Cyclones and 8 AMs
Eight months, that is the time that I have had off from school. I have basically taken a gap semester from school and in that time I’ve experienced some things other people only dream of. Eight months of constant fun, of going to the beach and going hiking. Then the day before classes, I realized I had to buckle down and focus. After all, I came to New Zealand to study, the other adventures are just benefits. The week before classes start is somewhat frantic, in my case I had to stand in line for 6 hours just to enrol. After that long day, I had to figure out my timetable. It took me a solid three days to arrange my schedule of classes in the most efficient way I could think of and I still came up with this - 8 AMs, five days a week. Not only that, I go until 4 pm Tuesday through Friday. So to sum it up, I have an exhausting schedule. Now I don’t really know how my schedule compares to other college students in America, but I do know that as an engineering student, you have one of the hardest schedules at Uni. Here is a little detailed account of what a my week one at Uni in New Zealand looked like...
Monday - The First Day
The alarm goes off, you question life itself. Is this actually happening? Would it be so bad if I just got ten more minutes of sleep? No matter the thoughts, you know it’s the first day, therefore you have to get up. Once you muster up the courage to actually stand up and get a cup of highly caffeinated coffee, the excitement kicks in. You start walking to class, and you don’t want to look like a first year so you “pretend” to know where you’re going when in all honesty - you don’t. You finally find your first lecture and you look up into the seats and then the eyes of what seems like a thousand other students. You try to pick the perfect seat, and you think a thousand thoughts by the time you actually reach that seat. Did I put on deodorant? Are aliens real? Is water wet? Then, your professor comes out, eases the tension by making some sort of joke, and before you know it, you’re off to the books. I had four classes that day, all of which occurred in this exact same fashion. A brief introduction was given about the course, then we would start learning, pretty basic. When I was finished, I was finally able to look up and see that there were some massive storm clouds coming in. I later learned on the news that a class two cyclone that had just hit Tonga was inbound straight for New Zealand. How did I process that information you ask? Well, I did what most people do, ignore the problem and treat myself to some beer and burgers (legally).
Tuesday and Wednesday - The Cyclone
Growing up in Colorado, the only natural disasters you have to worry about are tornadoes and forest fires. Little did I know, New Zealand is earthquake central, in fact Christchurch was hit with a 6.3 magnitude quake in 2011 that killed 185 people. I don’t feel earthquakes quite as strong as that, but I still feel them, and quite frequently at that. Not only that, I wasn’t expecting New Zealand to be in the range of hurricanes, or as they are called in the South Pacific - cyclones. As of this week, I can now say that I’ve experienced one. When I woke up on Tuesday, the weather was horrid, it was pouring, it was dark, and it was only the prelude to the actual storm. It escalated throughout the day and then that night I got this email…
My excitement turned to fear because of how serious it had become. I kept receiving emails about the updates on whether or not school would be cancelled the next day, the wind and rain just continued to intensify. I woke up the next morning expecting to see the kind of aftermath that you see on TV. What I saw though was nothing more than flooded sidewalks, muddy paths, and plant debris on the ground from the constant wind and rain overnight. The storm hit it’s peak Wednesday morning, then dissipated throughout the day. Tuesday and Wednesday ran into the same day for me and overall, it wasn’t that bad. The storm must’ve lost some strength overnight because I was expecting far worse than what actually happened. It was a class two when it had hit Tonga, but I don’t even know if it was a class one when it hit us. So classes went on as usual, it just came at the expense of my shoes and clothes being soaked until Friday.
Thursday and Friday - The Exhaustion
Three days of waking up at 7am had officially taken its toll on me. I was, as most college students say, exhausted. It was a mixture of both physical and mental exhaustion, something I hadn’t quite experienced for eight months (a few years added onto that for the mental aspect if you consider my outstanding work habit in high school). I got through Thursday on coffee and even managed to make it to the gym, which is quite a feat for your first week if you ask me. Friday morning was great, I actually got to sleep in until 10:15 am! How you ask? By sleeping through your alarm of course! Yes, I woke up having missed a class and only having thirty minutes to get to the next class. At UC though, if you miss a class, you can just go online and watch the live stream, so this is a great tool to have, but still no excuse to miss class. Anyway, I got through Friday having had some great sleep and by the time I was finished at 4pm, I still just wanted to rest. I just needed to relax, drink a beer (legally, again), and sit in the sun - with SPF 100+ of course.
So to recap, Monday was filled with that exciting "first day" feeling, Tuesday and Wednesday I experienced a cyclone, and Thursday and Friday were exhaustion filled days that left me questioning whether my professors would care if I had just fallen asleep in their classes (they wouldn't). If this is just the first week, then one can only wonder what will come in the following weeks.
I probably won’t post a detailed week by week account of my life at Uni as I’m sure it would get pretty boring, but I will keep all of you family and friends updated as time goes on. My next post will either be about my trips to Belize or a tour of the coolest things in Christchurch, so be ready. If anyone has any ideas, just shoot me an email or snap and I’ll see what I can do. Hope you all have a great upcoming week!
Peace!