Can't be bothered to waste any of our precious internet by uploading pictures, but hopefully will put some up soon.
August:
Round two of the south island was pretty spectacular. We (Eric my flat mate from Mass and I) flew into Christchuch (before the massive earthquake) and spent the first day wandering around, driving for the first time in seven months, and basking in the complete absence of tests and papers. After picking up Taryn and Beenie (two neighbors, from Atlanta and Montreal, respectively) from the airport, the four of us proceeded onward to Akaroa, a quaint seaside town. All was splendid until our not-so-lovely ace rental car that we gave a less than endearing name to decided to smoke up. Turned out the brake pads were VERY worn down. After walking along one of the finger-like projections, Le Bon Bay if my memory serves correctly, we headed back to ChCh to join up with Garrett and Jack, two of our neighbors both from NorCal.
Our travels through the next few days included driving through Arthur's Pass (sans snow/ice, thank goodness, and plus a LOT of rain and ausgezeichnet rainbows!) Greymouth had a very nice hostel that we spent two nights at. Around Greymouth are some amazing "pancake rocks", very unique, not quite explained geologically, and a creepy dark cavern! This was the day we were finally able to play ipods in the car, which was an added perk. Franz Josef glacier was AMAZING! Glaciers are so cool! Possibly the greatest natural phenomenon I've ever seen (although I'm confident the Amazon would one-up it for me). One of the only real problems with New Zealand is a severe lack of native animals. Sure they've got some birds, plants, and fish, but as far as mammals go, it's just native bats and introduced farm animals + the loathed possums. From the glacier we went on an hour drive that ended up being closer to three and a half hours to Wanaka, a calm city outside of Queenstown. We unfortunately just missed meeting up with yet another neighbor, Jools from Scotland, as we arrived in town late and quite exhausted.
Wanaka felt VERY vacation-y. The boys hiked Roy's Peak, a pretty considerable feat with quite a bit of altitude, while Taryn and I explored the countryside. The cows along the road were bizarre and the sheep were antisocial. Next stop in the adventure wagon = QUEENSTOWN, the most fun city in the world! If you're into adventure, that is. After driving down some ridiculously steep switch backs, we arrived in one of my favorite cities in the world, and she was just as great as I had originally reckoned. Cold weather was quite fun for me and I even played in the snow (which is a cultural experience for a so cal gal). Perhaps the most amusing of our many days in Queenstown was the one I dub 'passively participating' watched other people bungy jump, jet boat, ski, and just about everything else. We drove up to the ski resort (hence the opportunity to play in the snow) then drove back down. Learned many an entertaining card game in the hostel. Milford Sound = still amazing. Also, can't forget meeting up with Nelson and Kelsey (NY and Kiwi) a few times in town. The eight of us went ice skating and it was AWESOME! I only fell once and it wasn't too bad, all things considered.
Haven't yet mentioned the actual hostel experience: it's bizarre and fabulous at the same time. Staying by myself at a hostel in Melbourne was not nearly so fun as staying with friends. The community aspect works out quite well and it's a relief to have a safe, warm place to sleep for around 20$ NZ a night. That being said, a lot of people in the hostels are really interesting, if a bit odd, but most of all friendly. Towards the beginning of the trip I had a rather violent cold and couldn't sleep much, which was a bummer, but that took care of itself by Queenstown. Luging in Queenstown (think driving a mario kart style go kart down a reasonably inclined slope) was fun, but I was definitely the scaredy cat in the group (even though I'm the only one who did any of the jumps while in NZ! weird eh?) We wrapped things up in Queenstown and I headed to Lake Tekapo with Eric, Jack, and Garrett for a little hike then onward to the earthquake devastated ChCh. The damage was as bad as the news media had made it seem, but it will still be a bit of a disaster to finance and they're STILL getting aftershocks, which must be frustrating and tiring for all the folks down there. My friend Sarah graciously let us stay the night and even treated the four of us to a delicious breakfast. Kiwi hospitality at its best! Garrett and Jack dropped us off at the airport, as they stayed a day longer. After shuffling to and from the airport, flying to Auckland, bus to Uni, finally home, I happily did my laundry.
A few weeks later I went up north to Cape Reinga with Taryn, Eric, and Jon (another American, from Pennsylvania). After very tentative (ie non existent) planning, we scrambled to get a car the afternoon we left. All was well on the road, until I got ridiculously nauseous and we realized all the hostels closed at 9 (we wouldn't be anywhere near them until at least 10 PM.) We made some plans for sleeping in the car, still too cold to sleep outside, but thankfully found somewhere open as we rolled through Kaitaia. This place was a relief, but it was also kind of filthy. The whole place smelled like cigarettes, the staff was drinking and smoking when we arrived, and we were quite pleased to get out of there bright & early. We checked out some awesome wood work and a staircase made from a tree trunk (much cooler than it sounds) and then stumbled upon a beach with THE most awesome sea shells. Glorious! Unfortunately, a bunch of whales had recently beached so we also witnessed their burial. Checked out the massive sand dunes: amazing! SO COOL! The pictures look like real desert, maybe the Sahara. Cape Reinga was nice, not too busy.
Since then I haven't done much traveling. Been watching a lot of movies recently and hanging out with friends and neighbors while I'm still on the same side of the world as them. Of course huge amounts of studying. Wrote a reasonably decent paper on Camus's views on the absurd and revolt in the last couple of days. Writing essays seems so foreign to me after all these lab reports and problem sets. Psychology was moderately interesting, but one of the lecturers was VERY antimedicine and seemingly anti science which definitely irritated me. My pharmacy class has proven to be quite interesting, although complementary and alternative medicines not-so-much. The lecture on tobacco was VERY well done. After all that information I'm so relieved to not be a smoker, nicotine does some pretty gnarly things to the brain. German has been going very well. I really like foreign language, but am not confident that I'll ever be fluent in anything besides English. Hopefully I can continue taking it at SB. My study load next semester is going to be very demanding: p chem, materials, ChE stats, heat transfer, and German.
After lectures tomorrow, I'm heading to Whakatane with my friend Nicole. Should be a great time. She's one of my best friends here and I will be sad to leave her in NZ :( After this mini vacation, it's nose to the grind stone for me (I'm sure I just butchered that) to prepare for final exams. Then it's to the tropics...hello Tonga!! With Eric and Carmen. Then some more shuffling around in New Zealand and CALIFORNIA in December!!! Leaving summer for winter doesn't sound too appealing, but I am so overwhelmingly excited to see my family, friends, and of course, Frodo. Also very pleased to be meeting my niece, Isabella, who's nearly three weeks old and an amazing crying machine, from what I'm told. I'm not happy about leaving the South Pacific and all the friends I've made over the year, but I don't have any complaints or regrets about returning to California, which I think is definitely a job well done for an abroad student.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
South Island Adventure, P. I
So far the south island has been awesome. We flew into Christchurch (ChCh), found a bunch of cool nature stuff and drove around. The next day we headed to Akaroa, a quaint waterside town, with super hilly driving that killed the brake pads on the car. After some interesting navigating to the airport, we collected the rest of the travel crew (there are six of us) and spent another night in ChCh. Next stop was Greymouth, where we stayed at a luxury (but budget!) hostel and ventured out to see the pancake rocks and a very dark cavern. Yesterday we walked ('hiked', but hardly) on Franz Josef glacier and drove another three hours to Wanaka. The six of us are getting along great, I couldn't ask for a nicer group of people to hang out with! Only down side is I'm a bit sick and consequently cough through the night. Pictures and a much more elaborate, entertaining description in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Rain rain rain
To say Auckland is rainy would be a gross understatement. At least winter's starting to wrap up and my heater's working.
My class selection this semester has proven quite random, especially because two of the courses are broad topics (psych something and pharmacy). A lot of the time I feel like the reading for my philsophy class is ridiculous; the authors will ramble on and on, change their minds halfway through, then reach no actual conclusion. I still like some of the existentialist ideas, but a lot of the literature is nauseatingly (hahaha) dull. Besides that, I'm a couple of chpater into The Picture of Dorian Gray and a few pages into On the Road and Nausea. Recently I've been wanting to revisit some books from high school, but am reluctant to buy them again, so will wait until I'm back in the vine. German has been going well; my first grammar test felt okay, but writing sentences was frustrating because my knowledge of sentence structure is so rudimentary. Every sentence basically reads "He likes whatever. She wears whatever. They are clean(ing) the house apartment." Learning the implied spelling patterns has been interesting. I now have so much more respect for people who are fluent in more than one language, it's more difficult than I had assumed!
In other news, semester break is on FRIDAY!! Couldn't be more excited to head back to the South Island. All the rain has kept me around Auckland much more than I would have liked; more exploring will be great. Also, my flatmate Eric takes fancy pictures so now the photos of places I go will look as amazing as the places themselves. I'm probably most excited for Milford Sound and Franz Josef Glacier (couldn't go on it last time because of the weather :( ). Six of us are flying into Christchurch; from there, we're going to Akaroa, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, Greymouth, and several other places. The habitats on the south island are strikingly diverse, although lacking in cute mammals (missing the roos of Australia!)
Our flat is in a state of constant disaster. For a while I was overcompensating by cleaning all the time, but there's no point. I'm trying to not care anymore. It's much more frustrating than it should be. That being said, it's much dirtier than it should be. Besides that, we're getting on quite nicely here and have many great visitors. I do get a tad jealous that my friends and family aren't the ones on the couch. My wave of homesickness has subsided and I'm sure going on vacation again (yes, again!) will put me in a great mood. By then I reckon the homesickness will have transformed into missing NZ whilst still here. Moving back to California will be bizarre. In other news, I'm so excited that my brother got a job at UCSF, so he won't be in Mass anymore! Great news, especially considering I'll be an aunt in a couple of months now!
Should get back to studying German. In retrospect, I should've signed up for more language courses this semester instead of psych and philosophy, but I didn't realize I would like it so much.
My class selection this semester has proven quite random, especially because two of the courses are broad topics (psych something and pharmacy). A lot of the time I feel like the reading for my philsophy class is ridiculous; the authors will ramble on and on, change their minds halfway through, then reach no actual conclusion. I still like some of the existentialist ideas, but a lot of the literature is nauseatingly (hahaha) dull. Besides that, I'm a couple of chpater into The Picture of Dorian Gray and a few pages into On the Road and Nausea. Recently I've been wanting to revisit some books from high school, but am reluctant to buy them again, so will wait until I'm back in the vine. German has been going well; my first grammar test felt okay, but writing sentences was frustrating because my knowledge of sentence structure is so rudimentary. Every sentence basically reads "He likes whatever. She wears whatever. They are clean(ing) the house apartment." Learning the implied spelling patterns has been interesting. I now have so much more respect for people who are fluent in more than one language, it's more difficult than I had assumed!
In other news, semester break is on FRIDAY!! Couldn't be more excited to head back to the South Island. All the rain has kept me around Auckland much more than I would have liked; more exploring will be great. Also, my flatmate Eric takes fancy pictures so now the photos of places I go will look as amazing as the places themselves. I'm probably most excited for Milford Sound and Franz Josef Glacier (couldn't go on it last time because of the weather :( ). Six of us are flying into Christchurch; from there, we're going to Akaroa, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, Greymouth, and several other places. The habitats on the south island are strikingly diverse, although lacking in cute mammals (missing the roos of Australia!)
Our flat is in a state of constant disaster. For a while I was overcompensating by cleaning all the time, but there's no point. I'm trying to not care anymore. It's much more frustrating than it should be. That being said, it's much dirtier than it should be. Besides that, we're getting on quite nicely here and have many great visitors. I do get a tad jealous that my friends and family aren't the ones on the couch. My wave of homesickness has subsided and I'm sure going on vacation again (yes, again!) will put me in a great mood. By then I reckon the homesickness will have transformed into missing NZ whilst still here. Moving back to California will be bizarre. In other news, I'm so excited that my brother got a job at UCSF, so he won't be in Mass anymore! Great news, especially considering I'll be an aunt in a couple of months now!
Should get back to studying German. In retrospect, I should've signed up for more language courses this semester instead of psych and philosophy, but I didn't realize I would like it so much.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Week 1
And so begins the second semester of university in New Zealand. Classes have been interesting thus far, although later in the day then I'd prefer. This semester I'm enrolled (they spell it enrol and enroled here, it drives me nuts!): Pharmacy 111G, Philosophy 215, Psychology 108, and German 101.
Pharmacy 101, "Drugs in Society", is a general education course designed for students with a non-science background and since engineering is technically not sciene, I don't feel guilty for taking it. Before the first few lectures the course tutor (TA) warned us they would be confusing, but it's smooth sailing so far. We're learning basic terminology (affinity, efficacy, LD50, Emax, etc.) and how drugs enter the cell (although on a level rudimentary enough to be, effectively, useless). I am, however, relieved that we aren't learning the structure of an atom, which I've learned more times than I care to count. You know a course is promising when you talk about horse tranquilizers, caffeine, and ketamine on the first day, right? We have to do a portfolio of news articles pertaining to drugs in society which is ever so slightly irritating. I haven't done a portfolio since high school writing and the word reminds me of diorama which reminds me of annoying, useless grade school projects.
Philosophy 215, French philosophy of the 20th century. Luckily my flatmate, Christoph, is taking the course, too. The reading looks promising, lectures are looking not too engaging. The lecturer seems quite nice and accommodating of "artistic renderings", but is rather soft spoken and tricky to follow. Being in technical classes for so long I've really taken structured, straightforward lectures for granted. Topics we're covering haven't been very confusing, but a lot of the discussion has been quite vague. So much waffling. Not sure how the term paper will go, but there's plenty of time to sort that out before it's due.
Psych 108 is rather dry, but promises to be maximum grade with minimal effort, so no complaints.
German 101! Foreign language. So far it's going well and I'm picking up words faster than I expected, but it certainly isn't easy for me. German grammar is quite different from English and Latin, a bit elusive at times, but I have lots of great help at my finger tips, so no worries there.
Most of the people living in my residential complex (PSV) last semester have moved out. The new neighbors and flatmates are lovely! My flat is getting along beautifully and I'm so happy to live with them (Nathan from Tauranga, Megan from Wellington, Ash from Wellington, Christoph from Germany ... can't remember which region right now, and Eric from Mass). That's all for now, should get some actual work done!
Pharmacy 101, "Drugs in Society", is a general education course designed for students with a non-science background and since engineering is technically not sciene, I don't feel guilty for taking it. Before the first few lectures the course tutor (TA) warned us they would be confusing, but it's smooth sailing so far. We're learning basic terminology (affinity, efficacy, LD50, Emax, etc.) and how drugs enter the cell (although on a level rudimentary enough to be, effectively, useless). I am, however, relieved that we aren't learning the structure of an atom, which I've learned more times than I care to count. You know a course is promising when you talk about horse tranquilizers, caffeine, and ketamine on the first day, right? We have to do a portfolio of news articles pertaining to drugs in society which is ever so slightly irritating. I haven't done a portfolio since high school writing and the word reminds me of diorama which reminds me of annoying, useless grade school projects.
Philosophy 215, French philosophy of the 20th century. Luckily my flatmate, Christoph, is taking the course, too. The reading looks promising, lectures are looking not too engaging. The lecturer seems quite nice and accommodating of "artistic renderings", but is rather soft spoken and tricky to follow. Being in technical classes for so long I've really taken structured, straightforward lectures for granted. Topics we're covering haven't been very confusing, but a lot of the discussion has been quite vague. So much waffling. Not sure how the term paper will go, but there's plenty of time to sort that out before it's due.
Psych 108 is rather dry, but promises to be maximum grade with minimal effort, so no complaints.
German 101! Foreign language. So far it's going well and I'm picking up words faster than I expected, but it certainly isn't easy for me. German grammar is quite different from English and Latin, a bit elusive at times, but I have lots of great help at my finger tips, so no worries there.
Most of the people living in my residential complex (PSV) last semester have moved out. The new neighbors and flatmates are lovely! My flat is getting along beautifully and I'm so happy to live with them (Nathan from Tauranga, Megan from Wellington, Ash from Wellington, Christoph from Germany ... can't remember which region right now, and Eric from Mass). That's all for now, should get some actual work done!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Austraaaaalia
Just got back from a splendid two week vacation ("holiday") in Australia. To start, I had several misconceptions about Australia before heading over
(1) Australia is hot. This is not false, but certainly not uniformly true. Upon arriving in Melbourne, I was less than impressed by the 4° C weather and the wind chill. I was, however, quite impressed by the lovely animals at the Melbourne Zoo, and very thankful to have great friends who picked me up from the airport in the morning :)
(2) Koalas have a lot of character. False, although they are nothing short of precious, they tend to be quite boring to watch. I reckon it's all the eucalyptus.
(3) Kangaroos are zoo animals. FALSE. They are all over the place! Even the ones in the zoos and wildlife parks seem to diverge from usual "wild animal behavior". Also, I'm still surprised by the diversity of the marsupials over there, really quite different from other mammals.
(4) I guess it's all the Mercator projections from school, but I hadn't realized how massive Australia is.
ANYHOW, after arriving in Melbourne and checking out the zoo, my friend Carmen and I also toured around the city (missing many a free tourist shuttle bus), ending up at the Victoria Market, Docklands, Crown Casino, and above all, the rejuvenating Yarra River. While in Melbourne, I stayed the Elephant International Backpacker and enjoyed meeting (mostly just curiously observing) the various people staying there. Watched several strange movies and learned my fair share about AFL (quite the big deal over in Oz). The people I met there were interesting, and I especially enjoyed the fact that another backpacker was wearing a panda hat/beanie! (Although mine is MUCH cooler). Also wandered over to the War Memorial/shrine. I find it curious that ANZAC soldiers receive so much more respect, recognition, and devotion from their nations than Americans, espeically considering how massive the US keeps its armed forces.
A few days of weather less than 10° during vacation proved more than enough, so Carmen and I booked a flight up north to the warmth (the southern hemisphere still confuses me in that regard) of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast = magical! We stayed in Surfers Paradise, I kid you not, SURFERS PARADISE, Australia!! We enjoyed not being tourists and hassling the party tour sales people who would without fail ask any young paserby "hey, you ladies partying tonight?" "you boys want to check out the clubs?". The Beer Garden had $3 Happy Hour, which is virtually unheard of in New Zealand. As a side note, while in Australia I also went to Phillip's Island and saw the world's smallest (33-35 cm tall) penguins scurry across the shore-- very cute, but very cold. Anyhow, we went to the Australia (Steve Irwin) Zoo and were absolutely appalled by the live show. The crocodile, though impressive, didn't seen keen on acting the relentlessy irritating Bindi Irwin. Her singing/dancing routine was horrific, and the shameless promotion of her books/movies/what not was extremely disappointing. Growing up Steve Irwin was definitely a hero of mine, and it was distressing to see how his child seemed to be a cash machine. Much to Carmen's delight we saw wombats being walked on a leash through the zoo! Besides the two keepers managing the wombat, there was a wagon for it to hop into when it got too tired to walk back to it's enclosure--that's the life. Although characterized by extreme laziness, many native Australian creatures become quite threaning when intimidated or provoked.
The town Surfers Paradise reminded me of IV, although much more commercial, certainly cleaner, and with some occupants outside the 17-24 age group. That's all for now, I'm quite worn out from travels and meeting my awesome new flatmates!
(1) Australia is hot. This is not false, but certainly not uniformly true. Upon arriving in Melbourne, I was less than impressed by the 4° C weather and the wind chill. I was, however, quite impressed by the lovely animals at the Melbourne Zoo, and very thankful to have great friends who picked me up from the airport in the morning :)
(2) Koalas have a lot of character. False, although they are nothing short of precious, they tend to be quite boring to watch. I reckon it's all the eucalyptus.
(3) Kangaroos are zoo animals. FALSE. They are all over the place! Even the ones in the zoos and wildlife parks seem to diverge from usual "wild animal behavior". Also, I'm still surprised by the diversity of the marsupials over there, really quite different from other mammals.
(4) I guess it's all the Mercator projections from school, but I hadn't realized how massive Australia is.
ANYHOW, after arriving in Melbourne and checking out the zoo, my friend Carmen and I also toured around the city (missing many a free tourist shuttle bus), ending up at the Victoria Market, Docklands, Crown Casino, and above all, the rejuvenating Yarra River. While in Melbourne, I stayed the Elephant International Backpacker and enjoyed meeting (mostly just curiously observing) the various people staying there. Watched several strange movies and learned my fair share about AFL (quite the big deal over in Oz). The people I met there were interesting, and I especially enjoyed the fact that another backpacker was wearing a panda hat/beanie! (Although mine is MUCH cooler). Also wandered over to the War Memorial/shrine. I find it curious that ANZAC soldiers receive so much more respect, recognition, and devotion from their nations than Americans, espeically considering how massive the US keeps its armed forces.
A few days of weather less than 10° during vacation proved more than enough, so Carmen and I booked a flight up north to the warmth (the southern hemisphere still confuses me in that regard) of the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast = magical! We stayed in Surfers Paradise, I kid you not, SURFERS PARADISE, Australia!! We enjoyed not being tourists and hassling the party tour sales people who would without fail ask any young paserby "hey, you ladies partying tonight?" "you boys want to check out the clubs?". The Beer Garden had $3 Happy Hour, which is virtually unheard of in New Zealand. As a side note, while in Australia I also went to Phillip's Island and saw the world's smallest (33-35 cm tall) penguins scurry across the shore-- very cute, but very cold. Anyhow, we went to the Australia (Steve Irwin) Zoo and were absolutely appalled by the live show. The crocodile, though impressive, didn't seen keen on acting the relentlessy irritating Bindi Irwin. Her singing/dancing routine was horrific, and the shameless promotion of her books/movies/what not was extremely disappointing. Growing up Steve Irwin was definitely a hero of mine, and it was distressing to see how his child seemed to be a cash machine. Much to Carmen's delight we saw wombats being walked on a leash through the zoo! Besides the two keepers managing the wombat, there was a wagon for it to hop into when it got too tired to walk back to it's enclosure--that's the life. Although characterized by extreme laziness, many native Australian creatures become quite threaning when intimidated or provoked.
The town Surfers Paradise reminded me of IV, although much more commercial, certainly cleaner, and with some occupants outside the 17-24 age group. That's all for now, I'm quite worn out from travels and meeting my awesome new flatmates!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Who calls a shot like that? Who makes a decision like that? It's a disturbing trend.?
Writing the first line of anything is a tedious chore, I recalled while starting an essay on biofuels last week. Curiously, most of the literature I found online regarding biofuels as a viable fuel source were unenthusiastic, at best. Even considering the BP oil spill, I am not convinced. In the past the material that has been presented to me has been deceptive and has neglected to mention the crippling effect growing the feed stocks has on staple food item markets. The extent of government subsidization has been vastly misrepresented.
Anyhow, moving on...
Haven't been doing much diving recently, as the weather hasn't looked 100% ando ther things have piled up. We have a "reading period" before exams, which is a strange concept to me. As the semester ends, people have begun packing up and thinking about home. Some of my friends have already left and I know being here next semester without my current flatmates will be weird.
I've spent a bit of time trying to find quality content on youtube. Most of it isn't very good, but a lot of the political commentary is spot on. Has anyone seen Matt Damon's take on Sarah Palin? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk
Excuse the advertisement at the beginning. This is pretty much EXACTLY how I feel. Regardless of your political beliefs, Palin as a VP nominee at the nation wide level is just absurd. ISarah Palin shouldn't be in charge of anything more important than a PTA meeting or bake sale. I'd be concerned if she was on city council, let alone in the White House.
Usually I keep a watch on the political arena, but can't be bothered to actually participate in discussions around. So many people are of the belief that if they read two unopposing articles their opinion is obviously well supported, irrefutable, and correct. It's not that simple. Until you hear Palin attempt to discuss her experience with foreign policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg&feature=channel
Perhaps the best defense of Palin I've heard derives from my friend believing that she stands for the American dream, representing the idea that any American can influence the nation (and globe) through winning political office. While I agree that everyone should have an equal opportunity to serve as a major political figure, I do not believe that just anyone should. Let's break it down-- most people would agree that any student wishing to become a medical doctor should be allowed the education and if they show diligence, a steadfast work ethic, and proper skill, the profession should be an option. While the option should be a possibility for anyone, you certainly wouldn't want your doctor wondering what the difference between a scalpel and a stethoscope is. If a high school math teacher couldn't quite grasp basic algebra or a civil engineer grossly miscalculated a bridge's holding capacity it would be beyond unacceptable. Why then, do we support major party political candidates who are unable to explain their job description or adequately, rationally support major decisions? Why do educated citizens accept the same ill-supported poorly articulated discriminatory legislation time and time again? Because it's the moral choice, to protect the nation, or, my personal favorite, my religious beliefs align most closely with this political agenda.
Anyhow...
I am quite exasperated by people thinking that, as an American, this is pretty much my thought process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
After watching many Americans away from the US interact with others though, the fact that many people around the world have reached this conclusion does not surprise me. I would do the same, and do in fact do the same; when people ask me if I'm American I sigh and nod. It's infuriating to be assoicated with Tim James for Governor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ohsvJHkbY , and Jan Brewer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwOluhbz86c . You would assume that in a nation of 300 million people we could do better.
Back to how it feels to be an American abroad: in a word, embarrassing. I was under the impression that students curious enough to leave home and throw themselves into a foreign setting quite different from the things they had grown accustomed to would share my desire to get out there and explore, to welcome unfamiliar ideas, to try new things, and more than anything, to give things a chance and try to understand before passing judgment -- and I could not have been more wrong.
To my surprise/confusion/displeasure, almost sll of the UC students studying at the University of Auckland spend time with each other, almost exclusively. This is not just a fortnightly dinner party or coffee break, it is quite literally every chance possible. So many people have phoned home requesting products they can't find here, crucial items such as General Mills Cereal, Kool-aid, Betty Crocker mixes, Taco Seasoning (because they don't have that here...oh wait...). Imagine my surprise to find some had even brought microwave dinners (yes, microwave dinners) across the ocean. Seriously? Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of this phenomenon is the people who will return home, feeling as though they really experienced another culture. Barely able to pronounce Maori and completely oblivious to any facet of New Zealand society, many will arrive back in the United States bragging of their amazing new found worldly perspective and priceless friendships. My room mate Adele and I frequently ask each other why some people even bother booking the air fare, when they get here it's as though they never left.
Perhaps the worst things I've heard abroad:
"did you hear about what's happening in Germany?"
"oh, someone sent me a link about something over there. but I didn't read it once I saw the title"
"why's that?"
"well it's not America so I don't care"
"you know, it's kind of shocking that no one knows about the Duchess of York"
"oh, it's Britain. No one really cares about"
while I agree with the sentiment that no one really does care about Britain (hahaha....), that sort of response by Americans to anything not concerning America is so painfully familiar.
on that note, I should get back to reading up on polymers o_O
Anyhow, moving on...
Haven't been doing much diving recently, as the weather hasn't looked 100% ando ther things have piled up. We have a "reading period" before exams, which is a strange concept to me. As the semester ends, people have begun packing up and thinking about home. Some of my friends have already left and I know being here next semester without my current flatmates will be weird.
I've spent a bit of time trying to find quality content on youtube. Most of it isn't very good, but a lot of the political commentary is spot on. Has anyone seen Matt Damon's take on Sarah Palin? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6urw_PWHYk
Excuse the advertisement at the beginning. This is pretty much EXACTLY how I feel. Regardless of your political beliefs, Palin as a VP nominee at the nation wide level is just absurd. ISarah Palin shouldn't be in charge of anything more important than a PTA meeting or bake sale. I'd be concerned if she was on city council, let alone in the White House.
Usually I keep a watch on the political arena, but can't be bothered to actually participate in discussions around. So many people are of the belief that if they read two unopposing articles their opinion is obviously well supported, irrefutable, and correct. It's not that simple. Until you hear Palin attempt to discuss her experience with foreign policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg&feature=channel
Perhaps the best defense of Palin I've heard derives from my friend believing that she stands for the American dream, representing the idea that any American can influence the nation (and globe) through winning political office. While I agree that everyone should have an equal opportunity to serve as a major political figure, I do not believe that just anyone should. Let's break it down-- most people would agree that any student wishing to become a medical doctor should be allowed the education and if they show diligence, a steadfast work ethic, and proper skill, the profession should be an option. While the option should be a possibility for anyone, you certainly wouldn't want your doctor wondering what the difference between a scalpel and a stethoscope is. If a high school math teacher couldn't quite grasp basic algebra or a civil engineer grossly miscalculated a bridge's holding capacity it would be beyond unacceptable. Why then, do we support major party political candidates who are unable to explain their job description or adequately, rationally support major decisions? Why do educated citizens accept the same ill-supported poorly articulated discriminatory legislation time and time again? Because it's the moral choice, to protect the nation, or, my personal favorite, my religious beliefs align most closely with this political agenda.
Anyhow...
I am quite exasperated by people thinking that, as an American, this is pretty much my thought process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
After watching many Americans away from the US interact with others though, the fact that many people around the world have reached this conclusion does not surprise me. I would do the same, and do in fact do the same; when people ask me if I'm American I sigh and nod. It's infuriating to be assoicated with Tim James for Governor, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ohsvJHkbY , and Jan Brewer, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwOluhbz86c . You would assume that in a nation of 300 million people we could do better.
Back to how it feels to be an American abroad: in a word, embarrassing. I was under the impression that students curious enough to leave home and throw themselves into a foreign setting quite different from the things they had grown accustomed to would share my desire to get out there and explore, to welcome unfamiliar ideas, to try new things, and more than anything, to give things a chance and try to understand before passing judgment -- and I could not have been more wrong.
To my surprise/confusion/displeasure, almost sll of the UC students studying at the University of Auckland spend time with each other, almost exclusively. This is not just a fortnightly dinner party or coffee break, it is quite literally every chance possible. So many people have phoned home requesting products they can't find here, crucial items such as General Mills Cereal, Kool-aid, Betty Crocker mixes, Taco Seasoning (because they don't have that here...oh wait...). Imagine my surprise to find some had even brought microwave dinners (yes, microwave dinners) across the ocean. Seriously? Perhaps the most disheartening aspect of this phenomenon is the people who will return home, feeling as though they really experienced another culture. Barely able to pronounce Maori and completely oblivious to any facet of New Zealand society, many will arrive back in the United States bragging of their amazing new found worldly perspective and priceless friendships. My room mate Adele and I frequently ask each other why some people even bother booking the air fare, when they get here it's as though they never left.
Perhaps the worst things I've heard abroad:
"did you hear about what's happening in Germany?"
"oh, someone sent me a link about something over there. but I didn't read it once I saw the title"
"why's that?"
"well it's not America so I don't care"
"you know, it's kind of shocking that no one knows about the Duchess of York"
"oh, it's Britain. No one really cares about"
while I agree with the sentiment that no one really does care about Britain (hahaha....), that sort of response by Americans to anything not concerning America is so painfully familiar.
on that note, I should get back to reading up on polymers o_O
Monday, May 3, 2010
Redquarters Meets Team Ginger
Massive sting ray hangin out by Great Barrier Island ^
A lovely innerisland channel I lovingly refer to as Surge Central. Goodbye 30 bar, hello foot cramps
Mazdak trying to look innocent after putting a ~5 kg boarfish on ME... TOTALLY GROSS. I will have my revenge, and it will be swift and thorough.
With Team Ginga aka Gabby aka the photographer of this post
The lovely spearfishers and divers aboard Redquarters
6 Spearfishers and 6 Scuba divers plus
all of their gear can comfortably
travel across the ocean in
a small dingy:
True or False
Ahh, home sweet home to the hypodermic needles in the sky
2 Nights onboard a Diving/Spearos Backpacker
Monday, April 19, 2010
Picture Update
Above (by Torsten Schmitz), a beautiful view ~10 km into the track.
Left, volcanic activity looks cool!
Below, chatting with the Norwegians. I am standing on a chair.
Above and right (photos by Torsten Schmitz), part of the crossing andme snoozing in the van after 19.4 km
Above Right, showing off back sweat
Awesome dives at Northland Dive this weekend- dived to 30 m with a dive instructor (best dive buddy to have!) and saw: king fish, so many moray eels, long tailed stingray, pink maomao, seastars, coral galore, among other things. Briefly attacked by a fish! No nitrogen narcosis or dive related injuries as of yet. Around are some pictures from Tongariro Crossing and the vase we hand carved from a cucumber. There it is!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Late Autumn Update
Classes have been on for a little over a month and we already get a 2 week break- sweet! Most of the people I know are Kiwis and decided to just go hang out at home, or alternatively are international students going to the South Island. After weeks of somewhat obsessive planning, I ended up with no actual plan. That being said, vacation has been nearly perfect. Started off with sharing a bottle of wine with flatmates after our classes/tests ended Wednesday night, continued northwards to Matauri Bay for epic scuba diving, pranced southwards to Tongariro Alpine Crossing, back to Auckland to chill out/study for a few days, and back north again to the Bay of Islands for some more marine time.
Back to classes: not very interesting, as usual. My mass transfer class is really tough with accompanying labs we don't get any credit for (but fail the course if we don't complete at a satisfactory level); applied chemistry has been pretty easy so far, just review of things I've seen before; stats (applied probability) would have to be my most interesting class, but sneakily gets more difficult by the day; and at last, mind brain and behavior psychology, an epic waste of time. The psych class is designed for first years, but seems around the same level as something I would've taken in 8th grade. In our first lab we trained sniffy the virtual rat to push a lever down; ever since, it's been hard to take the class seriously. Now that we've moved onto developmental psychology things have gotten weird, as a lot of the girls in the class are now a little baby crazy.
Not doing as much tramping (hiking) as I initially expected, but did manage to the famous one day walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. In the last couple of years the name was changed from Tongariro Crossing to better reflect the weather conditions, but I reckon it was done to make the trek sound more treacherous. The track itself is pretty well maintained in most spots; the first 1/3 isn't too pretty, as the elevation prevents most vegetation from thriving. Think brown, everywhere, lots of brown. It was pretty cool to see Mt Doom up close though. Even cooler might be the volcanic activity and sulfur (I refuse to spell it sulphur) lakes (certainly not my favorite aroma). The 5 hour car ride wasn't half bad, mostly spent trying to convince the Germans I went with to go to Disneyland instead of back to Auckland and speaking with a Southern accent.
Diving, in a word: AWESOME. Even the most boring ocean landscapes seem to be filled with interesting marine life. Perhaps because I'm new to it. Moray eels look CREEPY up close and the smaller coral growths/fish are fun to look at. My first real dive was in Matauri Bay at the Rainbow Warrior Wreck; hopefully pictures soon, but it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Growths covering the ship with plentiful fish swarming the area. Camping with the kiwis for a few days at the bay was also great fun, hopefully Bay of Islands will be equally, if not more, cool.
Doing dishes and laundry grows quite tedious, I must admit. If only that would take care of itself..
Back to classes: not very interesting, as usual. My mass transfer class is really tough with accompanying labs we don't get any credit for (but fail the course if we don't complete at a satisfactory level); applied chemistry has been pretty easy so far, just review of things I've seen before; stats (applied probability) would have to be my most interesting class, but sneakily gets more difficult by the day; and at last, mind brain and behavior psychology, an epic waste of time. The psych class is designed for first years, but seems around the same level as something I would've taken in 8th grade. In our first lab we trained sniffy the virtual rat to push a lever down; ever since, it's been hard to take the class seriously. Now that we've moved onto developmental psychology things have gotten weird, as a lot of the girls in the class are now a little baby crazy.
Not doing as much tramping (hiking) as I initially expected, but did manage to the famous one day walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. In the last couple of years the name was changed from Tongariro Crossing to better reflect the weather conditions, but I reckon it was done to make the trek sound more treacherous. The track itself is pretty well maintained in most spots; the first 1/3 isn't too pretty, as the elevation prevents most vegetation from thriving. Think brown, everywhere, lots of brown. It was pretty cool to see Mt Doom up close though. Even cooler might be the volcanic activity and sulfur (I refuse to spell it sulphur) lakes (certainly not my favorite aroma). The 5 hour car ride wasn't half bad, mostly spent trying to convince the Germans I went with to go to Disneyland instead of back to Auckland and speaking with a Southern accent.
Diving, in a word: AWESOME. Even the most boring ocean landscapes seem to be filled with interesting marine life. Perhaps because I'm new to it. Moray eels look CREEPY up close and the smaller coral growths/fish are fun to look at. My first real dive was in Matauri Bay at the Rainbow Warrior Wreck; hopefully pictures soon, but it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Growths covering the ship with plentiful fish swarming the area. Camping with the kiwis for a few days at the bay was also great fun, hopefully Bay of Islands will be equally, if not more, cool.
Doing dishes and laundry grows quite tedious, I must admit. If only that would take care of itself..
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Regarding Holiday
Just got back from taking a 2 week tour around the North and South islands- ridiculously fun! The itinerary: Christchurch, Lake Tekapo, Fiordland/Milford Sound, QUEENSTOWN , Franz Josef Glacier, Arthur's Pass, Kaikoura/Marlborough Sounds, Wellington, Taupo, Rotorua, Waitomo, and back to Auckland.
Highlights include (but are certainly not limited to): jumping off boats, swimming in cold Lake Tekapo, the Nevis (3rd highest bungy in the world), skydiving 15000 ft above Queenstown, black water rafting to see glow worms, zorbing, natural hot pools, cultural show in Rotorua, frolicking on the way to Milford Sound, and meeting tons of great friends. The only downer was missing out on hiking Franz Josef Glacier due to poor weather conditions, bummer!
While the past two weeks have been awesome, jam packed with adventure and beautiful New Zealand, I'm a bit relieved to be back in reality and starting classes on Monday-tomorrow? Well, maybe not too relieved.
That's all for now.
Highlights include (but are certainly not limited to): jumping off boats, swimming in cold Lake Tekapo, the Nevis (3rd highest bungy in the world), skydiving 15000 ft above Queenstown, black water rafting to see glow worms, zorbing, natural hot pools, cultural show in Rotorua, frolicking on the way to Milford Sound, and meeting tons of great friends. The only downer was missing out on hiking Franz Josef Glacier due to poor weather conditions, bummer!
While the past two weeks have been awesome, jam packed with adventure and beautiful New Zealand, I'm a bit relieved to be back in reality and starting classes on Monday-tomorrow? Well, maybe not too relieved.
That's all for now.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Picture Update
Pictures, as promised:
Hiking up Mt. Eden (photo: Malia Nanbara)
A lone sailboat off the coast of Auckland
View of the Central Business District from the water
Scenic New Zealand, water
Tiritiri Matangi Island above
A symbiotic relationship; I personally feel the plant is losing here
All of the EAP NZ students, at our banquet
(photos: taken by someone else...)Although an endangered species,
this bird is really quite a terror.
He kept hassling me and weighs in at about 12 kilos (photo: Malia Nanbara)
More pictures from Tiritiri; tramping up on a guided tour and boats on the sea (photo: Emma Luxton-Reilly)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Early Feb
New Zealand has been about as perfect as I could have imagined- better even. After an easy flight across the Pacific, I stayed in Orewa (about an hour outside of Auckland) with extraordinarily gracious family friends. Between figuring out logistics (cell phone, banking, etc.), browsing the gallery ( http://www.monmogallery.co.nz/ ), walking around town, and playing with the family pets ( Possum, the Bouvier, looks a bit like my Portuguese Water Dog; Pixie and Zippo, although both cats, were very agreeable), transitioning to NZ has been a breeze.
Fellow UCers studying abroad at any of a half dozen or so NZ universities have been quite friendly and willing to go adventuring. Hiking on trails (rather tramping on tracks) is nearly an every day occurrence and the nightlife in the city has been nothing short of fabulous. Even the professional staff program advisors are a blast to talk with, they have so many hilarious stories about Californians getting upto great mischief in NZ.
No pictures yet, I haven't been too keen to tear through my unpacked luggage to find the small USB cord. Think of the greenest grasses, cutest baby animals, bluest skies, and fluffiest clouds you've ever seen- take those images and make them 8 times better. That's about 10% as good as the landscape here. Even with my lacking photography skills, the pictures look great.
Fellow UCers studying abroad at any of a half dozen or so NZ universities have been quite friendly and willing to go adventuring. Hiking on trails (rather tramping on tracks) is nearly an every day occurrence and the nightlife in the city has been nothing short of fabulous. Even the professional staff program advisors are a blast to talk with, they have so many hilarious stories about Californians getting upto great mischief in NZ.
No pictures yet, I haven't been too keen to tear through my unpacked luggage to find the small USB cord. Think of the greenest grasses, cutest baby animals, bluest skies, and fluffiest clouds you've ever seen- take those images and make them 8 times better. That's about 10% as good as the landscape here. Even with my lacking photography skills, the pictures look great.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Back to the Future
January 28th completely disappeared on me; after flying LAX to Tahiti, which was 78 F and humid, I jumped forward to the 29th in Auckland. So far everything here has been delightful, people are especially kind and the greenery is diverse and appears everywhere. Although the language here is English, I think of it as English*. Sometimes it feels as though I'm an ESL student, picking up new terms, phrases, pronunciations, and speech patterns constantly. For example, I wouldn't be careful to avoid the fertilizer in the backyard and hand over the aluminum foil, I would mind the blood and bones out back and please be a dear and pass the al-you-min-yum, thanks.
As a person who's particularly keen on details, I'm having a great time noticing very minor differences and trying to remember them. The light switches are a bit smaller and electrical outlets (of course different, a bit angled) require a flip being switched before current will flow through. Also, coffee is a BIG DEAL. In less than 24 hours I've already been caffeinated on three separate occasions, a milky coffee, flat white, and a cup of tea before bed. The caffeine and my fierce determination to ward off jetlag had me in bed just past 10 PM Friday (7 PM Thursday PST) and up at 7 AM (which is much better than I've been doing in the states).
No pictures yet, still trying to beat up some firewalls for internet access on my laptop.
As a person who's particularly keen on details, I'm having a great time noticing very minor differences and trying to remember them. The light switches are a bit smaller and electrical outlets (of course different, a bit angled) require a flip being switched before current will flow through. Also, coffee is a BIG DEAL. In less than 24 hours I've already been caffeinated on three separate occasions, a milky coffee, flat white, and a cup of tea before bed. The caffeine and my fierce determination to ward off jetlag had me in bed just past 10 PM Friday (7 PM Thursday PST) and up at 7 AM (which is much better than I've been doing in the states).
No pictures yet, still trying to beat up some firewalls for internet access on my laptop.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Hello From California
Don't mind the scenery
(all photos are compliments of google images)
Hello all,
Several people have suggested that I create a blog to update family and friends of my travels. From January 27th-mid November I will be studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand at the University of Auckland. Any and all visitors are very welcome at anytime, besides finals! During my stay in the Pacific, I plan on doing quite a bit of traveling, hopefully throughout the Pacific. Please send suggestions of things to do or places to go if you're familiar with the area.
Here are some New Zealand favorites (or favourites, I suppose):
kiwi birds and sheep!
The flag of course
and finally, my flight!
Check it out, New Zealand's about as far as you can go before coming back. Hopefully future posts will have cool pictures and snazzier formatting. Until then!
(all photos are compliments of google images)Hello all,
Several people have suggested that I create a blog to update family and friends of my travels. From January 27th-mid November I will be studying abroad in Auckland, New Zealand at the University of Auckland. Any and all visitors are very welcome at anytime, besides finals! During my stay in the Pacific, I plan on doing quite a bit of traveling, hopefully throughout the Pacific. Please send suggestions of things to do or places to go if you're familiar with the area.
Here are some New Zealand favorites (or favourites, I suppose):
kiwi birds and sheep!
The flag of course
and finally, my flight!
Check it out, New Zealand's about as far as you can go before coming back. Hopefully future posts will have cool pictures and snazzier formatting. Until then!
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