Ghost town

I've finally finished my exams, celebrated it well (keg stand, drinking 3 days in a row etc etc) and now it's time to pack up. Dunedin is empty and boring without all the students though. Most people finished their exams weeks ago and now everyone is either gone or moving out. No matter how disgusting this place may be when scarfies run amok, it is just boring and sad now that they're gone.

Normal Dunnerz life:

Photo: Otago Daily Times (read about the it here)



The flat with the Bat Cave sign was in such a bad condition it had to be torn down! RIP Bat Cave.

I was in town with Eilidh today and we saw christmas decorations, other people (not students) and pretty shoes. There is life outside the University, but right now I just don't feel like it. And seeing santas and christmas trees all over the place when it's summer outside makes me sick.

The epic kiwi trip

I've been planning and now I'm waiting impatiently for the great adventure ahead.

My mother is coming over to NZ in just 10 days and we are going places! First a wildlife tour to the Otago peninsula, then a visit to Cadbury's chocolate factory and then we're off to Queenstown! We're going to see the most beautiful place in the world - Milford Sound in Fjordland national park. Skydiving over lake Wanaka is booked as well. Then we're off to Nelson and the two national parks - Nelson Lakes and Abel Tasman. I'm also looking forward to meeting Eilidh's awesome family again. After Nelson we're going on a wine yard tour and then to Christchurch to catch our flight to Australia. After three sunny days in Sydney, we're going on a weekend surf camp. This is going to be epic!

But first two exams with sweat and tears then two parties and then a whole day of packing... The reward will worth so much more after hard work!

Exams!

I find many ways to procrastinate, but I've forgotten this blog. I promise I'll do better and tell you all about the exam drama going on at Otago right now!

Tomorrow is my first and probably hardest exam - it's in Microeconomic Theory which means there is a lot of calculus and almost no formulas on the formula sheet. It's going to take 3 hours, a little less than I'm used to, but hopefully the time will be enough. I mean, you either know how do answer a question or you don't and time will not help you.

I'm (was?) horrible at calculus, so I'm very happy that I've done well so far. This is probably because of the awesome people in my class and our cool teacher, Murat. When we had assignments, we all got together do discuss and go through the solutions and we have bonded afterwards by going out together and having "field trips" to the local bars. Murat is best teacher ever, not only because he can explain everything so well, but also because you can call him in the middle of the night and he'll be in his office, tell you about his bridge tournament, offer you a beer and chat with you for ages about anything interesting. I don't know if he sleeps at all, or if he ever goes home...

Here's a photo from our field trip (more than half of the class showed up!):

Instead of studying...

Eilidh's little brother, Dougal ^

Queenstown pt 2

If I haven't made it clear yet, Queenstown is an absolutely stunning place.

What an adventure!

Connor, my flatmate and Alexa, his girlfriend and I headed to Queenstown last Friday. Weather forecasts were against us predicting rain and snow all weekend, but that didn't stop us. After all the weather in NZ can change in one minute and you can experience four seasons in one day.

We drove there in the evening in pouring rain. Luckily Nomad backpackers hostel was nice and warm. Fergburger was the dinner destination, recommended to Alexa by a friend of hers. The burgers they serve are amazing! Watch any hamburger commercial for McD or Burger King and imagine there is a real burger like that - big and crispy, with lots of salad and grilled beef. I ordered one with lamb - yummy! (though I couldn't finish it)


Next morning Connor and Alexa were going to go bungy-jumping. I'm not crazy enough for that, so I decided to follow them and watch the horror instead. While getting their booking confirmed I read the ads and saw something called the world's highest swing - Nevi's Arc. Without knowing what to expect, whether to be afraid or not, I decided to go. Connor and Alexa were nervous, but not me, I was just going to go for a swing. A bus took us all to some remote location where adrenalin was in the air.





First we watched some people jump, and then it was Connor's turn. (I was still calm, just enjoying the views). It didn't even look like he hesitated, he just jumped with his hands out like a bird. I don't think I can grasp the overwhelming feeling of falling helplessly into a deep valley with an ice cold river. Many people dream about flying, and this is probably as close as you can come to flying without any support.

Alexa jumped after him, with the same determination and grace. They both looked very elegant in the air.

They were both very happy after the jump, so I guess bungy jumping is worth both the fear and the price (it is quite expensive).


Then it was my turn to get an adrenalin kick! I was not nervous at all, in fact I was very excited and happy. I decided to go first, because I haven't yet seen anyone do the Swing (and if I had I'm not sure I would have jumped) and I also chose to swing backward (avoiding to see the ground below).


The Swing is in a pretty deep valley. The arc is about 200 m, the rope is 120 m and since I was starting at one point I had to be dropped about 70 m, without any tension. One second I was there, hanging in my harness, smiling. And then someone pushed a button and I was falling handless into the valley. It was crazy!


And this is how happy I was afterwards (the guy behind me works there, he is not a scared customer):


I'll post more photos from Queenstown next time. It's such a beautiful place!

Urban dictionary

"Julia - a name for girls. Most julia's are artistic, smart, romantic, beautiful and also very charming. Julia's can get whatever they want if they try. They can be very sexy so watch out! They are romantics and love old movies, art and books. they love old stuff! They usually aren't very athletic but if a julia is athletic she's kick butt! they have great fashion sense and usually look smokin'. A julia will most likely become a mother because they love kids. They are very successful in life and there is just something about them that draws people in. Also they are ah-mazing dancers!" //Urban Dictionary

It's crazy, but 70 % of that is actually a good description of me. I know there are some negative sides as well, but who cares when it all sounds like a shameless self-promotion. Copy-paste to my CL!

Btw: A photo from Andrew's awesome 21st party last Saturday. Credits to the photographer, whoever it was. Jane, Andrew and me are in the same economics classes.

Busy bee

I will post more photos from Abel Tasman when I'm not as busy. I just don't know when that is.

Mt Robert - the first mountain I've ever climbed

Mt Robert is one of the mountains of Nelson Lakes National Park. It's 1421 m high (Wikipedia) and you can climb up all the way in about two hours (or even less if you are fit). I'm not sure Kiwis would say it's a real mountain, since they have way higher peaks here. In Sweden anything above 200 m above sea level is a mountain, in NZ it would be another hill.
However, mountain climbing looks easy, but since I'm not fit for any type of physically exhausting activity, yet, this was quite a challenge. But thanks to Eilidh, Dougal (her little brother) and their father I made it to the top :)

They have some funny names for other mountains in Nelson Lakes National Park. Imagine attempting to climb Mt Misery or Mt Hopeless...


Here are a couple photos from that day:










We also went for a short walk near the lake Rotoiti:


The water was quite cold and full of eels, but these crazy people just jumped in!



You may wonder why the eels were there. I'll explain the philosophy of the national parks in a few words for you.
- A national park is supposed to protect the nature, so no hunting, fishing, polluting, rubbish, dogs etc. are allowed
- They are free to visit for anyone, but if you happen to be a possum, rat or any other sort of introduced animal you are considered a pest. Nelson Lakes National Park is almost free from pests, which is good for the small population of the re-introduced kiwi birds living there
- You have to wash shoes and everything else that has been in contact with water where algae live, before you enter any clean water areas
- No fires are allowed in national parks
- You are not allowed to use anything else than a toilet cabin for you needs
- Don't feed the animals/birds in any national park

Drunk for the first time in New Zealand

I'm not joking! I'm on exchange, living in a city full of scarfies (totally decadent students) and the first time I get a little drunk is on a brewery tour. Yep, that's my student life here in a nut shell.

The Speights brewery tour was awesome. I learned a bit about how beer is made and why we say "Skål!" (cheers!) in Sweden.

The best part was when we all got to try six different beers. We walked around the taps in a circle holding two glasses each, trying to drink as much as possible in 15 minutes. Sweet as!


Apologies for the poor picture quality, my big camera stayed at home that night.

Btw, why are all the Blogger backgrounds so pathetically ugly???