I did not have class on the first day of classes

Well, classes started today... but not for me. I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays. Sweet as! So, instead, I found the classrooms where I will be having class (quite an easy task) and ran some errands.

First, though, I had a $3 lunch at OUSA which is put on by the Hare Krishnas. It's vegetarian (maybe even vegan) and they give you HEAPS of food. They had pasta and apple crumble today. The pasta was not too exciting, but decent, and the apple crumble was delicious. I went with Helen and Kate and Alex. While waiting in line, I met Charlie and Anissa, who seem really cool. After lunch I signed up for the Starting Maori Language class and then Anissa and I walked to Unipol to sign up for Bone Carving. So we will both be taking that at the same time, which is cool.

I seem to see my flatmate's boyfriend Tim a lot when I'm walking around. That seems sort of unlikely since it's such a huge university but it's really cool that I do see people I know. I bought the book for Maori Society at a discount bookshop up on Great King Street near McDonald's. I saved about $17, so that's nice. I then went and got fruit from New World and popcorn from Countdown. Countdown is further away but a bit cheaper. If I get a card to get their deals it will be even better priced. I'll have to look into that. I didn't get dinner stuff because I wasn't sure when this whole flat cooking will start. I need to find that out. I also went to the Albany Street Pharmacy to get a thermometer (I have no fever! hooray!) and cold medicine. Somewhere in there I took some pictures in the Octagon. I really wanted to get up to the Botanic Gardens but it's dark now so I think I'll hold off on that.

I looked up my classes on Blackboard - it looks like the final exams are worth 50% in all 3 of them. Intimidating! Also, my anthropology class looks challenging. I'll have to write essays for all my classes. Ah well, it is school after all. I don't know what I'll end up doing this evening.

Oh, and a quick summary of my weekend:
Saturday, the weather was terrible and so my Mt. Cargill plans were canceled. We had a gathering at Karin's (48 Grange) where we ordered pizza and watched the second Matrix movie. Karin's house is really nice. We discovered that a large pizza at Domino's is much much smaller than what you expect. Sunday I went to the Otago Museum at 3 after having slept in and wandered around a bit, and then went out to dinner at Tokyo Garden, which is alright but the chicken was fatty. When I was going to bed on Saturday night, the lights went out as I was brushing my teeth. See, we have prepaid power and it cuts off when it runs out. I decided that instead of trying to work out how to add more power in the dark, I'd wait til the morning to clear it up. Sure enough, I was the one to add $50 to the power - and that will hopefully be all I pay this month.

Dunedin (that's duh-NEED-in)

I just wandered around town, trying to find where my Arcadia people are living. I located plenty of flats, but no one was home in any of them. It was actually quite pleasant out, I was dressed warmer than I needed to be. I stopped in the Dundas Street Dairy for a Telecom top-up, only to discover there were already 500 texts on the phone! Well, now I have 2500. No worries. I couldn't figure out how to get to the actual flats at Toroa, and besides, I don't know where Amber and Kate live exactly, anyway. As I was walking, I was thinking how Dunedin really is a lovely little city. I know it's much bigger than anything I'm used to, but at least right now it has more of a little city feel. The campus is beautiful. I live about a second away from the clocktower and the river. I was feeling a little pessimistic earlier about living so independently, but after talking to Jeff, feeding myself, and making plans for tonight, I am much more confident. There's that feeling of 'oh, it's cold and the days are short and I'm so alone' but it's just a feeling. I'm not alone. I have friends in Dunedin, and I have so much love back home. I must say that I'm fully becoming a scarfie - I've worn scarves often and even bought -gasp- more today! I need to get another sweatshirt or two. I'm currently attempting to decide on what classes to take. Two of them are certain: Maori Society and Anthro of Health. I can't decide on my third. There's Maori Language, NZ Politics, a gender studies class (bodies, sexualities, and selves), Music in Popular Culture, Love and Heroism: Religions of South India, Religion and the Internet, and Concepts of the Self. I think most of them would fit into my schedule. It's just up to me to decide. I promise I will actually update on my time in New Zealand up to now at some point, I am just not extremely motivated to since I need to wait for library internet to actually upload photos.