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 way things are or the way they could be

When I moved from Växjö (a small town in the south of Sweden) to Stockholm life was full of surprises. And then I thought that I’ve seen it all. This doesn’t make sense really; you can’t have experienced all life has to offer when you’re 21 right?

Now life is full of surprises again! It feels as if I was born yesterday. You probably wonder what’s my point here (and unless I don’t present it in a nice summary you’ll stop reading).

The point is that things happen, new things. And they surprise me. Like yesterday when our neighbours jumped over the 4 meter fence between our flats and brought a big barrel of beer to our flat. You can imagine the end of that story.

I’ll give you more examples. People here are really nice, actually I’ve never been in a more friendly country. Kiwis will help you find whatever you are looking for, or solve whatever problem you have at any time of the day. That’s not enough. They are cool and funny too! Sometimes they seem a bit confusing though. When I’m wearing a jacket and it’s 4⁰ C outside, some of them wear t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. When they invite you for tea you actually get dinner.

There are some unpleasant surprises as well. Today is Monday, and the weekend was a wild one, as you may have guessed by now. There is crushed glass everywhere, both in our kitchen and out on the streets. Internet is never working in the evenings, hot water is running out if all of us decide to take a shower and so on. Dunedin is a funny place to live in, but I’m beginning to like it a wee bit.

Now I have to study, I’m going to do a lot of that wonderful activity. That’s the way things are, just as good as they could be different.

(In the picture you can see a demonstration of how helpful kiwis are. Becky is helping the guy to drink beer by holding the barrel. Somebody is holding him aloft and John, a potential kiwi, just like me is holding the tube. What a team! That guy got reeeaally drunk.)

Exterior

Most of the houses you can see in the pictures are student flats. They look nice if you stand far enough from them. Don't come closer to see the worn, dirty and rusty interior. I sometimes get the impression they are inhabited by junkies.

I live in this one, left window if you see it like this: