Category: Oceania

When I came home after the last lecture (next week we “only” have to do a final exam and a 1500 word essay), there were still construction workers in my room. So I decided to head for friendlier shores and went to the youth hostel to finally get my Christmas break organized. Because it’s the main tourist season (I’m not the only one who has time off then), I had to make a couple of compromises (mainly I’m not going to Queenstown/Milford Sound because it was completely booked), but after a good 2 hours, David, the friendly YHA guy, and I had a 9-day-vacation on the South Island all planned out. Whee!

I’m leaving on the day after Christmas (Dec 26) and will return on January 4. In between I’ll go whale watching in Kaikoura, see NZ’s highest mountain, Mt. Cook, go skydiving in Wanaka (the alternative to Queenstown) and then head up the west coast, from Franz Joseph to Nelson (same trip I did last time I was on the South Island, but it’s a stunning stretch, so I don’t mind). It’s going to be 9 days of awesome scenery and a couple of exciting highlights!

Other than that things have been mostly quiet. On Saturday I went to the famous Chocolate Fish Café with Kathrin and Masumi. It’s a really cool place, right at the beach, but unfortunately they’re closing at the end of the month. On Sunday there was the earthquake that I posted about, and the main highlight of the week (other than the fact that I was drawn into the beginning Christmas shopping madness and ended up buying jeans, t-shirts and shoes – for myself, as all my holiday mail was sent two weeks ago) is Swiss politics: Federal councillor Christoph Blocher (who I like to call ‘our George W’) was unexpectedly not re-elected by parliament (Swissinfo). Even if nothing comes of it (or if Blocher’s party really decides to go ahead and destroy our whole political system by going into opposition), this just makes me feel so much better about the political situation back home…

Annoyance of the week: The construction that will not end. They started last week and it’ll last at least another week. Not only do they at times work in my room (the hole in my wall is gone, but the one in my ceiling is still there), there’s also power outages, loud hammering at 7am and other unpleasantness. Seriously, I think we should get a discount on our rent or something – not only is there construction, but there’s not much information. Plus, because it’s summer we don’t have access to the gym and there are no RAs (Resident Advisors), so that we have to go to reception (in a different building) for everything. But at least I met my next-door neighbour Helen, a girl from China, who got kicked out of bed this morning by the construction crew and then discovered that she didn’t have electricity to make breakfast or turn on the light in the shower. Nice, hm?

The ground just shook ever so slightly. I mean, I knew that New Zealand is earthquake territory (I can’t seem to get away from those these days – Basel, then California, now Wellington), but it’s still kind of disconcerting when everything starts to tremble. It really was nothing, but it did last for a good 30 seconds, I’d say.

It’s not on GeoNet yet, but I think I’ll bookmark the website for future reference…

Edit: Still no report on the site, but it seems to have been captured by seismographs all over the country.

Edit 2: Now it was captured – a 7.6 several hundred kilometres away, in the ocean.

I opened the first door on my little Christmas calendar this morning. I also plan on switching on the lights I hung in my window this evening – Wellington still doesn’t feel very Christmassy, but I’m trying my best. Tomorrow Kathrin, Silva, Masumi and I will be baking cookies, and I sent off the last of my Christmas mail today.

The fact that I had ice cream at the harbour today probably doesn’t help the mood, but I’m enjoying it all in a ‘wow, that’s different!’ kind of way. I’m supposed to write my second assignment (and I will, just as soon as I finish this post here), but I couldn’t resist the sunshine (also, I had cards to post) and went to the bay, where there’s a political thingie/concert going on. Loads of hippies, punks and other alternative types as well as families with kids, all enjoying the sunshine and the music – was fun, and I sat there for a while, reading and drinking a fruit slushie. However, my conscience is too well-developed, and so, after queuing for gelati from kaffeeeis, I’m back here in the shade of my room (as much as I like it, I don’t really get any sun in here, only wind).

While I’ve been feeling crappy most of the day, I had two very nice surprises:

a) In between my recipes, I found the two collages I made of all my friends, which I thought I’d forgotten at home. The wall over my desk is now much less white, with so many friendly faces smiling down at me.

b) My first real mail, a Christmas calendar from my mom. This is a little tradition we have – she always picks a pretty postcard-sized calendar on the Petersplatz market in Basel, so I can open a little door every day from December 1 to Christmas Eve.

And now I’m treating myself to a danish and a muffin for dinner, accompanied by a peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks – my tastebuds are pretty numb from my cold, so sweet is good. Later I have a Skype date with the family.

Edit: A third nice surprise just came in the form of my Tagesanzeiger newsletter – apparently Ueli Maurer from the rightwing populist party SVP was beaten by green liberal Verena Diener in the election for a seat in the Zurich Senate. This is a bit of a comfort after the SVP’s win at the national elections last month. (Some information in English.)

Met up with Kathrin for a nice leisurely breakfast on Saturday, accompanied by some serious shopping for Christmas, sports clothes (a complete set, as mine were falling apart and were therefore left behind, but wow, expensive!*) and even a book (Arty Bees is a very nice used bookstore here). Then I went home to write my assignment – not very happy with it, as the one-page limit didn’t allow me to answer the five questions in any detail, but I got it done.

On Sunday I went to the harbour to read in the sun, but the wind was so strong I soon went back to finish my holiday shopping and then went home to start writing cards – all overseas mail has to be sent by December 1. It’s kind of strange to do Christmassy things, not just because of the weather, but I’m missing all those little signs that normally tell me my favorite time of the year has begun. To rectify this, when Kathrin, Silva, Masumi and I (the foursome that went to Rotorua last week) came to my room for the first of our weekly dinners, we decided to bake cookies next Sunday, to get us in the mood. It was fun hanging out with them again (plus they liked my cooking *g*), and I’m looking forward to more Sundays with the girls!

Today I need to get a ton of reading done for tomorrow, as it’s not just lecture but also tutorial homework that needs doing. If only my head wasn’t feeling so heavy from my cold – I got meds from Kathrin and bought sage tea, but it’s still not fun. Oh well, it’ll pass…

* Apparently my feet are small for New Zealand standards – they had exactly two pairs of gym shoes in my size (an American 6 1/2, but the shoes seem to only start with 7). Interesting, I never had any problems before… In this case it turned out to be kind of expensive, as the ones I really wanted but that didn’t fit me were $40 less than the ones I ended up buying… but at least they match my new gym pants/t-shirt/hoodie. 🙂

After the first shock at the workload I decided to just take it one day at a time. Get up, go to uni, go home (doing any necessary shopping on the way), read homework for next day, make dinner/do housework, go to bed, repeat. In between I have Starbucks (short peppermint hot chocolate, no whipped cream), do my email, call home (Monday and Thursday, 21.00) and watch DVDs.

Mainly for my parents, this is my uni schedule:
Monday, 9am: assignments are due
Tuesday-Thursday, 10.30-13.20 – lecture (which isn’t really a lecture as there’s no lecturing and a lot of active participation)
Tuesday and Friday, 13.40-14.30 – tutorial (where we discuss case examples using what we learned in class)

Now it’s weekend and I started on my first assignment, due Monday morning. So far so good. The paper (as they call courses here) is demanding but also interesting – and my previous study experience is coming in handy: I’m probably about 5 years older than most of the other students, I’m used to talking in front of an audience, and when something needs to be done I go ahead and do it. All of which made the rest of my tutorial group (with whom we also do tasks in the lectures) select me as leader, together with a girl from Iceland – I wanted her to be leader, because she has previous experience, but she asked to be my deputy instead. Europeans rule! 😛

Also, the fact that we are pretty much always in our smallish tutorial groups (mine consists of 12 or 13 people, I think) means I have the chance to actually get to know some of the other students a bit better, which is cool. Five weeks to make some local friends… Wish me luck! 🙂

Tomorrow, other than write my assignment, I’m meeting Kathrin for a late breakfast, either in town or in the Chocolate Fish Café, depending on the weather. And I need to buy some sports clothes, so I can check out the gym in the residence hall up the street that I can use for free and maybe find a uni sport group I like – at the moment the walking I’m doing is enough (20 minutes one way to uni, and that’s steady walking, not just strolling, and doesn’t include any detours/trips to the shops/to the harbour to enjoy the sun/etc.), but once I adjust to my rhythm here, I think I’d like to become a bit more active again.

But right now it’s almost 22.30 and I’m pretty tired – here I wake up at 7am, like clockwork, after a garbage truck makes an awful ruckus around 5.30, plus I have a bit of a cold, probably caught from Kathrin during our trip last week. Therefore I wish all of you a good night and a good weekend!

Edit: Btw, I’m still having some internet issues, hence the lack of photos. But they’re coming, I promise!

The HRIR (Human Resources and Industrial Relations) 201 class is going to be a killer! 9 hours a week, 2 hours tutorial, both of which have long lists of required reading, a 1-page essay every week, plus an exam at the end of the six week course… And the same in green will happen with Management 202 after Christmas. In addition to this I’m having credit card issues and am trying to get out of the internet-based class I only signed up for to get over 48 points (a requirement for my visa, or so I thought, but apparently the 44 points of my regular classes are enough after all). Just picture me knocking my head against a wall, okay?

Still, it seems to be quite interesting, lots of practical examples, and I already chatted to some of the Kiwi students. If I survive this it should be good! 🙂

Now I really should eat some lunch, it’s already 3.30pm after all, and then I have to read the texts for tomorrow. Oh, and give my credit card company another call. Oh joy…