Work Hard, Play Hard

Let’s set the scene. It is May 8th. The year, 2023. The place? Wellington.

It was my ninth week of class. I had Media of New Zealand class on Monday and we had a guest speaker from NZ On Air, an organization which funds a lot of TV shows in New Zealand including my favorite, Educators. I went food shopping after class and then tried to get some essay writing done before heading off to Futsal. This time, there were many more people on our Futsal team than could play at one time so we rotated in and out. I appreciated the rest because playing for thirty minutes straight is exhausting!

Unfortunately we didn’t have much more luck than last week and we lost with a score of something like 12-2. Oh well! It was fun anyway. That was our last game of the trimester though because our team had never won except when the other team didn’t show up so I returned my shirt and retired from the world of Futsal.

One unrelated observation about Wellington. There are a lot of random cats you just see hanging out in the roads. I’m not sure who (if anyone) they belong to but they sure are cute.

Assignment-wise, I am working on an AI project using probability, an essay about the ultra-fast broadband initiative in New Zealand and my children’s book. Each is a lot of work but I’ve been going to the study room at Everton frequently as I find I focus better there and its a good way to see other people from the hall.

On Wednesday, I went into town for my Visual Narratives class and my professor gave a fascinating presentation about the carefully looking at your story’s message. It was quite eye-opening. I didn’t get a change to show my work to my professor during our check-ins so I sent some of my images by email to see what he thought. He had some great ideas which I’m going to work on incorporating.

I’ve been going to a lot of the Help Desk sessions for my AI assignment. Help Desks are basically just a tutor holding office hours to help with assignments. When I was done getting help, I headed back to my dorm and talked to my friends Jamie, Lauren, and Jennifer who were all finished with their semesters at Brandeis. I remember FaceTiming them back when I was in Sydney and they were freezing with extreme cold in Massachusetts. Now it is Spring there and I was inside avoiding the rain (its actually pretty nice here weather-wise even though its late fall).

Friday was very eventful. In the morning, I had my AI tutorial and then I walked into town and met a man that was childhood friends with my ninth grade theatre director. Yup. True story. My theatre teacher had connected us via Facebook before I left the US because he used to work at Weta Workshop and works with special effects. He also has studied computer science so we had a lot in common. We met at a restaurant called “Fidel’s” which was named that way because it is on Cuba Street. I also learned the name Cuba Street isn’t based on the country.

I phoned my parents as I walked back to campus. Then I went to the AI help desk (surprise suprise) and then returned to my flat. My flatmate Sam’s birthday is on Saturday so he had arranged an escape room party and invited me! It was all of us flatmates and some of their friends. We were split into two identical rooms and we had to put our heads together to get out. I was always proud when I figured out a code or helped in some way! It’s a lot of fumbling around. We ended up getting out first so we could watch the other team struggle on the tv and then be waiting in front of the door when they came out. It was super fun!

A few of their friends who live in a flat in the city took me and one person visiting from Auckland to their apartment before we walked to my flat. Sam had bought a new game which he wanted to play with us for his birthday. It was kind of playing a murder mystery role playing game. It was nice to hang out with the group.

On Saturday morning, I zoomed with my parents so they could watch Educators since it isn’t available in the US. The TVNZ+ service blocked me from showing them on Zoom. so I set up a tripod with my phone in front of the computer. It was a mess haha but the show is so funny, it was worth it. I also zoomed with my grandparents Marian and Irwin. In the afternoon, I went to my first Rugby game! The Wellington Hurricanes team was playing Moana Pasifika.

I can’t say I’d chose to go to a Rugby game again but it was interesting to see how it worked and to experience it. The Hurricanes ended up winning by a lot! And we got free shirts so quite a successful day!

Sunday was a long day! I rose at 6:00am, met up with Skye and Lauren outside Everton and walked to the Wellington Train Station. We met up with Annelie (international student from Germany) there and we all took the bus (replacing the train for maintenance) to the Kapiti Coast. The reason? To go to Kapiti Island! We took that bus to another bus and then checked in at the ferry. I must say, the person at the ferry counter and an island guide were two of the most friendly people I’ve ever met in customer service. And they were so genuine. We rode off on the ferry to Kapiti. It is a huge wildlife reserve island with no permanent residents. You have to have a permit to be allowed to go there so we had to pay for that as part of our ticket. It felt like we were a part of a special group getting to experience something unusual. I guess I felt that way because we were!

Once we arrived on the island, the guide gave a quick lecture about the area and then set us on our way. We walked up to the highest point on the island, stopping to listen to and look at birds along the way. There was such a variety! We saw most of the ones displayed on the brochure.

We got back to the base earlier than the ferry departure time so we chilled for a bit and looked at shells on the beach. They were pretty but we weren’t allowed to take anything from the island.

Upon our arrival back on the mainland, we searched for the bus home but ended up having to wait a bit for one so we decided to get ice cream. I wanted to try “Real Fruit Ice cream” because my theatre teacher’s friend had recommended I try it and this place had it! Real Fruit Ice cream is is basically plain frozen yogurt with frozen fruit mixed in using a blender-type contraption. I had high hopes for it but I didn’t care for it at all. It tasted kinda bland.

We bused home and returned to Wellington roughly twelve hours after we left. Long day but worth it!

And just like that, week nine was concluded. What will happen next? Find out soon, right here on David Upside Down.