Because I'm really negligent of my blogging duties, so much time has past that I don't really remember exactly what went on for the next day or so. The defining moment of my first couple days was the arrival in Dunedin of one of Kiwi Justin's friends who has been living in New Zealand for about six months. Affable Dave (because he is straight-up the friendliest, warmest, most jovial person I have ever met. Not to mention his enthusiastic disposition towards activity suggestions of any kind. This was the hardest name to come up with) arrived in Dunedin via hitching down from Christchurch where he had been staying in a hostel. Dave had been a fellow student of Kiwi J's until he decided that school just wasn't for him at that time and decided to move to NZed, get a job, and do some wilderness- and self-exploration. Justin had been stressin' all day (Saturday, Feb. 19) about what crazy shenanigans we were gonna get up to once Dave arrived so that we would have a good time. I can't remember what we did, but with Affable Dave around, its always a good time. The big to-do on Monday was navigate the curiously complicated and bewildering process of class registration. Unlike Denison (and most other logically-minded schools), the University of Otago requires students to engage in a process of red-tape-cutting, hoop-jumping, Waldo-finding, maze-walking in order to secure classes, or "papers" as they call them here, for the upcoming semester. I will quickly describe this process: i queued in one building in order to get a piece of paper which I then had to take to another building where i queued for a while to deliver that paper to receive another sheet of paper which i then had to take to several other buildings where the process of queuing and signature-receiving was repeated multiple times. This process was made all the more difficult by the barrage of very determined people crowding the main thoroughfares trying to get passers-by to sign up for this or that club or society. Paper in hand with all required signatures, I then had to deliver it to another building where it was looked at by a girl who i swear couldn't have been older than 14, who then directed me to another building where i finally completed the process. I don't know what happened, and I have no idea if I did everything correctly, but I'm taking classes now, so I guess it worked out. After this grueling ordeal Affable Dave (who had been following us around for all of this), Kiwi Justin, Scruffy Ethan, Chillin Matt, and I decided that the appropriate remedy for frustration and general lethargy was a drink over pub-grub at the Cook Tavern. I'm not sure how our small posse of illiterates figured this out (it couldn't have been the massive graffiti outside the pub), but someone determined that during O-Week (orientation week, more on this to come) if you texted Cook to 393 you would receive a daily text giving you a free drink at the Cook. As college students, we naturally took full advantage of this. Phones with texts in hand we arrived at the Cook, got our drinks, food and found a table. At some point I noticed a tv across the bar that had a barcode scanner next to it and was scrolling a list of names. I inquired at the bar what the names were and it was explained that by filling out a very small form I could have the barcode on my student ID activated as my "Cook-card." By swiping my Cook-Card every time I enter the Cook, and every time I order a drink, I get 50 cents. And thus, Cook-cardage began.
Monday night began what is imfamously known in New Zealand as Otago O-Week. More-or-less a week-long party. House after house, block after block, street after street swarmed with college students between the hours of noon and four or five AM every day. With Scruffy Ethan's Kiwi-host Mel leading the way, we headed back to the Cook where several of her friends worked. A phone call and 30 seconds of waiting for her friend to come to the door gained us action to the upstairs VIP section of the Cook. Man it pays to know the right people. We hurried inside and headed to the back and up the stairs (but not before I swiped my card for my nightly 50 cents). Once again we cashed in on our text message free drinks and a night of dancing and tomfoolery began.
Tuesday, February 22nd came like every other O-Week morning, with me hauling myself out of bed around noon and attempting to figure out what I was going to try to accomplish that day. At 12:53, sitting exactly where I am as I write this, I felt my first earthquake. At first I only noticed the small bookcase next to my desk shaking, but then I also began to feel the movement. But just like that, it was over. Dave and Justin arrived at my window looking to toss the frisbee or something only a few minutes later. They had been walking to my flat when the quake hit and didn't feel it. After a good fris-sesh we headed to the grocery to get some food for dinner. Before hitting up the grocery we were lured into a thrift store across the street for some scrounging. As we perused to disappointing selection we noticed the TV in the back room. After watching for a couple minutes we realized that the quake that I had felt was a much more significant event that any of us realized. The hostel that Affable D had been staying in as he cruised through Christchurch a couple days earlier had been flattened, part of the famous Christchurch Cathedral had fallen, there was devastation everywhere. We quickly got our groceries and headed back to Ethan's house (the only one with both a TV and power among our friend group) to continue watching the coverage.
I won't go into much detail regarding O-Week. Both because just about every day was the same, and because for those who weren't there, its really not that entertaining to hear about parties. The rest of O-Week was taken up with festivities, parties and getting to know lots and lots of other people, international students and Kiwis alike. At the request of my Denison friend Madden, who had been in Dunedin the semester before, I stopped in at a flat not far from Scruffy E's to deliver a birthday message from Madden to a girl he lived with who was still in Dunedin. At this party I met Laughing Dylan (pretty straightforward where this one comes from, he's always laughing) who goes to OWU (Ohio Wesleyan University) not far from Denison. Crazy small world.
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| From right to left: Kiwi J, Scruffy E, me, Neighbor Marissa, her flatmate Matt, and Affable Dave |
When Sunday the 27th finally did arrive we were all ready to stop feeling obligated to go out every night. We had taken a night off on Thursday in order to fully recover and recharge the batteries for the second half of the week and had receive much grief for it from our compatriots. Whatever, I almost enjoyed full-on den-moding (which involves shutting all the curtains in Kiwi J's living room, closing the door, and zoning out to a movie) more than partying... almost. In any case, a week straight of obligationless partying isn't nearly as enjoyable in actuality as it is in theory. I did accomplish a couple things during the week like setting up a bank account for which I was rewarded with $30 from Westpac Bank. Awesome! I also bought more food at the grocery and took care of some other necessities. I wasn't completely worthless, Mom.
[I'm getting pretty close to being caught-up, but I have to skedaddle now to go eat the dinner that Bustling Tom has fixed. More to come very soon. Maybe with more pictures too! :) ]
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