A Work Week and Auckland Anniversary Weekend

Hello again! Last week I was quite busy with my class and project. I read and annotated a total of six books as well as a number of studies for my project research. I also had an assignment due for maths and I've refrained from totalling up the number of hours that I spent working on the seemingly small work set of just nine problem... It woud certainly be a staggering number. Luckily, after all that work, I had a relaxing long weekend thanks to the Auckland Anniversary. In New Zealand each region is allowed a public holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the main city in that region. Auckland's falls on January 30th, so everyone had the day off on Monday.

The anniversary festivities were numerous. I attended the Auckland Seafood Festival at the Viaduct in the city center. There was, of course, an abundance of delicious, fresh seafood dishes. The dishes came in snack size portions so trying a number of things was encouraged. I had an amazing paella (food of the sailors), smoked mussels, scallop bruschetta and some seared prawns with butter and herbs. There was also three music stages. When I was there, two local artists occupied the smaller stages and the main stage featured the Royal New Zealand Navy band. All three acts were great, but I especially loved the Navy band. My favorite part of the festival was watching a cooking demonstration by the head chef of the Sky tower restaurant. The demonstration was held in a room that was very much like a cooking show set- auditorium style seating with a stage and show kitchen. I also had a nice stroll along the viaduct after I left the festival. The area is very industrial, but at the same time clearly designed for public use. There are some great restaurants, a fish market, a park and lots of boats surrounding the entire area. Unfortunately, I left my memory card at home,deeming my camera useless. I will return today to take some pictures though.

Auckland Anniversary and Seafood festival brochures (Scanned)

I also went to the Auckland Botanical Gardens this weekend. As I mentioned previously, the Gardens are currently featuring an exhibit, "Sculpture in The Gardens." The exhibition featured 21 sculptures along a two kilometer trail. The sculptures were extremely varied in style and construction material. Some were made of bronze and stone while others were formed using fabric and recycled plastic. Here are just a few...

"Daisy Blanket"- recycled plastic and twine

"Splayed"- shovels, screws and pipes

"Project Zeltsitz in Gondwana"- steel, aluminum and fabric

I also walked around some other parts of the expansive gardens. I most enjoyed the New Zealand Native Forest Trail.

Its difficult to tell how tall these trees are from the picture, but trust me, they are enormous.

They are mostly of the Remu variety.

This portion of the trail was far less dense than most other parts.

 It was too dark in most parts for the other pictures to turn out unfortunately

Please ignore my wild wind-blown hair! The NZ native forest is behind me.

On Monday, the date of the Auckland Anniversary, I spent the day having a barbecue at home in the back garden. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon. It rained in the evening so I was happy to have spent some time outside earlier in the day. Our neighborhood was quite dead on Auckland Anniversary, with just a couple cars parked on the street all day. It was funny to wake up this morning and see the street completely occupied with no available parking spots as everyone returned to work.

This week brings with it some significant changes for me (that took up a lot of my time last week, in fact). I will update you about these early next week. Some less significant happenings on the agenda are the usual class, work at Liggins and project work. I am also planning on attending a talk at the art gallery, going to the Auckland Lantern Festival this Friday, hopefully taking a trip to the Museum of Transport and Technology and also the Maritime Museum. I hope you all are having a great start to your week!

Until tomorrow...

Lots of Love,

A



Welcome to My Weekend

Happy weekend everyone! It's been a great one for me. I did a lot of studying, homework and project work, but I also had a chance to enjoy the weather. I spent some time at the library, went to a barbecue, visited the Parnell baths and rose gardens and saw a concert in the park. The Parnell baths is an enormous public pool. One of the neat things about the baths is that they are chlorinated salt water. I took a book and had a nice relaxing time.

Parnell Baths

The Rose Gardens are also in Parnell. I had been there before for the Parnell Rose Festival back in November, but as I was close by I thought it would be nice to go for a walk among the flowers. I really want to visit the Auckland Botanical Gardens sometime this summer. I've heard great things about it and there is a sculpture exhibition on at the moment that I would really like to see.

Rose Gardens

The Auckland City Council puts on "Music in Parks" every summer. Each weekend there is a series of concerts in parks throughout Auckland. There are three themes this year, Jazz in the Rotunda, Summer Sounds and Culture Garden. Jazz in the Rotunda is held in the domain each weekend. I attended the Murray McNabb Group concert there today and really enjoyed it. There are also "Movies in Parks," but I haven't attended any yet. I need to look up the schedule because I love a good outdoor movie!

I also made myself a tasty lunch today. I had sweet potato fries and quinoa salad and yogurt with pomegranate seeds and white chocolate for dessert! So delicious! I've been browsing through some online sites for recipe inspiration recently. My two favorites are here and here.

One of the happiest parts of my weekend was getting this (picture, seen below) in the mail from my amazing cousin Aiden : )

sorry for the dark photo!

Thanks for reading!
Until Tomorrow...

Lots of Love,
A



Welcome to the Stardome

Hello Everyone! I had a wonderful time yesterday. As I mentioned , I went to the planetarium for a presentation on the summer stars. The Stardome Observatory is located in Cornwall park, which is also the location of the popular One Tree Hill.   My picnic didn't go exactly as planned, but ended up being very enjoyable nonetheless : )

A beautiful picnic spread... in the living room : ) My house is very poorly equipped with Tupperware and such, so a living room picnic proved to make much more sense logistically

Make your own bruschetta- the french bread is the best I've ever had! It came from Village Winery down the street. The cheese is brie, my favorite

After a bite to eat it was off to Cornwall Park

This is One Tree Hill. If you look closely you can see people atop the hill and really get a sense of the scale. Indeed, there was once an actual tree on top of the hill, but it was regrettably poisoned by vandals.

The observatory.

In other news, my calculator has arrived! Its a TI-nspire CX. It has a color screen, a full keyboard and excel built in just to name a few features! On the topic of math, I got my official grade for the test I had recently and I'm very happy with it. I have a bit of studying to do and an assignment to work on for the course, but other than that I have few plans for this weekend. I have a lacrosse game and I'll probably go to a concert in the park with friends on Sunday, but Saturday is completely open! I think the weather is supposed to be nice too so the possibilities are endless! Do you all have any fun plans for the weekend?

Until tomorrow...

Lots of Love,

A



Thoughts on a Thursday

Hello Again! I don't have anything too monumental to report today, just a few minor excitements and things I've forgotten to mention recently... First off, I feel great about the exam that I had yesterday. I'm fairly certain that I got every question right. There's no better feeling in my opinion than walking out of an important test knowing that you knew everything you needed to. That was the only test for the class before the final exam, which will happen in mid Feb. I celebrated yesterday with a yummy dinner of pasta with some roast veggies, and a mango sorbet/ lemonade float for dessert. I made the sauce for the pasta just by throwing some diced tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onions, basil and cilantro  in a pan and letting it simmer for a little over an hour. It was fantastic on top of linguine. I also had some roasted butternut squash and carrots. There was tons of left over pasta and a bit of sauce, so for lunch today I'm planning on throwing in some chopped raw tomatoes and basil and having it cold.

Speaking of food, my fantasy of picnic + planetarium in the park that I mentioned the other day will finally be realized this evening! I'm planning on bringing my camera with me. I'll likely get some shots of One Tree Hill as well, because the planetarium is in Cornwall park also.

Lost the Wicket! (Photo Source: http://cricket.yahoo.com/)

I forgot to mention yesterday that I watched the cricket test match between Australia and India on tv over the weekend. I've seen very little cricket before watching this match. My familiarity originated almost solely from the 2001 film "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India". Anyway, after this weekend I can confidently say I know how the game works. I was with some true cricket enthusiasts and they were incredibly disappointed that what was scheduled to be a five day test ended after only three, with Australia taking the win. It was funny to me that their disappointment was not over the match's victor, but over the fact that they lost two days of watching cricket. I certainly wasn't as enthusiastic about the game, and much prefer to watch tennis or rugby. I've been watching the Melbourne Open this week as the ATP World Tour continues. On the topic of rugby, I have a ticket to go to each of the eight Auckland Blues super rugby matches starting at the end of February and I'm really looking forward to it.

When I wrote about my research yesterday, I forgot to include a link for an interesting and related Youtube video. Its a BBC production called, "The Nine Months That Made You." Its in four parts, and discusses the significant impact of a mother's nutrition during pregnancy on a child's future health. It explores the recent discoveries of scientists that imply that maternal diet can potentially have a greater effect on a person's health than lifestyle choices. The researchers at the Liggins Institute have produced many of the same findings as those in the video and this would give you a bit of insight into some of the work that I'm involved in.


Each day I have a 15-20 minute bus ride from my house to university. Coincidentally this is the perfect amount of time to listen to Ted Talk podcasts. This makes my time on the bus feel productive and meaningful because I always feel so stimulated by the new ideas and incredible research. I desperately want to give a Ted Talk one day! One of the talks I listened to most recently was by the three teenage winners of the Google Global Science Fair. All three winners were women which I thought was really neat. I also just found out that a friend of friend recently gave a Ted Talk as well. I really admire these teenagers presenting their ideas and I think Ted is an incredible organization for recognizing extraordinary thinkers, no matter their age.


One of the things that I really like about Ted is that almost all of the talks concern, in a way, the speakers opinion of what should be done about an issue that can be examined in a very factual manner. I use the word opinion loosely in this statement, because almost every solution proposed by a speaker is backed by fact and research. However, given all of the facts and background research, the listener still often has the opportunity to consider whether or not he agrees with what the speaker proposes. This brings me to something I've been considering recently; that is that it is crucial to respect everyone's right to have an opinion, but it is a personal choice whether or not to value it. This thought was inspired by a person I've spoken to several times, who each time rants about how terrible America is in a purely inflammatory manner. However, this person does not remember my name or anything about me despite having heard me reiterate these details a number of times. Because of this and my general impression of the person's character, I've decided that I respect this person's right to an opinion on American military and politics, as it is obviously based on their own life experiences, but there is no need for me to value it. I choose rather to value the opinion of people like my parents who have both served their country and continue to serve their communities in their current careers. Anyway, I'm excited that I'll be able to express my opinion and vote in the presidential election later this year!

I'm so happy to have received great feed back from you all about my posts. I love hearing from you! Thanks for reading : )

P.S. Lacrosse started up again this week!

Until Tomorrow...

Lots of Love,
A

Welcome to the University of Auckland

Hi everyone! Recently I've been spending the majority of my time at the University of Auckland city campus. Although I'm only taking one class for this summer semester, I have lectures every week day because of the shortened term. I also do most of my pre-reading and post lesson exercises in the maths and statistics assistance room just in case I have a question.

Here's Albert Park. The building in the background is the General Library where I have my math lecture.

The art gallery and central city library are located at the other end of the park.

The city campus is spread throughout downtown Auckland, but concentrated mostly on Symonds Street. Auckland Uni is the top university in New Zealand and something like 55th in the world. The university was established in 1883 and has become New Zealand's largest university. The various buildings around the campus feature an incredible range of architectural styles. Some of the buildings are modern while others are clearly colonial. Theres also variety among the older buildings. For example the political science department is housed in a series of quaint villas, while the international office is located in a rambling brick building.

This is the Alfred Nathan house where the University's registry is located.

Its one of the oldest buildings on campus.

Here a drastically different style of architecture- the new Kate Edgar Information Commons.

This building houses the bookstore, cafeteria, short lone library and computer labs.

The Old Choral Hall is right next to the Information Commons. The international office is in this building.

This is the business school. Its one of the newest buildings in the city campus.

The University of Auckland is so highly ranked in large part due to the innovative research that occurs there.  The university's medical research facility is called the Liggins Institute. It is located in the neighborhood of Grafton, just a few minutes from Symonds street. I spend three half days there each week. I'm currently working with two different researchers on their projects, one involving full body vibration chairs and their effect on youth affected by cerebral palsy, and the other involving follow up clinical research looking at maternal diet and the effect on the fetus. The Liggins Institute's research focuses mostly on endocrinology and early childhood development. I couldn't really get any good pictures of the institute. Its a lot like any older hospital. The university is actually remodeling the medical school at the moment and constructing a new building to house the institute. Its very exciting for everyone there, and they are scheduled to move around September, 2012.

University Clock Tower

I really enjoy the uni campus, especially the incredibly lush parks and fantastic old buildings. In my opinion, the modern buildings are nice, but they can be found almost anywhere. There's certainly something special about the places that were constructed with such care and craftsmanship so many years ago.
Well, I'm off to do a final run through of my notes for my exam this afternoon! Enjoy your day!
Until Tomorrow...

Lots of Love,
A

Welcome to Rotarua + Taupo

Good morning! I just woke up and am so excited to tell you all about the great long weekend I've just had. I'm back in Auckland now, just in time for the start of a very busy week, but this weekend I got to go to Rotarua and Taupo in the central north island with friends. Both Rotarua and Taupo are geothermal zones so we saw lots of hot pools, mud pools and a few geysers. All of Rotarua smells like sulfur. One of the people I was there with is a chemist for a geothermal power company, so I learned a lot about the area and geothermal activity. Most of the hot pools are far too hot to bathe in, but there are several areas where you can jump in and go for a swim. We went to a public hot pool spa in Taupo and I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was kayaking on the Waikato river. We also had a great time jumping off a rope swing into the river near the public kayak access. The Waikato is New Zealand's longest river, and it flows out of Great Lake Taupo. There are a lot of mountains around Lake Taupo and that's where most people in the north island go skiing and snowboarding during the winter.

The Waikato

Kayaking! The last time I went, it was sea kayaking with my mom in Mexico.

It's a bit easier with a current : )

This is the Haka Falls on the Waikato. We kayaked the section of the river between lake Taupo and here.

Some very experienced kayakers actually go over the falls. Its much bigger and far more powerful than it appears in the picture. Standing where I was, it was difficult to talk because of how loud the water was.

Another thing I did over the weekend was go to a Maori cultural performance at Te Po in Rotarua. Almost all of the Maori tribes lived on the North Island, especially in the central area. There are still a lot of Maori people in that area and the culture is apparent throughout the communities.

Performers.

The Marae meeting house where the performance took place.

This is a traditional Maori meeting house. They are intricately

carved and very sacred.

We also went up in some gondolas in Rotarua and then went down the luge tracks at the top. The view on the gondolas and at the top of the hill was great. There were also a few little walks and mountain biking tracks that could be accessed from the gondolas. Anyway, luging was tons of fun!

Gondola. You can also kind of get an idea of the view from this picture.

Here are the luge tracks. There were three tracks, scenic, intermediate and advanced.

The scenic track is 2km long.

Usually I'm not one to enjoy car rides, but I was in awe of the scenery for the entire trip and the lengthy ride flew by. There was a new and beautiful view around every turn. My dad warned me that I would be amazed by the size of the sky and the enormous scale of all of the mountains and trees... and I certainly was. It was a little like upstate New York, but even more grand. Living in Auckland, its funny to think that only four million people live in New Zealand, but on the drive I really got some insight into how spread out the population is. It seemed like there was one house every few kilometers outside of towns, which all felt about as large as Paw Paw. Most of the land is used for farming or commercial logging. Its incredible to see all the hundreds of sheep, cows, goats and deer grazing on the sides of the very steep hills. I hope you all had a good weekend as well! A few people have asked to know more about Auckland Uni and the research I'm involved in. Plan on hearing about it tomorrow! 

Until then!

Lots of love

-A

Some more Haka Falls pictures (some, clearly candids!)

 





Welcome To The Museum

Hello again! I've had such a full day today! I had a meeting with my Davidson Fellows mentor early this morning, then I had a little time before I was due at the university so I decided to go to the Domain to get some reading done. While at the park I also visited the museum.

Auckland War Memorial Museum

The ground level of the museum is home to the Pacific People Exhibit.

Level one is dedicated to natural history. There's quite a lot on birds, as they are the most abundant wildlife in NZ. Bats are actually the only native land mammals in the country.

A boat formerly belonging to a Maori chief extends nearly wall to wall in the Maori Court room.

The Origins room. I found myself picturing dinosaurs wandering around the dynamic NZ landscape.

There was a special exhibition on the history of the New Zealand All Black rugby team in the Tamaki Gallery on the ground level. In case you don't know, the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup in October. Also, if you've never seen a Haka, which is a traditional Maori "battle chant," check out this video of the All Blacks Haka.

The museum from across the park.

 I posted one picture of the Winter Gardens in the domain earlier this week, but I took some more today...

NZ is famous for its silver fern, so of course the gardens would include a fernery.

This is a picture of the tropical house, taken while standing in the doorway of the cool house. The houses  open out to this beautiful courtyard. The entrance to the fernary is on the left and an exit on the right leads to the duck pond.

I have been carrying around my camera like a shameless tourist... and I'll admit I've come to enjoy it : ). My mom and dad were right, taking pictures is a good thing. Anyway, I have one lecture tomorrow and then I'm looking forward to a very fun weekend (with a bit of studying for my upcoming exam squeezed in of course!). I would love it if you let me know what you think of my posts and what you would like to hear about in the future. 

I hope you all are having a good week!

Lots of love,

Anna

Welcome To My Neighborhood

Good Evening! Today was a fairly standard (but wonderful!) day filled with pre-reading, a uni computer lab session, study group, lecture, workout and Davidson Fellows tasks. The rain that's been going on all week subsided in the late afternoon and everything was looking incredibly green, so I decided to make the trek up Mount Eden and take some pictures for you all! I also took some shots of my flat and the village.

My front door.

Fresh summer flowers and produce in an organized kitchen makes me smile

Garden study session

Looking toward Mt. Eden Village. My apartment building is just out of sight on the left...

A path leading up Mount Eden

Top of the mountain : )

A view of the iconic Sky tower. The ocean on both the east and west coast, the Auckland Museum, Rangitoto (an island) and much more can also be seen from the top of Mount Eden.

A blurry shot of an always-bustling cafe called Frasers in the center of the village.

After one run and one walk up Mount Eden in the same day, I decided to treat myself to a dinner of Israeli cous cous with grilled veggies and mozzarella, basil and olives at Frasers. Delicious! I sat outside with my date for the evening, "Apollo's Angels." : )

A pretty display window at an Italian home wares shop. I have a crush on those lamps.

The Heineken Open is going on this week in the nearby village of Parnell and I was hoping to make it to a match at some point this week, but I waited too long and all the tickets are sold out for the rest of the tournament. There's a party after the final on Saturday that I'm thinking of going to though.  There will be several kiwi bands there. I hadn't heard of any of them, so I looked them up on Itunes and fell in love with an artist named Barnaby Weir. If you want to listen to his work, it is on the Itunes store, but you'll find a better selection of songs if you change the country to New Zealand.  Also on the to do list this week is to see a presentation about "Summer Stars" at the Stardome observatory in Cornwall Park. I'm thinking planetarium + a picnic in the park sounds like a great evening : )

I'm looking forward to another busy day tomorrow! Until then...
Lots of love,
A