Back to the Books

…Well sort of! This week is the infamous re-o week at uni (the university), which means it’s a week of re-orientation after the holiday break for students to catch up and go a little crazy.  So, from a Kiwi perspective, re-o week is the time to have any last hoorahs before buckling down and hitting the books.  And for some, it means not even going to some of their first classes!  Now me being the conscientious person and student that I am, I decided not to adopt this interesting habit and even had a friendly Kiwi named Lorenzo show me where my classes were located the day before they began.  However, I didn’t get by without him giving me a hard time for being a goodie two-shoes throughout the “tour.” J  But in my defense, it’s a large university and I have never been here!  But don’t worry, I did participate in many of the festivities!

So classes officially started for me on Tuesday!  I had all three classes and they were great and it seems like they will be pretty interesting.  My visual arts teacher is a little loopy and eccentric, but it will make for some entertaining lectures at least!  I made my grandma’s chili for the first time that night for my flat after spending an hour in the grocery store searching for the correct ingredients.  But even after a couple of NZ substitutions, it still turned out great!  I was so proud of myself for making a legitimate meal all by myself!  Then that night, my flat and a couple other friends went to a paint party! Lots and lots of paint everywhere! And we have some awesome pictures to prove it!  We still have paint remnants all around the flat from when we came back that night.  I also got to know some more people and hung out with a pretty cool guy named Werner (he really wanted to become famous in the US through my blog so I had to mention him)!

Wednesday was clubs day at uni so I signed up for the tramping club and Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF)! I am super excited for both and I am happy to find a stable service during the week since I will hopefully be tramping a lot on the weekends!  The first OCF international dinner was Thursday night and it was great to meet more people from all around the world!  I have also checked out the gym on campus and it is brand new and really nice.  Rachel and I have been going often with the goal of running up Baldwin Street without stopping by the end of the semester.  Hopefully if I make that goal public to all of you I can be held more accountable!  We will see.  At its steepest point there is a 19 degree gradient!

And today was a little rainy, but that did not stop Kiri, Werner, Liam, Rachel, Erin, and I from going to the yearly Jaffa festival.  The main event at the festival is the chocolate Jaffa race where 50,000 Jaffas role down Baldwin Street and the person who bought the winning Jaffa receives a prize.  It was interesting, and possibly a little anticlimactic, but good fun hanging out with new friends and when else am I going to watch chocolate candies roll down a hill?  And right now, we just finished eating the most delicious meal that Bob (aka the best cook ever), who lives in our flat complex, cooked for us!  Sausage, potatoes, and carrots! Dad, it was borderline better than yours, so don’t worry, I will bring back the recipe J Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 P.S. My camera broke...so there will fewer pictures for a while.