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Published: January 8th 2008
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Here is another blog that I wrote yesterday but didn’t have time to post on the internet anymore, for reasons that I will describe in my next blog 😉 I found a room! I called a couple of the people from the ads I found at the library and one of them invited me over, and I liked the housemates and the room very much, so I decided to take it. I am going to live with two kiwi’s, an Australian girl, a Japanese girl and a Korean girl. I met the two kiwi’s, Brett and Sam, and the Japanese girl, Sayaka, and they were very nice. The house is about 10 minutes from the university and 20 minutes to town. Walking that is, because no-one bikes around here, which takes some getting used to. We do the grocery shopping together and we can cook and eat together when we like. It seemed like a very sociable house, which is nice since I don’t know anyone yet. I already agreed with my housemates that we’ll go out or have a little party this Friday, since it is my 21st birthday. Apparently that’s some kind of big deal here (like 18
in the Netherlands I guess). So that’s fun, I won’t be alone on my birthday… I am moving in tomorrow, I’ll get a cab to move all my stuff from the hostel to the room. Somehow it has accumulated in the past three days, it seems like I need an extra suitcase just to get my stuff moved… mysterious. Anyway, I’m really happy that I found a nice place, did not expect to find something so soon. I’ll take some pictures this week so you can see how it looks.
I also met with my research supervisor, Deryn, today. She was very nice as well, she showed me around a bit but there was nobody there yet, everyone is still on holiday. I am starting next week Monday, today was just to finally meet her and see where I’ll be working the next 6 months. I’m getting my own office, very small but still, my own office! It’s in one of the cute psychology buildings of the University of Otago, called Galton House (see picture). And that’s not all, I will be getting my own research assistant! How cool is that? 😊 It’s a girl doing her honours, 4th
year undergraduate, who will help me with the data collection, starting in March. She’ll probably be a couple of years older than me, but I will be in charge of her, muhahaha 😉 I am looking forward to starting the research, also to know a little more about what we will be doing (we’ll discuss the manipulations etc. next week), but I’m happy to have this week off still, so I can get settled in and explore Dunedin some more. I walked around town a lot over the past few days already, and it is very beautiful, especially the university area. They don’t just have one university building, no, it’s more like a university village inside the town! It has beautiful old buildings, fields of grass, all kinds of trees and a lot of atmosphere (see pictures).
I also went to St. Kilda Beach yesterday, to the jealousy of some :P Actually, I didn’t swim at all because it was somewhat cloudy that day (although still quite warm). But I just walked on the beach with my feet in the water, and it was so incredibly beautiful. I will post some pictures, but they just cannot show the feeling
on that beach, it was so peaceful. Sounds cliché, I know, but it really was amazing. I still want to go to Tunnel Beach as well, which is also supposed to be very beautiful, and moreover, where you can see sea lions and seals! But I still have plenty of time to go there, I’ll be here for over 6 months 😊
I got new roommates in the hostel by the way, an Italian girl, an Austrian girl and an Italian/Austrian girl 😊 They are very nice, big improvement over my previous roommates! We hung out last night, it was nice to finally have some people to have an actual conversation with. They went to the Chocolate Factory today and brought me back chocolate (I couldn’t come because I had to go to the university) and now I definitely want to visit the Chocolate Factory myself because the chocolate was so good! I also still want to go to the train station, which is supposed to be a very beautiful building, and go on a sightseeing train ride, 4 hours through the province of Otago. So there’s still enough to see and do…
Thanks for all your messages,
it’s really cool to see that so many of you actually read my blabbering 😉 When I move in to the room tomorrow I will also have internet in my room if everything goes well, so then we can chat and skype and so on, and I’ll have more time to spend on the internet. Talk to you soon!
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Ralph
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Nice blog and great photo's! Looks like you are going to have a great time over there. Good luck moving in to your new room. Have fun! And I hope to read a new blog soon ;-)