so words keep auto-correcting to insert the 'u' and such. It's kind of fun for me to see all the unique spellings! The one I'm having a lot of trouble with is kerb (curb). It just looks strange to me. But it's all part of the culture! I'm enjoying learning new things, in and out of the classroom!