Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Dinnertime Adventures

Dinner is always one of those funny things around here. Most backpackers buy food at the supermarket and make use of the hostel's kitchen to cook their own food and save some money. I've been carrying around breakfast and lunch and snack food, so I allowed myself to go out to dinner each night. Each night has brought really interesting people and situations. My first dinner was in Franz Josef on Monday night. I checked out the handful of restaurants on the main road and picked one that looked like it'd be a good option. Eating dinner alone at a table for two tends to be relatively depressing, and I was trying to enjoy sitting on the deck outdoors in the nice weather to make it feel less lonely. Right as I was getting ready to leave, the couple at the table next to me looked over and asked where I was from. They'd noticed my Akiba t-shirt and figured the three of us may well be the only Jews in the town. So I went over and chatted with them for a little while. They were quite friendly and were telling me about where they'd been so far and where they were heading next. Towards the end of our conversation I asked their names, in case we were going to run into each other when we'll be in Christchurch this coming weekend. The woman said her name was Valerie. Before I got a chance to get out "Oh wow. My mom's name is Valerie" the man told me his name. What was it? Michael. How weird is that?

Them last night I was sitting by myself in the upstairs bar area of another establishment, after ordering pizza for dinner. I was back and forth between checking out the incredible view of the glacier out the window and watching some guys play pool on the other side of the room, when two girls walked in and sat down nearby. They turned to me and asked if I was alone, and then asked if I wanted to come sit with them for dinner. I was so grateful to have people to sit with, and we had a really enjoyable time talking - turns out the two had also just met on their way over so we'd all wanted some company instead of being alone. What could have been a simple lonely pizza dinner at a mostly-empty bar turned into a really fun night playing pool and meeting a bunch of other travelers from Israel, Whales, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, and England who had all come through town during their travels to hike the glacier.

Tonight, I was exhausted from a lot of walking and sore from the glaciers, but I walked up the road back to the hostel before going to dinner in the hopes of finding someone who'd want to go to dinner with me. Since everyone was cooking their own food, I eventually relented and walked back into town to have dinner at a pizza/pasta place I'd spotted earlier. I got a menu and sat down at a fairly large outdoor table all by myself, content to make the best of it. After I'd ordered a group of four backpacker-looking people came down the side street the restaurant was on, looking for a place to eat. Since my table was right at the door, I offered that they were welcome to come join me, if they decided to stay. They took me up on it, and we had a really fun time. The four of them had just met ten days ago and did a hard-core mountaineering course on the glacier. Today was their first day back in civilization since, and they were excited about real food instead of the dehydrated meals they'd been eating. They were a really funky neat group of people, and we were soon joined by some of the Melbourne exchange students that I keep running into in each town I stop in. They'd just been walking around the area and recognized me so they pulled up chairs and stayed with us for a while.

I'm amazed at how fun dinners have ended up, despite lonely starts. It seems like everyone here is just looking to meet some new people and have a good time wherever they find themselves. Backpacker culture in general is really open and friendly, where general conversation starts with where you're from and what you're doing and how you ended up in wherever you are. I'm also really proud of how well things have been going. You never know what to expect when you plan an international backpacking trip for yourself entirely by yourself, and so far it's been all smiles. I can't wait to show you the pictures and tell you about the incredible things I've been seeing!

PS. The sheep all say hi. There are LOTS of them here!

Monday, March 24, 2008

New Zealand Adventures Begin

My adventures to New Zealand began with a mistake. No, don't worry. I just misread my flight departure time ast 5:05 PM instead of 5:50. The consequence was spending an extra hour in the airport. Not so terriblle. Other than that one glitch, though, things have been going really well so far. Highlights included fitting everything into my backpack, catching a train and then a shuttle to the airport, and not getting any of my food taken away from me at customs when I landed.

Last night I arrived at the Christchurch airport quite late and went in a shuttle to Charlie B's Backpackers -- looked like an awesome place to stay, from what I saw of it. I got in at midnight, crashed, and woke up at 6 the next morning to catch another shuttle to the TranzAlpine train that goes through the Southern Alps (mountain range through the center of the South Island) to Greymouth, one of the many small towns that dot the west coast. I was exhausted, and for a short while I was fighting the urge to fall asleep on the train, since it's a scenic train ride with big windows and an outdoor viewing car. My body won, though, and I let myself get some rest so that I could at least enjoy the second half of the train ride. Everything I saw was gorgeous, although I think I missed seeing the location used for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings. I'll post pictures on a facebook album when I get back. There were mountains, lush green fields, tiny train stations, and lots and lots of sheep. Some cows and an occasional horse too, but a lot of sheep. This it the country with 4 million people and 40 million sheep.

After walking around Greymouth for a short time and visiting a one-room exhibit about jade and its value in the Maori (NZ's indigenous nation) culture, I headed back to the station to catch a bus down the coast for four hours until I came to Franz Josef.

Franz has two streets - the main road and the shorter one parallel to it. It's used mostly as a base for people who want to explore the Franz Josef glacier, a 10 minute drive away. Tomorrow I'm going out for a full day glacier hike which should be pretty incredible. Right now I'm sitting inside an old bus from the 70's painted bright red and set up with a rows of computers around the wall. What a great system! My plan is to keep everyone aware of where I am by getting on the internet every couple days - hopefully updating via the blog most of the time.

Have a great week everyone! More to come soon! Don't forget to write!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Melbourne Recap: Month 1

So you haven't heard from me in a month, which is not so great on my part because now I have so many things to catch you up on and I'm sure you don't want to read it all at once. At least I'll take a stab at starting the process tonight.

After the Melbourne Welcome program I moved into my apartment with my roommate Maya who's from Montreal and Israel. Our apartment is super centrally-located in the middle of a great area of the city and right along the tram like that runs to school. The state library across the street has an awesome lawn that is always crowded with people hanging out or reading. I met the five other religious (American) girls who just happen to live down the hall. It's been really nice to have other people on the hall to hang out with, and we've all bonded and spend a lot of time together. I'll post pictures of my room as soon as I take them, which is generally true of whatever else you would want to see pictures of. I'll get around to taking pictures, but probably at the same rate I've gotten around to posting to my blog.

We had a week of relatively lame orientation activities. Lame, because they were geared for first-years so it was all about adjusting to life at "uni" and study skills and things I wasn't interested in. I got a chance to check out the lively swing dancing scene in Melbourne. I've joined the dance club at uni and I've gone out dancing in the city a couple times as well. Really nice people, and some awesome dancers too. I also got to meet some of the Jewish students who are part of AUJS - the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, which is roughly the equivalent of Hillel in the states. It doesn't really have a strong religious component, though, since most students live at home and wouldn't be around on campus for Shabbat or holidays.
It'll take an entire separate post for me to tell you about how wonderful my experience has been with the Jewish community here, with the student organizations but more significantly with the Conservative community: Kehilat Nitzan. They're just great and I love being with them.

Classes started two and a half weeks ago, and the beginning was incredibly busy for me but really fun too. Instead of just picking my 4 classes in advance and sticking to them, I decided I would be better off if I checked out a bunch of different options and saw which ones I enjoyed the most. That meant that for the first week I attended eight classes and spent my time zigzagging all across the campus. I certainly learned my way around quickly. But it was all worth it, because I ended up with a schedule of classes I really enjoy, with none on Fridays and only one final exam (the rest are papers). Those are:

Algorithms and Data Structures - the only required course for me, replacing one offered back at Penn that I'm missing right now. Many of the concepts, at least so far, are review, but they're programming in C which I haven't really used much, so I've got plenty to learn.

Language and Media - fun times with media analysis and a quirky American professor who combines ridiculous linguistics terminology with media stuff I actually understand.

Media, Politics, and Society - more media analysis with a social/political twist. It's filled with first-year students who talk a lot and dress like each day's a fashion show. It's certainly amusing people-watching, and the class is teaching me a lot about Australian media in particular.

God and the Natural Sciences - more accurately the history of the relationship between science and Christianity since the medieval times, but despite the limited scope it's still really interesting. The main professor is an Anglican priest AND has a PhD in Physics. It's the closest to a philosophy course that I'll probably ever take.

Because of Easter, our semester break starts this weekend. I'm spending Purim and Shabbat with Kehilat Nitzan and then on Sunday I'm flying to New Zealand for a week and a half filled with adventures all over the south island. That trip is part of the reason I am actually getting around to writing to you now, since I know when I get back I'll want to tell you all about my trip.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a note wishing me a happy birthday this week. It was very exciting for me to hear from people all over the world who took a minute to say hello and wish me a good day. It did turn out to be an enjoyable one, despite the fact that birthdays away from home have a tendency to end up pretty disappointing. I got a bunch of friends together - new ones and reconnected ones - and we had ice cream and went out bowling. What a great way to spend an evening! My birthday presents consisted almost entirely of candy and stuffed animals. Did I really turn 21 or maybe 12? or 5? I loved it.

Please don't forget to write and update me about your adventures!