Tuesday, October 18, 2011
most wonderful gift
I just received the most wonderful gift today. Not only did a very lovely woman who volunteers at the ABA center reach out to me and offer me rides and escape from campus occasionally after reading that article but today (after a conversation we had on friday) she brought me around some bits and pieces so i can do cooking and baking. According to my roommate I looked as excited as a kid in a candy shop. Now I have a kitchen and I can use it! Now I just have to get to the supermarket and get some bits and pieces to cook so that I can start using it!!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Washington DC
Well classes are busy as always but I managed to sneak away for the long weekend and take a trip to the nations capital and what a worthwhile trip it was. I LOVE DC. I spent Friday studying and took the train to DC on Saturday afternoon. Took the metro to my hostel and was questioning the decision for a moment...run down building in a run down neighbour but apparently looks can be deceiving because it was actually pretty comfortable and the people there were nice (Plus I saved money by agreeing to having a third person stay in my 2 bed dorm room).
I had booked a 48 hour ticket on a hop on hop off bus and when i went to get the tickets the next morning i was informed that i had managed to save over $40 which was great..definitely going to book over the internet again when I decide to take one of those next. Anyway there was a marathon on in the city center so the only bus service was the national cathedral and georgetown circuit. Went up to the top deck and ended up having to move down while we were detoured because of low branches and as i was the last one to come down the bus driver took off while i was still walking down the stairs..needless to say i have a few bruises that i didnt have before i got to DC.
The bus trip was pretty good we saw the cathedral and i was hoping to go up and do the gargoyle tour (they have a gargoyle shaped like darth vader) but it was closed off because of the quake that hit there at the end of august. Went to Georgetown Cupcakes at Lisa's suggestion and it was a major wait but totally worth it the cupcakes were devine....chocolate, vanilla and their signature red velvet. Yum yum yum yum yum! Anyway eventually managed to find the bus again (DC has something against marking tourist bus stops) and headed back to the mall and went to the old post office pavilion and up the tower which had a great view of the city. After that I went to the American History museum to see the original star spangled banner and dorothy's ruby slippers and then it was off to the supermarket and back to my hostel for more study.
Day 3 (or 2 if you dont count the day i arrived) this morning i walked down to the crime and punishment museum where i checked out the exhibits and did the top detective challenge which wasnt as interesting as i thought it was going to be. I got myself an NCIS hat and when i was walking to the white house a guy surprised me by putting his hands up and going i give up! Talk about your random events. So i did the photos at the white house and managed to find some DC charms and had some photos taken in a mock up of the oval office and the press room in the white house which was pretty cool. Next stop was lunch and then off to Arlington Cemetery where i got to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier which was very interesting but not something ill be doing again. It took 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately I wound up finishing there half an hour before they closed but the bus never showed up even though it was still meant to be running for another 90 minutes. After half an hour I gave up and took the metro to the local mall where I got some dinner and had a look around before heading back to the hostel for more study.
My last day was spent with a very heavy backpack shopping in the morning (i managed to get most of my Xmas presents so I was very pleased) and walking around the memorials and monuments at the mall (Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Martin Luther King, Vietnam, Korea, WWII and Washington) and Capitol Hill. Really interesting finally getting to see the sights that I have seen on TV and in the movies. Went to the Museum of Natural History and watched an IMAX movie on white water rafting in the Grand Canyon not at all what I thought it was going to be....wished Id gotten there half an hour earlier so I could have seen the tornado one instead but oh well. Then it was off to Union Station via the metro and on to the train to write my assignment and make my way back to Caldwell. Got back to the dorm around 9.30pm very tired but after a really great trip.
I had booked a 48 hour ticket on a hop on hop off bus and when i went to get the tickets the next morning i was informed that i had managed to save over $40 which was great..definitely going to book over the internet again when I decide to take one of those next. Anyway there was a marathon on in the city center so the only bus service was the national cathedral and georgetown circuit. Went up to the top deck and ended up having to move down while we were detoured because of low branches and as i was the last one to come down the bus driver took off while i was still walking down the stairs..needless to say i have a few bruises that i didnt have before i got to DC.
The bus trip was pretty good we saw the cathedral and i was hoping to go up and do the gargoyle tour (they have a gargoyle shaped like darth vader) but it was closed off because of the quake that hit there at the end of august. Went to Georgetown Cupcakes at Lisa's suggestion and it was a major wait but totally worth it the cupcakes were devine....chocolate, vanilla and their signature red velvet. Yum yum yum yum yum! Anyway eventually managed to find the bus again (DC has something against marking tourist bus stops) and headed back to the mall and went to the old post office pavilion and up the tower which had a great view of the city. After that I went to the American History museum to see the original star spangled banner and dorothy's ruby slippers and then it was off to the supermarket and back to my hostel for more study.
Day 3 (or 2 if you dont count the day i arrived) this morning i walked down to the crime and punishment museum where i checked out the exhibits and did the top detective challenge which wasnt as interesting as i thought it was going to be. I got myself an NCIS hat and when i was walking to the white house a guy surprised me by putting his hands up and going i give up! Talk about your random events. So i did the photos at the white house and managed to find some DC charms and had some photos taken in a mock up of the oval office and the press room in the white house which was pretty cool. Next stop was lunch and then off to Arlington Cemetery where i got to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier which was very interesting but not something ill be doing again. It took 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately I wound up finishing there half an hour before they closed but the bus never showed up even though it was still meant to be running for another 90 minutes. After half an hour I gave up and took the metro to the local mall where I got some dinner and had a look around before heading back to the hostel for more study.
My last day was spent with a very heavy backpack shopping in the morning (i managed to get most of my Xmas presents so I was very pleased) and walking around the memorials and monuments at the mall (Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, Martin Luther King, Vietnam, Korea, WWII and Washington) and Capitol Hill. Really interesting finally getting to see the sights that I have seen on TV and in the movies. Went to the Museum of Natural History and watched an IMAX movie on white water rafting in the Grand Canyon not at all what I thought it was going to be....wished Id gotten there half an hour earlier so I could have seen the tornado one instead but oh well. Then it was off to Union Station via the metro and on to the train to write my assignment and make my way back to Caldwell. Got back to the dorm around 9.30pm very tired but after a really great trip.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
article in the jersey tomato press
Had a great lunch yesterday with some very interesting women and finally got to see the article about me in the jersey tomato press (the link is under 'my article' on the left hand side of my blog page). Had a crisis management training day today which was a lot of laughs. We have a really great group of people working at the ABA center and we all get along really well. However sometimes its hard to see the professional line when your professors shift from being professors to colleagues and back again. Thankfully everyone has a great sense of humour and so far professionalism hasn't been too great a challenge for me. My grades finally dropped by half a mark tonight which gave me an 'opportunity to learn' (we dont make mistakes in our programme only create opportunities to learn) but it hasnt affected my GPA so Im not worried, in fact it feels kind of nice to know that I can make "mistakes" in this programme and its not the end of the world. Anyway that is all for now and here is the article link (for anyone who cant find it on the blog site itself) http://caldwells.thejerseytomatopress.com/stories/From-New-Zealand-to-Caldwells-Rotary-Club-of-the-Caldwells-Serves-Community,8398?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=rotary&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=&sub_type=stories&town_id=&page=
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
First Rotary Presentation
So I did my first Rotary presentation today and it went pretty well...everyone enjoyed it and I traded a banner and gave out some of my kiwi pins which they all loved. I was asked today whether New Zealanders have sense of humours and my host counsellor Tim informed straight away that he "didnt know about New Zealanders but this one certainly does". Guess Im making an impression on them. I gave them a quick run down on my weekend in Boston and then started my presentation which intended up being more of a discussion than a presentation as I was getting questions and comments all the way through. It was still good and everyone was paying attention but unfortunately i didnt get all the way through it so they missed out on some of the NZ details and my little video clip of the haka but theres always another time Im sure. Either way I have now been asked to come and talk to a middle school and have another lunch invite. Im also on the list of people going to attend UN (united nations) day in NYC on the 5th of November which will be great. Apparently the Rotary international president will probably be attending and there will be some people from the UN as well as a chance to see some of the Ambassadorial scholars I met over the weekend again.
I also received my article today which was really good and if it ends up being added to the paper's website I will link it on here for you all to read.
I also received my article today which was really good and if it ends up being added to the paper's website I will link it on here for you all to read.
Boston/inbound scholar orientation
So I have just returned (as in yesterday) from 4 days in Massachusetts which was great. I went by train to Boston and spent half a day there. However part of that day involved making my way to the airport to meet Veronica an outbound scholar from Texas (i was 15 minutes late and very worried that id miss her but fate went our way). We went to the Cheers pub for dinner and had a great time getting to know each other before heading out on the metro for 30 mins to meet our ride to Boxborough Holiday Inn for the orientation. We ended up being roommates which was great and we settled in to our hotel room (very nice). Next morning it was an early start as breakfast and registration was at 7.30 (but they werent ready so we just milled around and got to know Dominic an inbound scholar from Germany now based in NYC). Orientation kicked off at 10am and aside from the suprise of having to get up and introduce ourselves to 70+ people things went pretty smoothly. I found out that I wasnt the only scholar having a hard time with the way the American college system works with studies being so thoroughly guided by the professors and I also learned that I am not the only scholar in my district. In fact we have an outbound heading to Lebanon who lives virtually 5 minutes away from me! Saturday was a very long day heading well into the night as the group who organised the orientation were officially farewelling their founder with a lovely dinner and some interesting skits and things. We had several very important people at the dinner including former Presidents and Vice Presidents of Rotary International. We ended the evening at 11pm (there was a wedding going on and everyone figured sleep would be impossible until that ended at 11) and hit the hay so we would be all ready to start again at 7.30 the next morning.
Sunday I got caught out and had to do a skit (i got the easy one so it wasnt so bad) which went well and i lead a rush of people to check out before the day officially started so that we werent all caught in a line when the orientation was over at 12. Veronica and I caught a ride back into Boston to my hostel where the woman mistakely thought we were both going to be staying so Veronica ended up getting a free lunch which was nice. We did part of the freedom trail before parting ways and promising to keep in touch. After that I found a shoe sale and invested in a very cheap pair of designer boots which i have been assured will see me through an North eastern US winter (time will tell). Then it was back to my hostel to get some study done so that I didnt end up getting my first F when I returned to college on Tuesday.
Monday and it was check out early with every intention of finishing the freedom trail only to end up getting caught in a down pour so it was off to pick up a few pressies and then i booked myself on a duck tour (a land/water tour carried out in an old WWII vessel designed for both the land and sea) which went past the sites I had missed the day before. As fate would have it the weather cleared once the tour started but I still got to see most of the things i wanted to see and even managed to catch some photos of them as we sped past. Then it was a quick rush to go and collect my gear and get to the train to head back to Newark and then a run from the train to the bus stop so I could get back to college in time for tea and class.
I made some great new friends and discovered a city that I love and cant wait to visit again.
Sunday I got caught out and had to do a skit (i got the easy one so it wasnt so bad) which went well and i lead a rush of people to check out before the day officially started so that we werent all caught in a line when the orientation was over at 12. Veronica and I caught a ride back into Boston to my hostel where the woman mistakely thought we were both going to be staying so Veronica ended up getting a free lunch which was nice. We did part of the freedom trail before parting ways and promising to keep in touch. After that I found a shoe sale and invested in a very cheap pair of designer boots which i have been assured will see me through an North eastern US winter (time will tell). Then it was back to my hostel to get some study done so that I didnt end up getting my first F when I returned to college on Tuesday.
Monday and it was check out early with every intention of finishing the freedom trail only to end up getting caught in a down pour so it was off to pick up a few pressies and then i booked myself on a duck tour (a land/water tour carried out in an old WWII vessel designed for both the land and sea) which went past the sites I had missed the day before. As fate would have it the weather cleared once the tour started but I still got to see most of the things i wanted to see and even managed to catch some photos of them as we sped past. Then it was a quick rush to go and collect my gear and get to the train to head back to Newark and then a run from the train to the bus stop so I could get back to college in time for tea and class.
I made some great new friends and discovered a city that I love and cant wait to visit again.
photos
For anyone who hasnt found these yet here are my photos https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos
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