University of Auckland clocktower

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I'm retiring the blog

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 After 11 years with this blog, I have made the decision to retire it. I want to take a stab at vlogging (video blogging) since I enjoy editing videos so much. This blog started as a way for me to have a diary of my time in New Zealand and I'm glad I had it to go back and remember what I accomplished as a wide-eyed 20 year old.  My vlogs will be available on my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb6ZmcUcw8vZvPdfGIzNTbA Keep in touch 😊
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Being a marine biologist - day 1

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On the 4th of July I joined the mackerel survey cruise aboard M/V Eros. It's a brand new vessel that is even nicer than G.O. Sars! However, as I found last year, most of these luxuries aren't used on the survey because we are quite tired from 12 hour work days; and the gym is the most important room when you are limited to only walking up and down a flight of stairs. The first dinner was a very Norwegian meal of raspeballer (potato and flour mixed together with some bacon), sausages and potatoes. At least the crew blasted some CCR after dinner, so that was about as "American" as it got for the 4th.  I'm working the 2-8 shift, so 2am-8am and 2pm-8pm. My shift partner's name is Stine (Justine and Stine -- cute) - and pronounced like 'steeneh', not stein. On this survey I have more responsibilities than last year. This year I can add plankton sampling to my resume. And this probably sounds weird, but the one thing that has officially made me feel like...
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