Welcome to my first blog post. I have started this site as a way to allow anyone interested in what I am doing quick access to my activities and to not bother those who don’t care with mass emails. I hope to post pictures and wonderful, insightful comments with some regularity but have never been good about keeping a journal…so we’ll see how that goes.
I depart for New Zealand on July 1st after spending a few days with relatives in California and will return sometime next June or early July. I am traveling through a program run jointly by Australearn and the U of M Twin Cities campus. When I arrive, I will participate in an orientation with other American students traveling through Australearn then make my way to Dunedin for international student orientation and registration at the U of Otago. Classes begin July 13th.
During my first semester, I will be living with a “kiwihost” and four other international students in a flat on 783 Great King Street, relatively close to campus.
Registration for classes takes place upon arrival so I do not know yet what papers (New Zealand term for classes) I will take. I have completely finished all of my degree requirements at Morris, so I am free to study whatever I desire. I aim to sign up for some combination of geography, Maori studies, environmental history, and geology. (Possible courses include Geography of the South Pacific and Environmental Politics)
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Here is some general information:
New Zealand is located southeast of Australia: map.
I will be living and studying in Dunedin on the southern island: closer map.
New Zealand has two official languages, English and Maori, and uses New Zealand dollars as currency.
New Zealand is located 17 hours difference from the Central time zone. In other words, if it is noon in MN on a Sunday, it would five in the morning on Monday in NZ.
The climate in New Zealand is strongly influenced by the ocean, so in general it is cooler in summer and warmer in winter than in Minnesota. Average temperatures in Dunedin in June are 30-50 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of this however, central heating systems are uncommon and precipitation comes in the form of cold rain. Though Minnesotans may boast about how they withstand ridiculous temperatures and windchills, when it gets bitterly cold we just crank up the thermostat and scurry between heated buildings. I am interested to see what it’s like to live in a cold climate when the temperature inside is generally the same as what it is outside. (For fun, compare the climate of Dunedin to that of Minneapolis)
New Zealand is home to unique wildlife such as yellow-eyed penguins, albatross, kiwi birds as well as to nonliving things like earthquakes, volcanoes, mountains and fjords.
And yes, they drive on the left side of the road.
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A number of ideas and questions have been circulating in my mind in the midst of packing, postulating, and panicking which I hope to reflect on over the next year:
“Unique biodiversity is a point of national pride and I am interested in what effect this has on current day attitudes toward stewardship of the environment.” This includes government management of natural resources, citizens’ opinions about government management of resources, and how conscientious New Zealanders are about the way their day to day activities impact the environment. There are strong movements to keep genetically engineered plants and animals out of New Zealand and to mitigate the impact of invasive species. And yet domestic air travel (one of the most resource intensive transportation methods) is a very popular way to get from place to place with over 450 flights per day within a country smaller than California. I hope to get beyond the environmentally friendly image conveyed by the tourist industry in order to understand the unique concern New Zealanders have for natural beauty.
Having spent time at Morris studying the Indian Boarding School Service and other interactions between Native American tribes and the US federal government, I am also interested in the effect geographical and demographic differences between US and New Zealand have on attitudes toward the rights of the indigenous peoples. What is the attitude toward the Maori and their traditions? Though the government has apologized for actions taken by early British colonizers, made Maori the second official language, and driven forward legislation on the basis of the Treaty of Waitangi, I wonder what the attitudes of the average person are like. Also what are the Maori’s opinion about the use of the haka at All Blacks rugby games and the scope of reparations? Does cultural tourism create a system through which tribes define themselves in terms of what tourists want to see (something exotic and “authentic”) rather than allowing the traditions to be modified and changed to fit the modern world? Do reparations cause clashes about tribal enrollment similar to tribal gaming in the US?
I also am eager to explore the way differences in geography (topography, size of the country, and climate) affect the way people think about the world.
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If you would like to contact me while I am away, you can use email, Skype, or snail mail. I will be getting a U of Otago email account within the next few weeks (which I will put in a later post) Otherwise, you can use my Morris email account – kerni016[at]morris.umn.edu – as I will still check it occasionally. I also have an account on Skype through which you can call me for free as long as your computer has a microphone and speakers. Given the time difference, however phone conversations will be very hard to coordinate! I am not sure whether my mailbox is located at the place I am living or on campus somewhere but I will post the address as soon as I figure out what it is.
I had best get back to packing. Less than a week left to prepare.
Friday, June 26, 2009
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