Week 2 -- Getting Settled

Classes don't start until the 18th, so this week was taken up by orientation activities, errands, and acclimating to my new environment. On Monday I finally got my international phone (at a technology store called Dick Smith, no less. What!?). It was quite a relief, as being in an unfamiliar place without the comforting weight of a phone in my pocket felt surprisingly unnerving. The next step was figuring out the details of pre-pay plans and addons, in addition to adjusting to T9 Word... but enough phone talk.

On Tuesday we had the official University of Auckland international students orientation, where we were welcomed by a marvelous performance of the intimidating Maori haka and other traditional dances/songs. Unfortunately that was followed by your typical snoozefest info session, where they read off the same information handed to us in little baggies at the door. I didn't mind, though, as I used the time to go through the masses of logistical papers and travel brochures I had accumulated over past few days.

Later that day me and some people on my program took advantage of a free bus tour of the Auckland area provided by the university. We got to see some of the outlying regions of Auckland, and best of all, Mt. Eden, the tallest of the many small volcanic cones spread around the Auckland area in what is known as the Auckland volcanic field.

Other volcanic cones visible from the top of Mt. Eden

Mt. Eden crater with downtown Auckland in the background

On Wednesday, I took a tour of the Auckland campus, which helped me get more oriented. The campus is surprisingly small for such a big school (40,000 students). But I guess what they lack in space they make up for with giant lecture halls that seat up to 900 people. Lucky for me, my largest class has ~90 students. That's Topics in Pacific Arts, which studies the crafts and dance of the various Polynesian cultures, including the Maori. I'm also taking two geology courses, both with the same awesome professor, Julie Rowland. She's really enthusiastic, and I'm sure she'll make the topics of Structural Geology and Tectonics really engaging. Those are both smaller classes of 20-35 students. Lastly I'm in a Linguistics class, the Origin and Evolution of Language, and that's with just 10 students. Unfortunately that professor seems a little spacy and forgetful, but hopefully the course content alone will be enough to keep me interested.

There weren't any decent orientation activities planned for Thursday-Sunday, so me and three other people in my program, Ben, Emily, and Krissi, decided to have a group dinner Thursday night and plan a trip for the coming weekend... More on that soon.