The Voyage of the Beetle

Hey look I made some comics

2010-02-02T00:48:00.002-05:00

February 1st is Hourly Comic Day and, lacking anything better to do, I decided to participate! I am not very good at drawing, but here it is. Click for bigger.

(S)Ketch Up and The Landscraper

2009-04-27T14:47:00.006-04:00

The long awaited hive photos have made their way into the Inter-tubes! You don't have to say it - I already know. You are BURSTING with excitement. Click here for the photoset. I don't have a shot of the final final product but I assure you, it is very huggable. I was having trouble with how to display it, but after seeing Art in the Garden yesterday, climbing a tree and hanging it up doesn't seem so ridiculous.

Aaand here's a little preview of my Sketch Up 3-D text thing. I spend HOURS on this because the program goes slower than a snail on sedatives, and it's still not done. I will eventually color it and stuff. My name was going to be too long (though I probably spent the same amount of time trying to move that dumb sphere around) and I couldn't think of any other words but this one.

Those hexagons are so cool but so annoying to make. I used the polygon tool but I had to wait for both that one and the push/pull one to work. No fun.

Anyways, digiscapes? I wanted to make a landscape with an unconventional view, so I decided on an underground landscape. I was thinking about worms and stuff buried under the surface, and a few people mentioned ant colonies/ant farms. So great, more bugs. For at least one of the prints, I'm going to orient the paper vertically with the

"horizon line" on the very top so you can see how deep the colony goes beneath the grass. Other ones might be looking down a tunnel or a horizontal

cross section of the grass and dirt underneath.

At Florida State, some researchers did casts of ant colonies (they got the ants out first) and they are really neat! There are more pictures if you follow the link and scroll down to the bottom. The paper mentions "ant hotels," which would be a fun concept to play with. I guess they made artificial chambers to test the depth preference of younger and older ants. Also, Dominick coined the term "Landscraper," which is so awesome that I've made it the working title for this project.

As for the execution, this is the first thing I thought of when Jennifer first described the project. The video is a teaser/demo of an awesome video game with a rotating landscape made of what looks like cut paper pieces. I love all the textures and would like to incorporate something similar into my digiscape, using scanned textures of found objects and craft items like yarn and fabric.

And Yet It Moves Teaser from mml on Vimeo.

Also, speaking of depth, here is xkcd's take on it. I seem to remember one with stuff buried, including dinosaur bones. Does anyone remember that one or know which one it is? I can't find it.

Hive Mind?

2009-04-08T16:28:00.013-04:00

I began my reference photo resource with this kind of image in mind - the kind of beehive found in a Winnie the Pooh cartoon. Surprisingly, I couldn't find very many actual Pooh images (this one is a mural someone painted for a child's room) or photos of hives like the one I had envisioned.

I found a few images that looked like this one, but they were all illustrations and no photos.

So I did some beehive research and found out that a "beehive" proper is almost always manmade. The one pictured here is called a "skep" and is actually a basket-type structure used by beekeepers. There's a little opening for the bees to fly into but no structure inside, so they have to create their own honeycombs. The troubles with skeps are 1) the keeper cannot check up on the colony throughout the season and 2) honey can't be harvested without destroying the whole structure (that's why the big box-type hives are used more often).

Here are some dudes making traditional skeps.

So what about this type of nest? It's the shape I was thinking of, but a very different texture. this is actually a wasp nest made out of a paper-like substance that they produce. Bees, on the other hand, make wax and tend to nest inside preexisting structures instead of making their own.

An exposed bee nest looks like this. Crazy!

So many things I did not know before! I don't even know who I am anymore.

Now, I don't want to go all Winnie the Pooh for a serious art project, but I decided I still wanted to draw inspiration from my original thought. Even though that kind of beehive is an amalgamation of a wasp nest and a skep, it's the first thing I pictured and I think it's pretty iconic and recognizable. It's also a simpler shape to reproduce in fleece.

Photos of hive creation forthcoming.

The Buzz

2009-04-04T04:59:00.011-04:00

I really wanted my infinite print to be a component of the unique object, not just something related or a variation on a theme. And in thinking about things that are infinite, I somehow came up with a swarm of bees. I don't know how it happened, but it works. For my object, I'm going to make a plush beehive and hang the printed and cut out bees around it. I'll be able to combine my love of (obsession with?) insects and my desire to make a plush. My thinking keeps going back to making scary things more appealing. First, the creepy crawly pattern, now an adorable swarm of bees and their huggable hive. On an unrelated note, it might be fun to do a whole series of common fears made cuddly. Or at least un-scary.Anyway, I'm thinking it's going to be some sort of installation. Preferably in a tree, but I also want to make it work indoors because the weather has been so strange lately.

Here are some beemakin' pictures.

Tried drawing right into Illustrator with a Wacom. The first one is a serious attempt, the next two are sleepy/angry doodles. I was hoping for something between accurate and cutesy. Not much luck. You may remember the fourth bee from my damask pattern. It's just there for reference. After much gritting of teeth, I went back to old-fashioned pencil and paper drawing. and came up with this:

Here's a cuter, fuzzier version.

Live trace on that image didn't work as well as I wanted it to, so I inked it and scanned again.

Isn't he precious? Sorta went for the creepy-cute look of the rat creatures from Bone.

And here it is in LIVING COLOR:

Stay tuned for more on the hive. I learned a ton of really interesting information as a result of looking up photo references.

The Infinite Print. INFINITELY FRUSTRATING.

2009-04-01T23:29:00.007-04:00

This project has been plaguing me... which is why I haven't posted anything until now, I could only think of each part of the assignment separately - if I had a good idea for the infinite, I didn't know how to make it unique, and vice versa. My first thought was to make an image of something, then make a 3D version of it. What's more unique than the third dimension?

I am particularly interested in soft sculpture (fancy name for not-for-kids plush toys).

Sorta like that, but a little more refined (hopefully!). Lizette and Roberto Greco create plush toys based on their children's drawings. Click here for more of their work (really nice stuff, but most don't show the reference drawing). Anne Karsten did a similar project with a class of 4th and 5th graders, asking them to do a bit of product design and creating plush versions of their "concept drawings."

Disclaimer: I'm not an art major, so I'm not looking at

master artists all the time or thinking serious art major thoughts. I've always been interested in crafting and most of my inspiration comes from the Craftzine.com blog (which I read daily).

(Unrelated, but see also Yeondoo Jung's magical "Wonderland" project that turns kids' drawings into photographs)

Anyway, so 2D to 3D. Want some more distractions? I got 'em. Like this 3D printer used for rapid prototyping. This thing is SO cool, but sort of the opposite of what I want to do. It's able to create 3D objects over and over again in precise

detail from a CAD file. Dang. Good thing I don't have access to one of those puppies.

I also considered making a crochet version of my image, but that kind of thing can be very frustrating. I kept thinking about how patterns make pretty much anything reproducible, but I could avoid that by doing more of a free-form crochet without using or making a pattern. Entertained the idea of making the object first and writing my own pattern for the infinite edition, maybe doing crazy typographical things with the pattern. Scrapped that idea. Still very little thought about the subject of my project.

Considered monoprinting, particularly with an image that's been in my head for a long time. It's based on a lyric from "I Can Barely Breathe" by Manchester Orchestra. You can watch the video on YouTube - embedding is disabled so you'll have to click. Anyway it's just the first two verses and they go like this:

When the dark flood came,
we wrapped ourselves inside a dirty blanket,
citing different opinions
on whether we should move.

When the houses came,
they ate up everyone like they were fishes
saying, "come on, come on.
it's the end of the world."

Here's a crappy photo of the only time I ever sketched out my idea. I think the thing on the right side is a dude in flippers? I dunno.

Aaaand this is what it sorta looks like with a little live trace. I love the way the lines look but I couldn't get the trace to pick everything up. I remembered that I wouldn't have access to the studio and materials anyway, so monoprinting was out. I thought maybe I could create a 3D set-up with wood blocks for the houses and printed out versions of the water (pasted on cardboard or something). Buuuut I think this image wants a lot more attention than I could give it right now. And I think it wants to be a block print or a screen print, not some crappy diorama.

So I am back to soft sculpture. I want to make something as awesome as this gigantic mosquito by Weird Bug Lady, aka Brigitte, who is a zoology student by day and a plush invertebrate crafter by night. Just so happens that I like bugs too...

A Series of Unfortunate Serigraphical Events

2009-03-18T14:54:00.004-04:00

I am pretty terrible at keeping up with this. I've got some in-process images that I meant to post a while ago. Maybe I was waiting to put them up next to a picture of the finished product? Well, today is crit day and I have no product.

So, as we have all discovered, screenprinting is a long and arduous process. I harbor intensive feelings of jealousy toward those in my class who have printed without a hitch, as I have not so much as looked at a bucket of ink yet. My first coat of emulsion was super nasty, but I exposed anyway, only to make the regrettable mistake of using a rough sponge in the washout process. I scrubbed a little too hard and lost a bunch of my details... so I had to start over. My second attempt was taking 8 years to wash out, so we resorted to the power washer... which I also misused. Details were getting lost again and the power washer blew out some of my outlines.

My screen is now coated with emulsion for the third time and awaiting another exposure. This time I'm going to try two transparencies on top of one another, and if that doesn't work I might cry. Hopefully I will have a print by today. Here's crossing my fingers.

Anyway, check out these PICTURES. So much more exciting that starting over three times.

I will try to get the images on here later, but for now, head over to the handy-dandy Flickr set I made.

sketchasketcha

2009-03-02T07:25:00.006-05:00

After much agony, I've decided to make a damask-like pattern (see above) out of animals - particularly animals that people are afraid of or grossed out by. The idea is to manipulate the viewer's perception of something distasteful and turn it into something beautiful (I hope). I'm ont sure how I'm going to arrange them yet, but here are the first three creepy-crawlies.

I'm not sure how to fit two more colors of screen print in...

First Assignment and Project Ideas

2009-02-23T02:34:00.005-05:00

Here's our first mini assignment that we did last week. We were supposed to find a Current Events-type image and manipulate it in Photoshop so that it made a different impression than the original photo.

I found this image in MSNBC's Week in Pictures. It was taken for AP by Charles Rex Arbogast (what an excellent name). It's captioned, "I've seen that face before... Pedestrians stop to watch a live broadcase in downtown Chicago of impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivering his closing argument at his impeachment trial in Springfield, Ill., on Thursday, Jan. 29. The state Senate voted unanimously to remove him from office."
Incidentally, Rod Blagojevich is a pretty excellent name too.

Knowing nothing whatsoever about this whole hullabaloo, I was simply charmed by moment captured in the photo. These four people are stopped dead in their tracks to see what unfolds on that huge screen. Speaking of which, huge screens never fail to baffle me. Aren't we already bombarded by billboards and TV screens as it is? Of course, I understand that this one is making the news available to everyone, but I can't help thinking about the commercials that are probably up next.
Anyway, my other motivation was that this looked like a relatively easy Photoshop job - just replace what's on the screen. I wanted it to be something very opposite of what was there already - a totally different reason for people to be standing around in 24-degree weather. I thought about a scene from a movie or a cartoon, but I decided on this:

Now it's on to Real Project ideas. Our first Digital Printmaking piece has only a few guidelines. It's got to involve manipulation (of the viewer, by the artist, or a comment on manipulation in general), some kind of digital process, and a 3 color screen print (serigraph if you want to get fancy). But basically we just have to make art. I am not sure how I'm going to execute this whole thing. Elaine Bradford makes me want to incorporate crochet into my project, but I don't want to rip her off by making striped sweaters for inanimate objects. I'd like to manipulate a traditional art or craft and use it in an unexpected way. And though I'll never produce anything as magical as Jill Greenberg, I want to be able to change the viewer's impression of my subject in a similar way - making people aware of detail they may not have seen before or changing natural colors and textures.

Art blog

2009-02-18T14:46:00.004-05:00

Who'd have thought that school would turn me into a blogger? I apologize to anyone hoping for travel updates - I will be back to write about the rest of my trip. But for now, I'm going to be writing about art! This must mean that I am a real artist now that I'm writing about it on the internet. Either that or my teacher made me do it.

This will be my record of work done for my Digital Printmaking class and hopefully it will be kind of exciting! Today's task is to write about manipulation and its use in art. Here goes:

Asked to define manipulation, my first thought is that it means changing something (or someone) to suit one's own purpose. This can range from the benign - like molding clay - to the sinister - as in mind-control (eek!). Manipulation is also the usage of an implement or tool, especially with one's hands (as evidenced by the "man" root). An artist can tie this all together by using a paintbrush to create an image that changes the appearance of an object or changes the way a viewer thinks of something. In a sense, all art is manipulation because it picks and chooses what to include or exclude in a composition. There is no way to replicate real life, so even the most "objective" photography is still changing what's actually there. Manipulation of photographs has taken place since the invention of the medium, whether it's unintentional (differences in development techniques) or not (Photoshopping digital pictures). Photography itself is the manipulation of light to create pictures. Another obvious example of manipulation is advertising. Graphic ads aim to draw the viewer's attention and manipulate them into thinking that they've just GOT to have the product pictured.

Here are the first two artists I thought of who are manipulators.
1. Elaine Bradford

Bradford combines two very different arts: taxidermy and crochet. She manipulates the original intents of both processes, as well as viewers' expectations. Her latest exhibition is called "The Museum of Unnatural History" and shows off fantastical, sweatered species in natural history museum sets. Her earlier work is mostly comprised of sweater-wearing logs... which gets repetitive after a while, but is a pretty cool idea anyway. Sorta like tree cozies.

2.Jill Greenberg

Using a combination of amazing lighting, digital manipulation, and probably magical powers, Jill Greenberg makes some amazing portraits. She manipulates her viewers' perception of her subjects - often celebrities or advertising models - by bringing out detail that no one can ever see in real life. Usually she makes people look "better" or more interesting, but she's also done some pretty controversial work too. People were upset about lack of ethics in creating a series of children crying, captioned with anti-Bush sentiments (she offered them candy, then took it away), and most recently she caused a stir with her portraits of John McCain for Atlantic Magazine. She intentionally lit him and eschewed her traditional Photoshop methods to make him look evil. She also posted out-takes from the shoot, including a picture with McCain's mouth replaced by a blood-rimmed shark mouth and captioned "I am a bloodthirsty war monger." Personally, I am more inspired by her work with animals and the way that she makes us think of them as having personalities.

White Flag

2009-01-27T00:16:00.002-05:00

I am throwing in the towel on making timely blogs. We are super busy and may or may not have internet access for the next few days. I promise to write and upload pictures when I am back home, but for now, I will direct you to Deb's blog. It is much more entertaining than this one anyway.
Galapagos is wonderful and I just need a little more time to enjoy it.

Terra Firma!

2009-01-25T11:52:00.002-05:00

Hello from the glorious solid land of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island! The Galapagos cruise was pretty incredible, but I am extremely glad to be off the boat.. er, yacht. We lounging at the beautiful Silberstein Hotel and I will be back with a proper update later today. Deb is working on a blog as I type, so you can probably read hers before I come back.

But anyway, I am still alive! Talk to you later, internets.

So much for keeping up with the blog. (Click over to Flickr for some photos)

2009-01-17T17:12:00.009-05:00

I skipped a day of blogging in Quito, didn't realize there wasn't internet at Pululahua, then wasn't able to get on at Sachatamia due to weak wireless signal and frequent power outages. Our guide told us that two days ago 80% of the entire country experienced a blackout from a lightning storm. And we all thought the power was out because of roadwork.

Here's a quick update on what's been going on so far. I regret that it won't be super detailed, but I have written 31 pages of travel journal for class and I'm a little pooped out from all that.

12 January 2009 Monday
Our first full day in Ecuador! Much to everyone's dismay, we were not allowed to take cameras or bags out with us since Quito just isn't that safe. We found out that there was no romantically pretty "old city" nor a proper tour. Instead, we met up with Dr. Cliff Kyle, who used to teach at UD and now works at a Catholic University here in Quito. We had to take a bus to get there - one that runs only north and south. Fifteen of us first tried to enter through the exit of the bus station, then had to change paper money into 15 quarters for our individual fees. When a bus came, we all stepped aside to let people off, leaving only enough time for Becca and Dr. Shriver to board before the doors closed. Dr. Shriver looked horrified as the bus drove off without the rest of the group. Luckily our TA Sarah was with us and rounded us up for the next bus... This time we didn't hesitate and all got on fine. We then rode seven stops standing and squished between each other and a bunch of Ecuadorians. Our first adventure!
Dr. Kyle took us around what he called a safe and touristy area, but it didn't look like what I would call a nice part of town. Not that it was terrible, just a mish mosh of things I wasn't expecting. There are some new or well-kept buildings, but they are peppered in between older, weathered ones and bordered by crumbling sidewalks. (Our guide Pablo says there are no restrictions for what to build where, so there are no specific districts and often no division between rich and poor neighborhoods) This was also the place where I first saw the Ecuadorian substitute for barbed wire: glass shards stuck in a thin layer of concrete. As a consolation prize, there are plants everywhere and they're always in flower because the climate is so stable here.
We went to lunch at a nice open air cafe in a little square and had our first of what would be become many beautiful, delicious meals. From that point on, everyone knew that we were definitely not roughing it on this trip. Dr. Kyle took us back to his university and proudly presented the herbarium (a collection of dried plant specimens, not the greenhouse I was expecting) and the entomological collection. He pulled out drawer after drawer of some pretty awesome insects, bringing out at least 3 or 4 more after he'd decided it was the last one.
Most of us had dinner back at the hotel, then took advantage of the pool and hot tub for some quality group bonding time.

I see I do not have the capacity to be brief... I'll do my best to finish updating about this week before we leave tomorrow morning.

13 January 2009 Tuesday
Woke up early for breakfast at the hotel, then piled on the bus and headed for Pululahua (say: poo-loo-LAH-wah). We drove through Quito a bit and got to see more of the city. When I spotted a single goat tethered on a corner, I knew it was time to take photos. I snapped about 100 pictures out of the bus window and you can see them here! They are not the greatest, but you can get an idea of what South America looks like.
We arrived earlier than expected to the El Crater hotel, so we dropped our bags off and went on what Pablo called a "short hike" that was actually a 6 mile hike down Pululahua volcano, around the agricultural zone in the crater, and back up the mountain. Downhill took a while because everyone was overwhelmed by taking pictures of the gorgeous scenery. The crater was very interesting - about 300 people live and farm there, but it doesn't look like anyone's around. The houses are small and pieced together out of concrete walls and sheets of metal. We did see a bunch of people passing us on the mountain trail, going up on horseback or on foot like the incline was no big deal. The way back up was intense. I had to stop to catch my breath every 20 paces because of the incline, the altitude, and my lack of exercise as of late. I was passed by, among others, an old woman wearing loafers.
Returning to El Crater was very nice. A hot shower and hot food were just what our tired muscles needed. And thus began our string of three course meals. After dinner, I attempted to nap but couldn't sleep very well because it was so cold. We had our first class discussion, then went back to the restaurant for dinner (surprise surprise). The altitude and tough hike was taking a toll on me, so I went to bed right afterwards.

14 January 2009 Wednesday
Deb and I woke up to find that it was still cold, our windows were still foggy, and all of our clothes were still damp. We had breakfast at the restaurant, then loaded onto the bus and headed for the Mindo Valley. We stopped at El Pahuma Orchid Reserve, which is something like 170 hectares of cloud forest set aside as a spectacled bear habitat. Pablo that they are not aggressive animals, but when provoked will not hesitate to *smacking motion*... they will not hold back. Regrettably, our thundering herd of 15 (okay, we're not THAT bad) did not see anything as big as a bear. Except maybe some ginormous leaves. We hiked uphill for about an hour and a half trying to reach a waterfall near the top of mountain, but had to turn back at 11:30 so we could make it to Sachatamia in time for lunch. If I had to pick a word of the day, it would be "slippery." We walked back down in a line, warning the people behind of particularly muddy spots. A few of us took some spills, but nothing too serious.
We bussed to Sachatamia, a cloud forest reserve with lodge and cabanas for guests. All of the buildings have signs asking you not to enter with shoes (it's always rainy and muddy), so of course I felt at home. More hummingbirds than I've ever seen were buzzing about the front of the lodge eating from feeders. It was pretty magical. Some people had rooms upstairs in the main house, while the rest of us walked a little ways to private cabanas. I spent the afternoon preparing for discussion, went to discussion, then went down to dinner. On the way back to the cabin, Steph and I decided to go for a walk with Adam, Jon, and Becca instead of turning in. We were out for over an hour with flashlights and headlamps, prowling for the kind of nightlife you can only find in the rain forest. It was raining, but the trees kept us from getting too soaked. We found a bunch of huge katydid-looking insects, weevils, walking sticks, anoles, tiny frogs, and the coolest bug I've ever seen with its babies all in a line behind it on a tree. I will post the picture when I upload it to Flickr.

15 January 2009 Thursday
Woke up once again to damp air and damp clothes. The cloud forest is rainy almost all the time and nothing ever really dries. After breakfast, Ashley organized a zipline hike in the forest behind the lodge. Two Sachatamia guides took us on a hike with a rope swing and two ziplines (harnessed!) over big open canopies. Running off of a ledge was definitely frightening, but the feeling of gliding above the trees was wonderful and actually quite peaceful. I came in fast on my first landing and instead of touching down lightly, I slid into home, colliding with the people who were trying to snap a picture of me. Oddly enough, the hardest part of the hike didn't involve any forest or mud - it was the uphill trail back up to the lodge area at the very end. It felt like Palulahua all over again... though I did feel better with each hike we went on.
I showered before lunch, but all for naught because it was raining and we took yet another hike after eating. We all piled into two pickup trucks, including 6 or 7 people in the sheltered and bench-equipped truck beds, to ride to the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation. There was room in the trucks' cabs, but the last of us opted to sit in back for the experience. And it WAS an experience. Bumpy, slightly rainy, uncomfortable, and at times terrifying. Our drivers barreled down two-lane roads, passed and were passed in the other lane, and made an inexplicable stop on a curve.
MCF is a bird reserve and budding (no pun intended) shade tree coffee farm on reclaimed cattle pasture. The director (I think) of the foundation, Brian, took us on another of those "walks" in the rain to where the coffee was planted - a pretty tough hike just to get to the crops. Maybe there was a short cut he wasn't telling us about... The coffee plants are only about 2 years old and not ready to be harvested, but we did get to pick a few red berries. Brian showed us how to pop the white coffee beans out of the fruits and how to eat the red skin part. It was sweet, but had the same leafy kind of taste as pomegranate. There was another scary ride back to the lodge and as if Mary's earlier wish ("I hope the lights go out!") had come true, the power went out. The Sachatamia staff fired up the generator and were wonderful about keeping us happy and well-fed despite the outage. After dinner, a flashlighted card game turned into a long conversation about ghosts, which naturally turned to contemplation about the meaning of life. When Steph and I returned to our cabin (only next door to the one we had been in), we were pretty freaked out. The power had returned by then, but just as we were going to bed, there was a flashing light on our ceiling that shouldn't have been there. Fearing ghosts, we turned the lights on and talked ourselves to sleep. The power went out again before our eyes closed, though.

16 January 2009 Friday
Friday morning I spent catching up on journal entries (also playing pool in the main house) and missing out on a sunny morning. After lunch, we took another terrifying truck ride, this time to the Mariposario (Butterfly garden) just outside of Mindo. This one involved using the other lane to pass a cow in the road, an Ecuadorian truck driver who did NOT observe safe following distance to scare us, and our driver taking the truck through standing water... also to scare us. I don't think any of us would have traded that experience for the comfort of the cab.
The Mariposario dazzled right off the bat with huge caterpillars in aquariums and an impressive cabinet of pupae (pronounced POOP-ah by the woman who showed us in), including freshly metamorphosed butterflies drying their wings. We went into a small garden with 10 or 12 species of butterfly fluttering about and drinking nectar from flowers. We could even pick them up with a little chunk of watermelon on our fingers for them to eat. I wasn't having much luck until the end when I secured one and it wouldn't leave my finger. Then a particularly friendly Blue Morpho decided that I smelled awfully tasty and kept landing on me. It wasn't interested in watermelon, but was very happy to extend its wet little proboscis onto my wrist and lap up the sweat from under my watch. I had to coax it very slowly into the hands of an older British lady when we realized that the rest of our group had left the garden a long time ago.
We scrapped our plans to go into the town of Mindo, as we'd passed through on the way in and didn't want to unleash a crowd of sweaty kids from the backs of two pickups. Instead we took another ride back to Sachatamia and had dinner there, where the power was out yet again. It was on and off all night, dashing hopes of checking out the hot tub and also being able to see clearly. I had given the staff a bagful of my laundry the day before and by some miracle, it had been washed and dried at some point when the power was actually on. This was especially wonderful because I'd run out of pants to wear and shorts were getting a bit cold.

17 January 2009 Saturday
Attempted to wake up early and go searching for Howler monkeys, but 4 am is awfully early when you've been up late writing journal entries by flashlight. Steph and I woke up at 7:30 instead, repacked, and went to breakfast. Pablo and our driver, Claudio arrived after breakfast and we loaded the bus to head back to the Dann Cartlon in Quito. I fell asleep for most of the ride, then we stopped at Inti-nan Solar Museum, the site of the GPS-defined equator. We saw some replicas of indigenous peoples' houses (and one hundreds of years old original) and did some sweet gravity experiments. Our guide kept asking us to move to the northern hemisphere, now step over to the southern hemisphere please. It never gets old. Afterward it was back to the bus and back to the Dann Carlton. Some people had great intentions of going out to eat, but caved to room service as we didn't have lunch and everyone was tired. Bethany, Katy, and I had dinner at the hotel restaurant and I've been blogging ever since.

Tomorrow we are leaving the hotel at 6:30 to catch a plane to the Galapagos Islands. We will be on a cruise for 8 days and seven nights, snorkeling, island hopping, and getting to know each other reeeeeeally well. I won't have internet, but I'll keep track of what happens and of course document every frigate bird we see. Expect me back Sunday at the earliest, when we'll be on Santa Cruz island and hopefully hooked into the ol' intertubes. Don't forget to check out Deb's blog for a more concise and entertaining account of our adventures. Link's on the right.

Take care up there in the cold. I will be baking under equatorial sun and swimming with the fishes (in the best way possible).

P.S. I love comments!
P.P.S. Never fear about the glasses! We had some rough times (lens falling out 5 or 6 times during hikes, lens falling out after night hike and disappearing for 20 minutes in in a bed of green in the rainy dark), but we are friends again. I taped the sucker into the frames with pieces of Band-Aid cut with my Swiss Army knife's scissors. I look pretty stylish. People keep telling me that they don't even notice the tape. I'm not sure I believe them. Anyways, everything is alright. Now I have something to do when I get home, right?

mindo mindo mindo

2009-01-15T09:07:00.002-05:00

I am alive and having a wonderful time at the Sachatamia Lodge in the Mindo Valley. In about 20 minutes, some of us are going on a hike and zipline. After lunch we are piling in the back of pickup trucks (everyone is very excited about this) to visit a bird sanctuary. I will update more later tonight, but for now you can see what we've been doing over at Deb's blog. Click "Spotted! A Blue Hen in the Galapagos" on the right side.

Arrival

2009-01-11T22:08:00.002-05:00

We have arrived in Quito! Our flight to Miami went off without a hitch... Miami to Quito wasn't as smooth, though. Boarding took a long time, then we had to wait on the runway for a while, and the flight was sorta bumpy. My glasses sustained an unfortunate injury at the beginning of the flight. I was cleaning them and tried to push the one lens that has always been too big back into the frame, and the frame broke. Fortunately, Mary's dad made her pack superglue, so I'll try to make use of that tomorrow.

I can't really tell what Quito is like yet, as it was dark when we arrived. Our tour guide said that the city is very long and thin - about 48 miles long and 6 miles at the widest. Quito has is the second highest airport in the world, so we're pretty high up compared to ol' sea level Delaware. The first thing I noticed as we landed was that the lights went up onto hills instead of just sprawling out. I think the altitude may be affecting me. I feel a bit lightheaded and queasy but it might just be the combination of tiredness and some greasy Chinese food I had at the Miami airport.

My roommate Bethany and I are currently waiting on room service tuna sandwiches. We are not sure if they will, in fact, be tuna sandwiches, or how we will pay for them, but we'll figure it out.

Alright they just came and are much fancier than expected. Off to nourishment!

Itinerary

2009-01-10T22:53:00.002-05:00

It doesn't feel like I'm going to be on a plane in less than 12 hours. I'm feeling a little nervous and like I've forgotten to pack things that I'll need. I have an abnormally small bag to check and the feeling of taking so little is completely alien to me. So after this post, I'm going to do a little inventory.

For now, how about another "I" word? Itinerary! Here's what I'm going to be doing in the near future.

Sunday 1/11:
flight from PHL to Miami
2 hour lay-over
flight from Miami to Quito

Monday 1/12:
Old City sightseeing in Quito

Tuesday 1/13:
Colonial City Tour in Quito
Travel to Pululahua Crater
Visit Middle of the World complex
Etnographical museum (I have no idea what this is)
Visit Pululahua Crater and Geobotanical Reserve

Wednesday 1/14:
6 am photo walk (whooo!)
Pahuma Orchid Reserve
Butterfly Farm
Observation of hummingbirds, etc in Mindo Valley cloud forest

Thursday 1/15:
6 am photo walk (the fun does not end!)
Assorted guided tours and excursions in Mindo Valley cloud forest
Tour of Shade Tree coffee farm
Evening insect sampling (To tell you the truth, I first thought we were going to be tasting insects. On second thought, perhaps we are collecting insects from the field.)

Friday 1/16:
6 am photo walk
More guided tours and excursions in Mindo Valley cloud forest
Visit butterfly farm

Saturday 1/17:
Free day in Mindo Valley
Return to Quito

I will post info about the next week as it draws closer. From 1/18 to 1/24, we will be on a cruise in the Galapagos Islands without internet access. I'll update beforehand and will keep writing even when I can't post.

Alright, off to finalize plans and packing. Next time, I'll be writing from South America!

The Voyage of the Beetle

2009-01-07T12:12:00.003-05:00

Hello, faithful blog readers!

I am back again for another Study Abroad Blog Extravaganza. This time I'm going to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands to study biodiversity and naturalist writings. That's a pretty big jump for an English major, but not so much for previous Zoobooks subscriber. My last attempt at frequent blogging didn't turn out so well, but I am committed to doing it right this time. No more leaving you hanging for weeks on end! Hopefully, anyway.

You have undoubtedly (probably not) noticed that I've changed the name of the blog from "In the Land of Sheep and Peter Jackson" to "The Voyage of the Beetle." This is, first and foremost, because Ecuador has neither a massive sheep population nor a bespectacled Lord of the Rings director. The Galapagos, one might say, is the very CRADLE of evolutionary thought... also known as the home of megadiverse ecosystems and Darwin's legendary finches. The history of it all is overwhelming. Anyway, our study abroad group is basically pretending to be naturalists in an unknown land. Instead of baggin' possums or making detailed scientific drawings, we will photograph the flora and fauna that we find and then attempt to catalog species. I've been assigned to gather information on insects (others are looking up mammals, reptiles, plants, birds, and marine animals). So the point is, I've renamed the blog after Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" and substituted "Beetle" because I will be looking at bugs. Additionally, our group will be on a week-long cruise in the Galapagos Islands, so there really will be a voyage of sorts.

My fellow traveler has started a blog as well, hopefully to be used by everyone on the trip. So for your dose of people other than me, please check out Spotted: A Blue Hen in the Galapagos!

I will update again soon with itinerary, etc.

busy busy busy

2008-02-04T03:23:00.001-05:00

I'm still alive and having fun. Very busy though. Hopefully I will be able to update tomorrow.

checking in

2008-01-26T01:18:00.000-05:00

We are back in at Lincoln from our little adventure to Dunedin. I'm not up to writing a full run-down right now, but let's just say the past few days have been packed with uncomfortable bus rides, penguin watching, and spending a bunch of money at a little craft market and at CADBURY WORLD. and some more bus riding. We really only had one full day in Dunedin, which was definitely not enough. Tomorrow we are frolicking around Christchurch and hopefully I'll get a blog in at night. And maybe even some school work. Crazy.

Anyways, I had a fun couple of days. Oh, and I saw Death at a Funeral last night. I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for a hectic, hilarious British comedy.

More later.

Kaikoura and the beginning of Christchurch

2008-01-23T01:40:00.000-05:00

Hello from Lincoln University in Christchurch! It's 7:45 pm on Wednesday the 23rd, so we have almost exactly two more weeks left here. It's funny to think that it's so soon, but I think by then I will be ready. I'm not looking forward to it being cold and probably snowy, but it's going to be nice to just be at home.

I apologize for the lack of photo update. I'm on an outdated machine in the computer lab and it would be a pain to get all my stuff onto Flickr. I will try to commandeer someone's laptop soon and get it done.

So Sunday was our Interislander ferry ride from Wellington to Picton on the South Island. It was about three hours, the last half of which was packed with fabulous views. A bus picked us up in Picton and after struggling to get all of our bags in the bottom compartments, we drove about 2 hours to Kaikoura.

We arrived at our hostel, the Dusky Lodge, and packed in four or six people to a room. Kaikoura is definitely a one-horse town and there wasn't much to do, so Charles, Melody, and I rented bikes from the lodge and went for a ride for what must have been 2.5 hours. We went down probably 6km on one road, hoping to find the "Forest Walk." But we ran into a long portion of road that was gravel, not paved, and extremely hard to ride because of the surface and slight incline. I walked most of the way because pedalling was pretty much impossible. The Forest Walk was apparently an hour-long thing and we were pretty spent by then, so we agreed to just sit a bit and tell everyone we got to the top of the mountain a few hundred yards away. The ride back was mostly downhill so it was a lot easier and a whole lot faster. I don't think I've ever gone that fast for so long on a bike. It was awesome and terrifying at the same time, especially on the gravel.

After returning the bikes, the three of us went into town to find dinner. We settled on a bar type place without realizing that they served tapas-style plates, which are meant to be shared. We just got one each, though, and watched Phil Collins music videos for a while before moving on to another place to top off our stomachs. While we waited for our food we played a game of pool (I am Horrible with a capital H) and Charles spotted a man who kept looking over at us. Later, the same man directed me to the silverware without me asking, then approached us and asked us if we were from Delaware, had we come in on the ferry today, and were we going whale watching tomorrow? Turns out he was going to be our bus driver. Sorta creepy.

Later that night Charles and I walked down to the beach to check out some stars. We found Orion but I couldn't spot the Southern Cross. Which was disappointing because I learned to find it really easily when I was in Australia and was sad when I went home and couldn't see it again. I guess it was just really comforting to know that when I looked up, it would always be there. I'll have to get someone to point it out to me again.

Anyway, the whale watch was Monday morning aaaaand it was the bumpiest, most nauseating boat ride I have ever been on. 3/4 of the people on the boat ended up making use of the large supply of seasickness bags, me included. The captain found us a sperm whale hanging out on the surface, refueling from an hour long deep sea dive. And true to form, I cried. Partly because I was amazed at being so close to such a huge creature, and partly because I was nauseous and hyperventilating. I got the all important whale tail photos as he dove down again, and then I was ready to go back to terra firma. Much to my chagrin, though, the captain found another whale and we had to ride around to find him and watch him spout for a few minutes. At this point we had been in and out of the cabin about five times, which made the seasickness even worse. And THEN we found a huge pod of dusky dolphins and had to get in and out to see them too. They were quite fun to watch but we had been on the boat entirely too long. I was feeling terrible but I thought my breakfast was going to stay put, but I couldn't make it through the ride home. My friend Brittany described the cabin as "like a horror movie" with everyone getting sick and all. A bunch of us just laid on the ground after we got off the boat. Horrible. We heard it was going to be a little rough that day but no one could have anticipated how bad 2m swells would be. Apparently the last group our bus driver had didn't have any problems and loved the whale watch. So it was neat to see the whales and the dolphins and I got some nice pictures, but I am absolutely traumatized and don't want to go on a boat, much less a whale watch, for a very long time.

After that terrible experience, everyone recovered for an hour or so in Kaikoura before getting on the bus again for the drive to Lincoln. In the span of about two hours, with a stop to look at a seal colony, we rode down the coast (rated the world's #12 scenic coast drive, evidently) and through miles and miles of dry farmland. We arrived at Lincoln University outside of Christchurch. The place is very isolated, with a few businesses and one pub down the road. It's an agriculture/science university with only 3000 students, but since it's summer there are only 250 enrolled. There's also a hoarde of cricket players from around the country staying here for some summer program. So people were a little worried about not having anything to do ever. Another UD Study Abroad group met us and showed us to our rooms. They are on an Animal Science program and are staying here for their whole time, save free weekends and farm visits. It felt like being back in Delaware, not in New Zealand. I feel like I know or have seen every other person on that trip from classes or 4-H camp or something. Very odd.

Tuesday the whole group was supposed to meet for class and housekeeping matters at 9:15 am but we had to wait for an hour before our professors showed up with a representative from the university. Needless to say, the feelings of pessimism and unease from the previous day resurfaced in everyone. This trip is tough because 1) our professors have never done this before and 2) we move around so much. So there's a lot of moving and waiting and not knowing what the heck is going on.

By the time we got to class we didn't have much time left so we had a short meeting, only discussing one of the three stories on our syllabus. We read out loud and then we were made to act it out, as our reading apparently was too awkward to get a feel for the action of the story. Great. It was quite awkward but also entertaining to watch our friends up on "stage" making fools of themselves. I got to be an albatross, flying across the room twice and ignoring the other characters. I hear there are pictures, so hopefully I can get my hands (wings?) on those. I bet they're gorgeous.

Theeen we piled on the bus again for a brief tour of Christchurch. It started raining on the way there and when we got to a lookout point it was gusting and raining and terribly foggy. We couldn't see anything and my umbrella was blown inside-out twice. Again, unrest and negativity. We were then dropped off in the town of Christchurch to go to a tourist information centre and wander around the wet streets for an hour. So fun. Then back to Lincoln, where the power was out and we had to move our scheduled barbeque dinner inside. It was delicious, by the way. At night a small group of us ended up sitting in the hallway and talking. It was like the freshman year dorm experience I never had. It was nice, actually.

Today I was on my way to an Independent Study meeting and I locked myself IN my dorm room and had to climb out the window to get to the office and request help. Thank goodness I'm on the first floor. The cleaning ladies (who are the happiest cleaning ladies I've ever seen, by the way) considered vaulting each other into the window to get it from the inside. So I missed the meeting while I waited for a maintenance guy to come. He had to climb in the window and figured out that it was just a little button thing that locks the latch in place. I got to the classroom just as the other class was about to start, so I just stayed for it, as I wanted to hear the discussion about one of the poems they were working on. Afterwards we waited a while for the Lincoln guy to come get us to distribute ID cards (for logging onto the computers and swiping into buildings, etc) before leaving to get lunch when he didn't show. We found him on the way and got our cards and then had lunch. Aaaand then we bussed into Christchurch again for our alternative Folklore class. Our professor hired a storyteller to well, tell us some stories at the Botanical Gardens.

The lady came in a green patterned cape, and with a carved staff and perpetually twinkling eyes. She was the type of person who's absolutely delighted to be alive and talking to people. Thus she was really great at telling stories. Unfortunately though, we were outside with a big group that was hard to manage in slightly overgrown forest trails. Plus she was telling longer versions of stories we'd already heard 10 times so far and we didn't realize it would be so long. But it was alright. Afterwards we were left in the city of Christchurch for about an hour, during which we wandered around through shops and outdoor merchant tables. There's the World Buskers Festival happening in the city right now, but when we were there everyone was wrapped or wrapping up. Disappointing, but I'm sure we will see some cool performers/performances another day.

Whew. Blogging is seriously hard work. I've been at this for quite a while but I'm all caught up now. Tomorrow we are off to Dunedin. We were supposed to go to the theatre, but the only thing playing is a psychic show. Our one professor has booked us for the event, though, so we'll see what happens. My third eye forsees generalizations and lame jokes. Oh well. The ride is apparently 6 hours (oy) and we will be there Thursday night, Friday, and part of Saturday. Then it's back to Christchurch for an action-packed day in town at the Botanical Gardens, Canterbury Museum, Art Centre market, and hopefully some buskers. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again. Maybe Saturday night. Or Sunday. Or Monday. See you then, internet.

Welly-world

2008-01-17T16:16:00.001-05:00

DSCF3828, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Hey. This will be my last post for a couple of days. Sorry I haven't been doing current updates. We have been in Wellington at Massey University since the 9th. In general, the weather has been in the 60s or so, with the past couple days getting into the 70 range. And the city is on the water, so it's perpetually windy.

Classes have been fine, if not too easy. I've got Folklore and Folklife, for which we've been discussing The Whale Rider and our projects (some presentations and a paper). My project is on birds and how they fit into New Zealand - particularly Maori - culture. So we'll see about that. And then, for my Independent Study, I'll have to write a 15 page paper on Keri Hulme's The Bone People and selected pieces from her collection Stonefish. Exhilarating, I know.

So, highlights from Wellington? There was the National Tattoo Museum on the 10th, which was a tiny hole-in-the-wall type place with some wooden sculptures and paintings, but mostly photographs and a moldy aroma in the air. Everyone was really excited beforehand, but, needless to say, the experience was underwhelming.

A bunch of us visited the Parliament buildings and took a tour. That was really cool and informative. The art and architecture inside is really amazing, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. Fun facts: There are 8 political parties and only 1 house in the NZ Parliament. And there's Georgiana, the first transexual member of Parliament. Awesome.

Another of Wellington's gems is the Te Papa, a gorgeous, sprawling, free museum packed with great exhibits. I've been there three times so far and will probably go again today. 5 stars. Would visit again.

On Tuesday the whole group was forced to go to Katherine Mansfield's birthplace. The house was small and quite hot inside, especially because we had to pack like sardines into one room at a time. Not having read Mansfield and not being horribly interested in 5 kinds of Victorian chamber pots, I found it rather agonizing. The place might be a alright to breeze through with one or two people, but I wouldn't have paid for a $5 tour. Not recommended.

Tuesday night I saw Andrew Bird at a little place called the San Francisco Bathhouse. I couldn't convince anyone to go with me, regretably. I waited 40 minutes before the doors opened to buy a ticket and was first in line. Luckily the show was seated and I got a nice little spot on the side on a couch. There couldn't have been more than about 250 people there. So it was a nice atmosphere. And the music? Glorious. Breathtaking. Wonderful. Bird played solo, not with a band, but he managed well. He had a bunch of pedals and would record riffs on the violin (bowing or picking) and then set them to repeat while he sang and played guitar. And the man has the most fabulous whistle I've heard in my life. 8 million stars. Would be mesmerized again.

Wednesday night everyone went to see A Renaissance Man, a contemporary play about John Donne, at an experimental theatre called BATS. It was a really good play, reminding me once again that I LOVE theatre. Smart, action-packed, and funny. The stage was on the floor, not elevated and there were six doors for entrances and exits - three on the floor and three on a top level. Really neat. A bunch of people were surprised at how very sexual the whole thing was. But considering what a rake (read as: perv) Donne was, one has to expect it.

Yesterday (Thursday), I was feeling quite blue and sleepy, so I slept most of the day away after class, then went to the Te Papa to do some research for my folklore project.

So we've got today and tomorrow left in Wellington. I don't have many plans at this point, except for catching up on research. Sunday morning we are leaving our apartments and heading down to catch a ferry to Kaikoura on the South Island. Monday we are going on a whale watch and Wednesday we will get to Lincoln University outside of Christchurch.

I'll again direct you to my billions of pictures on Flickr, so you can see what I've been seeing. You can click the picture on the top of this post, or the link on the right side.

Oh! Also, anyone who reads this can comment. You don't have to have an account... just leave a note as Anonymous but make sure you sign it so I know who you are.

I'll see you, internet, in a few days.

Taupo

2008-01-15T17:37:00.001-05:00

DSCF3676, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Jan 8
Drove from Rotorua to Taupo, with stops at Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Reserve- including Mud Pools, Lady Knox Geyser, and Geothermal Wonderland - and Huka Falls. Taupo was a nice little beach town type place. It was a little touristy, but I liked it a lot.

In the interest of time, I'm going to direct everyone to my Flickr to catch up because these photo posts go up one at a time and then I have to copy the code into one entry and delete the others, etc. So! Click here for photos.

Rotorua

2008-01-15T16:45:00.001-05:00

DSCF3575, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Jan 7
Drove all day from Auckland to Rotorua. This is some countryside.

DSCF3580, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Photo-op spot just outside the town.

zorbing, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Zorbing is the coolest thing ever. One to three people jump inside the inner ball with a bunch of water and slosh around as the ball rolls down a hill. As our one professor said, "So if you've always wanted to be a hamster..."

DSCF3610, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

The whole group went to Tamaki Maori Village outside of Rotorua. This is the welcoming ceremony type thing. The dudes in a line are the representative "chiefs" of each busload of peopl and the Maori guy is doing an intimidating dance type thing. It was really amazing. Unfortunately my camera died before the haka (dance) performance, but that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We also had a traditional-type hangi dinner, for which the food was cooked on heated stones for...ever. Everyone was nervous about the food but it was actually quite fabulous.

Catching up

2008-01-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

I will be more brief with these until I catch up. To continue...

Jan 6
In the morning a few of us went to check out the Victoria Park Market, which looked like a pretty neat flea market when we passed on the bus, but turned out to be underwhelming when we got there. The first stall I looked at had some interesting jewelry, but I was reluctant to buy things so early in the trip. I did find this gem, though.

a serious warning, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

We then walked down to the waterfront area to catch a free ride on the S.S. Puke (with a name like that, how could I resist?) at the the Maritime Museum, but it was unfortunately not steaming that day. Instead we walked down Quay (say: key) Street, which wasn't very pretty with its red gates, parking lots, and cargo lifts. We stopped at Foodtown for water and shampoo; we found that things are expensive here, in general.

Back at the hotel, we met up with more people from the trip and headed for some outdoorsy adventures. First was Albert Park, a pretty little place just up the street with some really awesome trees.

Safari Mel, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Then we made the long trek to Auckland Domain, a Central Park of sorts, with a musuem, gardens, and trails. Had lunch at the Museum cafe then sat outside for a jazz concert. I guess it was alright... I was quite tired and kept forgetting I was listening to music. After a few hours of sitting around, Melody and I got antsy and went to Parnell, a swank shopping district. We got turned around a couple times trying to get out of the Domain and by the time we got to our destination, it was past 4 on a Sunday and everything was closed for the day. We caught the bright green, energy efficient Link Bus back to the hotel.

DSCF3548, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

In Parnell, a couple stopped us and asked where we were from. The man said he could tell we were American by Mel's baseball cap. They moved from the States a few years ago with their four kids and found living in NZ harder than they expected. I suspect they liked the country on a vacation and just took the plunge. Interesting.

I wrote a few days ago that it's very strange to be here and know that I'm not leaving for a month. I was not ready at all to start classes but thought they would be pretty relaxed. I looked at my one syllabus and counted only 15 days of class listed. I was nervous about my Independent Study, though, as I didn't have a author picked yet for my 15 page paper. I've since had a few classes, which are okay but don't feel like they have enough depth. And I picked an author and started reading for independent study, which is going to be difficult, but pleasantly. I hope.

So much for writing less. I've caught up on what I wrote in my notebook so the rest will have to be from memory. I think I will do Flickr photo posts after this. To be continued.

I'm a REAL Blog!

2008-01-13T17:05:00.000-05:00

Okay. I will now attempt to write a real update. Hopefully I will catalogue my adventures up to this point so it will be easier to blog later. Let's begin at the beginning (a very good place to start).

Jan 3-4
Our flight to LA was scheduled to leave at around 2:30 pm and our one professor recommended getting there 3 hours before, at 11:30. Dad dropped me off at the airport at promptly 11:30 and I went through check-in and security without a hitch. I've been through airports a million times before, but for some reason I felt really scared doing it on my own. The wait was quite long, especially since people on the trip didn't start showing up at the gate until about 1:30. None of us really knew each other, so we made some introductions and chatted before getting on the plane.

The trip to LA was extremely bumpy. Of all the plane rides I've been on, it was probably the worst. My stomach was turning and I was not looking forward to the 15 hour flight that was to come later. After a 3 hour layover in LA, we went boarded a 767 with Air New Zealand.

In about a surprisingly quick 9.5 hours, we touched down in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands to refuel. Here's a map to give you an idea of where that is:

Whoa. It was about 4:30 in the morning there and we were only allowed to wander around a fenced-in courtyard, so we didn't see much of the island. As we walked into the tiny airport, there was a man playing ukulele and singing. Very charming, but a little loud for being so early. The 1 hour wait was hot and boring, as we were anxious to go and only had access to a few shops, most of them selling alcohol and souvenirs. They took New Zealand currency. I'm not sure whether they have their own money too.

Anyways the flight to Auckland was only about 4.5 hours, during which I crocheted an iPod cozy and slept a bit.

Jan5
Arrived in Auckland around 9 am on Jan 5. It was good to get off the plane, but after traveling for so long, we all felt dirty and exhausted. There were no lines at customs, so we got through quickly. My friend Melody had her boots and water shoes cleaned in the biohazard area, though. After collecting our baggage, we walked out to our tourbus. Chris, our driver, took us on a short driving tour of the city, including a drive up to Mount Eden, a dead volcano. We stopped at a lookout point to take photos. There are around 30 cows on the hill who wander around and cut the grass (someone rounds them up and takes them to a barn at night so they don't become victims of hooliganism).

Here's the crater on Mt. Eden and the city in the background. The tallest building in the center there is the Sky Tower, where we had dinner later that day.

Our hotel rooms weren't ready until 2 pm, so we left our bags and went out to eat. A bunch of us found a kebab place that was playing a Celine Dion DVD on two TV screens. Kebabs are pretty popular here, but they are pita wraps, not grilled stuff on a stick. The girl behind the counter giggled when asked for napkins, so we figured that must mean sanitary napkins here. We later found out that they call them "serviettes" here. A very good thing to know to avoid embarassment.

I just showered (the water pressure was painful!) and relaxed once we got into our hotel room. There was a group dinner later at the Orbit, the restaurant in the Sky Tower. Kinda fancy with a seafood buffet. I tried venison as a little appetizer and found it quite delicious.

Afterwards a few girls and I had a moral crisis about whether or not to go out that night. We didn't want to isolate ourselves, but we were exhausted, so we didn't go. Everything turned out fine and I went to bed at 8:45. Awesome.

It turns out I'm really long winded, so I don't think I'll be able to get up to today right now. A few interesting things to note, before I wrap this up.

One. They drive on the left side of the road here, which is very strange and hard to get used to. For a while I was still looking the wrong way before crossing streets, just instinctively. I couldn't consciously think of which way the cars would be coming, I just turned my head. I think I've gotten pretty used to it at this point.

Two. Crosswalks here make a Pacman/Space Invaders sound when it's time to cross. There's a loud beep to start and little beeps as you walk across. It's kind of exciting and I always feel like I should be eating little dots and running from ghosts. There's a standing red man for stop and a walking green man for go. The lights on one sign moved so it looked like the little guy was walking. Neat.

I've been typing for far too long now, so I'll sign off here. I really like it here in New Zealand, but I miss home too. I guess you've got to leave to miss it.

First post from NZ

2008-01-09T17:47:00.000-05:00

Kia Ora* from Wellington! We are at the computer lab in Massey University and just finishing our first classes.

*Kia Ora is a Maori greeting/saying that basically means "good health." It has other meanings, too, sort of like aloha.

It's almost noon on Thursday the 9th here. I think it's around 6 last night at home. Weird. We have only been here for a few days but it feels like forever. I haven't been horribly jetlagged, just tired.

Just a quick update to let eeryone know that I am alive and having a reasonably good time on the other side of the world. More later.

First post!

2008-01-01T21:27:00.001-05:00

Hi everybody! Welcome to my first serious presence in the BLOGOSPHERE.
This is, of course, a very important milestone in my life. I will do
my best to update you all on my adventures on Study Abroad in New
Zealand and thereafter. Hopefully there will be lots of pretty
pictures for you to look at, courtesy of Flickr. I'm not so good at
keeping up with things (see my abandoned Photo365 project and my heaps
of clothing to be altered), but I promise to try. I can update via email, so that's handy.

Anyway! I believe there is a link on the bottom of the page that lets
you subscribe to this here blog. I'm not sure which option to choose
but somehow I'm sure you can get updates emailed to you.

So I am leaving on Thursday at 2:40 pm from Philadelphia, flying to
LA, then flying to Aukland. The cross-Pacific flight is over 15 hours
with a 1 hour refueling stop on the Cook Islands. Whoa.

Tomorrow I will be rushing around as I finish packing and getting
everything ready to go. I'm a little sad to be leaving, but very
excited to see places other than Newark, Delaware.