Japan blog!

I created a seperate blog for my study abroad experience in Tokyo, Japan. Link: (http://brettintokyo.blogspot.com/). Here you will find all of my adventures and misadventures over the next four months. Enjoy!

Arohanui NZ

I just got back from NZ about a week ago and it's still hard to believe that I just traveled to eleven different locations on the S. Island in four weeks. Traveling about the S. Island is a bit like walking through a giant greenhouse with sheep, kiwis, tourists, farms and some towns/cities thrown in the mix. In terms of the U.S, it was as if we drove from Colorado alpine country to Seattle's rainforests, Florida's Everglades, Hawaii's beaches, and the West coast all within about a few hours distance from one another. That is, of course, a simplistic description but the landscape is probably what I will remember the most. I couldn't help but be amazed at how almost every bend in the road would reveal another beatiful scene. Granted, NZ faces its own set of environmental challenges/issues but it's easy to see why the landscape is probably its greatest asset. If I had to pick out two highlights from the trip, I'd definitely start with Abel Tasman National Park (at the north tip of the S. Island). We spent the morning kayaking along the coast and then took a 3-hr. hike back through temperate rainforest (picture jurassic park minus the t-rex) with views of the beaches and aquamarine sea. That was arguably one of the most beautiful national parks I've seen. The other highlight would probably be the two days we spent in Kaikoura. In the morning, we walked along the coast when the tide was out, walked through a colony of fur seals, learned about the life hidden between the rocks and at one point almost witnessed our instructor try to wrangle an octopus out of the water. The next morning, we set out on a boat into the Pacific and dropped into the sea with snorkeling gear, wetsuits and about 3000 meters of water beneath us. Within minutes, we were surrounded by a pod of dusky dolphins zipping by us in almost every direction. In some cases, they would circle you and swim close enough to stare in the eye. It was pretty surreal but also somewhat overwhelming. Though our guides and boat were nearby, it was a bit cloudy/rainy that day and we couldn't see very far down into the water. Slightly unnerving was the thought that we were at the mercy of whatever lied beneath us (killer whales, great whites, and giant squids included)..but maybe I've been watching a little too much shark week. Anyways, if you ever find yourself in the S. hemisphere (or want to find a great winter study abroad program), AUIP's program is absolutely fantastic.
   After about 26 hours in airplanes and airports (a record?), I'm now back at home in Indiana adjusting the the snowy weather and anxiously awaiting the superbowl (go bears!). I have two months until my semester in Tokyo starts and I've been trying to find a job. I've applied at 7 places already but it doesnt seem likely that anyone is going to hire for only two months...so I'm probably going to volunteer somewhere instead. I've also been spending time reviewing/brushing up on Japanese. It's been a while, but it will come back to me. Anyways, time for bed..Cheers~

New Zealand

I'm in New Zealand!!!! I've only been here for four days but it is absolutely amazing. I am participating in a study abroad program through AUIP and the University of Montana in a four week course called "Sustaining Human Societies" which will cover a range of topics and issues concerning the interactions between humans and the environment in New Zealand. From Chicago Midway to Christchurch NZ, I was in the air for a total of about 17 hours and went through three different airports on the way. Each one had different rules about what was allowed in the carry-on, etc and that was a little disorienting. Auckland airport, however, was definitely a nice change of pace. When you arrive, you can see the bluish-green water of the Pacific, palm trees, and breathe in some nice fresh air (it's summer here in NZ)! On the descent, I could see little white dots all over the green landscape below...and those turned out to be sheep (NZ is populated by 4 million humans and 39 million sheep). When we arrived in Christchurch, we met Professor Borrie and took a shuttle to Living Space (our apartments). I'm sharing a flat in Christchurch over the next few days before we head off to Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park and about ten other locations around the South Island. On the first day here, we went on a crazy scavenger hunt to find different things associated with NZ. Apparently, there are three different kiwis in NZ..the fruit..the bird..and the people (New Zealanders call themselved 'kiwis'). One other surprising thing about NZ is the number of Asian restaurants..there's about one on every street corner!
Christchurch is an absolutely gorgeous city. It is probably one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. There is a beautiful cathedral in the center of town and the streets are lined with trees and all kinds of cafes, shops, and restaurants. There is an enormous park on the west side with a beautiful river running through the city. We visited the Canterbury Museum a few days ago and it sits right next to the Botanic Gardens...which were so gorgeous! It's nice to see so much green in an urban area..this is definitely my kind of city. We also visited the International Antarctic Centre which is basically a museum/information center about Antarctica. We attended a lecture on climate change and it turns out that parts of Antarctica are actually cooling (global warming is uneven in its effects across the globe). It was kind of touristy, but there was a room where you can experience an 'Antarctic Storm' (and take pictures of yourself around artificial snow/ice). In any case, skin cancer here is a pretty big issue (the ozone isn't so strong here in the southern hemisphere) and I've been playing it safe with the sunscreen, etc. One other thing I should mention about New Zealand is that the weather changes a lot! In one day, the temp. can change from 50s to 70s and you have to dress in layers. It also rains quite a bit in the summer depending on where you are (the west side of the South Island gets about 300mm of rain a year). In any case, I absolutely love it here and I'm definitely looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Anyways, that's about it for now, but I will be sure to update later!
Cheerio!

Tales from Fall 06

    Well I haven’t written on here since September...and boy have things changed since then. I’m not quite sure where to start here…this by far has been the most challenging, busiest, craziest semester I’ve ever been through. I’m now back at home for break and feel like I’ve recouperated enough to reflect back on everything…but the full effect of it all has started to wear off after three days of complete relaxation/lazing around/clean bathroom/non-commuting life. Brace yourself, b/c this is going to be one long post… Anyways, the ball really started rolling with my stats class. It was a grad level stats class in anthropology and I was only one of three undergrads in the class. We had an assignment due every class…a problem set due every Tuesday and a paragraph interpreting stats from an anthro research journal article every Thursday. I found out that I had to split the problem sets up into two nights..b/c usually they would take 5-10 pgs. single spaced to get done >-< (though some of the pages were just graphs and tables). Me and my friend Julie would always be up late trying to get the problem sets done…comparing answers and finding out we came up with totally different things...and then discovering a few hours later why they were different. Oh the memories…the rounds of caffeine…the instant messaging …our classic shell-shocked expressions in the morning (more so for me). I had statistics first thing in the morning and for most of the semester, went to class without any caffeine. All I can say is ..lesson learned. I followed what was going on, but sometimes I really wasn’t fully awake and I feel like I could have gotten so much more out of the class if I had been. I noticed that some of the grad students brought coffee with them. Sounds like a no brainer…but it didn’t occur to me at the time. The final for the class was probably one of the hardest finals I’ve ever faced… It was only seven problems but took 20 pages single spaced to answer…and several days to finish. Nonetheless, I feel like I did as well as I could with the time I had. And I just found out I got an A in the class! It's so exciting! To be fair, I think it was a really great class……and I feel like all of the effort will really pay off in the long-run… But it was intense, and it’s hard to think positively about things when the pressure is on. Thanks to Julie and everyone else who kept me company late at night! :)
    One note about finals week- it was non-stop…and I’m sure it was for everyone else…but it really pushed me to the limit this time. On Mon..I had one exam on the Wed. of dead week…a 13 pg paper due on Mon., the last problem set on Tues., a 15 pg. paper on Wed., an exam at 8am on Thurs., and finally my stats exam on Thurs. (which turned out to be 20 pgs).
    It wasn’t all non-stop stress though. On Saturday, Cassie/Connie has a gift exchange at their house…I bought a penguin coffee mug at Target as a gift and Cassie receiving it. Haha…turns out that she already had the same exact mug…so Nhat got it instead. I ended up getting a fantabulous Asian cookbook from Connie...it has just about all of my top favorite things in Asian cuisine with a whole section for just curries (thanks again Connie, you rock!..and thanks to both you and Cassie for the tasty Chinese/vietnamese morsels this semester…I will have to repay you guys with some things from the cookbook next year :)). Then Lisa had a going-away party …and lots of people from the GV were there. Haha…Con made a montage of photos from our first yr at the GV….oh the good times. So many memories from the GV...it was definitely a cool place to live.
    I have to say that the one thing that really helped me make it through finals week was going to Shanti on Wednesday night. At that point, all I had to finish was the stats exam….but I had already spent hours and hours on it…and I had an exam the next morning…so I felt a little overwhelmed. Tony was having a farewell dinner (b/c he will be studying in Hong Kong next semester) and Sibo, Cassie, Connie, Lisa, Jun, Tyler, Sarah, and Amy T. were all there. I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala…and it cleared my mind of everything…at least for a while. It was so great to see everyone….especially since we won’t be seeing each other for so long. I don’t know how, but somewhere between the saffron and naan, I began to feel like things had started to calm down a bit. The night before, things weren’t clicking too well…there was one point at the library when I was working on the exam with Julie and Susan …I kept getting distracted by every conceivable thing. But on Wed. night after Shanti, I felt in the zone and pretty much finished the rest by the next morning. Now that I think about it…it just so happens that a statue of Ganesha (the remover of obstacles in Hinduism) was above the door to the restaurant. I’m not trying to say that curry is the answer to all problems…but it did seem to help a little bit with things that night. So there you have it..tales from pre-christmas past..
    In other news…I will be going to New Zealand in exactly one week!!! I will be taking a short course through the University of Montana called “Sustaining Human Societies and their Natural Environments” from Dec. 26th to Jan. 20th. Then I will be heading off to Tokyo to study at Sophia University for spring semester (from Mar. 21 to Aug. 1st). But more on all of this later.. Happy holidays and/or Merry X-mas!

Craziness

    Ok, so obviously I haven't updated the blog for a while...and all I can say is that the past three weeks have been a crazy blur ..with fun/interesting things thrown into the mix. The biggest problem I've had is getting used to living so far off campus. At Willkie, all I had to do was walk, ride my bike (until it was stolen), or take the E bus. As I am now on the far east side of b-town (past the College Mall) at Bradford Place Apartments, I usually have to take either the 6 bus which goes down 10th street or the convenient Bradford Place shuttle (yes my apartment has its own shuttle ;) which makes three stops in a circle around campus. It sounds simple enough, but getting to campus involves some planning- I have to remember everything I need b/c I can't come back very often during the day...then I need to pack my lunch so I don't have to pay big bucks at the library or IMU food courts...and I then I always need to carry a bus sched. with me so I know when I can leave campus. There were a few times when I missed the bus and/or the shuttle and was forced to drive to campus in order to make it to class on time...let's just say campus is not the best place to be driving around in the morning..especially when people walk out right in front of you talking on their cell phones and wearing their ugg boots (which makes it even harder to resist the urge of running them over). Anyways, my clas schedule has definitely been keeping me busy. Here's what I'm taking this semester (three anthropology, one sociology, and one EALC):
E400 Exibiting Cultures- An interesting course about the ideas, values, and symbols involved in the display/exibition of other cultures- at museums, worlds fairs, tourist performances, etc. This class has really made me look at museums and other exhibitions in new/different ways - especially in terms of display strategies/techniques (more on this later)
    B301 Bioanthropology Lab- covers the research techniques used in bioanth. -skeletal anatomy, forensics, paleontology, primatology, human growth/development, population genetics, etc. For our semester project, we can pick one of the areas and do a small research project of our own. I'm thinking of looking either at facial morphology or fingerprint variation, but not sure yet.
    A306 Anthropological Statistics- this class has been the most challenging so far. We have an assignment due every class and I've been trying to manage my time better so I don't go crazy trying to finish too much at one time. I'm also one of only three undegrads in the class (with about 15 graduate students). Even though it's my hardest class, I think it's probably one of the best classes I've taken at IU.
    S308 Global Society- a sociological perspective on globalization. It's been pretty interesting so far. I've covered some of the topics in other international studies classes I've taken, but it's nice to encounter them again and in a more detailed way. I think the professor also does a good job of organizing the info.
    E352 History and Culture of Edo/Tokyo- this is by far my most favorite class of the semester. Since I will be going to Tokyo next semester for study abroad, it's nice to look at the city from a historical perspective and really become familiar with the urban space. In fact, my professor said that you can still navigate some of the city today using a 17th century map! - I will have to try this one out. My professor also probably has the best power point skills I have ever seen- it's amazing. In one class, we were looking at a woodblock print witha scene of ryogoku bridge. He zoomed in on one third of the print (the start of the bridge) and then would shift to the next third, making it seem like you were moving along the bridge too. Wah...so cool.

Anyways, this week was definitely crazified. I bought coffee twice at Starbucks during one week! I've never really been much of a coffee person, but I've started and I think I'll be hooked. One night this week was especially crazy and once I had a mocha latte, I felt good as new. Haha...but i souldn't depend on stimulants...I just need to change my lifestyle a bit. Once I catch up on things this wekend, I think I'll finally start getting into a routine. Though, is anything in life routine? It just seems like every day is so much different from the next. I'm also hoping to find some easier/faster recipes to make...lately I've been making lots of tex mex b/c I never get tired of it for some reason..ok thats it for now, promise to update later

B-town!!!!!

    Wow..what a summer! I can't believe I packed so many different things into this summer...usually it's only one or two things- summer school or lazing around. First summer school...then North Carolina with the family..then archaeology field school in NC...and then back home for a month to lounge around- and make the UAS website. I have to say, websites are so much more complicated and difficult than they look! If you don't believe me, click on "view" in your browser than click "source"..that is all the crazy code that was typed to make the page you are looking at. Anyways, I also started my study abrodad application. After deciding back and forth between two programs in Tokyo, I finally decided to apply for the spring program at Sophia University- I'm so excited! I will really be able to explore more of the city this time around. My first stop will be in the chuukagai (the China Town in Yokohama)..for what you ask? the best bubble tea in Japan...I have yet to find something better than b-town's Chow Bar..though I hear Joy-Yi's in Chicago is good too..mm.
    Well today was definitely a whirlwind. I started off at 6:30am on the usual 3-hr. trek to b-town. As usual, I got stuck behind a sloooow semi truck on 421...then stopped for some caffeine and arrived in b-twn around noon. Over the summer, I decided I should get a job this semester so that I have spending money for Japan..so I decided to go to the job fair at the IMU to see if I could get a shelving job at the Wells Lib. Well it turns out that is only for work-study, so I need to find something somewhere else...maybe the Geology Lib. or Lang. Lab? Anways, the fact that I couldn't move in until today made things kind of rushed. When I pulled up for check-in at my apartmento (Bradford Place)..I was greeted by a dancing bear mascot person..which kept looking at me ominously as I searched for my checkbook...and then I got my keys! My apartment is great...a great deal for the price. I have the whole apartment furnished including a living room/kitchen (with dishwasher!)..I never thought i would be so excited about a dishwasher..but it definitely beats hand washing/scrubbing and gross drainage water. It all comes with shuttle transportation and two bus lines that go to campus...which def. beats driving a car accidentally into a miraculously empty spot and discovering later that you racked up some nice little yellow envelopes on your front window (which I did a little too much of last year). Anyways, it's a three bedroom and I have two roomates who seem pretty cool. It's nice to have the extra space and in some ways it actually feels nice to be farther off-campus. Well, that's it for now...more later.

Dora Neko