When in Wellington…

Week Eight of class was a busy one. Let’s go over it.

On Monday, we had a guest speaker, the world expert on Māori television, come and talk to my Media of New Zealand class. After class, I walked with my Kiwi friend from the class down to the New World grocery store because I needed to go shopping and she lives near there. In case you’ve been wondering “what has David been cooking lately?”, I can tell you I’ve kind of been alternating between pasta (with vegetarian sausages and vegetables), chili and beans, rice and veggies. I know it’s simple but it’s working!

In the evening, I was studying in the Everton Hall study room when I saw a facebook post saying that the Everton Futsal Team (Indoor soccer) needed more players for the day. So, I decided to join!

There were five of us on the Everton team and the game was composed of two twelve-minute halves. The game was quite fast-paced and we had no subs so it was a lot of exercise! We didn’t do very well though. The score was like 15-2 or something embarrassing like that. But, it was quite fun! I regret not signing up earlier; I didn’t realize it wasn’t a very big commitment. I imagined weekly practices and long games. Anyway, the team invited me back next week so I’ll be there!

The next day, I went to my Media of New Zealand tutor’s office hours to go over our big essay that is coming up. I was going over my topic with him so I could better understand it before getting started. I am not looking forward to writing this…

Next I had my AI class followed by my Media of New Zealand tutorial. Before the tutorial began, we were talking about New Zealand fruits and other foods that are different from the states. My tutor recommended I try a “Moro Bar”. I bought one the next time I saw it – they are delicious! He also had me listen to an iconic ad for the Crunchie bar.

I went to tramping club in the evening and Skye and I were planning to go to tacos after (the tramping club always hosts taco night after the meetings) but they never decide who is hosting it until after the meeting and no one was volunteering to host so we ended up skipping it.

On Friday I have an Artificial Intelligence exam so I’ve been studying! On Wednesday morning, I called my dad to go over it a bit with him and then I went off to my Visual Narrative class. More students presented today and then we did check-ins about our final project. I showed my tutor some drawings I had made thus far and they gave some suggestions. Then, I met up with a friend in the library to study AI for the exam.

Thursday wasn’t too groundbreaking… I worked on my different projects. I also went to the hall in the evening because they were showing Star Wars IV in honor of Star Wars Day (May 4th). I hadn’t seen that movie since I was ten!

The AI test on Friday ended up going quite well! That was my first exam in New Zealand. Unlike with any test I’ve taken in college before, we had to leave all our backpacks at the from of the room. I also had to go out and buy a pencil beforehand because I actually haven’t needed one until this test! My flatmate lent me his calculator but I never ended up needing it. In the afternoon, after the test, I decided to go to New Town because I keep hearing it mentioned yet I’ve never been. So, I walked over to the New Town area but it turns out it’s not really a place you just go to explore. It’s ok but there wasn’t a whole lot to look at. It’s kind of just a residential area. I checked out some bookshops and some dollar stores (haven’t seen any in Wellington yet) and then I took the bus home.

The weekend was pretty eventful! My friend Rebekah is a big Lord of the Rings fan so I went with her to this one-room museum. Basically, there’s a woman that lives in Wellington who is a HUGE FAN of Lord of the Rings and has recreated costumes and now runs this little museum in her house.

When we got there, the woman took us in and showed us a thirty minute video of her and her family discuss their love for Lord of the Rings. Then, she had us try on the costumes and she took pictures of us in them. This is a good time to tell you I’ve only seen the first two of the three movies and as my friends can affirm, I don’t fully understand them. So, here I was in this woman’s house and she’s holding a fake spider in front of me telling me to get in Frodo’s position when he fights the spider as if I had always dreamed of recreating this scene. I was lost!

It was a fascinating experience and it was fun to dress up in all the different costumes! At the end of our visit, the woman showed us real props from the movies she had acquired and let us each choose a Lord of the Rings bookmark from her collection. Definitely an experience I’ll never forget! By the way, her house is in New Town, the place I walked to yesterday.

Rebekah and I went to Countdown on the way home and purchased some ingredients because we arranged to meet up with Skye and make something together. This time, we left the cooking to Dominos and we took care of the baking. We baked up a yummy carrot cake. I left briefly to attend a Coronation event at my hall but it hadn’t started yet so I decided to head back.

We ate our pizzas and then we started watching the third Lord of the Rings movie. And I saw the scene I was recreating earlier with that spider.

Sunday was another adventure of a different sort. We had arranged a bike trip on the other side of the Wellington Harbour. We invited all the people that had attended the last few big weekend adventures but this time it was only Skye, Lauren and I that actually went. We took the ferry which made a stop at Somes Island (remember, I went there earlier?) and then continued on to Days Bay. We picked up our bikes which we had rented and we biked along the coast.

We stopped at a lighthouse for lunch and on the way back we climbed up to a peak with another lighthouse. Stunning views all around.

It was good that we headed back when we did though because the ferry was already boarding as we biked back. Luckily, we made it on the boat and rode back to Wellington. The day wasn’t over yet though because thirty minutes after getting home, I was meeting back up them, Rebekah and Utsav for comedy night!

We met at the Fringe Bar where we had seen comedy a few weeks ago. Most of the comedians were new to us but one of them was also in the previous performance we watched. After the show Utsav dropped us off. Utsav lives in Wellington but he is traveling to the US to visit in a week or so so we all said goodbye. He’ll be back again before we go home so we can hang out then!

Wow! That was a big week to update you on. We’ll see you next week!