Weekend in Rotorua!

So this weekend I rafted off a 21 ft waterfall…

Wait, WHAT!?!?

(via google.com/images)

Yup. It happened.

But let's start at the beginning. Last weekend the IFSA crew and I went on a trip to Rotorua where we had the chance to mountain bike, luge, and white water raft.

First on the list when we arrived in Rotorua was mountain biking. Biking through the forest was really different than the road biking I'm used to, but it was really awesome and something I’d definitely do again in the States. It's cooler and somehow more relaxing biking through a forest rather than on a road, even though you're going over roots, jumps, and rough terrain. 

I'm right down the middle!

We started out as a group on the kiddie trail and then moved up to a grade 2 trail (trails are ranked from grade 1-6). Here we split up; some of us moved to the grade 3 trail and some of us (myself included) went on a more scenic side trip through a glade of teenie-tiny palm-like trees beside a steam.

Standing on a bridge over the stream.

Very, very cold water.

The bikers in their natural environment...

After mountain biking we headed to the gondola that would take us up to the top of the luge track. I was pretty nervous about luging because I just assumed, I don’t know why, that we would be basically hurtling down the mountain at top speed without any control. Not true. Luging was actually really fun, and not dissimilar to go-karting. The only difference was that instead of going around a track we were driving on a track down the side of a mountain, past thickets of large ferns and other fauna on either side.

View from the top of the luge track. 

That night we went to a café near our accommodation for a champions feast, and, again, the food was amazing. I got a burger that was ENORMOUS, but so good that I ended up finishing the whole thing. 

Hehe.

Along with the beef the burger was also topped with an onion ring, sauce, an egg cooked over-medium, and stringed beets, in addition to the normal burger-y things like lettuce and tomato. Even though it’s a little strange to an American’s taste, I really like how kiwis put beets on burgers. The savoury beef and sweet-ish beets compliment each other well.

I was super tired that first night, but kept waking up because of the smell. No, not MY smell…I showered, silly…THE smell. Rotorua is built on and around an area with geothermal activity, so as soon as you drive in the first thing that you notice is the sulphur smell of rotten eggs. That night I kept waking up thinking “what the heck is that smell?!?” and then nodding off again when I remembered where I was.

The next morning we cooked breakfast as a group on two stand-alone griddles in the geothermal park across the street from our accommodation.

In the park, steam from a hot pool in the background.

Bubbly mud!

Around the park were pockets of fenced-off bubbling water and mud pits, and in some places there were even huts with pools of cooler, but still heated, water that you could soak your feet in.

Soaking our feet.

After breakfast we headed off to rafting! For some reason I was super scared for luging but not at all scared for rafting…maybe I just didn’t know what was to come! Well, what was to come was the largest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, the 21 ft waterfall I mentioned in the beginning.

The ride downstream wasn’t as jolting as I thought it would be. The rafts were super buoyant and stable, and the half of the group that I was with stayed upright the whole time. We were soaked by the end, but we stayed upright even over the 21 ft waterfall where the other half of our group in a separate raft flipped over. 

But yeah…so I did this…I'm in the third row of the raft sideways.

We survived!

On the way further downstream we had the chance to jump off a ledge that was twice my height into deep water and float through a rapid feet-first without the boat. Jumping off the ledge was awesome and even though it was high and kind of scary, in my mind I was like “psh I got this, I’ve watched Bear Grylls” ;)

After rafting by the lake.

After rafting, we celebrated with a picnic of fish and chips and L&P (a lemon-y kiwi soda) in a park with huge redwood trees, then headed back home to Auckland.

Quite an awesome weekend. 

Tehe.

Culture and Adventures...

‘ello there! Check this out!

(via google.com/images)

Fun fact: NZ is as large as the east coast of the US! As I’ve been planning travels I keep forgetting that NZ is larger than it seems.

Another quick fun fact: pedestrians here don’t have the right-of-way.

The big joke in the US is that New Jersey drivers (where I’m from) are the worst...but compared to here, NJ drivers are saints. Drivers are pretty aggressive and do some crazy things. I talked to my running partner about this and her opinion was that the craziness was a result of the mix of Asian, European, Pacific Islands (etc) cultures that come to NZ from places with different road rules/driving etiquette. This actually makes a lot of sense. Everyone in the US learns on the same roads. Moral of the story: even though you can legally jaywalk here, it's probably not the greatest idea. 

My favourite thing to see here regarding driving is how kiwis parallel park. Instead of driving up alongside the spot and backing in, I've seen numerous drivers simply drive into the spot up over the sidewalk, and then attempt to straighten their vehicle and put it back in the road. It looks pretty ridiculous and probably ruins your tires, but hey it gets the job done. 

Anyway, now on to adventure talk. Last last weekend, the weekend of March 8, we took an IFSA Butler sponsored chartered sail to Waiheke, an island off the coast of Auckland city, where we had lunch at a vineyard and got to try archery and clay bird shooting. Don't panic...for the clay bird shooting the guns were shot guns that had been outfitted with lazers. The little plastic, not clay, disks that we were shooting registered when we hit them, so basically we were doing stationary lazer tag ;). The chartered sail was on a 47ft yacht named Tequila and the weather was perfect for sailing, nice and clear with the right amount of wind.

Steering with one hand, like a pro.  

We took a short shuttle from the port to the vineyard and during the drive we had some amazing views of the ocean from the hills on the island. I wish we had had more time to explore the island itself because what we saw from the boat and car was really beautiful.

At the vineyard we were served a wine/beer tasting and kiwi pizza, which was totally different than the good ol’ NJ pizza I’m used to (NJ pizza is still the best, sorry NZ). 

Noms.

After lunch we headed over to the archery range/clay bird shooting area. So far while in NZ I’ve done archery twice, and both times it was super awesome and something I’d definitely do again when I get back to the states. I was absolutely horrible at clay bird shooting, but it was still fun!

After our sport we headed back to the mainland via ferry, had gelato near the dock, and headed our separate ways. It’s been a while since I was on a sail boat like that, and that night every time I sat still I felt like I was bobbing back and forth on a boat!

IFSA Butler gang, standin' on the dock of the bay. 

In other news, this past Friday a couple of friends and I went to watch the sunset from the top of Mt. Eden, a large hill south of the University, where there's an amazing 360^o view of Auckland city and the surrounding suburbs...

Skytower in the distance.

Chewing on some grass watching the sunset, no big deal. 

Finally, for adventure news anyway, this Saturday a couple friends and I took advantage of free bus service to Takapuna beach to soak up some rays! The free bus service was intended to shuttle people to Takapuna beach so they could watch their fellow Uni students compete in “The Great Waka Ama Race” (Waka is NZ Māori for canoe/boat, Ama refers to the paddle/outrigger part….so a Waka Ama race is a race for outrigger canoes). 

For the race students had to row the outrigger canoes from Takapuna beach to Rangitoto Island, run 5km to the top, get a flag (or something…I think?), and then row back to Takapuna beach. You can see by my incredibly detailed knowledge of the event that my friends and I were clearly dedicated fans who watched every second of the race, and weren’t just using the bus service to go to the beach or anything…

Rangitoto Island

Hah nope, we were totally just there for the beach.

I think that just about sums up my most recent adventures. School and clubs are starting to pick up a little bit so I have less free time now, but I definitely feel settled in and I’m really enjoying my time here. This weekend the IFSA Butler group and I are headed to Rotorua where we will be mountain biking, luging, and/or white water rafting!

Until next time…ka kite ’aka’ou! (kah kee-tay ahka-oh: see you again!)

Culture update!

Kia orana! ‘aere mai, ‘oro mai, tūrou mai!

(Hello! Welcome, welcome, welcome!)

This semester I’m taking a class about the language/culture of the Cook Islands Maori, which is slightly different than NZ Maori. To practice I’m going to start using phrases from Cook Islands Maori instead of NZ Maori on this blog for the duration of my stay.

I’ll start this update by going back in time a smidge to the last weekend in February to talk about the Lantern Festival! February 19, 2015 was Chinese New Year and to celebrate, the city of Auckland set up an elaborate scheme of lanterns in the trees/grounds of Albert Park, a park right next to Uni, the following weekend. Scattered throughout the park cultural stalls with hand-made items, calligraphy, and a karaoke stage were also set up. The whole street parallel to the park was blocked off and completely filled with food stalls. 

Thursday, February 26, the IFSA Butler group and I went out to a restaurant called Monoon Poon for an IFSA sponsored dinner as a pre-semester celebration. The food was SO. GOOD. Since we were a large group we got a sort of tasting menu and an assortment of small samplers, curries, naan, and stir-fried noodles/vegetables were brought to us. (I’m going to do a NZ food review at some point, because there’s so much amazing food here!). 

After dinner we walked as a group to the wharf to see the sunset and head up to the first night of the Lantern Festival. 

Auckland harbour.

IFSA group at sunset.

The first night the Lanterns were lit, but none of the stalls were open. 

So cute hehe. 

The next day the food stalls opened and we went back to get an ice-cream filled pineapple. It was soooo good.

Saturday I went back for dinner and got a bbq’d sleevefish. It was interesting looking served on a stick like a kebab, but was actually pretty good and very fresh. I also bought a steamed pork bun and a curry puff for later hehe.

Pork bun left, curry puff right, noms everywhere. 

Sunday we went back as a group to watch the end-of-festival fireworks which were launched from the top of the Skytower, Auckland’s needle shaped building. Compared to US fireworks these fireworks were very tame and didn’t last very long, but it was still cool to see fireworks shot off a building.

The second part of this culture update is from this past Saturday, March 7, when I went to see a BNP Paribas Davis Cup tennis match at the ASB tennis stadium right down the street from my flat! The match was NZ vs. China, Marcus Daniell/Artem Sitak vs. Zhe Li/Ze Zhang, and it actually got pretty intense towards the middle. When the crowd would cheer for NZ they wouldn't say the player's names but instead shout “go kiwi!” which I thought was pretty funny.

Kiwi's in white.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the whole match because there was a rain delay, but hopefully NZ won the round!

Uni Update

Kia ora! 

My first week of Uni is done! This week went by so fast, but strangely I feel like I didn't accomplish anything. Granted it was only week one, syllabus week, but I also think I wasn't expecting so little structure from the kiwi way of Uni. I knew coming in that assignments would be more spaced out and that I'd be expected to, more or less, guide my own learning (with complementing lectures) in order to complete those assignments...but I wasn't expecting absolutely NO homework. Classes (kiwis call them “papers”) are much more laid back here that at Franklin & Marshall College where I go in the US. At F&M not only do we get future assignments on the first day of class, but we also get homework/readings each class for the subsequent class. Textbooks are never optional, or "recommended", as they are here...you HAVE to have them. There is also a ton more class time, in general, at F&M than at Uni. Overall, I’ve sensed a more sponge-like “we’re here to learn and happy to do our best” vibe from other students, rather than the “I have to accomplish as much as possible to get a good job and be the best at life” vibe which I usually get at F&M. That could also be due to the cultural difference, as I've sense that kiwis are generally more laid back than people from the US. 

At F&M, classes meet either for 50 minutes 3x a week or for 90 minutes 2x a week (plus, for me, 4+ hours in lab and music rehearsal time). Here I'm not taking any labs and I have no music rehearsals to attend. To give you an idea of how much free time I have compared to what I’m used to, my weekly course load here is ~9.5 hours of lecture, no rehearsal, and lets say an average of 8 hours of studying weekly (2 hours/class)…so 15.5 hours of "school". At F&M last semester I was taking 4 classes (~9 hours class time, ~8 hours studying weekly), 1 lab (4 hours/week), had a job as a teacher’s assistant (4 hours/week), had 3-6 hours of rehearsal per week, and spent at least an hour a day practicing on my own (7 hours)…I was spending almost 40 hours a week in "school". College was basically a full time job. It's so, so weird to have so much extra time.

 Having that much free time last week actually made me anxious; all week I felt like I should be doing homework or readings or SOMETHING. Since I don’t have access to a piano and I didn’t bring an oboe with me, I decided to buy myself a portable instrument (so I can bring it home on the plane) that is fit for a student budget…a baritone ukulele! Hurray!! It was too weird not having an instrument to practice everyday for the first time since probably middle school, so clearly I had to solve that problem. I actually spent all day shopping around at music stores and, like a nerd, mooched off the display pianos in all the stores to play some tunes since I knew I couldn’t back at Uni.

Something I found surprising, too, was that students can actually enrol in classes that have a time clash. It is up to the student to makeup any missed work, swap weeks (go to one class one week, skip that one the next week, etc…), and do what they need to in order to keep up. I’m not sure how students function like this, especially if the class you have to miss to attend another class only meets once a week, but if you can do it and get away with it well hey, good on ya'. 

All in all though it was a good first week. I promise next update will be more fun and have cool pictures and stuff, but I wasn't sure how to work that into this post...so here's a NZ themed cartoon! Enjoy, and (to some viewers) pardon the language. 

                                   "Beached as"

(via youtube)

Explanation: "Sweet as" is a phrase in NZ English sort of similar to the US version, meaning "awesome" or "that's great", but where we say "oh that's sweet as ____" like, sweet as pie, kiwis don't fill in the end of the phrase. The saying is just simply, "sweet as". You can also say other things "as"....like, for a random example, "I'm tired as" if you're really tired, or "beached as" if you're, well, really beached.  

So, English...

Kia ora!

I realise that some of you reading may be thinking "Wow what's going on with her spell check?  Enrolment with one l? Rumour with a u? Symbolises with an s? Did she just forget how to spell?" Well... I'm in NZ now! 

Spelling in NZ English is slightly different than spelling in US English, and I've even switched the language on my Mac to NZ English to adhere to the local spelling conventions. A few differences between NZ English and US English include the use of extra u's (ex: colour vs color), s's instead of z's (ex: realise vs. realize), one l instead of two (enrol vs. enroll), and -re endings instead of -er (centre vs. center), just to name a few. 

Also, "z" is pronounced zed, not zee...

Happy reading!