Who Knew My Study Abroad Courses? I sure don't.

Hey there! It is pre-dinner blog time at 2a Forth Street. As I mentioned in my last blog, I started classes this week. This Friday is the end of Otago's shopping week and, as usual, I have yet to decide on my final schedule. My course schedule is a bit of a sore spot of the moment but, once I finalize my schedule which, with any luck, should be happening sometime tomorrow, I'll fill you in.

Meanwhile, let me avoid doing the reading for my classics 224 class by telling you what has been going on the past few days. I awoke early on Monday to poke around the online course catalog, which had been down the day before, and then embarked on my first day of classes (I will provide you more detail on the academic aspect at a later date). As part of the lab for the New Zealand Plant Ecology class, we took a field trip to the botanical gardens. As I walked home from the gardens with a few classmates, we came upon Castle Street. Now, before I left, you may have heard me freak out over the state of the student flats at Otago. While my flat is lovely, all flats are clearly not created equally. Immediately I saw why the university flats garnered a bad rep. It was only about 4:30PM when we were walking home and already there were people participating in keg stands and smashing empty beer bottles on the ground. We weaved in and out of the many police officers patrolling the street and avoided stepping on bodies of passed out students lying on the side walk in the dead of winter. Generally I spend the first night of classes freaking about my course schedule and catching up with friends but, I guess some Otago students take a different approach to welcoming the new semester.

I too had an unconventional conclusion to my first day of classes. My flatmates and I joined some of my kiwi host's friends at "The Bog," a local bar, for their weekly quiz night session. As I mentioned above, I usually spend the first night of classes fretting about academics so it was a little odd for me to not only nonchalantly neglect my school work but to ignore academics in favor of a bar. Since the legal drinking age in New Zealand is 18, I am completely legal here. In fact, I will be legal for almost the rest of my life, except for the 24 days between when I arrive home and my 21st birthday (crazy, right?). I am still surprised by the fact that I can walk into a bar and order a drink (and judging from their reactions, so are the bartenders...I am going to be carded until I am 70). Anyway, this quiz night was quite an improvement over my previous experience with NZ quiz night (see previous blog post). Although I only managed to contribute minimally, our team, Team Epic (OK, so my obsessive use of the word 'epic' did contribute to our team name), managed to score a large plate of free food and a 100 dollar bar tab which we plan to use this weekend. The coolest part of the entire night was a question in the final round which asked, "Which 10 time Tony Award winning Broadway musical just won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical?" Answer: Billy Elliot the Musical! As I joyfully scribbled the answer down, I shouted out, "My uncle has one of those 10 Tony's!" What's even funnier is that I was just telling some of my flatmates about my uncle's Tony Award win earlier that night. For more on the Tony Awards, check out my facebook album.

Yesterday, I made my first souvenir purchase! Since I needed to buy a lab coat for my biology labs (why I need a lab coat for working with plants, I do not know), I opted for the lab coat/scarf deal, which actually was not a deal since the price amounted to the same cost as buying the coat and scarf separately. Nevertheless, I now have the official scarfie scarf! All the students here are known as scarfies so scarves are a big deal. Of course, I have not worn my scarf out yet as I am afraid that it will instantly mark me as an international tourist. I also now have a lab coat with the University of Otago crest. The lab coat is actually a size too big but, the xxxs coat did not have the Otago emblem on it and I felt bad spending this kind of money on a coat that couldn't double as a souvenir.

In other news, my flaties have all become obsessed with facebook/bebo/internet stalking one another. While I briefly participated in this stalking frenzy, as far as I know, I have avoided serving as the subject of one of their stalking endeavors (although Chloe did ask me why I was all dressed up in some of my facebook pictures). In light of all of the stalking going on down here, I thought I would let you in on the fun. Here is a chance to get to know a little more about my lovely flatties:

Ebony is our flat's kiwi host whom we appreciate very much since she keys us into the Dunedin happenings and especially because she does not resemble certain other insane kiwi hosts. She has completed her French major and is back for more as a part time student. If you hear me mention Shortland Street, just blame her as she's the one who got the rest of the flat hooked on this particular soap.

Liz, the toast-loving, hot chocolate imbibing, flatmate hails from Austin, Texas where she is prelaw, majoring in Philosophy and possibly double majoring/triple minoring in a series of subjects. At the moment she is pressuring me to take a 100 level biology class with her by using the persuasive tactic of poking me until I give in. Like me, she is an extremely picky eater and from the looks of it, only eats seasonable vegetables (that is a vegetable once a season). One of her favorite NZ pastimes is laughing at funny New Zealand slang.

Andrew comes from Scotland although he would rather that I describe him as being from the UK. He's traveled all over the place and as he put it tonight, "he's a citizen of NZ when they let him." Unfortunately for him, he has to take all 400 level papers at Otago since he is too ahead of the game in his law program at his home institution. However, I still am spending way more time in class than him, a fact which he never grows tired of pointing out, so I have very little sympathy. When he is not busy mocking me, he can be found yelling at Dell Computer people, checking cricket/rugby scores, obsessively watching Shortland Street, or listening to his eclectic music which consists largely of Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus songs.

Chloe made the transition from southern California summer to Dunedin winter. She planned on studying abroad in France but at the last minute, she decided to take on a new minor just so she could study abroad in New Zealand. It's always great to be greeted by her since she has such a cheery "Helooo!" During quiz nights, we usually end up chatting while the rest of the team attempts to answer the questions. She is an excellent baker, a fact that I discovered after I helped her bake a scrumptious apple pie. Eventually we plan to travel various places together such as Sydney (which she pronounces oddly), and Wellington (where she wishes to purchase a pair of willies).

Thatcher is the sixth flatmate who traveled to NZ from somewhere on the east coast. I believe he is an Environmental Studies major studying at Saint Lawrence University. He intends to spend a lot of time in Queenstown skiing while here in NZ. Apparently we have a class together which is cool. He tends to keep to himself so we haven't seen much of him but, he seems alright.

Hopefully you now have an idea of the awesome people who make up 2a Forth St! Well I best get some sleep. Tomorrow is University of Otago Re-O week's carnival day and immediately after that, I am sitting in my assigned movie theater seat to see the sixth Harry Potter movie with my flatmates (and I unfortunately must make my final course schedule decision)! I'll get back to you on how everything turns out!

**Small addition: Tonight, the rest of my flat felt earth tremors associated with an earthquake. As I was sitting on my bed, I unfortunately did not feel said tremors. Now that I have included "the most exciting thing that has happened to us since the Jackpot win," I have concluded that my blog is still dominating.