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Published: February 18th 2008
Greetings and Salutations everyone!!
Sorry it has taken me so long to get the word out on what I've been doing. Well, from the beginning. My flight from LAX to Auckland was delayed 8 hours. The original pilot got sick and the replacement pilot had already fullfilled his flying hours for that day and rules regulate that he have 8 hours of closed door time before he flew again. So 9:30 plane left LA at 2:10AM. The 13 hour flight wasn't that bad. The food was pretty good and every seat has a screen on the backside so everyone has their own personal screen and can pick out what they want to watch.
IFSA Butler picked us up at the Airport and then took us, bout 1-1.5 hr away to the Shakespear National Park for orientation. During this time we became acclimated to time change and learned a lot bout NZ culture and life at the University of Otago. We went ROGAINing (can't remember what it stands for, but we had a map and had to find locations on the map) kayaking, I learned archery. But my favorite part of Orientation was staying on a Marae. A Marae is a Maori sort of meeting place madeup of their ancesteral house with pictures of their ancestors, a meeting area and an open area for ceremonies (okay I didn't explalin that clearly. I'll write it better when I have my notes in front of me) anyway. we were actually part of a ceremony and they welcomed us as vistors and students, not a tourists. We had to learn 2 songs in Maori. The funny thing is we had to sing those 2 songs and the Star Spangled Banner and we sang the Maori songs better than the SSB. We spent the night in the Marae and caught our plane from Auckland to Christchurch and then christchurch to Dunedin.
Moved into our flats on Sunday. I'm living w/ one other IFAS butler student, and a girl who worked it out on her own. We still have 2 rooms open but we don't know if there is someone living in them yet. I'm sort of living in an international complex. Many of the students are from the states but there are other internationals too (Scottish, Dutch, Canadian) I have a massive room. My bed is bigger here than at home. I also have a little balcony that gets a good breeze every so often. It's about a 5 min walk to the nearest grocerey store and 10 min from campus.
I just registered for classes today. IFSA Butler recommends registering for only 3 but right now I'm at 4. I'm signed up for 2 Maori classes (Maori Society and the other is a sort of Performing art/ dance class) and 2 theatre classes (technical theatre and a basic history of theatre II) Now i just have to see if PC will give me the credits (insert slightly worried face :P )
as of now. e-mail is the best way to stay in contact until I figure out how the wireless works on campus. and I'll send out my mailing address later today or tomorrow (left it back in the flat) Miss you and love you all.
-Alison
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Leah
non-member comment
souds like you're having a wonderful time already. just don't have too good of a time and not want to come back to us in the states. love you!!!!!