Changes in Latitudes

FIFA 2010 kicked off on June 11 and today, New Zealand will today make a return to the world’s greatest football stage exactly 28 years to the day since their FIFA World Cup debut. The All Whites will take on Slovakia at 11PM (New Zealand time). It is hard to say whether it will be a good game or not; however, the fact that NZ is in the world cup for the first time in so long is enough of a reason to stay up so late. Saturday morning was the big USA vs. England match. The Americans are so happy with a tie that the New York Post had this as its front page: The time difference makes it a bit hard to keep up with seeing the games, but it's always fun to rub in the fact that the British tied the US in their first World Cup game this year to some British friends. Next exam is Saturday for Invertebrate Diversity. And only 20 days to go til Thailand!!

So this month kicks off a couple big events: June 12th is my first final exam of the exam period. It is for my Hydrology & Fluvial Geomorphology class. One of the options for the essay portion of the exam is: "Chorley and Kennedy (1971) contend that 'Time is not a process in time.' Discuss the importance of this state ment as a conceptual tool with which to interpret the behavior and evolution of river systems." I have been spending the past week trying to figure this one out and I think I have made significant progress on it today. However, something more exciting on June 13th at 6:30AM is the USA vs. England FIFA World Cup game. In other news, my friend Hannah, who I call the Yooper (from Iron Mountain, MI), taught me how to knit over the weekend. My current project is to knit a blanket. I will give one more update before I head off to Thailand in July.

Yesterday I celebrated Norwegian National Day (Syttende Mai or 17 Mai) ...well, I tried to. I managed to miss the parade, the best part! I was on the bus trying to meet Carl and Vegard, but I didn't know where I was supposed to get off, so I saw some girls with Norwegian flags and got off the bus. I asked them if I could tag along to get to the meeting place. Turned out they didn't know where they were going and once Carl texted me the location I had to lead us in the opposite direction to get us there as fast as we could. When I go there everyone was really dressed up, girls in dresses, guys in suits. Most important of all, they all had a Norwegian flag. After getting some pictures of my friends and seeing what it was all about I walked back to campus for studying and lectures. For dinner I went over to Øystein's flat and he made a Norwegian variation of meat balls and onion gravy, with a side of potatoes and carrots. For dessert I made riskrem (rice cream). We had Øystei...

The past 10 days has been pretty much hell for me due to an accumulation of due assignments, mid-term tests, field trip, and work. The Hydrology & Geomorphology field trip assignment was due last Friday (worth a massive 20% of my final mark). I pulled a half-all-nighter working on the assignment and turned it in before a full day of lectures. I had an ecology test that was difficult at one section referring to Maroi/European colonization of New Zealand. I know more about the colonization of New Zealand than my kiwi flatmates. I also had a field trip for Ecology on Saturday. A very stressful situation erupted when I had to try to find a replacement for me at work (during the last weekend of the sale). It was a situation that did not need to be as stressful as I had turned it into. I blame Kathmandu Ltd. for this. I felt more obligated to go to work than attend the field trip, which is totally backwards since this field trip determines if I pass the course or not. Not what I need to ...

It's dead quiet in Auckland this morning, and that is because it is ANZAC Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps). Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand and is commemorated by both countries on April 25th to honor the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps ( ANZAC ) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries. The holiday also represents Australia and New Zealand as allies. The red poppy is worn on this day, because after the battle, poppies grew over the field where the battle took place. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day]

So just an update that I am alive. Just the same old, daily routine: breakfast, Skype, uni, gym, relax...and work on the weekend. It's scary to think that the semester is already half way done. The year flies by here! Fall is here and I can feel winter slowly setting in. Soon I will be finished with this semester and then I am off to Thailand to meet up with Marius half way. Will be awesome, and my inner Bio Nerd will come out. I heard about the Red Shirt protests two days after I bought my ticket and finalized my trip. But I think I'll be fine. So here I sit. In the computer lab on campus. It's 5:43PM and it's getting darker now. I keep finding myself lost in daydreams of home, Thailand, etc. Hopefully I'll have some more exciting news to report soon. Thai reggae: Job 2 Do: Do Do Do http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPeRw2aeRJ4&feature=related

I am on my mid-semester break from uni now. My first week was work and a four-day field trip to Kawhia for my Hydrology & Fluvial Geomorphology class. The first day was pouring rain, and what I thought was a good substitute for a rain jacket (my winter coat), turned out to be the opposite and I was soaked from head to toe the first day. When we got to our cabins I took a hot shower before we went to dinner. We all had to pay $80 for three nights of meals, so I was determined to get my money's worth and eat as much as I could. Each morning we were up, fed breakfast, and out in the field by 8AM to begin our full day of river research. My group had the second hardest reach of the catchment, but it wasn't that difficult at all. We ended up getting dropped off too far down so we didn't get up the river as far as we were supposed to. There was no trail along the river so we were constantly crossing the river and fighting our way through bush, cow/sheep faeces, and swamps. We ...