What Internationals Think Of Americans

It's been SUPER interesting learning what all my new international friends think of Americans. Here are some thoughts or quotes I have from people about America!

• You guys have the BEST food. Our food here is so bad compared to yours (this is the guy obsessed with marshmallow creme). - New Zealand
• Do all Americans eat bread with butter and jam? (toast) - China
• I'm scared to go to America because I think I would lose my life, everyone there has guns! -Ghana
• Your name is Marin and you're from America? Do you have family in Norway? - Norway
• In all other countries the policemen carry sticks, but yours carry guns! You have guns and natural disasters, therefore America is the most dangerous country. - Ghana
• Do all Americans cook rice in the microwave? - China
• You seriously don't know the rules of rugby?! - Everyone international
• Americans don't know anything about other countries! That's the flag of England. - Netherlands
• You're from a small town of 9,000? That's a really big city in Norway. - Norway
• You have friends married already?! That is too young. Even 25 is too young. - China and Japan
• Why does everyone from America wear those funny looking sandals? (Chacos) - New Zealand

I'm sure there's more, but this is what comes to mind right now. We ate dinner with a boy called Bismark from Ghana, and apparently the only news of America that goes international is about guns. So that was an extremely interesting conversation! Overall people from Asia (and Ghana) are more negative about Americans than those from Europe who are kind of in the middle, and people from New Zealand love us! I was pretty surprised by how cool the Kiwis think we are, I just assumed all international people kind of hate Americans! Europeans acted the way I expected, indifferent but can be a bit condescending, and those from Asia mostly just make comments about our food. The guy from Ghana has been the most negative about America, but not in an attacking kind of way, they've all been EXTREMELY friendly! And when I say negative towards America, they mean the government, not the people. So that was all kind of surprising to me! But like I said, no one has been unkind, everyone is lovely.

Akaroa Harbour

So today (Saturday 28/02/15) I went with a big group to Akaroa Harbour, and spent the day there. Akaroa is a beach town past Christchurch on the peninsula, and it's SO cute! The drive form Lincoln is about 1.5 hours, but it's gorgeous! The bus driver let us stop to take some scenic photos of the harbour from up above <3

Lizzie, Holly, Me

Akaroa Harbour

We spent the first hour walking the town, then rented kayaks for an hour and did that.

These were all taken using my GoPro Hero 4 Silver!

After kayaking we lounged on the beach in town, and did some swimming! The water was beautiful, but a bit on the chilly side!

Me, Lizzie, Jacob, Holly, Erin

Lizzie, Me

Me, Erin, Lizzie

Accidental artsy underwater shot!

The group of people I spent most of my time with are all super cool Americans. Somehow we all find each other and have met hardly any Kiwis!! Jacob and Holly go to Cornell, Jacob is from New York and Holly from New Hampshire. Lizzie is from Oregon and goes to University of Idaho (WEST COAST BEST COAST!), and Erin is from Minnesota and goes to North Dakota State. And obviously I'm from Washington and go to Colorado State. So we've got a nice mix in there :) Akaroa was so much fun, and we had a beautiful sunny day here today! Unfortunately I got fried, even though I put sunscreen on like 4 times, but apparently there's a hole in the ozone layer here? I don't know, but I'm definitely getting tan (or will be once the burns heal).

UPDATE: MADE A VIDEO FROM AKAROA HARBOUR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFt5MvdLAqQ&index=1&list=PLzU_b2847hsr8MHsS1AqrDGFvdBSYNrt9

Classes: Week One

So I've officially been here just over a week, though it feels like I've always lived here! Classes started Monday and I came into Monday taking "Livestock Production Science", "Farm Management", "Global Food Systems", and "Plant Pest Management". Well I'm keeping all of those with the exception of "Plant Pest Management" which I traded for "Principles of Wine Science".

Livestock Production Science is super interesting, it's all about genetics and breeding and improving livestock production. My teachers are also really cool, so that helps too. We have 4 field trips with this class and one field tour. Field trips are day trips to surrounding farms, and the field tour is a 4 day tour around Wellington where we stay with host families and visit various farming operations. I think this will be one of my favorite classes :)

Farm Management is probably going to be my hardest class because it really focuses on crop oriented farms as opposed to livestock farms/ranches which is what I'm more familiar with. So all this talk on fertilizer and stuff and I'm so lost! But this class won't have a lab, so it's all lecture based. Most NZ kids who take my livestock class also take this class, so all the field trips are the same for both.

Global Food Systems is hands down the easiest class because it's supposed to be for first year students. It's interesting, but a lot of common sense kind of stuff. We have one field trip, and I think it's going to be to a red onion farm. Our teacher is from China, moved to New Zealand and married a Kiwi, and she calls her kids her Chiwis. She's the cutest!

My Principles of Wine Science is super interesting and all new to me. Since I'm not legal back in the states, I obviously don't know much about wine. Well in this class we spend our two hour labs wine tasting, and get to actually make our own wine! Hopefully I can somehow swing my homemade wine past customs ;) Well this class has one field trip to a local vineyard, so that should be pretty cool.

Overall it'll be a challenging semester, but New Zealand learning is much different from American schools. For example, we have absolutely no homework, and only have four courses, but the majority of our grade is riding on our final exam. I only have one class on Wednesdays and Fridays, but the other three days I have class back to back from 10am to 5pm. So that's definitely a bit different. The no homework thing is definitely a plus though! Hopefully I'll still be able to pass my final exam ;)

Well this weekend we're spending Saturday in Akaroa, and Sunday my pod is having a wine and cheese night, so it should be a great weekend. I absolutely love everyone and everything here! I promise I'll get pictures up soon, I'm bringing my GoPro to Akaroa (a coastal town).

Christchurch Bus Tour!

So yesterday (Sunday 02/22) I got to go on a bus tour of Christchurch (which the locals just write as ChCh). This was a free event through LU, so that was great. I went with my friend Amanda (also from CSU), and Rebecca (Kiwi). We first went through the actual city of ChCh, stopping at the ChCh Botanical Gardens, which I'll post pictures of below. It was the 4 year anniversary of the earthquake, so people were honoring those affected by floating these beautiful flowers down a river/creek.

After the gardens we went more into the city area, stopping to see the new cathedral (the old one was famously affected by the earthquake) pictured below. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside due to a concert, but they had some lovely stained glass windows.

From here we went to the pier in ChCh and ate lunch there. I wasn't too hungry so I got apple pear juice and a caramel bar I couldn't even finish half of (SO RICH).

It was a very grey skies kind of day, but the ocean was a really strange green color! My ocean back home is super dark blue so that's kind of cool, even though they're technically the same ocean ;) Well after ChCh we went to some AMAZING surrounding towns, including Lyttleton and Sumner. We stopped on the side of the road for pictures, but didn't stop for touristy things otherwise we were going to miss dinner.

That was pretty much it! Not incredibly in depth, but it was so nice to be able to see some of our surrounding area! I really want to go back to Lyttleton and Sumner, both were very scenic and cute towns. I hate big cities, so these were more my pace :) Oh and here's a nice sunset view from our kitchen window!

Still LOVING it here! Everyone is incredibly kind and friendly. New post to come soon on classes: week one!

New Zealand (South Island) VS. USA

Here are my impressions so far on how similar/different these two countries are:

• "Cheers" seems to be a universal word for hello, goodbye, and thank you. 
• Stubbies are the super short rugby shorts that are popular here. We're talking bright and patterned southern frat boy short shorts.
• Rugby is life here
• Gumboots are rain boots
• A NZ bbq consists of sausage on a piece of bread with coleslaw and "tomato sauce" (ketchup)
• Futbol is not football
• A lot of pumpkin is consumed here...but not in things. Just cooked on its own.
• University and college are two completely separate things (college means high school!)
• Biscuits refers to cookies
• Makeup is SO EXPENSIVE. We're talking $40 lipsticks.
• Cheese is crazy expensive, as is milk, as is berries, as is like all food
• Lucky Charms and Poptarts have their honorary places on the International Foods aisle.
• It's perfectly acceptable to walk around barefoot
• Women never style their hair. It's either buns, ponytails, braids, or all natural and down
• Same with makeup, little to no makeup is worn here
• Kinder eggs are legal here
• Pre-loading in New Zealand is the equivalent of pre-gaming in the U.S.
• Drinking age is 18+, and it's about $5-$10 NZ dollars for a drink at the bar (~$3.50-$7.50)
• Everyone is a solid two years behind on music
• And a solid 20 years behind on clothing
• L&P is their primary soft drink. It's lemony goodness and much better than our soda
• There's a lot of Speights pride here (South Island beer)
• "How did you find it?" = "How was it"
• Papers are another word for classes
• Jandals are what all sandals are called
• Shorts and rain boots.
• People here drink from 5:30pm-9pm, get super hammered, and are in bed around midnight
• Landscape is pretty much a perfect mix of Washington and Colorado
• Buildings are pretty much the same you'd see in the States
• BOYS HYGIENE HERE IS HORRIBLE. I can tell who is a native and who's not just based on whether or not they're wearing deodorant.
• Apparently this is like a hole in the ozone or something, but the sun is SO INTENSE HERE
• You can swear/drink/be dumb in front of faculty and it's totally normal (as long as you stay respectful of the school)
• Most NZ cities/hot spots have Maori names and are therefore unpronounceable 
• Maori culture in New Zealand is like the Native American reservations back home, but they are more integrated into the society. The whole island is their reservation, not just a small area!

So far I love New Zealand. Their culture isn't so much like a different country, it feels more like a different state. New Orleans was definitely more of a culture shock then New Zealand!

Okay and here are some funny questions I've been asked/get asked a lot:

• "Where are you from?" "Washington state." "No way, have you met the president?!"
• "How old are you guys?" "20 and 21." "Why are you still in university?" (They only go three years, like 18-20 or something like that)
• "We have this really good American store but they are SUPER expensive. Yeah, they sell marshmallow creme. You guys have the best food!"
• "You're American." "Yes..." "Are you from Colorado?" (There's 25 of us here from CSU! People keep running into us I guess...)
• "Can you name the 5 most recent presidents?" (These people know more about U.S. history then I do...)
• "Americans are really into Lorde, right? We don't like Lorde."
• "I'm known as the American hustler. There were these California girls my first year..."

It's pretty funny some of the stuff I hear. For the most part people here are really friendly and a lot like the Americans back home! Can't wait for the next few months <3

First Impressions of LU

So I've now been on campus for a solid 2.5 days, and I love it. 70's every day, trees and green grass, it's beautiful. I probably already explained my hall (they are called "halls", never "dorms") so it's 6 rooms to one kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom has one toilet, one sink, and two showers. And it's all coed. The kitchen is pretty standard, fridge/freezer, table and chairs, stove/oven, and a sink. No dishwasher. My room is small but cozy, and is maybe...10ft X 8ft? I don't know, I'm just counting how many bricks are on the wall...but my room came furnished and with towels and bedding and a MASSIVE cork board practically the size of the wall. I had no idea I would have this, so I hung up my Colorado flag and big Lincoln calendar, and ordered a bunch of pictures off of the NZ Snap Fish website. Oh, and right now it's me, Jong from China, and a guy from Japan whose name I can't remember.

I walked campus a few times with my friend Amanda from CSU, and it's very cute. There's a nice rugby field by my hall, a big practice field, lots of halls and classroom buildings, LUSA which is like the student activities building, a small rec center, a bus stop, a GORGEOUS library, a bookstore, dining hall, and Mrs.O's which is our on campus bar. Drinking age is 18, so pretty much all of us are legal. I didn't even get carded! Amanda and I also walked into the town of Lincoln (25 minutes from Christchurch) and they have a Subway (sandwiches), 2 coffee shops, some hair salons, drug stores, liquor store, nice restaurant, and the Grouse, the local pub. We went to the Grouse last night and it was really chill, I got their crushed apple cider, and that was really good and refreshing. Yeah, cause 20 year olds can drink here. It's about a mile walk one way, maybe a bit longer.

New World is the grocery store right next to campus, so that's where we get our groceries. I just got frozen veggies, fresh apples and carrots, a block of cheese, cereal and milk, yogurt, rice, juice, a pizza, and a couple snacks. Oh and shampoo and all that. IT'S SO EXPENSIVE OH MY GOSH. And the milk doesn't go "nonfat, 1%, 2%, vitamin d" etc., so it's like "slim, power, fun" and weird stuff like that! Like what?! Oh, and they don't refrigerate their eggs or almond milk and stuff. Isn't that weird too? Also, we asked about canned mandarin oranges and they're all "you can can oranges?" so that was awk. New World is like a 10 minute walk, if that.

I've met a couple new people, everyone here is SO friendly. Like you hold the door open for someone and they're always like "cheers" and it's so cute! Today was the official move in day, so campus is nice and busy now. I'm super pumped for the semester! We got Metro cards to use the bus to get into Christchurch and stuff, so we'll probably be using those soon to explore :)

I think that's about it for now! I seriously am in LOVE with this area. I could totally move here. I can't wait to explore the city and island some more <3

Travelling to Lincoln University

I'M HERE!!! After a long 35 hours of airports, I am finally at LU. I started off in Denver, I got there three hours early because I wasn't sure about customs or anything, but I didn't have to do anything but show my passport instead of my license as I.D. My flight from Denver to LAX (LA) was delayed by like half an hour, but I had a 5 hour layover in LAX so that didn't really matter.

LAX IS DREADFUL. I got off my plane, had to go outside to catch a shuttle to the international airport area, got lost, had to check in to my flight in one building, then go to another building to go through security. THEN once I was through security I wanted food, but all the signs pointed the wrong direction for food (I was among many who got turned around because of this!) so I went all over the airport just to find dinner, finally found the food court, and they hardly have anything. So I waited in a super long line for Panda Express, and waited for my plane. Oh, and on my flight from Denver I sat next to a father and daughter from New Zealand, so they met up with me a few times and were very good company! Very nice people.

My flight from LAX to Sydney, Australia was 15 hours long, but actually not bad at all. We flew on a 777 which is HUGE and SO NICE. I sat next to two really nice Australians, and actually never had to use the bathroom which was convenient. They gave us free dinner and free breakfast and free drinks (including booze) so that was unexpected. Oh, and the seat backs in front of us had screens and we also got free movies. I watch the Sound of Music, and some cop movie I don't remember the name of. :) I took 2 Benadryl and slept like 7 hours in the middle of the flight. So it was surprisingly nice! I flew Virgin Australia.

My flight from Sydney to Christchurch was through Air New Zealand, and was also nice. It was about 3 hours long, but they had the screens on the seats which was cool, because you can order food and drink through them! The only free drinks, however, is water/coffee/tea. So I FINALLY land in New Zealand, and had to go through customs which was SUPER short for some reason. Very easy. To make customs simple, don't bring food (or throw it out), and make sure any hiking/camping gear is SUPER CLEAN. Those are the two things most people get stopped on.

So once I got out of customs I saw a guy holding the "Lincoln University" sign, so he put my luggage in a trailer behind the shuttle van, and we waited for the next three girls to get in. Unfortunately they were all delayed, so I sat at the airport for like an extra 3 hours or so. Well one of the girls was actually from my school, one from New Hampshire, and one from China. They were all super cool, and two of them have a class with me! Well we finally got to LU, got our keys, and got moved in. My hall is a little bit different, it's semi-catered, meaning we get dinner in the dining hall, and are on our own for the other two meals. So I share a bathroom and kitchen with 5 other girls and boys (yes, the dorms AND bathrooms are coed). We each get our own room which came with a twin XL bed and bedding, a desk and chair, a closet, a giant push pin board, and a book shelf. Oh and towels and pillows and stuff. And a trash can. It's very small but cute, and all my own, so that's refreshing! I ended up going to bed around 9:30, and sleeping in until about 8:30. So it's not a huge adjustment, it's a 21 hour time difference. So basically in New Zealand it is 3 hours earlier, but one day later than it is in Seattle.

So that was my first day (and a half) of travel to get here! I love it so far, the weather is perfect and it's very green. Everyone's been super friendly and they all think I'M the one with an accept, which is very strange.

Packing

So when you fly to New Zealand you are only allowed one checked bag, and the traditional one carry on and a personal item. So this means packing EXTREMELY light, or shipping stuff over seas in boxes. The way I packed was pretty much only packing clothes and shoes, and whatever else might fit. I'm leaving behind stuff like shampoo, conditioner, hair straightener/curler/blow dryer, etc. New Zealand has different outlets than us, so you'll need to buy an adapter and a voltage converter. If you bring your curling iron and don't use a voltage converter, it'll just burn your hair because there's a different amount of electric charge going through.

I used space bags to fit all of my clothes, and put most of my clothes in my big suitcase with a few outfits in my carry on, just in case! Here's a list of (approximately) what I packed:

• 4 pairs of jeans
• 1 pair jean shorts
• 3 pairs running shorts
• 5 pairs yoga capris
• 2 pairs leggings/yogas
• 3 sweatshirts
• 7-10 T-shirts
• Plenty of socks, including hiking socks
• Hiking boots
• 2 pairs of Toms
• Tennis shoes
• Wedges
• Chaco sandals
• Black sandals
• 2 dresses
• 2 skirts
• 1 flannel 
• 4 dressy shirts
• 3 pairs pajamas
• Underwear
• Travel sized shampoo/conditioner/toothpaste
• Toiletries 
• 1 raincoat 
• Phone/charger
• Laptop/charger
• GoPro/charger
• Kindle/charger
• Water bladder for hiking
• Blanket for plane
• Pillow Pet

It looks like a long list, but it feels like I have hardly anything! I've been told the way over is easy, but on the way back you can carry even less, so I might end up shipping stuff home or throwing it out, whatever's easier! So all of this fit into one 48 pound checked bag, one 25 pound carry on, and my hiking backpack. But basically, as long as you have your wallet, passport, and plane ticket, that's all that matters.