Advertisement
Published: August 7th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Cathedral Square
Christchurch is centered around Cathedral Square. It's about a 10 minute bus ride from where I live. Here are the pictures of downtown Christchurch or what they call “central city” Christchurch. When we were still at the hostel in central city we did a whole afternoon of self-guided walking tours around the city and took pictures while it was so beautiful out. There is a park called Hagley Park that includes the Botanical Gardens and together they are probably as big as the entire rest of the city which is about 130,000 people.
I’m all moved into my flat now. I live with a guy from Malaysia, 2 guys from England, a girl from Denver, and a guy from Denver. I’m pretty sure everyone in Ilam village where I live is an international student but at least they’re not all from the U.S. So far everyone has been extremely helpful and nice. At least they try to be helpful. A lot of my questions get different answers from different people and I sort of just take their sum and figure it out. It has warmed up quite a bit since we first arrived. Apparently it was as cold as -11°C at times. No wonder I was so cold! But the last few days have been drizzly and
cloudier, just like home. I felt it was warm enough to go running and only had to wear one pair of pants the other day. I wear SPF 30 sunscreen on my face every day and it’s not even sunny during the daylight of 8am-5pm, but somehow I manage to get sunburned every day. Aside from the nighttime frigidity setting in so early, everything closes at 5pm! It’s hard to know what to do after that time so we have started planning the day to last until 5pm and then we have a later dinner. I’m sure once school starts I will have PLENTY of reading to do though.
I am now becoming more of a kiwi as Amy and I opened bank accounts at kiwibank Tuesday and got our bus passes. We went to a mall close to the university which has traditional clothing stores and a department store… but also a Kmart and a grocery store! And the Kmart was one of the most expensive places yet. It was far cheaper to buy school supplies at the grocery store than Kmart. Everything here is at LEAST 1.5 times as expensive compared to America. Even with my pre-paid
bus pass it costs me about $2 each way to go anywhere. We all know that I don’t exactly like to sit still so I think I can plan on spending a lot on the bus. Also, Chinese take-out is $15, a small bell pepper at the supermarket is $3, etc, etc.
Wednesday was orientation for international kids and it was fairly useless except I saw Ryan who was on our flight from Seattle and is living in the same housing. So now Amy and I have someone else we know from Seattle. He brought his snowboard and plans to go up to the mountains a lot so hopefully we can hitch a ride along sometime. We have met lots of other new people too. Wednesday night we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie which was amazing of course. Pretty scary though… I thought I was going to have nightmares haha.
Thursday was enrolment and I got my Canterbury card (student ID) so I am now officially a University of Canterbury student. With that card I can supposedly get internet now but every time I think it’s “just one more day,” I am wrong. So I
have lost all confidence that it will ever happen and continue to pay by the freakin’ megabyte at the library. This school makes you pay for every last second of internet you use. Craziness.
Christchurch is really pretty but a lot like home. I guess that reduced the culture shock though. I think the things that are going to be the hardest to get used to are that they drive on the left side so I can’t remember which way to look first when crossing the street let alone which side of the sidewalk to walk on or which door to go in at the store (good thing I’m not driving yet); and I haven’t seen very many animals! If I don’t find somewhere to volunteer or work soon, I will go crazy. I see vet hospitals everywhere but I rarely see people walking dogs. I even have dreams about being at work tending to the kitties and doggies and about kidnapping a fluffy, white, stray cat to snuggle with. There are lots of ducks and seagulls here but they don’t have rodents in New Zealand. We are probably going to do something touristy soon which might be going
to see penguins at the International Antarctic Centre or go to Orana Wildlife Park which has tigers and rhinos and such.
Well anyway, we are having a blast and settling right on in. Sorry this is the longest blog in the world. If I happen to stumble across internet connection in my bedroom someday down the road, I will write more often and they won’t be so long. Miss you all! (or Miss y’all - for the Texans)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 5; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0391s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jennifer
non-member comment
Hey Jamie!!
Sounds like you're adjusting well! I love the palm trees! :) I'm sorry it's been so cold there. Hopefully you have plenty of warm clothes! I miss you a bunch and I can't wait to read more of your adventures. Love, Jenn ..and Julius of course!