Kia Ora! This last week has just been pretty busy with school work. We had an interim review on Monday for studio. Jared and I got some really good feedback, and they really liked how we worked together. It's been great having a partner I like to work with. We're constantly bouncing ideas off each other, and it's been a really great dynamic. So we spent the rest of the week putting our drawings together. I had most of my stuff done by Friday, so I spent the evening with Mary and Nicole. We found a great new show to watch. Miranda Hart. She's a comedian in the UK I believe, and she's hilarious. We laughed the entire time. We just wish we had found it a few months ago.
Saturday I spent the day in studio finishing most everything up. Jared wasn't quite finished, so he told me to go home and he would put it all together. So I went home and hung out with Nicole, and we ended up skyping Mary from across the hill. Speaking of the hill. Yes the treacherous hill. I looked at the topography and figured that from the Te Aro campus, which is where my papers are, up to my house is twenty-five stories. TWENTY-FIVE STORIES!!! I told you it was a bit ridiculous.
So Sunday I popped back into studio to edit the project as a whole then met up with Nicole and Mary for lunch. We bummed around a bit, then walked up to the botanic gardens to grab an iced chocolate. I then spent the rest of the day being lazy, and it was fantastic. Being done with a project here was a bit different than at home. At home I feel so liberated once the project is done because I probably worked day and night, round the clock on it. Here, it felt great to be done, but I hadn't been working 24/7 so it wasn't as big a deal.
Anyways, just finished up crits. It went pretty well. They really liked our partnership and how the architecture and landscape worked together. Of course there were a few things they weren't convinced by but whatever. I'm so used to that it doesn't even matter anymore.
Oh and then there is my stupidity. So when we booked our flights to Tonga, Nicole really didn't want to miss class on Friday, so we payed close attention to the times that we could fly out. However, stupid me was not thinking that the airlines need you to have so much time in between a domestic and international flight. Well we are only supposed to have thirty-five minutes. I was more concerned about our luggage making it than I was us, but I sent Air NZ an e-mail to let them know about our situation, and they told me I wouldn't be able to get on the flight to Tonga. Well shit. I was told to change my domestic flight to an earlier time, but of course then you have to pay a change fee plus the difference of the flight costs. Well the cheapest flight was $250. So we needed a new plan. Nicole and I are now renting a relocation car meaning we get to rent the car for free and just pay gas. So we'll be making the eight hour drive up to Auckland Friday morning to meet up with Mary at the airport as she has an earlier flight.
You probably won't hear from me until I get back from Tonga. So until next time...
Kia Ora,
Laura
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
And The Time Is Still A Flyin
Kia Ora! I know it has been two weeks, but I just haven't had a whole lot to write about. I have spent the last two weeks at another rugby game, getting my boogie on at BoogieWonderland, planning yet another trip, enjoying the lovely flavors of moscato, and doing small amounts of school work.
We headed out on the town for Friday the 13th as it is one of mine and Mary's favorite days of the year. I had decided the week before that I was going to try a Down the Rabbit Hole at Alice. It is a Long Island Iced Tea with absinthe. I figured that's all I would need for the night, but of course we didn't go there first, and I wanted to try other drinks before that. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you to decide, but the long islands here are not nearly as potent as they are back home. At home its a full glass of straight alcohol with a splash of coke. In NZ it is about half and half. So needless to say, that one drink did not do me in for the night. But this did not keep me from having a good time. I kept up with the best of them, and Nicole and I boogied all night long while singing our hearts out to the best of the 70s and 80s.
It is getting to be that time in the semester where everything needs to get finished up. I've gotten an early lead on studio because I've heard that the third years have five hand-ins this week, which means there won't be many computers open. Plus everyone else has projects due so finding a computer to work on will be tough. But I have a good portion of my drawings already done. But its crazy to think there are only two weeks of class left. And once this week is over, there isn't much to do that last week since studio will have been handed in already, and I don't have much to do for my other papers. I finally handed in my practice and management project. I was over that project a few months ago. I hate group work in school, and it was just a really bad project especially because no one had any idea what we were supposed to be doing. But it is over and done with, and I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Mary, Jess, and I planned and booked a five day trip down to the South Island in June. We leave the day after we get back from Tonga so its going to be a very quick turnaround, but I am so excited. We're flying down to Dunedin, which is on the southeast coast. We're then driving around the coast and up to Queenstown. On my birthday Mary and I are going on a tour of Milford Sound, which I am ecstatic about. It is my birthday present to myself. It is the one thing I have wanted to see since I got here, and now I get to do it on my birthday. June is just going to be ridiculously awesome. I'll finish up the last few days of class, head to Tonga for a week, head down to the South Island, spend my birthday in Milford Sound, head back to Welly to take two finals while celebrating my birthday with everyone else, then maybe doing one last trip before packing my bags and heading home. While I can't wait for June, the time is just going too fast. I only have six weeks left here, and I'm not ready to leave. Don't get me wrong, I miss home, but this has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it's almost over. I started planning this trip in November of 2009, and while it was something to look forward to, here I am enjoying the experience, and it is almost time for me to go home. I'll never get this chance again, which is why I am spending ridiculous amounts of money and having the time of my life.
The field trip I talked about last time got rescheduled for today, and I am so glad I went. Plus, this time it was free because we didn't take a bus.We headed east out of Wellington and through the mountains, which were gorgeous. We then stopped in the middle of nowhere at the archaeological site, which was the whole point of the field trip. We had to climb a small hill to get to it. A few months ago I would have grumbled about walking up that hill, but after living in Wellington it was like a walk in the park. Anyways, the site wasn't too big. Peter gave us half an hour to map it out, which consisted of us pacing everything off. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but you could see the old kumara pits, terraces where there may been houses, and ditches and banks that the Maori people would have built to defend themselves.
We then headed to the coast to eat lunch and enjoy the view. We were supposed to go see the oldest house in NZ, but we were running out of time, so Peter took us further along the coast to go see some seals. This was the absolute best part of the day. The scenery on the way out was breathtaking. Mountains on one side, the Cook Straight on the other. So we stop at this lookout area, which could easily be one of my favorite spots in NZ so far. There are these huge rocks with tons of seals everywhere and these huge waves crashing into the rocks. We spent a good hour out there, but I would have loved to have stayed longer. The seals stink, but they're fun to watch. They sort of flop around, and its really funny to see them try to move fast. And they make these crazy noises. There was one point that I heard one making sneezing noises, and it was coming from a shrub. Then he started growling and stuck his head out at me. Jess got a little too close to mama and baby. Baby ran away while mom started towards Jess and made some not very nice noises. There were tons of babies playing in the water. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat. This was definitely worth the drive out there.
Last but not least, I saw a Weta. It is NZ native bug, and it is nasty. I walked outside to see what the weather is like, and there it was making its way to my front door. So did I kill it? Nope. I grabbed my camera, took a couple shots, then used my jandal to shuffle him into the street.
Until next time...
Kia Ora,
Laura
We headed out on the town for Friday the 13th as it is one of mine and Mary's favorite days of the year. I had decided the week before that I was going to try a Down the Rabbit Hole at Alice. It is a Long Island Iced Tea with absinthe. I figured that's all I would need for the night, but of course we didn't go there first, and I wanted to try other drinks before that. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you to decide, but the long islands here are not nearly as potent as they are back home. At home its a full glass of straight alcohol with a splash of coke. In NZ it is about half and half. So needless to say, that one drink did not do me in for the night. But this did not keep me from having a good time. I kept up with the best of them, and Nicole and I boogied all night long while singing our hearts out to the best of the 70s and 80s.
It is getting to be that time in the semester where everything needs to get finished up. I've gotten an early lead on studio because I've heard that the third years have five hand-ins this week, which means there won't be many computers open. Plus everyone else has projects due so finding a computer to work on will be tough. But I have a good portion of my drawings already done. But its crazy to think there are only two weeks of class left. And once this week is over, there isn't much to do that last week since studio will have been handed in already, and I don't have much to do for my other papers. I finally handed in my practice and management project. I was over that project a few months ago. I hate group work in school, and it was just a really bad project especially because no one had any idea what we were supposed to be doing. But it is over and done with, and I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Mary, Jess, and I planned and booked a five day trip down to the South Island in June. We leave the day after we get back from Tonga so its going to be a very quick turnaround, but I am so excited. We're flying down to Dunedin, which is on the southeast coast. We're then driving around the coast and up to Queenstown. On my birthday Mary and I are going on a tour of Milford Sound, which I am ecstatic about. It is my birthday present to myself. It is the one thing I have wanted to see since I got here, and now I get to do it on my birthday. June is just going to be ridiculously awesome. I'll finish up the last few days of class, head to Tonga for a week, head down to the South Island, spend my birthday in Milford Sound, head back to Welly to take two finals while celebrating my birthday with everyone else, then maybe doing one last trip before packing my bags and heading home. While I can't wait for June, the time is just going too fast. I only have six weeks left here, and I'm not ready to leave. Don't get me wrong, I miss home, but this has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it's almost over. I started planning this trip in November of 2009, and while it was something to look forward to, here I am enjoying the experience, and it is almost time for me to go home. I'll never get this chance again, which is why I am spending ridiculous amounts of money and having the time of my life.
The field trip I talked about last time got rescheduled for today, and I am so glad I went. Plus, this time it was free because we didn't take a bus.We headed east out of Wellington and through the mountains, which were gorgeous. We then stopped in the middle of nowhere at the archaeological site, which was the whole point of the field trip. We had to climb a small hill to get to it. A few months ago I would have grumbled about walking up that hill, but after living in Wellington it was like a walk in the park. Anyways, the site wasn't too big. Peter gave us half an hour to map it out, which consisted of us pacing everything off. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but you could see the old kumara pits, terraces where there may been houses, and ditches and banks that the Maori people would have built to defend themselves.
We then headed to the coast to eat lunch and enjoy the view. We were supposed to go see the oldest house in NZ, but we were running out of time, so Peter took us further along the coast to go see some seals. This was the absolute best part of the day. The scenery on the way out was breathtaking. Mountains on one side, the Cook Straight on the other. So we stop at this lookout area, which could easily be one of my favorite spots in NZ so far. There are these huge rocks with tons of seals everywhere and these huge waves crashing into the rocks. We spent a good hour out there, but I would have loved to have stayed longer. The seals stink, but they're fun to watch. They sort of flop around, and its really funny to see them try to move fast. And they make these crazy noises. There was one point that I heard one making sneezing noises, and it was coming from a shrub. Then he started growling and stuck his head out at me. Jess got a little too close to mama and baby. Baby ran away while mom started towards Jess and made some not very nice noises. There were tons of babies playing in the water. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat. This was definitely worth the drive out there.
Last but not least, I saw a Weta. It is NZ native bug, and it is nasty. I walked outside to see what the weather is like, and there it was making its way to my front door. So did I kill it? Nope. I grabbed my camera, took a couple shots, then used my jandal to shuffle him into the street.
Kia Ora,
Laura
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Where Has the Time Gone?
Kia Ora! After such a fun week in Australia, I got to come back to Wellington where it rained for most of the second week of break. I was really hoping to do some more traveling over the second week, but with the shitty weather there wasn't much of a point as it seemed to be bad weather all over NZ. Plus, I'm trying to save some money for traveling in June. Speaking of which, I booked our accommodation in Tonga. It looks so cool. We're staying in a Tongan fale, which is sort of like a hut, and I'm pretty sure it is right on the beach. I can't wait to go. Amazingly enough I'll have been there and be back in NZ in a month from now. I only have four weeks of class left. That is absolutely crazy to me. I feel like I just got here. Time has certainly flown by. It is crazy to think I'll be back in the States in less than two months. And a bunch of my friends are graduating right around this time. That is really weird to think about. Congratulations to all of you!
So the second week of break I did a whole lot of nothing, and it was fantastic. After all the flatmates got back, we all shared stories of our adventures. That week gave me a lot of time to hang out with my flatmates, which was really great. Mary came back on Thursday so she came over Friday to fill Nicole and I in on all the things she had done with her parents, and we were eager to share our stories with her.
For those of you who like to ask me about earthquakes all the time, there are usually a couple per day somewhere around NZ, but they're generally too small to feel. However, the other day I did feel one and the couch shook a bit. I looked it up, and it was a 5.0 down in Nelson, which is on the south island. However, nobody else seemed to notice it, although maybe their furniture wasn't moving.
This past week I had to get back into the swing of things with school. In studio we started the second part of the project. I had to pair up with an architect, and we have to choose a section of the site from the last project to develop further. I then have to design a series of parks and streets while he designs a few buildings. This is definitely more up my alley than the last one. This week in Colour, Pattern, & Light we were supposed to find a trendy place in town and compare it to a more outdated place. I originally thought I had to do interiors because it is an interior class, but she let us do it by discipline. In class on Tuesday, she told us she would only talk to those who had already done research, and for those of us who didn't, we could leave but we had to go do research. So I got to spend a beautiful day walking around the city finding designed spaces.
Thursday brought Cinco de Mayo, so Mary, Jess, and I headed downtown for margaritas. Unfortunately they're way too expensive so we moved on to find some cheaper drinks. We made a pit stop at the Tasting Room to snack on some amazingly delicious cheese fondue and chips. We then headed to Alice because on Thursdays their pitchers of certain drinks are half price. We have taken a liking to the Pink Gin Lemonade.
The last two weekends we finally made it to some rugby games. It has been so long since I've been to a sporting event, it felt good to be back in a stadium. Unlike American sporting events there aren't hotdogs and hamburgers around every corner, although we did find some "American hotdogs" at the last game, chicken and chips is the food of choice for games here. It was fun to watch a new sport, but a bit weird to cheer on a team you don't know much about.
Sunday I was supposed to go on a field trip for Peopling of Polynesia. We were supposed to head out to Palliser Bay, which is to the east of Wellington. We were going to visit some archaeological sites and map them out. While it wasn't going to be the most exciting field trip as it was an all day event I was still excited to see some new scenery. And we were going to see some seals, which I haven't seen yet. But Sunday morning came around, and I guess it was raining over there so the trip got cancelled. Now instead of doing the mapping assignment I have to write a stupid essay. So not cool. And I don't get to see the seals. Bummer. Peter, my professor, did tell us though that in the past one kid liked the place so much he went camping their the next weekend. All was good until his campfire went out of control and he burnt down around 2000 acres of bush. He got a pretty hefty fine and was almost thrown in jail. Another guy took his dog out there afterwards to see the seals, and the seals got a hold of his dog and took it down to the sea and drowned it. Apparently they're not very nice animals.
With nothing to do, Mary and I spent some time in town just bummin around. We made a game up of going into stores and picking out a ridiculous outfit for the other to try on. We then stand in the dressing room laughing at each other. Mary started this game in the eighties store, which is by far the best store to do this in. I sure had quite the outfit on.
Kia Ora,
Laura
So the second week of break I did a whole lot of nothing, and it was fantastic. After all the flatmates got back, we all shared stories of our adventures. That week gave me a lot of time to hang out with my flatmates, which was really great. Mary came back on Thursday so she came over Friday to fill Nicole and I in on all the things she had done with her parents, and we were eager to share our stories with her.
For those of you who like to ask me about earthquakes all the time, there are usually a couple per day somewhere around NZ, but they're generally too small to feel. However, the other day I did feel one and the couch shook a bit. I looked it up, and it was a 5.0 down in Nelson, which is on the south island. However, nobody else seemed to notice it, although maybe their furniture wasn't moving.
This past week I had to get back into the swing of things with school. In studio we started the second part of the project. I had to pair up with an architect, and we have to choose a section of the site from the last project to develop further. I then have to design a series of parks and streets while he designs a few buildings. This is definitely more up my alley than the last one. This week in Colour, Pattern, & Light we were supposed to find a trendy place in town and compare it to a more outdated place. I originally thought I had to do interiors because it is an interior class, but she let us do it by discipline. In class on Tuesday, she told us she would only talk to those who had already done research, and for those of us who didn't, we could leave but we had to go do research. So I got to spend a beautiful day walking around the city finding designed spaces.
Thursday brought Cinco de Mayo, so Mary, Jess, and I headed downtown for margaritas. Unfortunately they're way too expensive so we moved on to find some cheaper drinks. We made a pit stop at the Tasting Room to snack on some amazingly delicious cheese fondue and chips. We then headed to Alice because on Thursdays their pitchers of certain drinks are half price. We have taken a liking to the Pink Gin Lemonade.
The last two weekends we finally made it to some rugby games. It has been so long since I've been to a sporting event, it felt good to be back in a stadium. Unlike American sporting events there aren't hotdogs and hamburgers around every corner, although we did find some "American hotdogs" at the last game, chicken and chips is the food of choice for games here. It was fun to watch a new sport, but a bit weird to cheer on a team you don't know much about.
Sunday I was supposed to go on a field trip for Peopling of Polynesia. We were supposed to head out to Palliser Bay, which is to the east of Wellington. We were going to visit some archaeological sites and map them out. While it wasn't going to be the most exciting field trip as it was an all day event I was still excited to see some new scenery. And we were going to see some seals, which I haven't seen yet. But Sunday morning came around, and I guess it was raining over there so the trip got cancelled. Now instead of doing the mapping assignment I have to write a stupid essay. So not cool. And I don't get to see the seals. Bummer. Peter, my professor, did tell us though that in the past one kid liked the place so much he went camping their the next weekend. All was good until his campfire went out of control and he burnt down around 2000 acres of bush. He got a pretty hefty fine and was almost thrown in jail. Another guy took his dog out there afterwards to see the seals, and the seals got a hold of his dog and took it down to the sea and drowned it. Apparently they're not very nice animals.
With nothing to do, Mary and I spent some time in town just bummin around. We made a game up of going into stores and picking out a ridiculous outfit for the other to try on. We then stand in the dressing room laughing at each other. Mary started this game in the eighties store, which is by far the best store to do this in. I sure had quite the outfit on.
Kia Ora,
Laura
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