Wow! what a week it has been. On Monday, Karla (one of my kiwi hosts) showed Jardon and me around the city of Dunedin. We walked down to the Octagon which is kind of like downtown I guess you could say. We also had an orientation to finish up some last minute things to complete registration with Uni. It's only been a week, but I can already feel my accent fading and certain words changing. However, my accent is the one that gets made fun of the most around here. The other Americans especially notice how much it sounds like a Canadian accent. "Beg, Bag, flag, rag, marry, merry, Mary, anything that involves an "o", the occasional "Ohhh yeahhh" or "uffda", and I'm sure I'm still missing a few. On Tuesday, I explored more of Dunedin by myself. I also stopped into a place that does dreadlocks...for those of you who didn't know, I was planning to get dreadlocks for like a year or so when I got here. However, after talking to the stylist, listening to how time consuming it really is, how expensive it gets, and the fact that it takes about 18 months to get your hair to look the way you actually want it to, I have decided that I will keep my long, blonde hair. Or at least for now it will be blonde ;). I finished unpacking and went shopping for a few things to make my room look like my room. On Wednesday, I had a campus tour and met a group of girls from Europe that I hung out with for awhile. We went to a safety and tips seminar about the outdoors and tramping (hiking). On Thursday, we had the official Welcome from the Uni, and I finally got my new student ID. We had a BBQ in our flat with the entire complex and a couple others which made for a good time. There were about 40 people or so from all over the place. The Uni usually groups people together on where they are from so our complex is predominantly Americans with a couple from a few other places. On Friday, a group of us went to hike up the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. It's the steepest street I've ever been on! Friday night, we decided it was a good idea to go tramp up Signal Hill which isn't too far from our flats. We didn't take into account how much it had rained that day and so we were slipping and sliding all over the place. It was a memorable adventure and we did finally make it to the top which had an amazing view of the entire city, harbor, and so many stars that I've never had the chance to see. We were all cold, muddy, tired, and desperate for a ride back to the bottom. I ended up calling, Rory, a kiwi I had met a couple days earlier that I knew had a car, and he kindly came and picked us up to take us back down to the bottom. I honestly can't decide if kiwis or Irish people are nicer, but they have to be the two nicest groups of people in this world. Yesterday, we walked down to the farmer's market that takes place every Saturday morning. I loved it! We ate fresh crepes and found so many good, fresh things to take back home. In the afternoon, I went with Karla and one of her friends to an European bakery that was really more of just a cafe. A group of us met up to go out to eat for Molly's birthday. We found an Indian place that wasn't too far from us. After food, we had a little party in our flat with mostly apple juice. We all went out and had a good time with the town of Dunedin. I've had a bit of a lazy day so far, but my other kiwi host, Caitlin, will be here soon and then we are having a flat dinner. I also just bought tickets to possibly the last rugby game of the year! It's next Saturday and should be tons of fun. One more thing I thought I'd touch on...before I left home everyone told me things like "Be safe", "Be careful over there", "there's a lot of bad people in this world". It is a typical thing to say particularly when someone is traveling to a different country. However, the state that the United States is in at the moment, makes me feel like I am a heck of a lot safer over here. My heart and thoughts go out to all of the people affected by the great tragedies that have happened across the entire "land of the free". I hope my country and the world as a whole will begin to realize that "hate" and "war" don't solve anything, but rather they only create more problems. Be safe everyone, no matter where you are.
Top of Baldwin Street
The bench at the top of Baldwin with a painting of Baldwin
The view from the top
The history
That will say Madison Fischer soon...haha
Tis a bit steep
Aless and Phoenix
Farmer's market
So many good vendors
Kirby, Molly, me
City Hall
On the walk
Art on the side of the street
Such different architecture everywhere
Another steep street
In the Octagon
More architecture
My room
My pictures
view from 3rd floor
Leith River that goes through Dunedin
Baldwin Street ahead
A bit up the street
the top of Signal Hill
Selfie with the clan for Molly's birthday
Phoenix(NZ), Molly(Massachusetts), Sophie(Northern Ireland), Kirby(Virginia), Karla(NZ), Jardon(Oregon), Anthony(Massachusetts)
Da girls
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