Actually, my first post about my new home should have been a sarcastic look at the disadvantages of living in New Zealand, since everyone has a positive image of NZ anyway. But after four weeks in Christchurch, there is hardly anything bad to write about, so I'll end up listing the highlights so far, and there are quite a few...
1. University
After just one week at Uni you realise what kind of torture Highschool actually was:
- You can choose which courses you want to take, so my timetable is consisting of cool and interesting things with three Biology, three Geology and one Antarctic Studies paper.
- In classes of up to 400 people, no one cares when or whether at all you turn up and whether you pay attention or not.
- No one cares when or where or how you study, and no one punishes you like a five year old for not doing your homework.
- The lecturers are close to the theme and mostly into research, so they bring in lots of fascination and positive energy, rather than the Highschool teachers who are usually either freaks or underchallenged or both.
- Classes start at friendly times like 10am, so you can actually pick up something rather than sleep through the lessons or end as early as 9am, so that you can actually do something with your day.
2. Living on Campus
One thing Christchurch is not fussy about is space - there is enough for everyone everywhere. The Uni Campus is an own suburb with streets for different facilities, restaurants and shops, two huge sportfields, tenniscourts, a big recreation centre and six residence halls, in the most beautiful I'm living in along with 69 other students. It's peaceful and quite, yet just a 15 minutes walk away from the lecture rooms. We have a wonderful Japanese garden as well as a nice common room with pool table, table tennis and Sky TV.
3. My new Road Bike
Christchurch is the perfect city to ride a bike, since most streets have actually room for three cars on each lane. Therefore I bought myself a brand new Genius road bike at the second weekend and am loving it ever since. My favourite ride in the city is along the Avon river, where hardly any cars are driving and you can observe the ducks among rowers and the caracteristic willow trees. For longer rides, I go up the hills south of the city, which lift you up to an altitude of 400m above sea level and offer breathtaking views over the city, the Canterbury plains, Lyttelton harbour and the Banks Peninsula.
4. My new Tennis club
I joined the Burnside Park Tennis Club and it immediately became my second home in the city. With nine courts and hundreds of members, it offers me heaps of competitive hitting partners and I'm playing more or less every other day. After many years of hitting the ball for its own sake, I now can start working a little at my game again and might be competitive soon as well. Moreover, I get a chance to get into kids coaching there, which I regard as a dream job during Uni. And of course, like everywhere in the world, you easily make lots of friends.
5. Cricket
Hardly anyone is into this sport, but everyone who is into it knows, that they're missing out. I was really longing for it during my time back in Europe and still can't get enough, especially since I'm learning new things everytime I watch it. After a rainy tour of the West Indies in New Zealand, the Kiwis nearly crushed the mighty Australians and are now taking on red-hot India. I was at the first match of the series last Wednesday and saw a world record of Sixes in a comfortable win for New Zealand. What's more, I am occasionally playing a little as well.
All in all, life here is greater than the highest expectations, I just love it and am so excited about sticking around for a long time in beautiful Christchurch.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Melbourne - Surprise, it's hot!
Spending 10 days in Melbourne taught me a few lessons:
1. The Oz summer is hot
When I stepped out of the air-conditioned airport hall at 11am on January 20, having flown in from Auckland, a decent wind blew into my face being so hot that my nose immediately started bleeding. However, the first day was relatively cool with a high of 34 degrees - it was up to 44 when I left! In fact I experienced the first time in a hundred years that Melbourne had three days in a row over 40 degrees. As long as your in the shade - as I was in the 2nd week, reading and listening to music in the botanic gardens or near Albert lake - you have a chance to survive. But if your unlucky to be a tennismaniac and don't want to miss out on any second of Grand Slam action...
2. I love the Australian Open
The tournament has been my favourite sports event for a long time. I was in Melbourne Park on six days, watching around 70 hours of livetennis. The crowd is amazing, the matches are fantastic, the venue is beautiful, the city is great and it's incredibly cheap: I paid just 160 Oz-Dollars for all days and have been several times in the big stadiums, seeing some of the most amazing five-set-battles and players like Federer, Safin, Roddick, Tsonga or Murray.
3. No worries
In Australia, such a thing as a problem doesn't seem to exist. The whole holiday went absolutely smooth. After living with my billet from Auckland and a friend of hers in a flat with the perfect location near the MCG, I was supposed to move into the apartment of a friend for the last three nights. After a misunderstanding, I was left with my luggage but without accommodation at 10pm on the streets of Melbourne, a hopless time to find a bed in the city. I called up the only person I knew and had the number of and asked whether I could spend the night on their sofa, and despite barely knowing her, she gladly welcomed me. Many thanks for that and another example of no need for worries in Australia.
4. There are weird people in every city
As every big city, Melbourne has got some seriously weird people, and I happened to meet two of them within 12 hours. The first meeting was in a tram, where the - beyond doubt - gayest gaylord in the whole gayworld started talking to me. I got off the very next stop!
The second meeting was somehow more pleasant, since it was an extraordinarily hot Indian girl, making me beautiful eyes and starting conversation. She was worringly straightforward - until she found out that I'm not having a flat in city for her to stay overnight. We were talking in a park when I went off to pee, and coming back she was gone, and I was glad that I had decided not to trust her and take my bagpack with me.
1. The Oz summer is hot
When I stepped out of the air-conditioned airport hall at 11am on January 20, having flown in from Auckland, a decent wind blew into my face being so hot that my nose immediately started bleeding. However, the first day was relatively cool with a high of 34 degrees - it was up to 44 when I left! In fact I experienced the first time in a hundred years that Melbourne had three days in a row over 40 degrees. As long as your in the shade - as I was in the 2nd week, reading and listening to music in the botanic gardens or near Albert lake - you have a chance to survive. But if your unlucky to be a tennismaniac and don't want to miss out on any second of Grand Slam action...
2. I love the Australian Open
The tournament has been my favourite sports event for a long time. I was in Melbourne Park on six days, watching around 70 hours of livetennis. The crowd is amazing, the matches are fantastic, the venue is beautiful, the city is great and it's incredibly cheap: I paid just 160 Oz-Dollars for all days and have been several times in the big stadiums, seeing some of the most amazing five-set-battles and players like Federer, Safin, Roddick, Tsonga or Murray.
3. No worries
In Australia, such a thing as a problem doesn't seem to exist. The whole holiday went absolutely smooth. After living with my billet from Auckland and a friend of hers in a flat with the perfect location near the MCG, I was supposed to move into the apartment of a friend for the last three nights. After a misunderstanding, I was left with my luggage but without accommodation at 10pm on the streets of Melbourne, a hopless time to find a bed in the city. I called up the only person I knew and had the number of and asked whether I could spend the night on their sofa, and despite barely knowing her, she gladly welcomed me. Many thanks for that and another example of no need for worries in Australia.
4. There are weird people in every city
As every big city, Melbourne has got some seriously weird people, and I happened to meet two of them within 12 hours. The first meeting was in a tram, where the - beyond doubt - gayest gaylord in the whole gayworld started talking to me. I got off the very next stop!
The second meeting was somehow more pleasant, since it was an extraordinarily hot Indian girl, making me beautiful eyes and starting conversation. She was worringly straightforward - until she found out that I'm not having a flat in city for her to stay overnight. We were talking in a park when I went off to pee, and coming back she was gone, and I was glad that I had decided not to trust her and take my bagpack with me.
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