Snow Day = Dunedin shut down

Woke up today to about 3 cm snow.. Which I didn't fancy too much.. but what can I do.

Wet and cold.. So now I really miss home, which this week is going to be nice and warm.. Well.. not too long til LA, so excited!  So, about the snow; New Zealanders handle snow about the same way that people in Oslo do the first time it snows every year, except 10 times worse. Haha. Some lectures was cancelled, I mean, that is a funny experience to bring back in the suitcase. Cars sliding of the road everywhere, roads closing, and air ports closed down. Crazy times! The worst about this is that the Christmas feeling hit me, and now I'm totally confused about what time of the year it is! :)

Tomorrow I'm having my first exam, and it is an two hour test in Child Development. Then it is a week til my next exam in Institutions of Childhood. Finally my last one in Food Science is the 15th. Can't wait to be done!

Autumn weekend and just 7 weeks left in school

We just had a lovely weekend this weekend. Saturday we did some errands in town, had an ice-cream at an ice-cream bar. We went for a walk in the botanic garden, and we were amazed at how beautiful it was there.

By the duck pond a lady gave us some bread to feed the ducks. They actually ate out of our hands! 

Quite funny! 

Relaxing in the botanical garden.

We stopped at the university at took some pictures there too. You can see the clock tower in the background.

We also went to a rugby game on Saturday night. It was the Highlanders (Dunedins local team) vs. the Sharks (from South Africa?). It was really funny and exiting, even if we didn't know the rules. The Highlanders won 25 - 23!

On Sunday we went to Octagon and had a beer and coffee with Aina! Also very nice.. So this weekend has been very lovely.

At school this is the last standard week for me. Next week and the week after on of my classes is not going to have any lectures, and the week after that I have my final exam in Child Development, and then the week after that the exam period begins!

Visit at the museum.

I got permission to post some pictures from my trip to the museum last Sunday (21.04) with young mr. Houman.

We had a very nice and fun day! He is an expert on butterflies, and could tell me a lot about how they develop, from Caterpillar to cocoon to butterflies. :) Great day!

Other than that we have started a bone carving course, and it is quite exiting. Looking forward to the next 4 Wednesdays.

Update, and plans for the weekend

Not much happening these days. We have started or second part of this semester, and because of that there is a few weeks where there's not much activity in school, other than the lectures. So apart from the lectures the days are spent in the gym and home relaxing.

This weekend I'm planning to get one of my projects for my Education 307 done (it's not due til 8th may or something, but I have to do something). This project is quite cool, because we are going to do an activity with a child for 3-5 hours. I'm so lucky that my neighbor has a 5/6 year old boy that I'm going to borrow. We are going to the museum, and we are either going to see the butterfly colony, or the fossils. I think he can decide. :-) Then we are going to take pictures of what we see, and then make a scrap book/photo album. He is really into these subjects, so its gonna be fun to observe him in the museum.

I hope that I will be allowed to put some pictures on my blog from the trip to the museum with the neighbor kid in, because he is just the cutest kid! So I'm really looking forward to Sunday! 

I also got back the results from my midterm exam in 307. And I got an A-, so I'm really pleased with that! Just got to keep it going for the next 7 weeks with lectures, and the 2 week exam period before we leave for Los Angeles! :D 

Back to school!

After a lovely holiday we have now started school again. This week I got back two assignments, and I had one in-class test that count 40% of my final grade. The assignment I got back from food science class did not go so well... just 25.5 of 50.. haha.. But I have never written a lab rapport before, so I didn't know what they wanted.

The in-class test was for my Child Development class, and was structured with 70 multiple choice question + 3 short answer questions. I have a feeling that I did OK, but I'm excited to get back the result.

The other assignment from my other education paper I was very worried that I had done a mistake with the structure of the assignment, and that that would have a great impact on the outcome.. but I was pleasantly surprised that I got 85%, and an A (it's the same as a B in Norway). So now things are looking better, and I'm not so worried about school anymore.

The grading system down here is a bit different than the Norwegian one. Down here we got the grades (A+) (A) (A-) (B+) (B) (B-) (C+) (C) (C-) (D) (E). If you get C or C- (not a 100% sure) you just passed the test/assignment. And you need to have at least 50% correct to pass. D and E is to show you how bad you failed.

Easter holiday

We drove to Akaroa on good Friday, which is about a 5 - 6 hour drive, and when we were there the weather was absolutely lovely!

From one of our stops along the way to Akaroa. 

From one of our stops along the way to Akaroa.

The road down into the volcano crater, where Akaroa is.  

My birthday was celebrated with a bike ride on the summit of the volcano crater. 

We left our bikes for a little while and hiked up a small mountain top, beautiful view! 

On Sunday we hired a Sea Kayak, and were hoping to see some dolphins, but the sea was a bit ruff on us sea kayak rookies, so we turned back early. 

Akaroa harbor by night. 

On our way "home" to Dunedin we stopped along this beautiful lake, completely turquoise water. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got my birthday present from Geir, which was a 90 min massage at Actively Healthy. This was absolutely perfect, and the masseur was very nice and very good at here job! 

Now we still have a few days left, but we haven't got anything planned, and I think we'll just relax and not do too much. :) 

Easter Holiday is coming..

We just booked a 4 day trip to Akaroa, a small charming town east of Christchurch. We are planning to do some sea kayaking, hiking, and just relaxing. I found a really cute hostel, so now I'm waiting to hear back if they have any rooms available, fingers crossed!

AND, the weather is not looking to shady.. hehe

Doughnut Sunday

Must say I'm looking forward to this lunch/afternoon snack... "american police" style!

Other than that, this week I delivered two assignments, feels very nice to be done with them, but I'm also a bit nervous. I'm not sure if I have done them right, only time will show. Hehe.

I finally found shoes that I want to buy to have this fall/winter. I have ordered Leather Converse in Navy blue.. almost like the once I have, but with the thick sole, so I'll have them for more than one year.

Awesome, right? :D

Pictures from the Horse Trek at the Beach

Me on Mac, and Charlotte on Anna.

 

This was really a great experience. Started at about 8.30 in the morning, because of the tide, and we got the beach almost to our selves (only some rugby guys that had a morning workout). 

Horse riding and Larnach Castle

Last Saturday, 9th March, I went horse riding down at some of the beaches out on the peninsula.. and WOW that was fun! Me and a girl from Scotland were the only ones, so we really got to choose the speed our selves and just have fun. I think it is almost 3 or 4 years since the last time I was on a horse, so for me this was just so much fun! Charlotte (the other girl) brought her camera (I forgot mine in the stable), and she is giving them to me, but I haven't got them yet, hopefully I'll get them soon :) But I do have some pictures of the cute horses, Anna and Mac, that I took with my phone.

This is Anna, I started riding her, but changed to Mac halfway. 

And this is the handsome Mac. 

After this lovely trip I got sick, so Sunday was not so fun. But back to school on Monday. School is getting a bit more hectic now, I've had three assignments parallel over the last weeks, but two are done, and just one (large one) too go. 

The last weekend was spent by not doing too much. But on Saturday we had a short trip to the Farmers Market before we hit the gym. After that we decided to go out on the peninsula again, and headed for the Larnach Castle. Was a bit cold, now that autumn is coming, but it was nice anyway. 

Here Geir is in front of the slightly "modern" castle..lots of glass walls..wouldn't think that was were war proof. 

Very nice view from the garden out to the peninsula. 

Another part of the garden. 

School time

It's been a busy few weeks now that school have started. I've done some changes in my course outline, changed a course and deleted one, so now I'm down to three courses; and that makes my life a bit easier!
My schedule is not packed, but I start 8 am all week except on Wednesdays, and that's a bit early for some one that likes to sleep til at least 10 am.. Haha. Luckily it's only 4 weeks til the midterm break. For midterm we are planning to go tramping (hiking) somewhere, but we haven't decided where yet. Probably somewhere on the west coast.

The school is enormous compared to Lillehammer University College, so finding the right lecture theater on time was a bit difficult the first week, but I'm getting better at it. Apart from being a big school, with about 25000 students, it is also a very nice looking school; some new modern buildings, some old and very pretty buildings, and all still in use.

Not too much has happened lately, but we went to the movies and saw Django Unchained, which was a good, but very violent movie. We have also started a workout program, and that was about time, my body is dying from the inside out! You can see the program on Geir's blog gtufte.com.

This Saturday I've signed up for a horse trek, and this I am really looking forward too! 4 h trip at the beach, which I think will be awesome.

Lazy days and school start

We've had a couple nice days with trips to the beach and the park the last week. We also stopped by school to get some information and to get formal stuff in order. Here are some pictures of the lazy days:

Can't say I miss winter right now!!

We also went to Innvercargill and Bluff on Friday, and it was really nice to be back on the road again, if only for one day. 

Crazy colored houses!

We only stayed for 30 sec, because we were eaten alive! Got 5 bites in that time!! Horrible place... 

It's important to do pit-stops along the road too.

Today, Monday, school finally started, and I got a great first impression of the two classes I had today. Food science is going to be great fun, and Child Development was very familiar and builds on the knowledge I have from HiL. Finally got to talk to someone that I don't know and that only talks English, so I'm looking forward to getting to know my classmates better.

After the students took over the city, the parties have taken over and there is a lot of noise and bad behavior due to alcohol. Our poor car have felt that... The radio antenna is bent down horizontally, and someone have been walking on the car roof (yes there was footprints) and dented it. We managed to straighten it out again, but we are afraid that this is not the last time..

Lovely day down at Sandfly Beach!

We went down in hope of getting a glimpse of some yellow-eyed penguins, but it got to windy and cold, so we didn't stay that long. But even if we didn't see the cute little penguins there was three sea lions sunbathing on the rocks. We were amazed at how good their camouflage is, if they didn't move, they looked like dead rocks!

The view from the top of the hill.

Had a fun time running down the steep sand hill!

Our footprints, Geir to the left, me to the right (looks the same size though!!!).

Down at the long beautiful beach. 

Trying to run from the waves, but not fast enough..