Hamiltron

The day of service at the end of our stay in Rotorua ended up being a day of getting our hands dirty and planting some trees-1130 to be exact. Consistent with my thoughts going in, this farm that we worked at did not believe in the American environmental movement because it ostracizes too many people. They see their treebilitation, if you will, as a sociological movement in the area, which allows it to have traction and success unlike many of the American Environmental movements. This isn't meant to be a political blog so I'll leave it at that but feel free to talk to me about it sometime.

After a brief reunion with Walker and a night on the town, it was off to Hamilton.

School was a dead zone when we arrived. Maybe it was my freshly fumigated hall (something about bed bugs and cockroaches?) or the idea of all the foreigners moving in but there was not a kiwi to be found other than the occasional RA. They've slowly started to arrive now but it's still pretty quiet (and boring) around here. Luckily for me I had things to do and people to see.

Much to my surprise, my single dorm is pretty spacious. Plenty of room for a air mattress for my visitors and more than enough room for the small amount of my life that I was able to squeeze into my luggage. I gotta say that it's actually a pretty nice feeling not having enough stuff to fill a room for once-everything seems a lot more spacious and a lot less cluttered. I even hung my Gronk jersey and some pictures up to make it feel more like home. My schedule also came out as planned-no classes on Thursday and Friday should leave plenty of time for travel. The campus has a pita pit on it, less than five minutes away by foot (uh oh...) and also has one of the most gorgeous libraries that I have ever seen. I'm on a co-ed hall with shared bathrooms which is a little weird, but the only girl is my RA and she could probably drink me under the table. Needless to say its not as bad as it first appeared. I'm in building Z (pronounced zed), floor 2. All is well.

Well maybe not ALL...

Much of my time this week has been spent running around the city like a chicken with my head cut off making sure everything was in order. My phone situation was a bit more complex than it should've been (02102924368 if you need me), my insurance/visa was messed up, and I had to apply for a New Zealand drivers license just so I don't have to carry my passport around all the time and risk losing it. But hey, it's a learning experience, that's why I'm here.

I finally finished all that stuff up today (although my Furman email still doesn't work...) so I'm now just waiting for classes to start. I did join the gym, which has taken some getting used to since all the weights are in kgs. So that'll help pass the time. And I did go downtown last night, there are a ton of good restaurants and bars to check out. A bunch of us want to go check out the Lord of the Rings set this weekend so that'll pass the time as well.

So I guess you could say I'm off the side roads and ready to start cruising down the highway.

Have a happy weekend,

Wilson