This Week

Well, I'm determined to post more frequently, so here is a post detailing my somewhat uneventful week. I had a psychology test on Thursday, and I had plenty of time to study for it, but, instead I facebooked, wrote the Milford Sound post, went through my pictures over and over, dwelled about my forever-lost love, dwelled about how low my chances of getting him back are, and dwelled about how my entire life plan--to run off with a rich dental student into the sunset and live happily every after--was ruined. My entire life is ruined. Needless to say, the test didn't go so well, but it's okay, because I had an A+ going into the test, and I'll likely still have an A+ in the class, even with an unfortunate test grade.

On Monday, to my joy, my passport arrived. FINALLY. I had sent it in right when I got to New Zealand to get a work permit, and I finally got it back, over 3 months later. Now I can get a job. Although I looked at available jobs online, and they don't sound like my cup of tea (being a janitor, being a caretaker). In addition, now is not the time to get a job with my Abel Tasman trip, finals, then Fiji coming up. I sort of want to be a tour guide at the Botanical Gardens, too, which would be unpaid. That sounds like fun.

I skyped (only typing, though) with Andrea a couple of times. The house has been sold, which brings me a sick sort of joy and the feeling that karma has taken its path (Andrea feels the same way, so I don't feel so guilty). Apparently escrow closes the day after (or is it the day before?) Andrea's graduation. Wouldn't be surprised if dad doesn't make it to Santa Barb. It's almost the four-year anniversary of when the Valencia house sold, and I was forced to move to SD my senior year. Funny how I still think about that everyday of my life. It's crazy how much things that happened to you when you were younger fuck you up so much.
I got drunk Thursday night down at flat 3. I met a guy named Justin (I think) who lives in flat 2. It was another J name. Story of my life this year. Let's list all the guys I've met that have names that start with J and then indicate whether I've made out with them: Jeff (yep), another Jeff (yep), Jon (yep), another Jeff (not yet), Jack (not yet), Joe (not yet), and now Justin (doubt it's going to happen). That's all I can think of at this moment. Anyways, this Justin is from San Diego and was a Lakers fan, and, according to him, there is a pre-med guy who goes to USC in flat 2 (Justin's roommate), but Justin finds him stuck up and annoying (typical USC guy). I found out that Lindsay (another girl in my program, who lives at flat 3) has extended to stay the whole year, which is pretty cool. I went to the farmer's marked on Saturday, as usual. I saw Brian (another guy in my program) playing the harmonica, trying to earn money, and chatted with him for a while. I bought purple potatoes!!! Purple on the outside AND the inside. 1kg for $3. Then I bought some kiwifruit at the grocery store. I sent Andrea some flowers today, that are set to arrive on June 10th, the day before graduation. They were so expensive!!! $30, but worth it. That was pretty much all the excitement for the week. A lot of thinking about the dental, though. All the semester kids are going home soon, too, which is starting to make me sad.

Man versus Mountain: Gertrude Saddle, Milford Sound, and the Chasm

May 20-May 22

Well, I've yet to write about my awesome mid semester break trip, because I need to have Hannah fill me in on the details from her journal, but I will jump ahead to discuss my weekend. My weekend was awesome, epic, fantastic, and then it ended with a stab in the heart. It all started on Friday around 6PM when Jack, Hannah, and I took off in Smith to Milford Sound, a 6-hour drive that I did in absolute darkness, since it gets dark around 5:30 here now. Luckily we had the 6th Harry Potter book on Hannah's ipod, so we listened to that along the way. After what seemed like forever, we made it to Homer Hut, a hut right before the actual Sound, and also the location for the start of the Gertrude Saddle Track, which we planned to do on Saturday. We woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to watch the sun rise over the mountains, which were HUGE. HUUUUGE. They were the most amazing mountains I've seen in my life. And they were covered in waterfalls, and there was snow halfway up them.

Jack and I with the HUGE mountains

So, I packed up my backpack with water, a banana, chocolate (that was gone fast), a rain jacket, gloves, carrots, and hummus (that spilled everywhere), and we took off to do the Gertrude Saddle Track. To my surprise (and horror), the sign for the Gertrude Saddle Track said the following:

Track Sign

Fit? Sorta.

Experienced tramper? Not really.

Alpine and navigation skills? No.

A sign after that said that one should not proceed without a topographic map and without crampons and other snow gear when the mountain is snow-covered (like it was).

Topographic map? Yeah right.

Crampons/snow gear? Not happening.

So naturally, we continued on. Needless to say, we were lost in 20 minutes. We took a wrong turn up a pile of rocks (and this was when there still were trail markers). Then a couple of parrots flew towards us and we got distracted by them. After about 30 minutes of messing around with the parrots (Jack unethically fed them so we could get cool pictures), we decided we should figure out how to get back to the track.

Parrot, after ingestion of trail mix

We decided we needed to bushwhack through the forest to get where we were supposed to be, rather than waste 15 minutes backtracking. So we climbed through bushes, trees, and rocks, got a little scratched up, and after our hour-long detour, we were back on track. The track was not really a track. I will quote the New Zealand Government's website to describe what we were up against.

"There are no markers above bushline, so alpine navigational skills are essential. Unfortunately trampers create misplaced rock cairns – be sure to follow your own judgement and use a topographical map."

Well, the bushline ended fast, so we busted out our alpine navigation skills and topographic maps and forged ahead. I will, once again, quote the New Zealand Government website to describe what we faced next.

"From here parts of the track are very steep and not suitable for anyone with limited tramping experience, or a dislike for heights. The track goes up very steep rock slabs and is treacherous when wet or frosty. There are steel cables to assist you."

Wet? Yes.

Frosty? Knee-deep snow.

Treacherous? Must be. 

Jack using the steel cable next to the waterfall

Well, we crossed a river, rock-climbed up a waterfall (with the use of a steel cable) and traversed across the snowy terrain. Now, it was impossible to know where we were stepping, since the snow was so deep. Beneath the snow were rocks, and our feet would slip around on these rocks and even get wedged between them, which was a little alarming. Luckily Jack went first, so Hannah and I basically just followed in his footsteps. Still, each step took tons of concentration. What was also a little alarming was, when we looked back at our footprints, we could see water flowing. In other words, there was basically a shallow river flowing beneath all the snow. My feet quickly became soaked in ice water, since my hiking boots aren't waterproof. Even more alarming were the couple of giant rocks we saw, and heard, break off the right side of the mountain and come tumbling down ahead of us. In fact, the New Zealand Government states, "[t]his is an alpine route and is subject to avalanches after snow. Please check with the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre for track conditions before starting, whatever the season." Hmm, I wonder what the track conditions were last Saturday...



Part way up the mountain

The view from part way up the mountain

The snow got deeper, the mountain, steeper, the sky, cloudier, my feet more and more numb. Eventually we reached Black Lake. This was a picture-perfect, partially-frozen lake, 90% up the mountain. It was soooo cute! Unfortunately I couldn't gawk at it for too long because I had to rip off my shoes, squeeze out my soaked socks, and wrap my pale, numb, on-the-verge-of-frostbitten feet up in my sweatshirt, before they were gone for good.

Black Lake

Right behind Black Lake

Although we had come so far--from the squawking parrots, to the falling rocks, to the climb up the waterfall--and although we were soooo close to the top, where the spectacular views of Milford Sound resided, we simply could not continue. The last 10% of the trail was so steep that the steel cables were needed for its entirety. It just was not going to happen. We had to turn around and go back down. The tramp down was not much of a tramp. It was more of a slip and fall and butt slide down the mountain, causing me to wind up with sore wrists and even wetter socks. Alas, we finally made it back to Homer Hut, cooked up some instant soup, played Rummikub and Hearts (yes, with just 3 people, it's possible!). We called it a very early night, because we were going to wake up at 5AM the next day, sneak out without paying, drive down to Te Anau, fill Smith up with gas, then drive back and see Milford Sound.

And that's exactly what we did. Unfortunately, on the drive back to Milford Sound, a rabbit leaped out in front of the car and Smith killed it, leaving bloody roadkill sprawled across the asphalt. Why hasn't natural selection created animals that look both ways before crossing? Anyways, Milford Sound was spectacular. It was where giant mountains, which surrounded us 360 degrees, reached the ocean. But it looked more like a lake than an ocean. And apparently so much water flows off the mountains that the top 4 feet of Milford Sounds water is freshwater, instead of salt water. We opted not to do a cruise of the sound, to save money. Here are some pictures.

Milford and me

Milford and my back

After Milford, we started the long journey home. We stopped off to do a walk to the Chasm, which is a 15-minute

walk to a big plunging waterfall beneath a bridge. It was pretty sweet, even though it was raining. Unfortunately, our cameras couldn't quite capture the power and intensity of the chasm, but since we were in the Fiordland, there was lots of rainforest trees and it looked like a magical fairyland, and I got some good pictures of that. At the start of the walk to the Chasm, there were signs saying that people shouldn't feed the kea, since feeding them makes them too comfortable around humans and human objects. This has led to keas ripping apart peoples cars and destroying peoples' property. Good job Jack. Here are some pictures.

Too late

Typical Scenery in the Fiordland

Our original plan was to stop at a bunch of places in the Fiordland on the way back, but it was raining, so the Chasm became the only stop. We also didn't really feel like stopping, since we were listening to Harry Potter. Eventually, we made it back to good ol' Dunedin. Everything was fine and dandy (the kitchen was a little dirty, but what else is new?). I was in a delightful daze from all the beautiful things I'd seen, the crazy hike we did, and from Harry Potter. I went up to my filthy room (but nothing could bother me at that time), turned on my computer, checked my email, checked blackboard to see if any new grades were up (of course not...lazy teachers), checked Thinkorswim (made a little bit of money...thanks MGM), and then checked facebook, and that's when I was stabbed in the heart. "WHAT THE FUCK!!!" thought I. Here's a screenshot of what I saw: 

WTF

Yep. In a relationship with some bitch. My first reaction: denial. I honestly read "in a relationship with Emily Dennis" at least 3 times, before I actually believed it. Second reaction: anger. Lots and lots of anger. I skipped bargaining, and then went to depression. Well, I facebooked stalked the girl. Her profile picture consisted of her and 2 other girls. My first impression was that none of them were very cute. The one in the middle was probably the cutest. I looked at more of her pictures and then I figured it out--she was the one on the left with the large boobs and forehead. Her facebook was very privatized, so being the nutcase that I am, I looked her up on the UCLA website and found out that she is a PhD student at UCLA, graduated from Whitman college in 2008 and was a Kappa there (just like Hannah! Small world, eh?), graduated cum laude, double majoring in psychology and chemistry (not impressed), did a research internship at Stanford, and currently does research at UCLA on anxiety disorders and learning disabilities. She enjoys hiking, cooking, massage, and some other things that I can't remember. In other words, she and Jeff are pretty much a match made in heaven. FML. They'll probably still be together when I get back. FML. I want to work at HSS when I return. That'll be awkward. Maybe I won't. FML. Why am I so irrational!!!!!???? We were only together for two weeks!!! Why did the thought never cross my mind that he would get a girlfriend? What's wrong with me!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Cinco de Mayo Eve

It's the first week back after midsemester break (I'll write about that later, since it's going to be quite the ordeal). I have a midterm tomorrow and a paper due Friday. But most importantly, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo--not Cinco de Study My Ass Off like it usually is. It is sooo cold....SOOO cold...too cold to study for this midterm...but not too cold to procrastinate by blogging. Jack's going on a date with some Kiwi chick tonight. Innnnnteresting...

Well, I'm clearly horrible at blogging. Months have past since I've last updated, so now I am forced to briefly highlight what has happened. On a side note, I am currently typing this in the lab as I watch a rat run around with electrodes in its brain. I learned how to cross a river with the tramping club. I went on my first overnight backpacking trip with the tramping club to Lake Alabaster in the Fiordland. Mimi and Shelby and I bought a car--a 1993 Mitsubishi Galant named Smith. We also got car insurance, but it needs new tires, and I haven't driven it yet. I got a job (unpaid) working in a lab screwing electrodes into rat's brains and reading their minds. I went to my professor's house for a potluck and brought some vegetables. He lives by Mount Cargill. I went to Queenstown again, since Abbey was going down there to visit her boyfriend. She took me and Hannah and Linh down too, so gas would be cheaper. Hannah and Linh and I hiked up a mountain on Saturday, and I didn't bring enough food and water, and it was pretty warm out (at least compared to Dunedin), so I felt like I was going to collapse. Eventually I made it to the top. Hannah made it up first, then me, then Linh, who managed to fall asleep twice on the trek up with only 15 minutes to the top.

Dunedin is very cold. I can see my breath in my room. I sleep with multiple pairs of pants, socks, shirts, and sweatshirts on, inside of my sleeping bag with my comforter on top of that. I wake up and don't want to get out of bed or undress because it is so cold. In addition, the weather changes rapidly. Yesterday it was super-hot and sunny out, so I went home after lab to change out of my multiple pairs of pants and shirts, but by the time I had done that and showered and put on shorts, It was cloudy and cold again. Food is expensive. Electricity is expensive. I bought a ticket to Fiji for Winter Break. That was expensive too.

My Lazy Ways

Well, I havent updated my blog in over a month. I never even finished writing about orientation. So, I'll breeze through it. It wasn't too exciting. There were a bunch of unimportant lectures. But they provided us with breakfast, then morning tea (which was delicious--good biscuits) and then lunch, so that was pretty cool. One day we went to Tiritiri Island off the coast of the North Island. It's a tropical island/bird sanctuary, so we did a little guided hike, looked at some birds, then swam around in the ocean. It was really warm and I got a nice tan. After orientation I flew to Dunedin, where I moved into my flat. I was the first one there. It was a ghost town since school wasn't going to start for a couple of weeks. The Dunedin people stayed a couple of days then took off via bus to Queenstown. Queenstown was awesome. It was warm. We (me, Shelby, and Mimi) went wine tasting the first day we got there. The second day there we went bungy jumping, which was awesome. Then we went out to a bar and got wasted and I made out with some Kiwi named Jon. The next day we went river rafting, which wasn't quite as cool as bungy jumping. We also took a little hike. The next day we left for Fox Glacier to take a glacier hike. However, it got rained out, so we wasted a ton of money for nothing. Then, we went back to Queenstown. Feeling cheap, we slept on the beach without sleeping bags and nearly froze to death. We went to Starbucks at 6AM and then slept on their couchs until 12 there, and no one even bothered us, which was cool. Then we went back to Dunedin. School eventually started, but I was pretty bored for a while. My roommates all showed up though: Ethan from Malaysia, Jack from Texas, Hannah from Washington, Kelly from New York, and Abbey the Kiwihost. Dunedin is pretty cool. There's a farmer's market every Saturday morning, there's a Kmart, a bunch of Subways that I have yet to eat at, and some nearby hiking trails. It's fucking cold though! It's summer and last night i slept in sweat pants, a sweat shirt, inside of my sleeping bag with a comforter on top of me, and I froze!!! WTF. Classes are fine. Looking for a job...enough for tonight

The Beginning

I arrived in Auckland on February 1st. It took a plane from LAX to Fiji, another plane from Fiji to Auckland Airport, a bus from Auckland Airport to Auckland University, and an approximately 1.5 mile walk uphill in the hot humid weather (during which I got terribly lost) to reach my destination--Grafton Residence Hall--for the UC orientation. The first thing I did was collapse in bed, go on my computer, contact the parents, and start facebooking. I obviously hadn't slept in over 24 hours, despite taking ambien on the plane. My initial impressions of New Zealand were high--everyone (the guy who told me which bus to take at the airport, the bus driver, the random people in the street whom I asked for directions, etc.) were extremely friendly and eager to help.
Rather than being frightening, being in a country in which no one knew me was extremeley relaxing. It was a really pleasant feeling to be so far away from the drama and hassles back home--drama in the apartment (obnoxious roommates, no peace and quiet, no privacy), waking up at the crack of dawn for work at HSS everyday, oh yeah, and that strange 2-week fling with that dental student, Jeff Diamond, that ended with me sobbing on Natalie's shoulder. That's not to say that the month of January was a complete disaster. It was one of the craziest and most eventful months of my life--I worked part time at UCLA while not taking classes (a college kid's dream), got asked out by a dental student (finally!!!), dated 3 guys, 2 of which were named Jeff and one of which was my supervisor at work, wound up drunk when I least expected it (for example, on the beach at night in the middle of the week with Jeff D.), had a 3-day hangover (or maybe that was food poisoning), etc.
After facebook chatting with Richard, my supervisor at work and second guy I dated in January, and telling him that he would be my Valentine, I took a shower and went to bed. I woke up the next morning early for breakfast. I met a bunch of UC EAP kids, including a girl named Mimi who was also studying at Otago for the entire year of 2011, like myself. I went with her to get a cell phone in Auckland. Auckland reminded me of London with less people. Lots of parks, English-speaking people, Americanized. Mimi, some guy named Paul, and I went to get a pay as you go cell phone. Then I walked around the Auckland University campus, which was pretty small, compared to UCLA, but much more green. That night, I ate dinner, bought a bottle of wine and got drunk with the other EAPers in the recreation room in Grafton.
The next morning marked the first day of actual orientation. It wasn't too exciting.