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Tuesday February 21: Orientation WeekThe University of Otago begins every school year with this wonderful tradition called Orientation Week, or O-Week, or the Big-O. The theme for
this year is the Hitchhikers Guide to Orientation (like the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). In layman's terms, this all translates into having large tents up on campus for various vendors (such as the military, local Christian groups, banks, and power drinks), and lots of parties. Lots of parties. Lots of drunks.One of the highlights to this day was the sausages and Jello Wrestling. The sausages are apparently something that Dunedin really loves -- they're big franks made of mystery meet, but delicious. I'll take a picture of the next one I consume... but many of the clubs (particularly the Pacific Islanders club and the
Maori club) were giving them out for free. They are typically served on buttered bread (of course), with tomato sauce (ketchup) and BBQ sauce, with onions. Tastey!Aaah, but not as tastey as the Jello Wrestling contest. Sponsored by V, the local energy drink, they got a bunch of first years to wrestle each other in a big baby pool filled with frothy jello. I video taped a good part of it. The best part was at the end, though, when the two winners had to face off. But not in jello -- they were blindfolded and given fresh lamb carcasses to rummage through. They would call out the name of an orange (like 'tongue') and they would have to try to find it. I think the boy ended up winning, but it was interesting in that 'makes you feel icky just to think about it' kinda way.
Wednesday February 22: Int
ernational Student WelcomeMaori welcome, and basic orientation stuff. The Maori welcome was my favoriate part, since I just got to revel in the language and admire its twists and turns...while, of course, not understanding a word. I'll never be a linguistical anthropologist, but that doesn't mean I can't admire language and communication. I just wish I had more of a head for learning languages.
Beyond that, I sat next to Andrew (from Swarthmore) and we traded ethnocentric jibes at New Zealand's history. Like how they misplaced moose. (His comment was something to the effect of 'put a salt lick in the middle of the forest, and you will get your moose soon enough').
But the history was quite fascinating, and although brief, it was very informative. I can't obviously put it all on here...but suffice it to say that NZ is a beautiful country, and diverse not only in its environment but also its cultural heritage. As I learn more about the history from my book, I'll try to put my thoughts on here.
In the evening, I went to the International Students Party at some local pub. It was my first time in a bar, and it was awful. Too many people in a very, very small space with bad alcohol and music that was too loud you had to scream to be heard by the person standing next to you. Not exactly the best mixer ever. But I did meet another person from my school there, and got to meet a bunch of her friends (Americans and Germans, mostly). it's all good.
posted by Hoot @ 11:12 AM
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