My First “Flat”

It’s true, I officially have a New Zealand address :) I’m so glad I decided to wait until I arrived here to choose a flat. Pictures don’t do justice a lot of times, and also I was able to judge distance to the uni, downtown, etc. (Note: New Zealanders refer to the university, the campus, and classes as “uni.”)

It turned out that speed-flatting wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was under the impression that a shuttle/taxi was going to take us around to flats that had a vacant room. In actuality, it was designed so that people looking for a flat could meet people looking for a flatmate, but not actually view the flat itself then and there. Unfortunately, when I went on Wednesday, the only people that were there were also looking for a flat. So there wasn’t a whole lot we could do for each other. We just walked around and introduced ourselves, with the idea being that we would find someone to hunt for a flat with. By the end of the allotted time, there were 4 of us left chatting, so we decided to walk around and look at some of the flats on the list. We  looked at about 3 or 4 before we found our lovely new home.

Our flat is a little bit of a walk from uni (about 20-25 min), so we were a little iffy about it while walking there. It’s also up a hill, which isn’t particularly ideal (although it does provide a beautiful view of the rest of the city). But as soon as we walked in, we fell in love with the place. It’s about as fully furnished as you could possibly imagine (which was probably the most important consideration for me). Each of the 4 bedrooms has a queen size bed, as well as a desk and/or wardrobe and/or bookshelf and/or extreme closet space. The kitchen is huge and comes with a dishwasher, stove, oven, microwave, toaster, cookbooks, and every utensil/dish/bowl you could ever need. There is a large dining room/lounge with a table, chairs, couches, and a sewing machine. There’s a cute little foyer area too with a huge bookcase/cabinet thing. The only downside is that there’s only one bathroom (but that is also large).

We also have a washing machine but no dryer. But most people actually don’t use dryers in NZ; they all hang their clothes to dry outside. They’re pretty big on energy conservation here. I usually hang like half my clothes to dry anyway so this won’t really be an adjustment. Plus we have a back porch with an awning over it, so we can hang our clothes under there to make sure they actually dry. We also have another table, more chairs, and couch on our back porch, so we can eat dinner out there while the weather’s still nice. We have a garage too, and only one of us has a car so it’s perfect. There’s also 4 bikes in the garage (2 are currently functional), so that provides an alternative to always walking. Also the bus stop is less than 5 minutes away, so it’s actually a great location. Our front yard is a hill, so you can’t do a whole lot on the lawn (which is small anyway). Directly behind our house is a giant rock formation-esque wall, and above that is the “jungle” (just what we’re calling it). There’s some fruit trees and such up there among the foliage. It’s pretty dense and would be quite scary at night, so we’ve decided we’re going to film a horror movie back there.

“We” consists of 4 of us, as you could guess from the number of bedrooms. There’s me, a girl from Dunedin (Ella), a guy from a town just south of Auckland (Tim), and a guy from India (Manu). Ella is in her 2nd year at OU, Tim's in his 4th, and Manu is getting a postgrad diploma. Tim, Manu, and I met at speed-flatting on Wednesday. We were originally going to live with someone else we met that day, but he wasn’t keen on the distance from uni. So we went back to speed-flatting the next day to find a 4th flatmate and met Ella. When we were looking for a 4th on Thursday, people kept asking the 3 of us “how did you guys meet?” And we’d say, “um yesterday…here…haha.” We all got on so well from the beginning that I guess it seemed like we’d all known each other a bit longer. I’m not always the best at gauging others on their first impressions, but I think this will work out quite well.

Also we’ve decided to take turns cooking dinner every night, so I can get some practice at being an adult. At CMU I was the queen of frozen dinners/spaghettios/easy mac, so we’ll see how I fare here. Manu says he doesn’t really know a lot of NZ/American dishes, so I think we will be having Indian food every 4th night. Apparently he knows how to make 12 different cheese curries, so I’m looking forward to his culinary delights. Ella doesn’t eat meat (and Manu doesn’t eat beef or pork), so hopefully I’ll get to learn some good vegetarian dishes. Tim and I plan to fry up a ridiculous amount of bacon every Sunday morning, so we’ve got all the bases covered. It should be a good year.

Coming soon: update on thesis plans. I’m moving into the flat today, but I don’t think we’ll have internet for at least a few days. So it may be awhile, but I’ll try to be quick!

NZ vs US

Just a little something for entertainment purposes until I have time to give a real update. And ok actually it’s not a competition. It’s just a list of similarities and differences. But if I’m being completely honest, NZ would be winning the hypothetical competition right now. 

Similarities

• The OU campus is pretty much like any other US college campus I’ve seen
  
• People enjoy partying/drinking/general shenanigans
  
• I have seen McD, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks
  
• There is a club called The Monkey Bar that used to be a church. From what I understand, it’s quite similar to the Church Brewery in Pittsburgh (except, of course, that’s in a wild club instead of a chilled out brewery)

Differences

• They say “ay” at the end of a lot of their sentences, even if it’s not a question (I might as well have driven 20 min over the border for this)
  
• They have gummy bears knock-offs that taste exactly the same. Only they’re called Jelly Babies and are actually shaped like babies. Mildly disturbing
  
• An obvious one: they drive on the left side of the road. It may seem like this wouldn’t affect someone without a car, but even as a pedestrian it takes some getting used to.
  
• Everything is so much more relaxed here! People are nowhere NEAR as racially sensitive as they are in the US. You can walk around with open alcohol on the streets. People are literally falling to the ground in bars/clubs because they are so drunk, and the bouncers just look at them and walk away (not saying this is necessarily a good difference, but definitely entertaining). The atmosphere is just relaxed. Overall, it’s fantastic and such a relief. No one has a stick up their ass about some random non-issue.
  
• Generally, but not always, the toilet, shower, and sink are all located in a different room (sometimes one giant room, but have a door separating all 3).
  
• Crystal meth is known as P. (I didn’t become a junkie, I read it in a magazine.)
  
• They have a ton of fish and chips places. There is a fish and chips place near the library that has fries better than McD. I may have already eaten there like 5 times.
  
• A master’s thesis is called a dissertation, and a doctoral dissertation is called a thesis. So when I get back to the US, I may be able to pretend I have a PhD- I can talk about the dissertation I wrote ;)
  
• If you like something, you’re “keen on” whatever it is.
  
• Parking lots are called car parks
  
• If you say something sarcastic, you say "Jokes!" after it. For example, someone could say, "Jackie is the most punctual person I know. Jokes!"
  
• Currency is also in dollars, but the only bills they have are $100, $50, $20, $10, and $5. They have coins that are $2, $1, 50c, 20c, and 10c. They have nothing lower than 10c. The price of everything either ends in 0 or is rounded up. It's actually quite nice to not have nickels and pennies, although it's a little difficult getting used to the spastic amount of coins.

There’s plenty more, of course, but that’s what I could think of off the top of my head. More to come later on I’m sure. I hope to give more of an update on my actual life in the near future, possibly this weekend. I’m surprisingly busy right now, and there will be a lot to tell once I get a chance to jot it down.

Earthquake in Christchurch

Just wanted to give a quick update about the earthquake that hit NZ yesterday. It hit Christchurch, which is a prominent city on the east coast of the south island (about 5-6 hours north of where I am). 

(Sorry if that’s a little hard to see. I’m a Paint novice.)

I heard about it shortly after it happened, but didn’t think much of it. NZ is infamous for its earthquakes due to the fact that the country lies on a fault line. A majority of the earthquakes are either never felt or cause no damage to speak of. Unfortunately, this most recent one was 6.3 on the Richter scale.


Some may recall a 7.1 quake that hit the exact same city in NZ almost 6 months ago. Despite the previous one being rated higher, it caused less damage because it was further below the earth’s surface. (Sept quake = 33 km below the surface, Feb quake = 5 km below the surface.) This one was absolutely devastating. Two of the girls I’m temporarily staying with are from Christchurch, so we watched the coverage for over 2 hours. (Fortunately their family and friends are safe.) Buildings simply collapsed onto themselves, trapping and killing people inside them. There were fires, floods, and debris everywhere. Triage centers and places for people to spend the night were set up all over the place. Smaller towns in the area sustained damage to the point of making them unlivable. The last I heard, the confirmed death toll is 65.


Sorry for such a depressing post! But I just wanted to let everyone know the details, since I know some people were concerned as to whether I was in the area of the quake. I had actually considered attending the University of Canterbury (located in Christchurch), so I’m counting my blessings right now. Please keep Christchurch and everyone in the area in your prayers.



PS I promise to post a cheerier entry soon :)

I made it to Dunedin! (Sorry for the wait)

 

I’m in Dunedin! I arrived right on time at 4pm NZ time Thursday/10 pm EST Wednesday. (By the way, NZ is 18 hours ahead of the U.S., not 17 like I thought.) Sorry for the delay in posting, but hopefully this extra-long post will make up for it.

 

Turns out I was actually glad for the 6-hour layover in Auckland. I was able to get everything done that I needed to and recuperate from the flight (which was actually 13 hours instead of 14, but still quite long). I actually managed to snag a quick nap on the <2 hour flight to Dunedin, thankfully. Once I landed at the Dunedin airport and claimed my bags, I found my taxi driver and crammed into a super hot shuttle/taxi with a ton of other international students (mostly Americans). Apparently, I was the only one that A) was not a one semester exchange student and B) didn’t already have a permanent place to live. (Actually everyone, kiwis included, has been surprised about both of these things.)

 

I arrived at Ruby’s flat between 5-5:30, and she and her “flatmates” are very nice. They don’t have internet at their flat, which is the main reason it’s taken me so long to update. I spent about an hour attempting to hijack random unprotected networks, and then gave up and passed out. I slept from approx 6pm-7am, and it was extraordinary. I woke up feeling absolutely 100% better.

 

So the next morning, we walked to the library so I could get online and let people know I was still alive. Everything on campus is within walking distance from her flat, so it’s a great place to stay temporarily. After the library, I had to go get a “Course Approval form.” You register for classes online (which I’ve already done), but then have to meet with a course advisor from every department in which you’re taking a class (i.e. physiology, pharmacology, etc). First though, I just had to collect my form and find out where to go. After that we had lunch at a fish and chips fast food place (very popular in NZ). Ruby and her friend Maya that joined us told me that is best place to go if you are hungry and have no money, so I’m sure I will be there quite often.

 

From there we went downtown to do some shopping, and I was able to get a phone. I think I can only call/text people in NZ, but I’ll go online and see what the details of the plan are. (It’s a pre-paid phone, so I can adjust calling/texting features if I need to.) Ruby and Maya pointed out a lot of important places on the way (i.e. banks, student health services, etc), but I will have to wander around exploring myself before I’ll actually remember where any of these places are.

 

The next stop we made was the place where I had to do Course Approval. I talked to someone at the Neuroscience table and found out there’s a couple things I should do before solidifying my course choices (boring details you guys aren’t interested in, etc), so I’ll do that this weekend and go back to Course Approval next week. (It’s open until Tues.)

 

Last but not least I stopped at the Accommodations office to find out about speed-flatting. The next time it’s happening is Wednesday at 2:30, but the woman working there gave me a list of people that are looking for a flatmate. Now that I have a phone, I can call some of them. Hopefully by Thursday I’ll have found a decent flat and some fun kiwis to live with.

 

We got back last night a little after 5, and I was pretty worn out from our long day of walking. Dunedin is quite hilly, and it was very toasty outside. I’m definitely looking forward to getting a workout everyday by just walking around everywhere. Once we got back, one of Ruby’s roommates made a delicious dinner for us (beef/vegetable stew and potatoes). During dinner, we watched an Australian soap opera called “Neighbours,” a kiwi soap opera called “Southland Street,” and… Friends! Turns out there’s a lot of American programming and music in NZ. Yesterday when we stopped for ice cream, “Livin La Vida Loca” was blasting from the speakers. It’s been so long since I’ve even heard that playing in a store in the U.S. that I had to laugh.

 

Also I met the guy who lived in my bedroom last year. He came over to ask if we accidentally took his mail, and ended up telling me how “top of the line” every individual piece of furniture in my room is. So far the kiwis have all been both friendly and entertaining.

 

I slept for about another 12 hours last night, so I think I’m officially adjusted to the time difference right now. This morning I headed over to the library (where I am right now), and found it all by myself! After I post this, I’m planning on wandering around campus/town for a bit and see if I can remember anywhere that we went yesterday. It’s doubtful, because right now I’m pondering whether I even remember how to get back to her flat. It should be interesting at least. I stupidly (but not surprisingly) forgot my camera yesterday AND today, so I won’t be posting pics up for awhile. But I have 2 more years to take pictures, so eventually I’ve have something to show you guys.

 

Ok, about to head out now to do some exploring. Hopefully I’ll be back in a few days with some more excitement!

I am officially in NZ!

 

Hello all! Writing from inside the Auckland airport! My flight landed about 2 and a half hours ago, and since then I’ve been running around through the airport claiming baggage, going through customs, changing currency, etc. I then realized I was extraordinarily dehydrated, probably due to the fact that I’ve been sweating like a fiend since L.A., so I snagged 2 of the largest water bottles you’ve ever seen.

 

After my L.A. blog post last night, I walked outside around FOUR terminals to get to Air New Zealand. Of course ANZ also had to be the very last one in terminal 2. If you’ve ever been to LAX, you know how ridiculously large those terminals are. It was gorgeous outside though, so it was nice to go for a little jaunt (aside from the fact that I was lugging 40-50 pounds of bags, hence causing the beginning of the sweat issue).

 

I did have a slight hiccup while checking in at ANZ. Apparently, they recently changed the rules about how many carry-ons you could have: from 2 to 1. I was able to avoid a $50 checked bag fee by taking some sneaky advice that the check-in lady gave me, but I had to do some rearranging with my carry-ons in case the checked one didn’t arrive on time. (FYI though- all bags made it to Auckland.)

 

By the time I boarded the plane to Auckland, I was exhausted, hungry, mildly irritated, and in a generally unfriendly mood. The plane was SO nice though! You could not be angry on that plane. The seats were huge and super comfortable. I watched the entire first season of Modern Family (arguably the funniest show on TV right now). The 13-hr accidental fast + McD did not go over so well, so unfortunately I did not enjoy any free drinks :( In fact, I didn’t eat or sleep a whole lot because my stomach was not happy with my poor food choices. But I think when I get to Dunedin (arriving at 4 pm; hoping to be at my destination between 5-6), I will crash until about 10 am tomorrow.

 

Not much else going on right now. I’m currently in the Arrivals area of the airport, so I’m about to head over to the Domestic Transfers terminal. Oh and by the way, just to make you all jealous, it’s about 70 degrees outside right now. When I picked up my bags in Auckland (you have to pick up your bags at your port of entry and then re-check them if you’re taking another domestic flight), I changed into shorts for THIS outside walk. My legs were so happy. They were sweating, yes, but also I spilled about half a coke on my jeans during the flight. And water. And then when I got into Auckland airport, I spilled a fruit cup all over the floor. And my one of my bags flew off my bag-pushing cart. So it’s been pretty much a complete fail since I’ve left the U.S. But I’m pretty sure I've been entertaining all the kiwis with my bumbling antics, so at least that’s something.

 

Ok well like I said, when I get to Dunedin, I’m hoping to just immediately pass out and sleep for 12+ hours. So I’ll probably have another update ready tomorrow when my travels are temporarily over. Hope all is still well in the U.S.!

Living it up in L.A.!

 

….actually I’m not. I’m sitting in a Mickey D’s pigging out because all I’ve had in the last 13 hours is a handful of pretzels and a venti coffee. (I like to pay a lot of money for coffee even though it pretty much all tastes the same, and I DON’T like to pay a lot for food even though the only lower quality food than McD is BK.) Kidding again. Actually sbucks was right next to my departure gate and McD was right next to my arrival gate.

 

ANYWAYS enough with mindless babbling. The flight to L.A. was uneventful, except for the fact that it was only the third time I’ve ever been on a plane. I of course arrived at Detroit airport a full hour later than I intended, leaving me with only an hour and a half before take-off. As an inexperienced flyer, I was a bit concerned. But of course it took less than 45 min to check bags and go through security, so no worries. Delta offered all the free movies/television/music you could handle in a 4.5 hr flight, so I finally watched Date Night. Steve Carell and Tina Fey are my absolute fave comedy actor/actress, so I’m not sure how I hadn’t seen that movie yet. But as you could guess, it was freaking hilarious. I was cracking up for a good portion of the movie. If you haven’t seen it, go do it right now.

 

I also watched about the first 2/3 of A Few Good Men. While watching it, I realized I had seen the first 1/3 of the movie 0-1 time in my whole entire life, but, gun to my head, could probably quote the rest of the movie aloud. I knew I had never really seen the beginning, but I didn’t realize I had been missing so much of the film! This is prob boring for everyone to read right now, but it was a pretty exciting revelation for me. It was like they just released a prequel to one of my favorite movies! 

 

Also, my left ear refused to pop during the descent, causing a pretty unfair amount of pain. All the usual tricks to pop ears were not working. Having temporarily given up, I blew my nose in the bathroom at LAX. At first I wasn’t sure if my head had exploded or I had popped my stubborn ear, but fortunately my head is still intact. Ear is now doing well, although it’s not looking forward to landing two more times.

 

It is soo nice to relax right now. The last few days, and this morning in particular, were so unbelievably stressful. True to form, I waited until literally the last second (and beyond the last second) to have everything set and ready to go. Plus I’m pretty sure I didn’t pack a single thing; I just ordered my mom around and threw things on the floor and dumped my purse out on the table and flung random papers around the upstairs hall. (By the way, Mom, you are a saint.) This 14-hr flight could not come at more perfect time. The plan is to have a couple of those free-international-flight-drinks and pass out. I was pondering watching Inception, but I don’t think my brain is functional enough to handle that right now.

 

All right children. That’s about all I got.  Now I must run and print my boarding pass for LA –> Auckland –> Dunedin. I’ll be back in about 17 hours!

A Surprising Lack of Procrastination

Things I have somehow managed to accomplish with 5 days to spare:

• purchase a plane ticket
  
• arrange to have an aisle seat on all the flights (yes a window seat would be more scenic, but with my luck I’d end up in an uncomfortable person-window sandwich)
  
• register for classes
  
• get a job!
  
• find a place to live (for a week anyway)
  
• have a basic idea in mind for a thesis project
  
• get a 2-year supply of contacts
  
• buy a new computer
  
• buy a new camera
  
• spend an unprecedented amount of time watching South Park

Things I have yet to accomplish despite the fact that I’m leaving in 5 days:

• sell my car
  
• pack….kind of an important one
  
• arrange transportation from the airport
  
• defer undergraduate student loans

Even with this fairly urgent to-do list in mind, I’m extremely impressed by my success to thus far suppress most of my procrastinating urges. This weekend I hope to fly into a packing frenzy and then be able to laze around on Monday.

Also, my flight/layover itinerary has worked out quite well in my favor:

Depart Tuesday at 4 pm (5 hour flight)

Arrive in LA at 6 pm (EST 9 pm)

4 hour layover

Depart 10 pm/EST 1 am (14 hour flight)

Arrive in Auckland at 8 am/EST 3 pm

6 hour layover

Depart 2 pm /EST 9 pm (2 hour flight)

ARRIVE IN DUNEDIN! (at 4 pm-- 11 pm EST)

So when I arrive in Dunedin it will be almost exactly 48 hours later due to the flight lengths, layovers, and time difference. It will be 4 pm in Dunedin but 11 pm in Michigan, but hopefully I’ll be quasi-adjusted thanks to the nighttime timing of the 14 hour flight.

I will be taking five year-long graduate level neuroscience courses my first year, which doesn’t sound nearly as fun to me as you might think. In a way, though, it will be kind of nice to get back into that college-esque swing of things. My second year will be all research for my thesis project, although I anticipate doing a moderate amount of lab work my first year as well (at least as much as I can handle without going brain-dead-- ha! Sorry, too easy). Anyways I’m excited for the research I’ll be doing. For my fellow science nerds, I’ll be using a rat model to investigate how secreted amyloid precursor protein-alpha (sAPPa) modulates neurogenesis and spatial memory. For everyone else, I’ll be curing Alzheimer’s disease.

As I mentioned to those of you I emailed (if I forgot anyone, I apologize!!), I’ll be teaching the lab portions of 2 undergraduate psychology courses in the next 2 semesters. I may be looking for another job too once I’m there, since my student visa allows me to work 20 hours during the school year and full-time in the summer (which is actually Nov-Feb).

I will have my hands full of things to do once I arrive, but finding a permanent place to live is at the top of the list. For my first week, I will be staying with a lovely kiwi that has graciously offered me a spare bedroom. From what I understand, it should be fairly easy to quickly locate a convenient “flat” near the university.

That pretty much sums up the basic trip info. I will of course update as more details fall into place, but for now that’s all I have. I’m sure I’ll be posting during my layovers and possibly even during my flights, as it’s highly unlikely I’ll have anything to do for 30+ hours. Finally, if anyone needs my email address or skype name, or wants to come visit, just let me know :)