Oh those silly Indians.

So yesterday I hike up 35 minutes to an Indian grocery store only to find out there is no selection of Indian goods. The vegetables were old and crummy, they didn't even have roti, but they did sell spices for cheap. So I walked back another 35 minutes with my shins aching (the 3 mile walk around Rangitoto on Saturday didn't help) and a dejected countenance. I sulked around for a while before dragging myself over to Foodtown (the local supermarket) to pick up some vegetables and stuff. By chance, I notice an international foods aisle. Curiously, I peruse the section and BAM - one sliver of the international foods aisle contains MORE DAMN INDIAN FOOD THAN THE INDIAN GROCERY STORE! I proceeded to buy one of everything and had a nice pav bhaji dinner. ^_^

Rangitoto pics will be up on the pictures website in a short bit. This is an island that came out of nowhere in the Auckland Bay about 700 years ago. The Maori went crazy when they saw it and invented a new god for it, or so I've been told. I can't blame them - I'd go apeshit too if I woke up to see a mountain come out of nowhere. Anyways, the views from the summit were pretty awesome. Yeah, I'll put them up soon.

Had my first class this morning - unfortunately, Control Systems will not be a cakewalk. I suppose I shouldn't be complaining - the Mudders probably have it rougher. However, I hope I at least learn half as much in that class as I would at Mudd. The other classes shouldn't be that bad. Entry level history, entry level ethnic studies, and intermediate level ethics. Pssh.

Oh yeah, I met Mike on Thursday and he showed me the suburbs of Auckland. And he highly recommends bungee jumping off the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Hopefully Katie will give me a free Telecom phone! That would rock. And I met Nicky on Friday in Albert Park, and I crossed paths with her first and kinda thought "Is that Nicky?" And I didn't want to look weird so I moved on and told myself I'd circle around and come back and when I did she was wearing a huge Cat in the Hat and I knew it was her then. We made fun of Dave and his wooden sword. ^_^

What else? More adventures coming soon.

Picture site.

http://www3.hmc.edu/~nshah/nzpics/

Off to Rangitoto Island tomorrow for some more spectacular pictures. I am absolutely mesmerized by this little bugger's capability to capture color and detail both near and far. Absolutely stunning.

Where is my 18+ card.

Debating whether to visit Christchurch or Queenstown with Byron over the April break. I sent him a fat long email he probably won't read. Queenstown is near Milford Sound and the Glaciers, Christchurch is a lot cheaper, and is probably just as beautiful too. I think Big Dave lives in ChCh too. Trying to meet Mike was a failure - I need a mobile to make things easier. I need to meet Nicky too. Fortunately, I have an asston of free time here, so I'm not too worried.

Money is incredibly tight - working on screwing HMC out of some cash so I can, you know, eat.

I need to get to Dunedin at some point as well, but I have to go through Christchurch for that. Also not cheap. I wish I had a car so I could road trip to Wellington and just hop the ferry. Damn - I should visit Wellington at some point too. Too bad all this costs money I don't have. Can't even afford a freaking cell phone. Can't legally work either. Maybe I can sell drugs.

Speaking of drugs, I got a free hit from a joint on my birthday. I must investigate this "J-Day" that the University of Auckland apparently has.

- N

Kia Ora.

So, yeah, I haven't been able to get to the Net until now. So that means I have way too much to talk about, but I'll try and be minimal. That way, you can make conversation with me about details!

1. Auckland - I swear, this place reminds me of San Francisco. Perfect weather (just a little warmer than the Bay Area gets), huge East Asian influence, neat bars, clubs, and musical and cultural events are happening all the time. Space is conserved well, parks are nothing short of beautiful, oh crap, I suppose I should put up some pictures.

2. Rotorua - Touristy town. I got sick of feeling like a tourist, but once I started feigning the Kiwi accent I got the bartenders and a couple locals fooled, and we bought each other rounds. Speaking of which, Jameel payed me a visit last night. I don't remember the details, but he left me some gravel embedded in my palm. Thanks, buddy.

3. Tamaki - So New Zealand's native population that got screwed by the white guys is called the Maori, and they've done a lot better for themselves than the Native Americans back in the States. Granted, I think the British took it easy on them (the Waitangi treaty was 1840, after Andrew Jackson's embarassing Trail of Tears, so maybe they had a conscience then), but the Maori village we went to was way intense. It was a very immersive experience, and I got threatened by warriors of the village and stuff (somehow I got put in the position of a visiting tribe's chief, so I had to go through the appropriate ceremonies). I had to not flinch at all, because if I did, it was a sign of weakness and they'd kick me out. Not your basic touristy crap. Afterwards they did the Haka, which is a totally awesome war dance and their eyes get really big and they make the craziest faces ever. I couldn't take pictures because they were threatening me with the stabby sticks, but I think others did, so I'll snag those off of them. They were more passionate and reverent than any other cultural presentation I've ever seen. Conclusion: Maori rock.

4. Bars. Yep.

Some other neat touristy stuff - we saw kiwis and apparently they're crazy endangered. I had no idea. The sky is unbelievably blue, but there are usually clouds about. On the drive to Rotorua we stopped near Matamata, which was renamed Hobbiton. Unfortunately, all the hills of the Shire were nothing really more than hills. Jackson's set literally created everything out of nothing. There are a ton of pine trees here imported from America, so sometimes it feels a little too Oregon-like or something. But the native ferns here are intense - they're huge and sprawl across the ground. Rotorua smells like ass because hot sulfur deposits are under all the lakes. New Zealand looks exactly like it does on the postcards. Speaking of postcards, Badier is about to get owned. When I can get my ass to the post office, that is.

It's M's and my birthday tomorrow - gonna see how many free drinks I can get.

Oh yeah, one of the greatest parts of the trip was driving to Rotorua listening to Explosions in the Sky and watching the scenery go by. The entire How Strange, Innocence album worked out simply beautifully. Majestic music to fit the majestic scenery.

Right, I'll work on those pictures now.

Oh yeah, how does March 12 sound for visiting Dunedin? And Byron - when's your break in Ozzyland?

Ew, I'm a blogger now.

I thought I'd open this up with an informative post. So here's what you need to study abroad.

1. Patience.

Yep.

Man, signing up for classes at the University of Auckland was such a pain in the ass. I think it's like that for any big school. It's you versus this PHP thingy - fill out Form A3124567 and then yada yada. In any case, I got some pretty neat classes. But it took me at least 15 hours of scrounging through their catalog, making sure nothing conflicts, and haggling with both ends to accept my transcripts.

a. Control Systems - in the ME dept (I'm screwed)
b. Ethics of Biotechnology - hopefully I can get IE credit for it
c. History of New Zealand - I figured it was a good idea
d. Ethnic minorities in New Zealand - THIS should be sweet.

Packing is another story. You want to be as minimalist as possible. I've got 90% of my clothes in one suitcase, and extra crap (like a comb - who needs a comb?) in another smaller bag. And I'll be carrying my laptop over there. Can't live without this crap. With laundry done about once a week, I should have more than enough clothes in that one suitcase to last me 18 weeks in New Zealand. Maybe. We'll see.

I still need to open a bank account there, and a cell would be nice too. That's another thing - a lot of US phones use Qualcomm's CDMA encoding, but the rest of the world uses AT&T's GSM. I'd better not bore you with all the details, but to the point - my phone won't work. Ack. Maybe I'll get a prepaid phone thing. I have calling cards, so the States are okay. I don't feel like calling those chumps anyways - I'll email or something instead.

Okay, this is way too much to write. I'm done. I should mention though, if no one gives a damn, I'll stop posting, because I'm doing this to keep other people updated, not myself. After all, I already know what I've been up to - I don't need to hear myself repeat it a bunch of times. ;]

- N