Auckland Introduction and Orientation

Where to begin, I just don't know. Wow, so much going on and so little time. I've moved into my Uni dorm at Auckland. It's a small hole in the wall that resembles a prison. Okay, probably an exaggeration but it's pretty tiny with the bare necessities. It's nothing like the sorority hotel back at Jewell. I'd say maybe it's like Eaton Hall, only make the rooms singles, leave out the mold, and make it co-ed. I'm in the process of decorating at the moment. Any pictures or anything that comes close to looking like art will do. They’ll go straight up on these corkboard walls. Another ridiculous dorm scenario is that there are zero cooling systems in the building. I can open my windows to try and let some air in, but the first couple of days were humid and muggy. Thank goodness the weather cleared up since then and it's beautiful and sunny. Currently the climate is rocking the white puffy clouds and has a nice breeze. This was the weather I was hoping for.

When we first arrived at the Uni we went to an afternoon meeting with all the other IES students. Pretty much the meeting was "Hey, pack your bags we are going on a trip!" We had barely moved in and it was time for us to go on a little field trip to Te Kiri Marae (a sacred meeting area for Maoris) I was happy to leave my little hole to go on an adventure. The marae was BEAUTIFUL. I mean honestly I think someone must've killed me and sent me straight to heaven. The view from their hill was unreal. It was bright blue water with cliffs jetting out to meet the ocean along the coast. It was bright green and bright blue everywhere. When we first arrived out of respect, we had to learn a song, take off our shoes, and sing to the Maoris in order to be welcomed into their space. We passed our test and they let us in the marae to stay the night. We unloaded and they split us up into four activities for the next two days: Poi making (it's used as an instrument to make beats), Martial arts, Kayaking, and Flax Weaving. After we did our first two activities we spent the afternoon at a rocky beach. It was really beautiful but rocks cut us all up since it was hard to tell where you were stepping in the ocean. The next day we lucked out and got to spend the entire afternoon on a sandy beach. It was the best feeling in the world: just catching wave and laying out in the sun without a care in the world. I could get use to student orientations like this.

The sun here is incredibly intense. There is a hole in the ozone layer right over New Zealand. So instead of just applying sunscreen once, it's a daily chore. So on day one I got burnt on the back of my leg. Day two, I got fried. I’m sporting some pretty choice burn lines.

The worst part of this mini trip and first NZ hiccup I encountered: losing my room key and swipe card access. It was brutal. I looked all over the lawn to try and find it. It’d only been about 48 hours and I Iost my room key. I think this might be a record for the fastest key loss in the history of the world. I gave up my search after I realized it was far long gone and nowhere to be found, and prayed to God that someone at International House would be there to let me in. When we arrived back to the dorm, I went inside with our IH (International House) crew and tried to hunt down an RA on my floor. No luck. There is NO RA on my floor. The main office lights were out and locked up. I can't blame them, it's a Saturday and pretty dead around here, since the other students haven't arrived yet. But this is an emergency. I went outside to the phone that rings to get a hold of a staff and a sign said, "If weekends, only use in case of an emergency." Well, I'm not bleeding and I don’t have an arm dislocated, but this is still an emergency: I'm burnt, sleep deprived, and locked out of my room which has everything I need. I picked it up and waited until a guy answered the line and told me to meet him in the foyer. He unlocked the office and said they would have to charge my account to replace the key. At that point, all I wanted was a nice shower before Lauren came to pick me up to hang out. I got the spare, headed up to my room, and shower super fast.

Lauren came and got me and it was really exciting to finally see her and catch up after all these years. We went to an Indian restaurant and split some dinner. Then I got to stay at her house and we talked about my trip so far and her music tour that she just finished up. They are going to do a show one more time in Auckland sometime in March, so I hope I’ll be free to go.

After spending some time with Lauren, I got back to the Uni to start up Orientation. This gives me some time to figure out city college life and how to get around this town. The Orientation was really packed. There are over 4,000 international students studying here this semester. Just looking at the people from the USA alone is 1,800 students (which is bigger then all the students at Jewell). So we just got a huge bag of stuff. I am so sick of getting all these random stacks of notices of important information. I think if they actually wanted us to read anything, they’d shorten up the stack.

Today made me really appreciate Jewell’s faculty back home. This is why…

I got online to check my course schedule and low and behold the person who enrolled me into classes stuck me in the wrong one. I’m only allowed to have a certain category of class and the Uni over enrolled me in that category. So I commence my epic journey to get this sorted out. First, I go to the University’s International Service Help Building. I wait in a long line and the go in to meet with a lady in charge of helping international students. She transferred me to someone who works with American Students. I waited around to be helped and I finally get someone to call us over. Matt and I tried to go in together since we had some similar questions but the guy split us up. I went in first. My first mistake with this man was the shirt I was wearing. I decided to represent my home state and wear my MU Tigers shirt. He quickly informed me that he was a Huskers fan himself. I could tell I am getting off on the right foot. He went through and explained to me that if I wanted to get into any other classes I would have to prove my way with the specific department. I got really frustrated because I didn’t want to run around campus trying to get this fixed, I just wanted it fixed. He highlighted my campus map for me in the direction of the Arts building to talk to someone about the Political Science class I am picking up. I start my trip to the Arts building and only get turned around once. I finally find the building and then proceed to wait in a super long line. I get to the counter and the student worker tried to figure out how to help me. He went back into an office and then told me that I’m in the wrong building to get the approval I need. He then directed me to go straight to the PolySci building. I trucked my way to the building and these houses are quite big with huge doors, but the doorknobs are down low “hobbit sized” doorknobs. I go in and get to the front desk. The lady sent me upstairs to find someone in the building. The name and number didn’t match up. Luckily a guy who works with undergraduates was up there and just let me step into his office. I tried to explain to him why I wanted to take the class and my prerequisites. Well here’s the kicker, no one on the planet can understand what the classes “Responsible Self” and “Medicine, Money, and Morals” actually are. Try explaining CTI to anyone not in the Jewell bubble: it’s comical. He then tells me I can go talk with the professor and get his approval and come back or I can try and prove to him I am qualified. So I decided I’m sick of walking and I’m not going anywhere else today until this guy signs my paper. I sit down at his desk and determinedly pull up Jewell’s course catalogue. I let him look over the descriptions and then he made a phone call. He tells the guy a little bit about me and then the guy on the other line of the phone told him, “Oh yeah, she sounds overqualified to take the course.” All that work just to find out I’m overqualified!

So this is why, my dear friends, I am proud to go to William Jewell. To change a class or to get enrolled somewhere takes minutes, not hours. I don’t have to tramp around a large city to find the building I need, I just have to walk across the hill. Also, Jewell’s faculty goes leaps and bounds for their students to achieve and to be successful. So here’s a shout out to my homeland. I never knew how good I had it, until I experienced something different. Here is good too, I just feel like a dog jumping through hoops to get what I need sometimes at the end of the day. I think it just comes with being in a new culture, a new school, and just going through the process of getting acclimated. I’m ready to start class soon.