So, I’m
in New Zealand. I almost have to pinch myself when I wake up to believe that
this is real. The haze of confusion is slowly lifting and I’m starting to
understand how things work here. Still don’t have internet at home, which is
causing me too feel quite disconnected from the world. Even if I do have mobile
internet in my phone, it is just not the same. Anyway, I hope my building
supervisor will fix it soon so I can start Skyping and calling people.
My first
impressions of New Zealand is that it is very beautiful here. On my way from
the airport in Auckland, all I saw were beautiful green rolling hills, and I
was seriously half expecting Hobbits to appear (or Teletubbies!). The nature
here is lovely. Hamilton is also very green and beautiful, but very different
from Oslo. It reminds me both of the suburb where I lived in Augusta, Georgia,
and Iceland. Things are flat here (that part does not look like Iceland at
all!) and everything is spread out. It is not very pedestrian friendly, you
almost need to have a car. There are buses but, I don’t know, the public
transport system doesn’t seem to have the same convenience as it does in Oslo.
I walked to the supermarket yesterday, about a 40minute walk/3km (similar from
Eyrin to Bónus, for my Isafjordur dwelling readers). It is doable, at least if
I take the bus back home like I did. I’ll just have to put my grocery shopping
on my work out plan.
Saying
that New Zealanders are friendly, is like the understatement of the century.
Very friendly people, indeed. Everybody is so helpful and nice and willing to
help with everything. And it doesn’t seem fake, people seem to be genuinely interested
in helping. It definitely helps with settling in. I have just finished all the enrollment
paperwork and just got my student ID card, tomorrow I will get my office space
and Wednesday I’ll have my first meeting with my supervisors to finish all the
details with the supervision agreement and then ... fulltime PhD student I’ll
be! They seem to take very good care of their postgraduate students here. There
are writing retreats and workshops and other events to both bring people
together but also to assist you with issues you might be having. I’m so looking
forward to the next 3 years.
I will
try to keep this blog active and interesting for you, I haven’t quite decided
what kind of a blog it will be, academic, personal, marathon training, or a combination
of all three. We will see. I hope you are all well.
