The End of O-Week

Alex describes his Orientation week experience.

The seals at Taiaroa Head, on the Otago peninsula.

Sunday, 25 February 2007

Orientation week is over.  I didn’t think that getting through the week before classes start, where I basically have no commitments, would be a greater feat of willpower, endurance, and hardcore-ness than I have ever had to undergo in my life.

            I don’t mean to be so melodramatic about it, and it really wasn’t that bad, but O-week is quite the experience.  I come from a school of about 2000 undergraduates in a city that doesn’t really know we exist.  When I go to school before classes start, there really isn't any celebration organized for anyone except freshmen. Now I’m in Dunedin, population 120,000, and the University makes up 20,000 of that.  This town thrives on Otago students.  And the school, to prepare for the upcoming school year, basically throws a week long festival.  Bands play outside during the day and in the bars at night.  Tents are set up promoting companies, clubs, and activities as they give away free food and t-shirts.  People are almost begging students to come to their bars and stores.  And to top it all off, the festival can take place every year because of healthy donations from Speight’s, the local brewery. 

            The level of energy in the air is so completely opposite of my school back home I feel like I’m in bizarro world. Anyway, the last week has been a flurry of meeting new flatmates, seeing Dunedin, setting up my new house, and figuring out the local slang, all the while surviving Dunedins wacky weather patterns. And to make the week even better, I caught a cold on the plane and it still hasn’t gone away.

            Anyway, let me think about everything I’ve done this last week worth noting… There was the Cadbury chocolate factory tour, which was tasty. I found out that K-mart over here is actually expensive.  I bought a phone, but still haven’t figured out how to use it.  It can get cold here at night- but students still wear shorts and skirts out at night.  Rugby is really fun to watch, especially when you’re watching the crowd :)

            I also went to the Otago peninsula, which was incredibly fun.  I didn’t get to see much wildlife other than a few seals, but the view was amazing and the water was frigid.  I’m closer to the South Pole than I’ve ever been! 

            Classes (which are called “papers” here) start tomorrow. I’m taking a Maori society class, Maori language class, a Maori performance class, and “Archaeology of the Pacific,” an Anthropology course.

            And somewhere in there I have to fit in my free tour of the Speight’s brewery.