Expectations

And...I'm already behind on the whole posting thing. I have been in New Zealand for two days now but limited access to internet has prevented me from putting anything up. So here, retroactively is something I wrote the night before my flight:

I leave tomorrow for New Zealand. I am pretty anxious which is silly since I am going to an English speaking country to study at a university (which has many support systems established for people in my situation) and will be traveling and living with other international students. I have never, however, claimed to be even vaguely courageous in this regard. I look forward to being there, getting set up, and starting classes so that there aren’t so many unknowns to worry about.

After four years of undergraduate work, you become accustomed to the academic system you’re in and confident in your ability to handle the expectations of classes be it a 3000-level geology or 4000-level philosophy course. It is incredibly cool that I get an opportunity now, at the end of the traditional time allotted to the massive soul-search which is college, to put it all into question again. Three cheers for the chance to experience a different style of teaching/learning!

Things I look forward to:
Mountains (and all of the associated geology), greenstone, tramping (hiking), earthquakes, New Zealand slang , exploring Dunedin and the Otago peninsula, candy shaped like babies, odd and delicious flavors of ice-cream, unfamiliar stars, registering for classes (with so many amazing choices it would be very hard to have a disappointing schedule), geography classes!!, gut-wrenching realizations about my own assumptions and identity

But enough speculation. I’ll write when I actually have some concrete experiences to share.