Alright, I lied. THIS will be the last post of the blog. And I knew it all along. Despicable, I know. Just thought I'd do a little update after being home for sort of 24 hours.
Everything is more or less how I left it. A few new things around the house but that's it. I'm also now living in a house which will most likely be a renovation site for quite a long while. Great. It's a mess, but it's home.
For now I'm really happy to be here. It's the same but I'm not sure whether this will turn out to be a good or a bad thing.
One of the things I've noticed is that it gets dark exceptionally later than it does in North America. Ok, sure, it's winter there and summer here which is like, totally opposite and whatever, but like, it doesn't get dark here until like, 8.30! I'm not sure if you're aware, but the sun hates North America so much it decides to leave at about 4. Also, I've been driving a few times since I've been back and I'm getting a bit confused as to which way the cars/ my car is meant to be going. I'm not gonna lie, this scares me. I didn't think it'd affect me so much seeing as
A) I used to always look the 'wrong' way when crossing the road in North America. Still did till the day I left! and
B) I didn't drive there. Nor did I want to.
I've got a lot of coffee and/or beach dates in the coming weeks to keep me busy which is good. I also need to get a J.O.B too... but that can wait a few days.
It's a bit weird being in a place that's so warm too. I haven't worn less than 2 layers in months!
As you can tell, not too many 'deep' thoughts from me this time. I'm not really in the mood. Plus there's nothing left to say.
So this is REALLY it then. I swear. I just thought I'd do something similar to when movies have like, little extra bits near the end of the credits where only like, the 'dedicated' people (read nerds) stay and see it. I do this by the way, not at the movies though, but on DVD's. I always fast-forward through the credits just in case (NERD ALERT!).
So if you're reading this, thanks again. Now I know who TRULY follows this. Ha. Now please re-read the last paragraph of the previous post. Thank you. That is all.
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Alaska - the land of beauty. The land of danger. The land of unmet expectations.
I want to dispel a few myths before we continue. Firstly, in a 'near death experience your life does not flash before your eyes, nor does everything go in slow-motion. Secondly, it's always a good idea to have insurance.
Well, I don't know if what I experienced was a quote 'near death experience'. Possibly more like a 'potentially dangerous situation'.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I got into a car accident. OK, that probably wasn't the best set up in history (probably the worst) I admit. But we managed to get to the point, didn't we?
We decided to hire a car in Anchorage and drive up to Fairbanks (about 350 miles/ 500 and something km away) because Anchorage was pretty boring. We also wanted to go up and see if we could see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) (more on that later) (parenthesis!) and hopefully some wildlife on the way (more on that later too). Anyways, we hit an icy patch on the road just outside Cantwell (just over halfway between Anchorage and Fairbanks), did a 360 and hit a snow bank. Luckily there weren't any other cars around at the time but if we had spun out less than a minute later than we did, we probably would have hit a truck coming the opposite way. See what I mean about potentially dangerous!? This was what I was trying to get at from the start!
So anyways, the car was working fine still and thanks to a helpful Alaskan (I assume) couple we were able to secure what was left of the front bumper so that it didn't drag. We made it to Cantwell with me feeling a little happy, to be honest. I wasn't too worried about the cost. "Can't be more than $600, right?" I laugh at myself in retrospect. It actually ended up costing 10x that amount. USD. Apparently parts are hard to come across in Alaska and have to be shipped in which is such shit.
Long story short. I'm now officially broke. Good thing I'm going home really soon huh?
We made it to Cantwell hoping that there was a mechanic there but apparently the only one in the area was old and probably wouldn't be able to make it out to have a look at the car. In any case he would probably tell us to go to Fairbanks. The truck driver that was behind us was at the petrol station too and he said that if that snow bank were any lower we would have most likely flipped. POTENTIAL DANGER! Oh, neither of us are hurt by the way. Just my wallet.
The rest of this story isn't that interesting. We made it to Fairbanks without the use of a car, we spent the rest of our time there trying to sort out this car thing and then we flew to Anchorage and then on to Seattle.
Seeing as we're out of Alaska now, I feel safe to do a little summary thing of the entire trip. Overall it was pretty disappointing. I had so many expectations which weren't met. I guess that was the problem. No research + high expectations = disappointment. I didn't do any of the things that were on my list. I didn't see any wildlife besides two Bald Eagles and a squirelly thing (possibly a squirrel). I didn't go snowshoeing, or snowmobiling OR dog sledding. I didn't see the Norther Lights. Alaska IS a beautiful place though, one of the few places in North America that warrants a second visit. During Summer of course. That's pretty much all I have to say about it, to be honest.
Well, I don't know if what I experienced was a quote 'near death experience'. Possibly more like a 'potentially dangerous situation'.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I got into a car accident. OK, that probably wasn't the best set up in history (probably the worst) I admit. But we managed to get to the point, didn't we?
We decided to hire a car in Anchorage and drive up to Fairbanks (about 350 miles/ 500 and something km away) because Anchorage was pretty boring. We also wanted to go up and see if we could see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) (more on that later) (parenthesis!) and hopefully some wildlife on the way (more on that later too). Anyways, we hit an icy patch on the road just outside Cantwell (just over halfway between Anchorage and Fairbanks), did a 360 and hit a snow bank. Luckily there weren't any other cars around at the time but if we had spun out less than a minute later than we did, we probably would have hit a truck coming the opposite way. See what I mean about potentially dangerous!? This was what I was trying to get at from the start!
So anyways, the car was working fine still and thanks to a helpful Alaskan (I assume) couple we were able to secure what was left of the front bumper so that it didn't drag. We made it to Cantwell with me feeling a little happy, to be honest. I wasn't too worried about the cost. "Can't be more than $600, right?" I laugh at myself in retrospect. It actually ended up costing 10x that amount. USD. Apparently parts are hard to come across in Alaska and have to be shipped in which is such shit.
Long story short. I'm now officially broke. Good thing I'm going home really soon huh?
We made it to Cantwell hoping that there was a mechanic there but apparently the only one in the area was old and probably wouldn't be able to make it out to have a look at the car. In any case he would probably tell us to go to Fairbanks. The truck driver that was behind us was at the petrol station too and he said that if that snow bank were any lower we would have most likely flipped. POTENTIAL DANGER! Oh, neither of us are hurt by the way. Just my wallet.
The rest of this story isn't that interesting. We made it to Fairbanks without the use of a car, we spent the rest of our time there trying to sort out this car thing and then we flew to Anchorage and then on to Seattle.
Seeing as we're out of Alaska now, I feel safe to do a little summary thing of the entire trip. Overall it was pretty disappointing. I had so many expectations which weren't met. I guess that was the problem. No research + high expectations = disappointment. I didn't do any of the things that were on my list. I didn't see any wildlife besides two Bald Eagles and a squirelly thing (possibly a squirrel). I didn't go snowshoeing, or snowmobiling OR dog sledding. I didn't see the Norther Lights. Alaska IS a beautiful place though, one of the few places in North America that warrants a second visit. During Summer of course. That's pretty much all I have to say about it, to be honest.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Montreal and the cold.
It's fucking cold. Well, no, ok, not really but you can definitely notice a marked drop in temperature from when I first got here. You know how usually it's a pretty gradual decline in temperature as winter looms? Well, this is like, a 5 or 6 degree drop in a day (well, actually, I have no idea but it feels like it). The weird this is too is that it's still sunny.
Gosh this place reminds me of Auckland. Last night on the way to class it pissed down with rain for like, 15 minutes and then stopped and out came the sun. Frickin weird Auckland weather eh? I even had to bust out my big ass jacket which I haven't worn since I left. And it's only going to get colder from here. Eep.
Oh, yes, last night we had a test in my PR class which was multichoice which was pretty awesome. It was on like the first 3 chapters of the book which is fine, I mean, I didn't really study cos I mean, it's a multichoice test. Why don't we have those at AUT?? Anyway, that's not even the ridiculous part - our lecturer knowingly put up like, 80% of all the test questions online as the 'sample' questions! During the test he started calling out the answers to the first page! I would be surprised if anyone failed this paper. Seriously. Like, honestly. We did a presentation last week which was supposed to be 12 minutes long - ours was 5 and a half and we still managed to get a B. Ridiculous. I mean, I'll take it but c'mon, we didn't even do anything!
Ok, moving on to the more exciting portion of this post. Montreal. The whole weekend was pretty amazing but of course, there had to be a few bumps in the road. The first came just as we were leaving. When we hired the cars we asked for a minivan of 8, one of 7 and a car (of 5) - so 20 people altogether but when we picked the cars up they guy said that he couldn't get a minivan of 8! Which obviously meant that we had one less seat. Problem number one. My car had left early cos we had to get to the hostel by 9pm and we were already behind schedule but the rest of the group were contemplating getting two cars instead of the minivan (cos the guy would offer us a 'special' deal) but in the end they decided to just stick with the minivan to avoid all the extra costs and insurance and whatever which is fine. Someone just had to sit on the floor for the trip or like, swap seats with someone along the way. The minivan was pretty spacious anyways. Like, totally awesome with a rear view camera, touch screen radio, dvd player and a port for mp3 players. Too bad I didn't bring mine. It was a frickin Dodge which was awesome. Like, a lot better than I had thought it would be.
Anyways, the actually trip there was pretty uneventful. Traffic jams going out of the city which is kinda understandable with it being a Friday and around 4pm by this time. It also didn't help that we kinda got lost. Well, not really. We just didn't follow the exact directions that I got from the interweb. I'm a terrible map reader ok? In the end we just had to follow the same road until it turned into the 401. No problems there. It was actually pretty funny.
We arrived late to the hostel which was cool cos we called like, 2 hours in advance. Smart eh? Would have been smarter though if we had left on time... we were cutting it a bit close with our leaving time anyways. We planned to leave at around 2 or 2.30 at the absolute latest and it takes around 6 hours to drive there so we couldn't really afford to get lost or take any detours or whatever. I also didn't really count on people being late. I will next time though. (I wonder when that will be...). Anyways, as I was saying, we were late to check in and by the time everyone else arrived it was like, 11.30ish and when they did I tried to get them all organised into their rooms and whatnot which was a lot harder than it should have been. I canceled 2 of the beds that we booked because two of the guys were apparently staying with one of their friends which was fine but I don't think everyone knew that.... Anyways, while we were trying to get everyone's shit together we managed to get a few noise complaints. From the woman in the next room and a few others. Problem #2.
So as soon as everyone was sorted of course we had to go out for a few drinks right? I mean, thats what we came here for. It was raining. Problem #3. Well, not really a problem, just kinda annoying. Anyways, we went to this little bar a few blocks down from our hostel which was kinda nice. Drinks were relatively cheap but then all the Aussies with us and a few others wanted to go to another bar to see the AFL grand final which was cool. I totally went with even though I had no idea what was happening. Not all of us went though which was cool, I mean, chances are with such a big group not everyone wants to do the same thing.
Anyways, we got back to the hostel at like, 3am which is pretty normal for us now but when we got back we were in the middle of 'quiet time' in the hostel. One of the girls who came with us (and one that stayed in the first bar we were at) had thrown up a few times (at the that time I had just thought it was that once) but anyway, we were talking, kinda quietly I thought. But apparently not. the owner of the hostel came storming in and started swearing at us and told us to shut up and threatened to throw us all out and make us pay for the two nights we'd booked for. Massive problem #4. We were the first ones back when this happened so we called the rest (who were for the most part, drunk) and told them to keep it down when they got back (especially since the owner lived on their floor). Of course, some of them wanted to have a 'word' with the owner but I convinced them to leave it till the morning where Martin and I would have a talk to him. We woke up early (didn't want to make another bad impression. Plus we didn't want to waste the only whole day we had), pumped and ready to talk to the guy but he didn't start till about 10am so we ended up wasting like, 2 hours just waiting around. When he finally managed to make it down we apologised and he told us about some more of the stuff that our group had done - mainly throwing up both upstairs and downstairs, and everyone being just generally loud. Anyways, he let us stay for the next night but obviously on the condition that we were more quiet this time. Which at that point of time I was kinda doubting.
Half the group at this point were still in bed sleeping which I thought was a total waste of time, so the rest of us left and went to get some breakfast and decided to head over to Old Montreal which was pretty cool. We took a tour around the old port as well as old Montreal on a horse and buggy which was nice. A few of us also went into the Notre Dame Basilica which blew my mind. It blew my mind so much that I swore. In the Cathedral. Oops. After that we went to a Mexican restaurant where the rest of the group met us (they had just got up I think at at this point, it was like, close to 3pm).
Back at the hostel me and a couple of other guys went to a restaurant across the street for dinner. We had escargot and I tried rabbit as well (in the same meal, but not the same dish.). Both were actually really tasty. I don't think snails have any real flavour though cos all I could really taste was the bacon. It might just be more for texture. I dunno. Anyways, one of the waiters there was to me like 'where are you from?' and of course I'm like 'New Zealand' and then he's like 'I want to put you guys on a guest list for a club in the city.' And I was like 'sweet as bro'. The owner of that restaurant apparently owned this club so we were like 'yeah, ok, we'll come'. And apparently the other half of our group went there for lunch and they were invited too. It's pretty safe to say that some drinking occurred as well as some clubbing. Also, rain. Just to make this post slightly shorter. I'm almost done. Promise.
The Sunday morning we had to check out by 10am which meant that we were all up and awake relatively early. So we all went to go get breakfast - I think the original plan was to go in separate groups to different restaurants just so we didn't have to wait as long for food - but somehow everyone ended up in the same place... For our last day we decided to have a race to the mountain so we could get a better look at the city. The race was actually pretty awesome. At one point we went down the wrong way on a one way street to try and lose the other car who was following us the whole way. They obviously didn't know where they were going but like, at the last second, they got ahead of us and made it up the one lane road to the top of the mountain -which obviously meant that we couldn't pass them. All seemed lost but somehow we still won cos we were the first to park in the designated parking lot finish line. The other minivan never showed. Funny.
A few photos here, a few photos there and then we decided to head back to the hostel to pick up the others who went shopping instead/ to meet up and swap passengers/ for lunch. We were also meant to have a race back to Toronto which we would have won had we not got lost on the outskirts of Toronto. Problem #5. Ironically, we were looking for the fastest way to get back but we ended up getting lost and coming in last. Oh well, live as a team, die as a team eh?
So that weekend was pretty epic. Filled with adventure and mystery. A lot of laughs and (some) drinking. It was also a good way to bond with a few of the people in our group who I hadn't really know before the trip. I'm definitely looking forward to the next roadtrip. New york for thanksgiving anyone?
Gosh this place reminds me of Auckland. Last night on the way to class it pissed down with rain for like, 15 minutes and then stopped and out came the sun. Frickin weird Auckland weather eh? I even had to bust out my big ass jacket which I haven't worn since I left. And it's only going to get colder from here. Eep.
Oh, yes, last night we had a test in my PR class which was multichoice which was pretty awesome. It was on like the first 3 chapters of the book which is fine, I mean, I didn't really study cos I mean, it's a multichoice test. Why don't we have those at AUT?? Anyway, that's not even the ridiculous part - our lecturer knowingly put up like, 80% of all the test questions online as the 'sample' questions! During the test he started calling out the answers to the first page! I would be surprised if anyone failed this paper. Seriously. Like, honestly. We did a presentation last week which was supposed to be 12 minutes long - ours was 5 and a half and we still managed to get a B. Ridiculous. I mean, I'll take it but c'mon, we didn't even do anything!
Ok, moving on to the more exciting portion of this post. Montreal. The whole weekend was pretty amazing but of course, there had to be a few bumps in the road. The first came just as we were leaving. When we hired the cars we asked for a minivan of 8, one of 7 and a car (of 5) - so 20 people altogether but when we picked the cars up they guy said that he couldn't get a minivan of 8! Which obviously meant that we had one less seat. Problem number one. My car had left early cos we had to get to the hostel by 9pm and we were already behind schedule but the rest of the group were contemplating getting two cars instead of the minivan (cos the guy would offer us a 'special' deal) but in the end they decided to just stick with the minivan to avoid all the extra costs and insurance and whatever which is fine. Someone just had to sit on the floor for the trip or like, swap seats with someone along the way. The minivan was pretty spacious anyways. Like, totally awesome with a rear view camera, touch screen radio, dvd player and a port for mp3 players. Too bad I didn't bring mine. It was a frickin Dodge which was awesome. Like, a lot better than I had thought it would be.
Anyways, the actually trip there was pretty uneventful. Traffic jams going out of the city which is kinda understandable with it being a Friday and around 4pm by this time. It also didn't help that we kinda got lost. Well, not really. We just didn't follow the exact directions that I got from the interweb. I'm a terrible map reader ok? In the end we just had to follow the same road until it turned into the 401. No problems there. It was actually pretty funny.
We arrived late to the hostel which was cool cos we called like, 2 hours in advance. Smart eh? Would have been smarter though if we had left on time... we were cutting it a bit close with our leaving time anyways. We planned to leave at around 2 or 2.30 at the absolute latest and it takes around 6 hours to drive there so we couldn't really afford to get lost or take any detours or whatever. I also didn't really count on people being late. I will next time though. (I wonder when that will be...). Anyways, as I was saying, we were late to check in and by the time everyone else arrived it was like, 11.30ish and when they did I tried to get them all organised into their rooms and whatnot which was a lot harder than it should have been. I canceled 2 of the beds that we booked because two of the guys were apparently staying with one of their friends which was fine but I don't think everyone knew that.... Anyways, while we were trying to get everyone's shit together we managed to get a few noise complaints. From the woman in the next room and a few others. Problem #2.
So as soon as everyone was sorted of course we had to go out for a few drinks right? I mean, thats what we came here for. It was raining. Problem #3. Well, not really a problem, just kinda annoying. Anyways, we went to this little bar a few blocks down from our hostel which was kinda nice. Drinks were relatively cheap but then all the Aussies with us and a few others wanted to go to another bar to see the AFL grand final which was cool. I totally went with even though I had no idea what was happening. Not all of us went though which was cool, I mean, chances are with such a big group not everyone wants to do the same thing.
Anyways, we got back to the hostel at like, 3am which is pretty normal for us now but when we got back we were in the middle of 'quiet time' in the hostel. One of the girls who came with us (and one that stayed in the first bar we were at) had thrown up a few times (at the that time I had just thought it was that once) but anyway, we were talking, kinda quietly I thought. But apparently not. the owner of the hostel came storming in and started swearing at us and told us to shut up and threatened to throw us all out and make us pay for the two nights we'd booked for. Massive problem #4. We were the first ones back when this happened so we called the rest (who were for the most part, drunk) and told them to keep it down when they got back (especially since the owner lived on their floor). Of course, some of them wanted to have a 'word' with the owner but I convinced them to leave it till the morning where Martin and I would have a talk to him. We woke up early (didn't want to make another bad impression. Plus we didn't want to waste the only whole day we had), pumped and ready to talk to the guy but he didn't start till about 10am so we ended up wasting like, 2 hours just waiting around. When he finally managed to make it down we apologised and he told us about some more of the stuff that our group had done - mainly throwing up both upstairs and downstairs, and everyone being just generally loud. Anyways, he let us stay for the next night but obviously on the condition that we were more quiet this time. Which at that point of time I was kinda doubting.
Half the group at this point were still in bed sleeping which I thought was a total waste of time, so the rest of us left and went to get some breakfast and decided to head over to Old Montreal which was pretty cool. We took a tour around the old port as well as old Montreal on a horse and buggy which was nice. A few of us also went into the Notre Dame Basilica which blew my mind. It blew my mind so much that I swore. In the Cathedral. Oops. After that we went to a Mexican restaurant where the rest of the group met us (they had just got up I think at at this point, it was like, close to 3pm).
Back at the hostel me and a couple of other guys went to a restaurant across the street for dinner. We had escargot and I tried rabbit as well (in the same meal, but not the same dish.). Both were actually really tasty. I don't think snails have any real flavour though cos all I could really taste was the bacon. It might just be more for texture. I dunno. Anyways, one of the waiters there was to me like 'where are you from?' and of course I'm like 'New Zealand' and then he's like 'I want to put you guys on a guest list for a club in the city.' And I was like 'sweet as bro'. The owner of that restaurant apparently owned this club so we were like 'yeah, ok, we'll come'. And apparently the other half of our group went there for lunch and they were invited too. It's pretty safe to say that some drinking occurred as well as some clubbing. Also, rain. Just to make this post slightly shorter. I'm almost done. Promise.
The Sunday morning we had to check out by 10am which meant that we were all up and awake relatively early. So we all went to go get breakfast - I think the original plan was to go in separate groups to different restaurants just so we didn't have to wait as long for food - but somehow everyone ended up in the same place... For our last day we decided to have a race to the mountain so we could get a better look at the city. The race was actually pretty awesome. At one point we went down the wrong way on a one way street to try and lose the other car who was following us the whole way. They obviously didn't know where they were going but like, at the last second, they got ahead of us and made it up the one lane road to the top of the mountain -which obviously meant that we couldn't pass them. All seemed lost but somehow we still won cos we were the first to park in the designated parking lot finish line. The other minivan never showed. Funny.
A few photos here, a few photos there and then we decided to head back to the hostel to pick up the others who went shopping instead/ to meet up and swap passengers/ for lunch. We were also meant to have a race back to Toronto which we would have won had we not got lost on the outskirts of Toronto. Problem #5. Ironically, we were looking for the fastest way to get back but we ended up getting lost and coming in last. Oh well, live as a team, die as a team eh?
So that weekend was pretty epic. Filled with adventure and mystery. A lot of laughs and (some) drinking. It was also a good way to bond with a few of the people in our group who I hadn't really know before the trip. I'm definitely looking forward to the next roadtrip. New york for thanksgiving anyone?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
This blog actually makes sense now!
I just arrived in Vancouver (and boy was it a long trip)! The flight from Auckland to Sydney went without a hitch. It was a pretty standard flight, nothing particularly exciting but it takes longer than you think. I mean, if you look at the distance between Australia and New Zealand it doesn't look that far but actually, it kinda is.
Anyways, pretty much as soon as I got into Sydney airport and through customs (again) (like, seriously, I just got off a plane, they checked me before I boarded. Where would I get any prohibited items?? Is New Zealand customs not good enough for you??) I had to rush to catch my next flight.
At the start, the flight to Vancouver seemed like it would be cool. Y'know, the seats are fitted out with touch screens and have a lot of movies you can watch, some pretty recent ones too (Iron Man, Prince Caspian, Kung Fu Panda, Batman Begins) and also stuff like, Aladdin too. I was in the middle of like, a three seater which was kinda lame. But like, as the flight wore on I got so annoyed with everything. The flight was long, the food wasn't great, I had no idea what time it was or where we were geographically and when I looked out the window it didn't look like we were going anywhere. It was almost as if we were just sitting in one of those simulation cabins that they use for training or whatnot. So yeah, time seemed to go super slow, like, half as slow as usual. I watched like, 5 movies and some TV shows and I swear, not more than an hour passed after each movie. I was getting really irritable by this stage, like, no one was telling us where we were or how much further we had to go and also, the map on the touch screen didn't even work! Gosh.
The plane itself though is nice enough (unlike Air NZ) but the service on Air NZ is a lot better. I mean, its all very well if you have a nice plane but if you don't have the service/ food to match it doesn't really matter.
So yeah, the taxi ride to the hotel was kinda interesting. I automatically went to get into the left hand side of the car but of course they driver is on that side in Canada. Lol. But yeah, there were a lot of roadworks/ construction going on, especially around the airport. There's a lot of that going on here actually. They're gearing up for the Winter Olympics in 2010 I suppose.
Upon arrival to my hotel I just had a quick check of my email etc and had a shower and then went straight out to explore the city. It reminds me kinda like Auckland and Wellington combined. Most of the streets are in grids so its not too hard to lose yourself. It's kinda like a big small town though. Most of the streets are kinda empty and there aren't many people or cars. Maybe it's just cos it's Sunday or something, I don't know. Most of the people though appear to be tourists which is interesting.
Also, the driving here is kinda crazy. That's what I noticed first. They don't really seem to indicate and like, the buzzer thing which tells people when to cross goes automatically whether or not people are there. Also, people don't seem to jaywalk which I is fine, it's safer anyway, but like, I'm fighting all my urges to do it cos I do it all the time at home. I'm not sure if it's an punishable offence or not. Also, driving on the other side blows my mind. Like, everything I've learned about driving has kinda been tipped upside down. I think now when I get home I'm gonna be super confused (moreso that I was initially).
Yeah, so I went exploring today. I didn't really know what I was doing or where I was going but I thought I'd just hang out for a bit. I planned on planning my week, or at least my first day in Vancouver on the plane but that didn't happened so.... yeah. Oh, and also, time seems to go really slow around here. I don't know why. I went out for what seemed like 4 or 5 hours but like, it had only been about 3. Crazy. The other thing that I noticed, and you might also notice if you check out my photos is that the Canadian flag is everywhere. On buildings, on cars, on backpacks, on boats. I can see one right now from my room. Besides that everything seems pretty normal, like, not really being in a foreign country, more like being in another part of NZ or summin'.
So I think the plan for tonight is go out for some dinner, check out Vancouver at night and then plan the rest of the week, if not then for tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Reasons to freak out
Ok, so I'm beginning to freak out about leaving/ not having many things ready TO leave. As of today there's only 17 days until my planned leaving date. I have no idea what I'm doing, what I really need before I leave and I have no idea how I'll cope with being on my own in a new environment. I dunno, a few days ago I wasn't worrying at all but now cos other people on the exchange are starting to get excited/ scared/ nervous/ freaked out about leaving, I kind of am too...
I'm also freaking out about choosing my papers for Ryerson (they sent me an email about it this morning) as well as my majors for next year. I mentioned choosing majors last post and I still haven't done anything about it since which is probably only to my detriment. Procrastinating - I do that sometimes, well, most of the time actually. So yeah, I have a lot of decisions to make in a very short period of time - which is gonna be hard, especially for me (if you know me at all you'll know that I can be pretty indecisive, especially when it comes to decisions about my future) (but don't all decisions concern my future?) (I don't know).
Also, I need to pay my first and last month's rent at the place I'm staying on Monday which ends up being like, $3676.40 (Canadian) or like, $4400ish (NZD). So all my money is going even BEFORE I leave. But it doesn't stop there, I still have to get flights (*gasp* I hear you say) and travel insurance which, according to my calculations will end up as around $7000 all up including the rent :(.
I'm also freaking out about driving to Albany by myself. Mainly cos I have no idea where I'm going.
I'm also freaking out about choosing my papers for Ryerson (they sent me an email about it this morning) as well as my majors for next year. I mentioned choosing majors last post and I still haven't done anything about it since which is probably only to my detriment. Procrastinating - I do that sometimes, well, most of the time actually. So yeah, I have a lot of decisions to make in a very short period of time - which is gonna be hard, especially for me (if you know me at all you'll know that I can be pretty indecisive, especially when it comes to decisions about my future) (but don't all decisions concern my future?) (I don't know).
Also, I need to pay my first and last month's rent at the place I'm staying on Monday which ends up being like, $3676.40 (Canadian) or like, $4400ish (NZD). So all my money is going even BEFORE I leave. But it doesn't stop there, I still have to get flights (*gasp* I hear you say) and travel insurance which, according to my calculations will end up as around $7000 all up including the rent :(.
I'm also freaking out about driving to Albany by myself. Mainly cos I have no idea where I'm going.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Job status: almost unemployed
Only two shifts at work which stands between me and unemployment (yay?) I'm not sure where my money will come from now but when I leave I'll get all my annual leave paid out which, according to my calculations will be around $2700. That'll maybe cover 95% of my airfare (which I haven't really sorted out yet.....).
So yeah, after about four years now I'm finally leaving and probably just in time too. Everything is starting to go downhill - prices are going up, there's less entertainment, it's kinda dirty (plus it's pretty much looked the same since day 1), most of the other bartenders are kinda lazy which was/ is kinda pissing me off. So yeah, they want me to come back to work when I get back home but that'll depend solely on the state of the bar at that time. Cos I like most of the people but its just not the greatest place to work....
Ok, onto other things now. Everyone went back to Uni yesterday after a month of so off and I kinda miss it already (sad face). I dunno, I guess it just feels weird not going to Uni with everyone else. I've got nothing to do now (hence the writing of this post) and no one to hang out with but I'm trying to organise stuff with them while they're on their breaks.
Something kinda related - I have to choose my majors for next year! I have absolutely no idea what I'm gonna do. I haven't left myself with many options (not intentionally of course) so it looks like either Journalism major/ PR minor or vice versa. That's it. I can't do TV cos I'm missing this semester's paper plus, I kinda don't wanna do it anymore after last semester. I mean, it's fun and all and it'd be an interesting job but it's just the way that they've organised (or not organised) this specific TV course. So I'm not gonna rule out TV as a job when I leave but it might take me a while to get there ( I probably need to do more networking etc etc or maybe I'll just stumble into it. Who knows?)
Ummmm, right, I'm about to confirm my leaving party for about 20 people which is a pretty good number I think. I just need to call them which I will do right after this.
I got my restricted license today! It's about time - I've had my learners for like, 2 years and for those who don't know you only need to wait like, 6 months before you can move from a learners to a restricted. But yeah, the test was surprisingly easy. It was raining though which didn't really help much but I passed and pretty well too. Apparently just a bit slow on the open road (but it was raining!) I've already planned my first trip by myself - a baby shower/ housewarming in Albany - all I need to figure out is how to get there!
That is all.
So yeah, after about four years now I'm finally leaving and probably just in time too. Everything is starting to go downhill - prices are going up, there's less entertainment, it's kinda dirty (plus it's pretty much looked the same since day 1), most of the other bartenders are kinda lazy which was/ is kinda pissing me off. So yeah, they want me to come back to work when I get back home but that'll depend solely on the state of the bar at that time. Cos I like most of the people but its just not the greatest place to work....
Ok, onto other things now. Everyone went back to Uni yesterday after a month of so off and I kinda miss it already (sad face). I dunno, I guess it just feels weird not going to Uni with everyone else. I've got nothing to do now (hence the writing of this post) and no one to hang out with but I'm trying to organise stuff with them while they're on their breaks.
Something kinda related - I have to choose my majors for next year! I have absolutely no idea what I'm gonna do. I haven't left myself with many options (not intentionally of course) so it looks like either Journalism major/ PR minor or vice versa. That's it. I can't do TV cos I'm missing this semester's paper plus, I kinda don't wanna do it anymore after last semester. I mean, it's fun and all and it'd be an interesting job but it's just the way that they've organised (or not organised) this specific TV course. So I'm not gonna rule out TV as a job when I leave but it might take me a while to get there ( I probably need to do more networking etc etc or maybe I'll just stumble into it. Who knows?)
Ummmm, right, I'm about to confirm my leaving party for about 20 people which is a pretty good number I think. I just need to call them which I will do right after this.
I got my restricted license today! It's about time - I've had my learners for like, 2 years and for those who don't know you only need to wait like, 6 months before you can move from a learners to a restricted. But yeah, the test was surprisingly easy. It was raining though which didn't really help much but I passed and pretty well too. Apparently just a bit slow on the open road (but it was raining!) I've already planned my first trip by myself - a baby shower/ housewarming in Albany - all I need to figure out is how to get there!
That is all.
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