Alone and Abroad

Its dangerous business walking out your front door.

[rowingsoundsfun]

When people ask why I row

[up2in2]

When coach makes you run

and there’s always that one teammate who’s like

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BOOM

Today ladies and gents I want to discuss exchange rates. The New Zealand dollar is worth 80 cents to the American dollar. Meaning everything is like a 20% sale here. Awesome right? You would think... Don't let this fool you. Since my arrival in NZ I have been justifying most purchases with "well it's really not too expensive after the exchange rate..." For the love of god do not fall into this trap. Just checked my bank account and BOOM everything is starting to add up. So save yourself the trouble and if the exchange rate works in your favor forget it exists. Treat everything as full priced. You'll be better for it.

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SPRING BREAK 2013... Round two?

Yes, it's true. Here in NZ I am half way through the semester and you know what what means SPRING BREAK!!!! So in the year of 2013 I can say I had two spring breaks. For the two weeks off ( that's right I said two weeks ) I and road tripping it with my friend Jess. We are doing about ten days in the South Island and a few days in the north. I have already started the blog post of the trip and let me tell ya, it's gonna be a long one. I don't want to spoil anything so let me tell you a little bit about driving on the left side of the road. It's scary. We hired a car for the entire trip in the South Island and the first day we got it was SOOOOO STRESSFUL! I was the first to drive and I honestly said every four letter word in the book. There are heaps of round abouts and one lane bridges that involve yielding for on coming traffic. And don't get me started on the roads. But I suppose the spectacular views make up for it. And let's not forget my embarrassing moments thus far: 1. Hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal 2. Having to ask how to pump gas 3. Speeding into the hostel parking lot yelling because I had to make my first ever right hand turn (which is a wide turn here) 4. Getting in to drive only to realize I am on the wrong side I am I will add to this list as the trip goes on.

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Birthdays and Little Blue penguins

This past weekend has been one of the best so far here in NZ. It was my friend Jess's birthday so I threw her a little party in my flat. Things got... interesting. Lets just say when we had to wake up at 8 am the next morning to volunteer, we were hurting. 

We volunteered on Some's island in the middle of the Wellington harbor. Basically, we filled a drainage trench with dirt... Haha no worries because afterwards we got to feed these guys!

So adorable right?!

Then we also learned about the Weta. 

Yeah umm they keep little bunnies and other rodents off the island to save these guys. I know... I don't get it either.

Also living on the island is the little blue penguin. Of course those guys were what everyone was DYEING to see. And guess what, we saw one.

He (or she) was hiding in the side of a rock. A guy in our group just happened to stumble across this little guy right before our boat came to pick us up. He doesn't look too happy does he? Actually looks kind of threatening in my opinion which I suppose is fitting since the Little Blues are the most vicious creature on the island.

Next week is my mid semester break so get ready for a super awesome picture pack post in a couple weeks! WOOO

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Funny story

Here's a tip for those wanting to study abroad... Look up possible natural disasters for the area. I know, sounds paranoid but before coming to NZ I really didn't do my homework. Yesterday sometime around 230 wellington had 6.9 earth quake and I was in the shower... Yeah, butt naked and wet. Then after that, my building got evacuated for three hours and there was talk of not opening it until the next day... I didn't think to pack an over night bag... For those wanting to study in NZ make sure to look up emergency procedures for earth quakes so you are prepared!! Nothing sucks more than being told you're being evacuated when you have just made a really awesome sandwich, your dripping wet hair and wearing running shorts and a cami... Trust me, I know

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Again with the school!!!!????

You know, I didn’t really talk much about my courses in detail and how much I TRUELY do enjoy them. In my last post, in my opinion, I came across a bit negative unintentionally.

If you’re a design student in the states and reading this, you understand what I mean when I say it’s cut throat. Very much sink or swim? I really like that about my school back home. I thrive off of the competition. Here however I am able to slow down and SEE what I am doing and actually be thoughtful and considerate about it. Design is less competitive but more beautiful… Even more intelligent.

Yesterday I went to the library and checked out books for outside reading. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through all of the textile books pertaining to my classes and had trouble deciding which ones to take with me. You want to know the kicker? I saw two girls from my class there doing the same thing. The passion I see in my fellow students here is so beautiful. I am often teased at home because I love weaving so much but here people are just as excited with it and are ready to have a very intelligent discussion about textiles in general. I am definitely challenged here in ways I have not yet been at home and I am very excited to return with these new ideas. Also as a result of my experiences here thus far I have been inspired to keep a textile blog. It's called letsbdinosaurs.tumblr.com I have actually had it for a while but I plan on being more active soooo check it out!!

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Hey, how about that school thing...

So yeah it is called STUDYabroad so lets talk about those classes! 

Ok, the basics: 

School: Massey Uni @ Wellington

Major: Textile Design

Classes: Multi media textiles, Maori Art and Design, Screen Printing, and Dyeing and Colouration

Ok now that i have that out of the way...

I have just turned in three of my mid terms today (yay!) and there are some major differences in the schooling here than back in the states.

Attitude: People in my classes are wayyy more relaxed than back home. For example, in my print class my teacher asked us to have all of our sampled cut to A5 size and bound by tape on the back. One girl did not even have her prints cut from her large piece of cloth... in America we would have been destroyed but because it was just a class crit the teacher didn't care... ummmmm what?

Awareness: Although things are way more laid back, most people are well aware of their surroundings. Everyone I have met thus far is very much in tune with their impact on themselves, others, and the environment. They are also well informed on world politics, media, and environmental issues. I don't know about you, but I am the only one out of my friends that even watches the news. As a result of this, students are more willing to do outside research for their designs and are able to apply design solutions to problems that interest them rather than just designing for design's sake. 

Age: Many people here find no shame in taking a year or two away from school to find out what their passion is. There are ages ranging to 30 in my 200 level paper and its not a big deal at all. Back home, I feel as if college is forced upon you after graduation from high school. Lets be honest here, how many kids REALLY want in business? I feel as if there was not so much pressure to attend Uni directly after high school, we would have more people knowing what they want rather than "oh I'll go for business."

Overall, for design at least, I am finding Uni here to be... interesting. I really enjoy the learning style but I do find myself missing the competitiveness. This whole easy going attitude is great, but not in my studio work.

[c2theeo-blog]

Crampons in Mordor

My friend Jess and I took a bus out to the Tongariro National park on Friday morning to hike the crossing on staurday. The drive was absolutely beautiful! We hardly noticed it took 8 hours to get there. As we were reaching the end of our ride, we began to see these HUGE snow covered mountains in the distance. My first thought "Crap, how the hell am I supposed to climb that?!" Second thought "HOLY CRAP ITS MOUNT DOOM!" That totally got me on board again! 

When we arrived at the hostel, it was freezing ( much colder than wellington) but we had an amazing view of the mountains. Again, seeing these huge ice and snow covered monsters gave me the sinking feeling that I may die. 

We climbed Tongariro which was 19.5 km long and 9,000 meters high. They guides picked us up at 6:45 am and took us to the base of the mountain where they fitted our feet with "crampons" and gave us ice axes... then we were off.

At this point you may be asking yourself "what are crampons?"

^ This my friend is a crampon and they soon became my favorite accessory... despite their appearance

The first half of the climb was called hells stair case which was said to be the most difficult part but they were sorely mistaken. Both Jess and I had no trouble with the hour climb and felt great when we reached the first platu.

Then we began our climb to the peak. That was one of the funnest and scariest experiences of the hike. it took about 15 to 20 minutes to get us the side. As we were climbing I could see and hear pieces of ice rolling down the sides. It took everything in me not to look down! Once we got to the top however it was BEAUTIFUL! We could see from the east coast all the way to the West. We had lunch at the top and even saw the volcano errupt with loads of steam.

After lunch we began our way down which was... an experience. How do you say "hardest part MY ASS"? Hell's stair case was a walk in the park compared to our decent. We literally slid down the first part using our axes as a means of breaking. It was FUN! Kind of like extreme sledding without the sleds, kinda hurt though since I had no sweat pants on but thats ok... I got over it! Some parts were not so fun. The path would get very narrow and icy making it easy to slip and possibly slide down the side.

I know from experience... I look like I am having fun but I was honestly terrified. That mild looking slop dropped off about three out of left frame. COULD. HAVE DIED.

  We took our time after that until all the ice was clear. Its amazing how the one side of the mountain was rock and ice then once we get closer to the bottom to the opposite side it becomes a warm tropical forest. The last part of the trail was probably my favorite part. It was so quiet and beautiful walking through the trees. We want to go back in the summer when the trail has thawed out and we can see the emerald lakes without ice covering them.

Crossing review: AWESOME! Just go in the summer to avoid ice!

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Winter is no time for mini skirts

Going out in NZ is always a treat because (one) the drinking age is 18 and (two) everyone is super friendly! So OF COURSE two American girls under the age of 21 are gonna be ALL ABOUT that life.

Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night Cuba Street and Courtney Place are where its at. Tons of people, music, and alcohol... Its a total party atmosphere, whats not to love?

This leads to my story of saturday night. While getting ready to go out, Jess and I are debating on what to wear. We both look AWESOME but for a warm night. Its freaking winter so of course we wear a jacket... Apparently thats a problem here in Wellington because a bounce at the bar FAMOUS let in crowds of girls wearing skimpy clothes with not JACKETS! Then when we finally get to the front of the line he tells us to back up.

Excuse me?! Winter is no time for mini skirts. 

So word to the warm... don't go to FAMOUS on Courtney Place, go to Electric Avenue- the people are nicer and the music is better.

[c2theeo-blog]

Wellington is rocking my world! (LITERALLY)

Since friday, Wellington and other parts on NZ have been having earth quakes. The damage is minimal but I am a bit shaken up (no pun intended).

I have never experienced anything like this before so I felt kinda dumb on friday when the first quake occurred. I was at the gym on the rowing machine when I heard a rumble and things started to shake. I wasn't really bothered because I was at the gym! People drop weights all the time so I really didn't think anything of it. Well you can imagine my disbelief when my flat mates informed me it was quite a large earth quake. The funny thing was, no one else at the gym seemed to care! So i kinda suspected that was normal...

This morning however, that was a COMPLETELY different story. It was around 7:30 am when I was literally shaken awake by this earth quake. It was unmistakable... probably lasted for about thirty to forty five seconds but when you're absolutely terrified that feels like and eternity. But honestly... I was so tired I went back to sleep right after...

BUT THEN THERE WAS ONE THAT SCALED A 6.5 AROUND 5PM!!! That one was NUTS! I was outside doing one of the Wellington Rover Tours and out of no were the ground starts shaking and its hard to walk. At that point I became very uneasy and was shaking from head to toe. I am honestly still a little terrified but I'm so tired from be scared all day I am hoping I can sleep through all of the after shocks we are having. Ugh.

I just wish they would cancel uni tomorrow.

http://info.geonet.org.nz/display/quake/2013/07/21/Preliminary+science+from+the+Seddon+sequences 

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I have been in New zealand for a little over a week and so much has been done I am afraid I wont be able to give ALL of my experiences justice so I will just describe a few.

Upon arriving in Auckland, we were picked up and taken away to the Shakespeare Lodge where we spent the first three days. The first day was filled with walking the trail around the park, rugby, and loads and loads of kai (food) to help us get over the jet lag. The next day we were up bright and early and participated in a Rogain which involved lots of running around the park in pursuit of symbols shown on the map... kinda like a scavenger hunt. We had 45 mintutes to collect as many as possible and let me tell you, the hills in this park were GINORMOUS! The pictures do not do the justice.

After lunch we went kayaking and played a game of ultimate frisbie but using a ball. It got intense! People were tipping over other boats and ramming into one another to get at the ball! It was an absolute BLAST! And surprisingly the water was not too cold... definitely warmer than the jersey shore during the summer (funny because its winter here).

Skipping the third day and on the the fourth where we spent the day at a Maori marae. This was probably the most cultural experience I have had thus far.  We participated in a formal welcome, followed by a huge delicious dinner. After dinner we did a tour of what a village would have looked like 300 years ago. Our guide explained many of the customs of his tribe and how others may differ slightly. Anyways, really cool stuff.

Then forwarding to now. I just finished my first week of classes and yeah, they're not waisting anytime with the assignments so I work hard all week and come friday... well lets just say the bar scene is not too shabby. 

[c2theeo-blog]

It's dangerous business walking out your front door

So I leave home tomorrow. I fly out of my beautiful Memphis to the fast and loud LA California. Even though I attend school in the AMAZING philadelphia PA I have not yet grown used to the constant hustle and bustle of cities. I mean come on… Relax and enjoy life a little…

Anyways I’m getting off topic. LA is the last step before I board the plane to Auckland NZ late Saturday night. It’s weird because I did the math… I’m gonna be 18 hours ahead. So when I land it will be 6:30 am Monday July 8th in Auckland. When I call home to announce my safe arrival it will be around 1pm Sunday July 7th. Call me crazy but THAT BLOWS MY MIND!!! It’s only a 14 hour flight. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! Yeah I know, the whole time barrier thing… but really? That’s just insane.

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In one week from yesterday I leave for the fairy tail land of New Zealand so here are a few fun facts:

There is a sheep population of 40 million and a human population of around 4.

New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote

The native people are called "kiwis"

There is an 18 hr time difference... i.e. When I land in Auckland at 6:30am on July 8th, it will be 1:30pm July 7th in Tennessee. I'LL BE IN THE FUTURE!

Peter Jackson, the director of Lord of the Rings, is from the lovely country of NZ.

30% of New Zealand land is forest