Getting High and Low

Exam time
The last two weeks I spent a lot of my time with preparations for school. The first week was ‘study week’, which meant that we had a few revision lectures and apart from that a lot of time to study. I spent a lot of time in the gym and studied in between. I found it pretty hard this time to get motivated. The main reason for this was, that my assignments had all been very good, so I did not have the urge to score high marks in the exams.

The results of the four exams will be a bit mixed but I am convinced I passed them all and was quite relieved when it was all over. Life got a bit boring with only studying and exams. Since I have only got the gym and am not working outside of school I do not have a social network in Blenheim which makes it sometimes a bit ‘lonely’ and boring. And to top this up I do not have time and/ore money to travel to Wellington to taste a bit of the real life. I have some ideas for the upcoming months though.

Working
But first of all I will be working on the biodynamic vineyard for four weeks, being two weeks of pruning experience and two weeks of holiday work. Yes, I have been so stupid as to commit myself to a full holiday of working as to earn some money. Looking back I should have taken some time off as well, since the next semester will start full on straight after that. And it would have been quite nice to spend some time in Wellington again – this might have to wait until September now, when we will have the first break

Integration
As mentioned before I think it is getting a bit boring here in Blenheim for me – not a lot to do and I finally understand a bit more about the drinking problems in NZ and this region in particular. I just try to integrate better and better and whether this makes me a better person is to be seen. Every Friday evening after the indoor soccer match we head to someone’s place to have some drinks and most of the time it ends in a big mesh with people being drunk and too drunk. Not a nice sight but a very familiar one in NZ. And the end of the exams is of course a very good reason to get ‘pissed’; we need to get rid of a bit of exam stress after all.

Euro 2008
The people in Holland will have had a very good week with two good games and wins of the Dutch soccer team. The commentator on the TV here is already predicting the team as the European Champion. My way of watching the games is very different from yours and what I was used to in The Netherlands. In The Netherlands I would be in the pub with friends or at a friend’s place to watch the game and drink some beers. Since the games here start at 06:45 in the morning and I do not know any Dutch people around here, I watch the games on the couch in my sleeping bag. It would be nice to be able to just spend one day in a Dutch pub now. I see all the movies and pictures on the internet about what is happening in both The Netherlands and Switzerland and it seems like one big party. I came along a nice one, see: http://www.sportwereld.nl/voetbal/nederlandselftal/2353585/Fotos_30000_Oranjefans_in_Bern.html

This is it for now – tonight we have our End of Exam Pirate Party! So, time to get dressed up.

Cheers,
Anita

Study time!

The weather has been great for a few weeks and I took some time to explore another part of the Wither Hills walkway on a Saturday (this is next to Blenheim). Since it was a bit chilly in the morning I went dressed in jeans and jumper, but I seemed to be the odd one out (as usual). The kiwis were all dressed in shorts and shirts and were walking/running on the paths. What a sportive bunch of people they are! I was jealous and will think of this next time I head to the hills. Up to now the only place I run a bit is in the gym; I am getting into some kind of a routine by now and the condition is absolutely improving.

The week was spent with the usual school attendance and assignment writing and finally I finished them all and am ready for the last bit of study before the exams.

But first Marco had planned another trip to sunny Blenheim. Unfortunately, the sky was overcast when he arrived (but still much better weather here than where he left 15 minutes earlier!). He had a big surprise for me – being a Hurricanes Jersey.

The jersey worn by the Wellington Region Rugby team, that I cheered to the semi-finals earlier in Wellington. They had to play their biggest rivals this weekend. So, I wore the new jersey and we went to the pub, but it turned out to be a bad evening. The Hurricanes lost with high numbers. It was like the indoor soccer match with the classmates earlier on. We do our best, but it just is not good enough.

We have spent the rest of the weekend touring around the wineries for a bit again and driving the Queen Charlotte Drive. This is a beautiful road along the Queen Charlotte Sound on the northern tip of the South Island between Havelock and Picton.

The weekend flew by and before I knew Marco was on the plane back home and school started again. Back into the routine (last week of this semester).

Unfortunately, we are experiencing some problems with one of the lots of our Pinot Noir. This has developed a growth of bacteria, that is spoiling the taste of the wine and we are with help of the tutors trying to solve the problem and figuring out what has happened.

I also managed to find myself a job again. I am supervising the school library a view hours in the week, so the library can be open longer hours for the students. It does not bring in a lot of money, but it is easy work and most of the time I can do some reading and studying, so not bad at all.

Back to study now – catch you later,

Anita