Oh, how I remember you.

I'm really bad at updating this thing. Ugh. So, I think updates will be in the form of random thoughts.

- My Maori class is a lot of fun and I am getting confident speaking. I really wanted to do a class focusing on learning a spoken language because I feel that I am too self-conscious when I try to use another language. This class is making me speak a language I barely know and is helping me a lot. I would like to eventually do some of my updates in Maori depending on what type of things we learn in class.

- Geography is eh. I only say that right now because we are doing GIS and I despise it. At least it is all basic stuff so I should get some easy grades on my first two labs. I am looking forward to our field trip, however. We are going to study mangroves southwest of Auckland. This means a lot of mud and mud fights. Sweet. And the Geography Department is paying for our dinner. Wooo!

- Best story ever told by a lecturer in a university class:
"You meet some pretty interesting people when you do your public survey aspect of your fieldwork. Last year two guys went up to a door and knocked on it. A man answered and they asked him, 'What do you think about mangroves?' He replied, 'What do I think about mangroves? I'll tell you what I think about mangroves.' And pulled down his pants and took a crap on his floor."

- History is a lot better than I thought it would be. It is "New Zealand Cultural History." The lecturer is awesome and we are talking about a lot of cultural aspects that can be seen in American history as well as a result of both countries being settler societies.

- Politics is still up in the air. I know nothing about New Zealand politics so when the lecturer cracks jokes I'm completely clueless. We shall see how this progresses.

- I was out all weekend and it was great. There are so many other options here rather than your normal pub or club. We went to see live jazz one night. Another night we went to an outdoor play. The weekend before we went to a jazz and blues festival. And tomorrow we're going to an outdoor screening of a movie.

- Watchmen midnight IMAX premiere was kind of a letdown. Not because of the movie but because the crowd was kinda eh. No one dressed up like any of the characters and people didn't seem too excited. But I was told midnight premieres are not as big here as they are in the States.

- The weather here is perfect. It's always windy and the rain feels great when it's here. Wow.

- The Pens are on a 6 game win streak! I've only been able to stream a few games because my internet does not like videos (I've been waiting for America's Next Top Model to load for the past 3 hours). Thankfully, the radio feed works. Kris has been a beast (let's ignore that mistake in the Capitals game) and that is why he has his own spot on my wall.

Tomorrow is my first 8am class and I am not excited as it is GIS. Ahhhh.