In Which Papers Start and I Have Homework

Kia ora!

Well, it's official. Classes (called papers here) have started and I'm now back to joining the ranks of university student-dom. Which also means homework has started. Yes, I can hear everyone laughing sweet laughs of revenge, but at least I only have three classes worth of work? :)

The first week of school, as always, is one of those learning curves. I thought I had gotten all of my books, and was rather proud of myself, until I entered my 20th Century Novel class. BOOM! Add nine novels/anthologies we're reading, and suddenly I have nine books on my book list! "Ok," I thought to myself, "I guess that's not horrible..." Then my Australian Writing class comes around, and SHA-ZAM! Another seven novels! The horror! Naturally, I resolved to just go buy the books, but lo' and behold, books here are MUCH more expensive than at home. Because of importing everything, an average book costs about $20 NZD. Often more. Meaning that all around campus this week is the dying cries of student's wallets and bank accounts, and the evil maniacal laughter of the campus bookstore. I ended up finding some used book stores to browse, and got a good portion of my books, but wish me luck as I search for the other half!

About classes though: attendance is not graded. Only one of my two lecturers (I have the same lecturer for both literature classes) keeps track of who shows up, but that's only to figure out why people don't do well on the evaluations. Thus, your grade depends on as few as two evaluations, or up to four. Evaluations, for my three classes are the same, and break down like this (in terms of percentage of overall grade):

Essay 1 25%
Essay 2 25%
Final Test 50%

Talk about sink or swim! One bad assignment and you're down for the rest of the semester. I won't lie that I'm a bit worried about this grading system, but after Dr. Little's America in the 1960s paper, I'm pretty sure I will do fine.

My favorite class, by far so far, however, is Australian Writing and Culture. The Aussies have a very unique set of themes that they write about, and so far I've enjoyed learning about this incredible culture, halfway around the world! At the same time, it's a bit ironic to be studying AUSTRALIAN culture in NEW ZEALAND, but there was no New Zealand literature class with enough hours to make the class count towards graduation. I'm also very much enjoying my War and Society in Europe class, as the lecturer is enthusiastic and super-excitable. I'm one of few people taking it at the 300 level, so the seminar (small discussion group required for most university classes here) is smaller. It should be a good time!

Other highlights of late have been signing up for clubs. Over here, it costs money to join clubs. I don't know why, perhaps that's the only way they make money, but it does. I've signed up for way more clubs than I'll actually be joining (I won't lie, I mostly signed up for ones that were free), but the ones that look most promising are Tramping Club, UCNavs (one of several Christian clubs), and Musical Theatre Club. Among the other clubs here are: ABC - A Brewing Club, Renaissance and Medievel Society, Green Party, Super-Ninjasoc (soc meaning society, and I still have no idea what they actually do), Unicylcing and Juggling Club, Sci-Fi Club, Buddhist Club, Choir, and many, many more.

I also made a trip up to the International Antarctic Center. The Center is fun, though pricey, and it's one of those things that you do once and most likely never do again. It was a fun day though, and I got to see fish that live in -1.1 *C water, survive a simulated Antarctic storm in a chamber that went down to -18 *C with wind chill, and watch blue penguins get fed. Also, the exhibit had a TON of information on Antarctic, and I found out that the coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctic is -89.2 *C, at a Russian base. We all agreed that it figured Russia had the coldest base! Also, did you know that Antarctic is the coldest AND driest place on Earth? It gets less rain fall than the desert!

I also had no idea that 70% of flights that transfer people down to Antarctic fly out of Christchurch! The Center is right across from the airfield where the Hercules plane lifts off and touches down, and the highlight of the day there was definitely seeing people coming OFF the plane from Antarctic. They were quite identifiable, as their coats were a piece of luggage alone, some where still wearing rubber snow shoes, and they all had red bags that can be seen in numerous videos within the Center. We greeted them as they got off, and welcomed them back to double digits! They responded that they just came from double digits, just double digits in the opposite direction.

Oh how time seems to fly these days! A friend and I are planning a weekend up in Kaikoura to swim with either seals or dolphins before the business shuts down for winter. The hard thing about the New Zealand bus system is booking far enough in advance to get a good price. One bus system, Naked Bus, lets you book for $1 a seat if you book months ahead! The only problem is being organized enough to book that far in advance! But my backpack will definitely be getting a good deal of experience on my back and riding in a bus, as the rates are generally not horrible, and hostels are numerous here. Now let’s just see if I can get rid of the fish ‘n chips smell from my day pack. IMPORTANT TIP! Never leave fish n’ chips in your backpack for more than five minutes…


Cheers,
Nicole

Matthew 21:21-22