So this past weekend was pretty eventful, it was the end of Orientation week and also the official beginning of classes. I'll start with the Rugby.
The rugby game was held at the Forsyth-Barr Stadium which is about a 10 minute walk from my flat. It's also right next to the rec center for the Uni. The Otago Highlanders were playing the Auckland Blues. I had never seen a rugby game before this so everything was new to me, but I was surprised at the lack of fanfare before the game. There was a "scottish" crew that marched across the field before the game with bagpipes and drums and then the teams were announced and then the game just began, I didn't even hear a whistle. I think the kick began the game but I don't know. Anyway, the game was just as violent as I expected. They had medics running around the field wiping up blood and taping the cuts. They didn't even stop the game when one of the Blues went down and stayed down, they just moved over a bit and kept playing. All in all the game is pretty intense. The Highlanders won 29 to 21 after the two 40 minute halves ended. Another rather annoying thing I discovered about kiwis is that because they never had to learn to comport themselves somewhat soberly in public due to the drinking age being 18, there was very little reserve in the behavior of the students. People were just blatantly rude while being too drunk to even realize it. One guy tried to throw a full beer at my friends and I before his friends convinced him to drink it instead, another few guys stood up on chairs in front of us (we were already standing so we could see) and had to be told to move before they realized what idiots they were being. Oh well, maybe next time I'll get seats in the grown-up section and not have to deal with drunken freshmen.
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| The band |
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| The Highlanders are blue, and the Blues are white. |
On Saturday we also went to St. Clair Beach which is one of the biggest and most popular beaches in Dunedin. It is on the Pacific Ocean, not the harbour so you can surf and stuff there which was cool to watch. We just walked along it but it was still really cool to see. The beach is framed on two sides by hill that go out into the surf and along the back by dunes.
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| The south end of the beach |
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| A sign post, you can maybe pick out the distance to NYC |
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| My kiwi host in the surf |
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| The dunes and the north end of the beach |
Today was the first day of classes and I had 3 lectures. I had Statistics 110 at 10:00am, Physics 131 at 11:00am, and Environmental Economics 207 at 4:00pm. I have to say I was a bit nervous while I was reading the syllabi and looking at the requirements etc. but after attending the lectures I feel much better. Statistics looks just like a fast paced version of high school and my Kiwi host Ben is in it with me, so I'll have someone to work through stuff with.
Physics 131 looks like it will be my most challenging class just due to the subject matter, but I also got the vibe that my professors are going to turn out into some spectacular physics nerds which makes me happy because I am an uneducated one myself. The lecturer was saying that most class time would be devoted to demonstrations (YES!) and so I am hoping for more mind bending ice breakers (shout out to Mr. Michels and honors physics).
Environmental Econ could be my favorite class. It remains to be seen but the lecturer was super animated and intense about the subject matter. She walked all over the hall and was even out of breath a little bit after talking so intensely about just the introduction. She was trying to "sell" us on the class and she briefly went over some issues we would cover in class and all of them were super interesting. They were "Land pollution in China cuts 2% of arable land from production", "Dirty Dairying (this just sounds naughty)", and "Loss of top predators exacerbates global climate change". All of these are economic issues in some way or another and this class is all about calculating the cost of those environmental factors and putting them into terms that can be held up in court so we can fight the oil companies and other industries that want to take advantage of the environment for monetary gain. Now that's what I'm talking about.
I have my last first lecture tomorrow which is History of NZ from 1300-2000 at noon. I'm pretty excited to get a taste of kiwi history and culture along with a different view of major world events from a small country so far from the U.S. I'm hoping my lecturer is a good one because the class could hinge on that.
This morning I had another perfect NZ moment. I decided to get up early and go on a 10 km run down by the harbour. It was very brisk this morning and as I ran I could see my breath, however once I got to the harbour the warm water made a noticeable difference in the air temperature. I got to the water just as the sun was peeking up over the hills surrounding the harbour and it was just so beautiful. The water was calm and the rowing teams were out on the water with the sun glinting off the water and a slight breeze to stir the air. Moments to live for people, today was a good day.
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