Aside from classes (which have been great), we went out on Tuesday night to St. Lee's, an old church that's been converted into an espresso/dessert cafe. There was a showcase of local musicians, and it turned out to be wonderful. There were about four artists her perfomed acoustically with a guitar, which, really, is my favorite type of performance to watch. There was one artist, Kristin Macdonald, who took my breath away. Her music was absolutely amazing. So powerful, so moving. Her voice was beautiful. Later, we found out she was only 15. I couldn't believe it. She is a lyrical and musical genius. Later the lead singer of a popular local band called Tono and The Finance Company performed an acoustic set, and he was highly amusing. It was great to experience some Dunedin music.
Friday I attended a special lunch event for Pacific Islands Students at Otago. It was so much fun. I actually met another student from Hawaii (she's doing a Master's here) and we exchanged phone numbers. I also connected with a girl from (I believe) the Marshall Islands, and we exchanged numbers too. It was really nice to meet a lot of Pacific Islands students.
Later Friday night, we had our Thanksgiving Flatwarming, which turned out to be a great success. My flatmates and I cooked a lot of food. We made all the typical Thanksgiving foods (minus Turkey) from scratch, and it really took a lot of time and effort. Everyone who came (20+ people) was really impresed with our cooking skills. Also, the kiwis kept making a big deal about baked sweet potatoes covered with melted marshmallows. I think it freaked them out a little, but it was fun.
The kiwis loved Thanksgiving. They even made the Americans sing The Star Spangled banner. Good times.
Yesterday (Saturday) was a gorgeous day in Dunedin. I decided to wander around the area for a bit and ended up going to the Dunedin Botanic Gardens to write some poetry and read Mrs. Dalloway for class.
The Garden was surprisingly gigantic. I don't think I even managed to wander through half of it. There were winding paths and hills leading to various places. Most of the paths looked a little dark and uninviting as they lead into forest area. I decided against wandering those dark, secluded areas by myself (probably a wise choice). I did, however, climb to the top of a hill and found a great view of the hills in North Dunedin.
I sat on a bench for a while and read Mrs. Dalloway. It felt so good to get away from city life for a little bit.
Later that day, my flatmates and I went to a rugby game. It was Otago vs. Canterbury. It was an interesting cultural experience, I suppose, but rugby fans are a bit crazy. Imagine hundreds and hundreds of scarfies [uni students] standing in an area wearing ridiculous clothing, drinking lots of beer, screaming, singing songs, and yelling obscenities at the opposing team. It was chaotic, and a little difficult to pay attention to the game.
I think this may be the perfect segway to discuss the intensity of the uni students here. Walking around Dunedin at night time has turned out to be one of the strangest experiences in my life. Me and my flatmate were at a bus stop at 11PM waiting for the bus that she had lost her wallet on. We watched drunk uni students stumbling, fumbling, running, screaming, singing everywhere. It was a bit startling and overwhelming. Everywhere you go around the city, you will find drunk students partying, throwing glass bottles on the street, screaming obsecenities out of car windows, flashing body parts at strangers. It's scary. Maybe most college towns are like this. However, this was unexpected. I wasn't expecting to come to Dunedin to be harassed and annoyed by swarms of drunk people roaming the streets at night. We were approached by a drunk scarfie who asked us if we were Americans. We didn't answer, and he replied with, "F*** America." It was the first time I've experienced any sort of Anti-American sentiment since I've been in the country. The bus never came and we left shortly after.
So far, I've gotten a negative impression of kiwi uni students. I know not all the students here are insane, but it seems like a great deal of them are.
I just don't fit in with that sort of crowd. I couldn't spend all four years of university at a school like this. It makes me thankful that I go to a small school like Concordia where crazy events like last night are an extreme rarity.
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