Let Life at Uni(versity) Begin!

  So one morning, I don’t remember which one, I came out of my room, looked out the window, and saw a beautiful rainbow! It made me very excited.

Saturday, July 9
  At orientation, there was a group called Capital Safari who organized a handful of tours around Wellington. The tours were loosely based on categories, such as shopping, sports, Lord of the Rings, museums, etc. Andrea and I signed up for one that went to the City and Sea Museum, walked by Oriental Harbour, and visited the Te Papa Museum.

  The City and Sea Museum was interesting because it talked about the history of the city and its harbours and told stories of the different ships that had landed there.

Outside of City and Sea Museum

  On our way to the Te Papa Museum, we walked by the water. One interesting thing I saw at the Te Papa Museum was a colossal squid that New Zealand fishermen caught.

The squid is 4 meters long

  There is also a marae in the museum, which is a meeting place for the Maori people. It is all hand-carved and very beautiful (picture further down). There is a section of the museum that talks a lot about the history of the Maori people, including the treaty they signed with the Queen. The Te Papa Museum was so big that I did not get to see everything.

Monday, July 11

  My first day of lectures went well. I had two in a row, linguistics and children’s literature. My experience here will definitely differ from Bates. There are about 100 people in my lectures, but we split up into groups of 20 for tutorials once a week for discussion led by a senior student. Coming from Bates where my biggest class was around 60, it will be interesting how I adapt to this type of learning environment.

  In the afternoon, I got the chance to attend a powhiri, a Maori welcoming ceremony at the university’s marae. We had to go to a briefing beforehand to learn the proper protocol. When we approached the marae, the women walked in front with the men on either side and at the back, signalling that we came in peace. If the men (warriors) had walked in front, that would be a sign that we came for confrontation and war. As we approach the marae, the karanga begins, which is a call performed by a female.

This is the show marae at the Te Papa Museum. But the one on campus looks very similar.

  Because of the cold weather, we did not go through the outside portion of the ceremony. Instead, we immediately went inside the meeting house, with the men sitting in the front row, the women behind them, and separate sides for the tangata whenua (hosts) and manuhiri (visitors). A man of the tangata whenua makes a speech, followed by a waiata (song) that the group performs. After, a person from the manuhiri side makes a speech, and then we had to perform a waiata (another reason why we had to go through briefing before attending the ceremony). We offered a donation to the marae and finished by going to the tangata whenua to hongi, or touch noses; it represents the two sides coming together.

  After the ceremony, which was conducted entirely in the Maori language, we went to the attached dining area for hakari, the sharing of food. Everything was delicious, and I got to meet a few new people who had also taken part in the ceremony. We couldn’t take pictures of the marae or powhiri, but the building looks similar to the one I saw in the Te Papa museum. Inside, the walls are lined with intricate carvings of the Maori ancestors and decorated lattices. Not all Kiwis get the chance to attend a powhiri, and I felt honoured to be able to take part in this.

Wednesday, July 13

  Today was clubs day at VUW (Victoria University of Wellington), and I got to see what clubs Victoria University has to offer. There unfortunately wasn’t a tennis club, but I did sign up to get more information about the Film Society and Christian Club. The Christian Club offered a lunch at their meeting place, which is a house on a road a little below the Kelburn campus. I went there and met some new people.

Friday, July 15

  In the evening, there was a welcome function for the international students at VUW. They offered some appetizer-type food as well as white and red wine and beer. It is different to have everyone at uni old enough to drink.

  I was able to meet up with Andrea and a couple other friends, including my tour guides from Capital Safari. It was a good opportunity to meet students from all over the world, although there were a good number of Americans.

Saturday, July 16

  Today, I walked to the Te Papa museum to do some more exploring. I found an outdoor area called Bush City that was complete with waterfall and bridge.

 

  It was a nice day, and I was again reminded why Wellington is such a great city. Though the weather can be temperamental, it usually permits walking around, and the city layout is easy to become familiar with.