Weekend in Sydney and the Internship Begins

Well, my passport finally arrived, a mere 4 hours before my plane took off. I almost didn't make it to Australia for the weekend! The courier service finally tracked it down at the local post office, so I biked over to pick it up. Funnier still, they needed ID for me to pick up the package. Luckily, I had something else to use, but HELLO! MY ID IS IN THE PACKAGE! I then had class from 2p-4p and the cab picked me up at 4:15p. I arrived at the airport an hour before my international flight. I got barked at by some airport attendant for not leaving enough time...oh well. So I went ahead and cut the whole line, went through security, and walked on the plane. On the plane, our takeoff was delayed (as always) because one of the baggage doors wouldn't close electrically. They had to hand crank it shut which apparently takes a half hour to do. When we finally got off of the ground I started talking to my seat mates, two guys from Korea. One asked me where I was from, and I told him Boston. He asked where that was and I proceded to show him the east coast of the US versus the west. It was so odd to imagine someone not knowing where Boston was. I mean, we're a little bitty city, but Boston is fundamental to even the most basic notions of American History. Not like I can criticize, had he told me he were from Seoul, South Korea I couldn't have pointed it out on a map (I might barely locate the country). Goes to show how Ameri-centric a world I have lived in. The two guys were really friendly and off to Sydney for business and a bit of pleasure. One of them had tickets to the All Blacks vs. The Wallabies (New Zealand vs. Australia-- the HUGE rivalry, put this one on par with Red Sox vs. Yankees, except with two NATIONS behind the teams). I told them how awesome that was, and they then said that they probably weren't going to go. I must have looked baffled because he explained that they were going to the casino instead. Casino instead of a once in a lifetime rugby match...hmmm. Regardless, I couldn't weasle the tickets out of him. Damn.

I did a good amount of homework on the plane (I already wrote two papers before departing in order to make the weekend possible). Once I finally got through customs, quarnatine, etc, I took a group shuttle to the Marriot Harbour Hotel. On the shuttle I met two people (because the guy had on a Red Sox World Series Champions Hat) from California. His family was originally from Boston and he attended Tufts. We talked baseball and about LA (Lower Allston, baby!), and decided that Red Sox Nation doesn't quite cover it, it's truly Red Sox World. Any of the cool cats in Greece will agree that I met a large number of sox fans even in Greece. After they got off the shuttle, the INSANE cabby continued onto my hotel. I got there by around 10pm (there's a two hour time difference from Auckland, and a 3 hour flight). After unloading my belongings, Mom, Ann, and I went out and found me food. Then we sat and listened to a jazz band play in the lobby of this gorgeous hotel.

The next morning we got up bright and early and took the bus to Paddington Market. The market was lots of fun with crafts, jewelry, books, chocolates, etc, etc. After browsing around, we hopped back on the bus and continued on to Bondi Beach. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe called Lamrock. It was a positively gorgeous Saturday: sunny and about 70 degrees out. We then walked down to the beach and watched the surfers for hours. Just as we're leaving, I realize that I have no pictures of people from the day. I have Ann take my picture and as she does, a freak wave comes in almost 15 feet farther than the rest of the tide, and it positively soaks me! Needless to say, denim + salt water + sand = miserably uncomfortable. Note to self, never turn back on the ocean. We then headed back to the hotel to get spiffy before going to the Sydney Opera House to see La Boheme. All dolled up, we headed out to the opera house a bit early to check it out. It is positively striking! I couldn't believe what I was viewing and about to enter. Oddly enough, the inside is not particularly remarkable. There are also four or five different theaters within the opera house. The show itself was unbelievable; our seats were eight rows back. It was also very contemporary in the way it was staged: modern costumes and modern set. I cannot describe how beautiful the voices were.

After the opera, we stopped at a little cafe for desert and coffee. I had the tastiest rhubarb and apple crumble (Kel Han--you should've been there!) with strawberries on top and a hot chocolate. We then returned to the hotel to find that the rugby game had just ended. All Blacks won 30-13! The hotel had recorded the game and was replaying it on the big screen in the lobby with refreshments. We watched enough of the game to slowly begin to understand what was going on. I have a new favorite player: Dan Carter. We then went upstairs and I packed because I needed to leave the hotel at 4:45a--BLECK! I of course managed to leave some things in the hotel, but c'est la vie. My mom's coming back to Auckland tomorrow with all my goodies that I forgot.

Monday I had my first day at my internship. I'm working at the Auckland Museum, which is beautiful, but an absolute maze. So far I am doing very internship-like things, organizing, stapling, etc, etc. It's a little frustrating, but I will hopefully get more responsibility as I prove myself to be capable. My supervisor works in the Public Programs division of the museum. This section comes up with and arranges all of the live productions to go along with the exhibitions. Currently we're preparing for a Da Vinci exhibition of many of his machines. This is such a cool opportunity! Once my input is requested I will suggest that Dan Brown come as a lecturer and that they do an evening of gelato and Italian wines. See--I know how to pack the people in the house (bestselling author plus desert and wine)! The internship should be good, but I'm working there 25 hours per week which is ALL of my free time outside of my 3 classes.

Well, I will continue to keep you posted of my trials and tribulations! Check out my pictures at Ofoto!

Mom's in Town--

Well my mother swung by Auckland while on her whirlwind tour of New Zealand and Australia with our family friend Ann. They've been here already for two weeks now, and this was the first I have seen of her. They stayed at the fine accomadations at the Railway Campus for two nights (don't worry, not on my floor, I got them their own room!) They arrived late Monday night and I was ready and waiting with a bottle of Lindauer Special Reserve Champagne (it was on sale AND said special reserve, clearly the pick for my mom!), dried apricots, dark chocolate, and New Zealand rose apple slices. These snacks were much appreciated and we stayed up until far too late sharing pictures and stories. My mom even brought me a little stuffed sheep from the south island. He's so darn cute, he's even getting a picture in my blog. I wish I could explain just how soft and fuzzy he is. To a smell extent, it's helping to curb my desire to run out into a field and simply hug a real sheep. With 60,000,000 sheep and only 5,000,000 people in this country, the odds of sheep hugging are quite high.

The next day I didn't have class until 5pm, so we spent the whole day together. At 8:30a we went to the Mascot cafe for breakfast with my roommates. I'd forgotten how nice it was to go out for breakfast. Better yet, how nice it is to be awake before 11am. I had crepes with bananas and maple syrup, they were called pancakes, but you can be sure that they were most definitely crepes. After that we walked to the ferry building and hopped on a ferry to Waiheke Island. This island in Auckland harbor houses a large number of vineyards. The morning was positively gorgeous, probably the nicest one so far in Auckland: sun shining, light breeze, mild temps. Once off the ferry, we went straight to Mudbrick Vineyard for winetasting. We all decided that there really wasn't anything there that wowed us. Nevertheless, winetasting is always a fun affair. Why people spit the wine out in the little spittoon is beyond me. We also decided that when my brother buys a vineyard (BTW, Bob, you're buying a vineyard) it will become a family run ordeal. My mom slated herself for janitorial duty because she said that's what she did at home anyway. Ann would wait tables with her ability to talk to ANYONE. I would be the hot chick that poured the samples at the wine tasting (clearly this is a fantasy world) and Bob would hide away in the winery blending and sampling wines until he final found something up to snuff for him. Ahhhh the vineyard life....


I had then arranged for lunch reservations at the vineyard in their quaint little restaurant with a gorgeous view of Rangitoto Island and the Auckland skyline. This decision got two thumbs up (or four, really) from my Mom and Ann. The food was tasty (albeit expensive) and the atmosphere lovely. We then walked to town and looked around in shops, galleries, and supermarkets. At the little supermarket, I found a personal-sized container of Movenpick Stracciatela ice cream. Now you must understand, Stracciatela is just a fancy italien word for chocolate-chip, but this concoction deserves a fancy name. The vanilla ice cream is so rich that it's almost butter, and the hunks of chocolate far exceed "chip" proportions. My mom (the one allergic to dairy) even ventured a taste and concurred: "amazing."

We returned from Waiheke to Auckland because I needed to come back and get ready for class. My mom then stole all of my $1 coins for laundry. Bear in mind that you NEVER get $1 coins for change here, so I am going to struggle the next time I need to do the wash. I then went off to two hours of class while Mom and Ann got their things organized for their departure for Sydney, Australia the next morning. I was definitely struggling from sleep deprevation and a long day outside in the sun because that class was harder to stay awake in than class at Holderness at 5pm after skiing for 3 hours (Holderness folks, you know the kind of eyelid falling I'm talking about!) I wish I could include a scanned copy of my "notes" from class. My normally pristine, anal handwriting is flat-out illegible; I can't read a thing on the page cause I was literally falling asleep in the middle of words: oops.

After class, I came back, cleaned up and got ready for dinner at the sky tower. You'll note that I scheduled the entire day around meals; that was clever of me, wasn't it? Looking spiffy we headed out to the skyline icon. The restaurant rotates at the rate of one revolution per hour. While we ate, we enjoyed the city lights over the entire Auckland area. The food was also fantastic and given the setting, reasonably priced. We got out of there for $30NZ a person (that's like $20US) and I enjoyed roast lamb served with eggplant and potato frittes, grilled brocolini (I know my brother is salivating, now), and a mochacino. Bear in mind the trip up the sky tower alone is nearly $20NZ and that was included in our dinner cost. Sure beat a $10 kebab.

We returned back and uploaded our pictures for the day--I showed Mom and Ann how to use ofoto.com. I think the lesson was a bit lost on them, but it was worth a shot. They finally went to bed and headed off to Sydney at 4am the next morning. I was left to finish my week, write a paper, and attend class. One assignment, for my Poetry off the Page course was to do a poetic transformation, ex. take any poem and change the way it looks typographically, visually, etc. Have a look at mine at http://www.geocities.com/bpantazelos/danserusse.html I leave this afternoon for Sydney, although I almost didn't get there because New Zealand was having a super-fun time playing hot potato with my passport and visa. I tracked it down less than an hour ago, but am all set to go to Sydney now (they got my passport back to me a mere 5 hours before I leave for my flight). I am generally in better spirits now with that weight lifted off my shoulders. My roommates already left for Aussieland at the crack of dawn this morning. We will be dining with them this evening upon my arrival. Tomorrow night Mom, Ann, and I are going to see La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House. I am so excited for this opportunity. I have never been to an opera before and now I am going to THE opera (feel free to pronounce opera with three syllables and your best british accent).

I will most certainly report back with pictures and tales from Australia for the weekend. Hopefully I will get some work accomplished on the plane rides there and back.

Betsy.

P.S. I now heart blogging. I have written soooo much more than I would have in a journal, and I love that I can share that with all of you. It's such a great procrastination tool for all those partaking. I can write for however long I want, and you can read to distract yourself from whatever you're supposed to be doing. Enjoy!

Hello everyone--

Well I have been an absolute failure at keeping a journal since I've been in New Zealand so perhaps the ability to type about the experience will encourage me to not only be more thorough, but it will force me to write anything at all. I am currently writing from the comfort of my dorm room in Auckland, New Zealand: room 322. I am trying this blogging notion on for size because I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it just yet. Ultimately, I know there are many wonderful people out there with whom I'd like to stay in touch. I think what I like about blogging is that it allows you, the reader, to be proactive in your interaction with me. Haven't heard from me? Check the blog!

As a general review, I am in New Zealand and have been here for 3 weeks now. I am living in Auckland at The Railway Campus (that's the brick building up there), studying at the University, and internning at the Auckland Museum.

Courses I'm Taking

• English 333- New Zealand Literature III- This course is taught by three professors and covers the poetry, short fiction, novels, and films of Polynesia. One of my professors wrote the book The Whale Rider which of course inspired the movie which many of you may have seen. The course is very interesting because it's a field of English literature that I would never have come across at Boston University. The tough part so far has been that there is certainly an assumed amount of knowledge of the material. Everyone knows who Albert Wendt is, right? Don't worry, I didn't either, but his work among others has been pervasive and influential throughout Pacific Islanders. There's a lot to be learned, here, about the struggle between native populations and colonisers.

• English 347-Poetry Off the Page- This course is taught by two professors simultaneously. It is a new course that they're trying out which looks at poetry in all its forms outside of its typical published form. The first day that the class met happened to be New Zealand Poetry Day. In its honor, we went around campus and wrote poetry in chalk on the pavement. We also took pictures of the whole day and posted them on the web. That evening we attended a poetry reading of local poets. Our assigments are all handed in by posting them on the course website. It has been a very progressive and interesting way to look at poetry.

• SS315- History, Society, and Politics of Aotearoa New Zealand- This course is only for the BU students--all 17 of us. It is joint taught by three different professors from various departments at the University of Auckland. This course has been invaluable for my understanding of other coursework as well as the society around me. We have discussed the relationships between the Maori (the first people to inhabit New Zealand in 800AD) and the Pakeha (Maori word for "different," aka--the European settlers). We've learned about the national rugby team, the All Blacks, and other factors that foster national identity here such as: green landscape, beaches, and sheep. Our current professor, Steve, makes attending class like a two hour stand-up comedy routine: informative and hysterical!

Places I've Been So Far

• Piha Beach- On the first day here, BU took us on a bus trip not far from Auckland. One of our stops was at Piha Beach. This beach is seen as the quintessential Aucklander's beach. It also is one of the most dangerous beaches on the planet due to incredible rips and currents. We played in the very fine black sand for a couple hours and dipped our feet in the water.

• Mt. Eden- This is a dormant (we're told) volcano in Auckland. Given how lush and green the crater is, I don't think there's too much liquid hot magma getting ready to spurt out...I hope...

• Rangitoto Island- This island is also a dormant volcano that's located in the harbor not far from Auckland. We took a ferry out to it for a day trip to go tramping--not hiking, but tramping. It was beautiful and provided some great views of Auckland.

• The Bay of Islands--Yet another BU sponsored trip. I have finally found where tuition goes! We drove north from Auckland for about 4 hours to the town of Paihia. We stayed here while doing mostly educational things (ha!). We checked out the former capital of New Zealand, Russell. There we saw the Pompellier House which was a small place formed by Catholic missionaries to print and bind bibles in Maori in order to spread Catholicism. We also went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds which is where in 1840 the Maori and Pakeha peoples both signed a treaty to respect Maori traditions, but more importanly to acknowledge themselves as a nation (albeit under British sovereignty). We got to see the haka (Maori war dance) performed and the Waitangi Meeting House which is covered with the wooden carvings of Maori tribes from all over New Zealand.

First, Sunny Russell, and then the Pompellier House

View of the Bay of Islands from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds

• Well now that the educational bit of Bay of Islands is out of the way, we did have quite a bit of non-classroom fun. We had a BBQ courtesy of BU and our program directors Kevin and Julie. We also participated in karaoke at "The Salty" (apparently BU has a running record of always winning...we didn't disappoint this year, either). I also went quad biking--aka ATVing!

Here we have a couple of fabulous renditions that the boys turned out. First Jon, Nate, and Rory serenade our program director, Julie, with the Righteous Brothers' "Lovin' Feeling." Next, Nate, Erik, Steve, Rusty, and Jon belt out The Backstreet Boys', "I Want it That Way." I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that Steve is the professor of our SS315 course (brown jacket, in case that needed clarification). While he'd like to pretend that singing the Backstreet Boys was somehow degrading, I must point out the emotion in his boy-band hand gestures.

First we have our program director, Julie, proving her sobriety to us. In the next image, we have one of my finer moments performing "Sweet Caroline" with Jon: "So good, so good, so good!" Some other songs that ended up being performed by the BU Crew at Karaoke included: Dancing Queen, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, Like a Prayer, and Ring of Fire. Nothing quite like Johnny Cash karaoke!

In the first picture you can see me on my quad bike flying through a stream with Anya and Sass behind me. The second, while it might appear to be a stock photograph for a Windows backdrop, is actually one of many amazing views from the property on which we got to ride.

What kind of collection of Betsy's photos would this be without the adorable wildlife that she's encountered along the way? First is Dippy the miniature horse and then Ruby the pregnant border collie. Mom can we get a puppy?

While Becca, Anya, Sass, and I were busy quad biking, the boys went kayaking. Their trusty guide also taught them how to do the haka which they then performed on the guide's brother's bar that evening.

The Cast of Characters

• The Group- The group consists of 17 people mostly from BU with one from Colorado College, one from Wheaton College, 2 from St. Mike's, and one from University of Central Arkansas.

• Julie and Kevin- These two helped to get us acclimated to New Zealand and assist with our troubles. They also lead us on fun excursions to places like the Bay of Islands!

• Becca and Sass- These are my two darling roommates. Becca is from Brooklyn, NY and Sass is from Boca Raton, FL. We are having a fantastic time together and are getting along better than great. That's our mascot, Kiwi, prominently displayed in the photo with us. (Sass is on the left and Becca's in the middle)

Important New Zealand Vernacular

• Kiwi- New Zealander
• Kia Ora- Hello
• Jandles- Flip-flops
• Dairy- Quickie Mart/ Store 24
• Sweet As- Cool, general affirmative
• Bitsy- New Zealand pronunciation of my name
• Shout- Foot the Bill as in :"I'll shout this round of drinks, you get the next shout"
• L&P- Lemon & Paeroa, New Zealand's most famous softdrink, carbonated lemonade meets water?
• Aotearoa- Maori name for New Zealand
• Maori- First inhabitants of New Zealand of Polynesian or Melanesian descent (pronounced Mawh-ree)
• Capsicum- Green Pepper
• Chocolate Fish-- Marshmallow covered in chocolate--given as a token for a job well done (learned this one in class when we all got them!)
• gum boots- rubber boots, gollashes
• lift- elevator
• take-aways- food "to-go" While the terms are not too far off in meaning people look at you like you have 6 heads if you say "you'll have something to-go"
• tramping- hiking, has no connection to prostitution
• vegemite- yeast based spread that tastes like salt meets soy sauce, BLECK
• Zed- the letter Z, as in En Zed= NZ