It is my fifth month studying abroad in New Zealand, and there were ups and downs throughout these months, but I'm proudly to say that I'm able to survive from those chaos.
I could still remember vividly when the moment I left Malaysia and taking flights all the way to Dunedin by myself, those uncertainties and insecurity just surged up within my mind - I didn't know if I could understand the Kiwi accent since that was my first time going to a Western country, I didn't know if I could be able to adapt to the culture, I didn't know if I had the ability to bear the high workloads in University so on and so forth. To be honest, I was perplexed by all the uneasiness. Yet, I was still trying my very best to calm myself down.
Oh yeah! I also remembered when I first got down from the flight to Dunedin, I was feeling unwell because of gastric and a little of motion sickness from the long-hours flight, but I still had to settle all the stuffs like collecting key from the UniFlats office, and "socializing" with the driver OMG. Furthermore, I thrown up on the same night due to stomach gastric, yeah, that pretty much sums up my first night in Dunedin. That was the moment when I realized "I'm alone now like seriously, there is no one there for me, no roommates, no fam, nothing". I used to puke occasionally back in Malaysia, but I was so blessed, there were roommates or housemates who would send me warm water, passed me medicine or checked out on me every now and then just to make sure everything is fine. I missed those moments when I have someone to rely on, and not to worry about dying in the room alone.
Before coming to Dunedin, I got no idea how does homesickness feel like, I guess that might be because I used to live quite near from home even I studied in another state (less than an hour drive to home), but this time, I know how it feels. It is something that you have no control at all, plus there will be any random stuff or moment which is able to elevate homesickness with no effort, it's also something that might cause you to sob at those lonely quiet nights. Fortunately, I have my boyfriend with me who would Facetime with me every night, sooth my anxious and back me up.
As time goes by, I am accustoming to the environment and culture over here and experiencing less and less culture shocks nowadays. Not to forget mention that I was craving for foods in Malaysia like nasi lemak, curry mee, my favorite teh halia, different kinds of tarts (my all time favorite!) from time to time in the beginning but I think I kinda get used to the limited choices of foods here now. Oh no, actually I still have a strong craving for particular foods (just never get over them) :P. My boyfriend keens to tell me to make my own foods that I'm craving for, but.... it's different. I know I can make them, but just, it's not the same with the one that I had in Malaysia, or maybe I just miss home.
I think the worst part of studying abroad for me is not about dealing with the overwhelming food craving, it's about dealing with people and school. I could still reminiscent that I was so confused on the accents of various lecturers during the first few weeks of school. There was one lecturer whose origin country is Ireland, he has a very strong Irish accent OMG (but he is a very nice guy, he treated us with the highest respect and he was extremely helpful in literally everything), I had to pay lots of attention to fully understand what was he talking about, plus, it makes everything more difficult because English is not my mother tongue. He would pronounce LEFT as LIFT, seriously, I got no idea what was that at first, everything just did not make sense to me. Nonetheless, I do realize that the efforts that I had to pay on his lecturers were gradually decrease, it provides me an indicator that I do comprehend his lecturers days by days :P. Oh yeah! There was a lecturer that I must not forget to bring over here! So basically, he was the lecturer for my COMPARATIVE COGNITION (comparing intelligence between animals and human beings), it is no doubt that he offered the worst slides ever (there's no way that you can imagine), he did not do lecture recordings, he spoke real fast and he had the toughest examination on earth. *I think I have to emphasize on his lecture slides. When I say he gave shit slides, I do mean it. So, there were 10++ experiments regarding to a particular topic that we had to memorize (this subject is all about experiments on a variety of animals like testing their verbal intelligence or numerical competence), he basically only put a super short tittle for each experiment and graphs for the results part, THAT'S ALL! and you know what would be coming out on examination?
(i) Details of the experiments (types of animals and materials used)
(ii) Procedures of the experiments
(iii) Detailed results
(iv) Alternative interpretations for the results
(v) Possible improvements to be made
He expected us to provide profound answers on examination with very limited information given in the slides, so NO CLASS SKIPPING is allowed. Comparative Cognition is the ONLY subject that I attended EVERY SINGLE CLASS (I'm so proud of myself omggg haha!). Apart from that, we had three examinations (2 tests and final) in the whole semester, and we were required to write 4-5 pages for each chosen topic including all of the sub-parts that I mentioned above; plus, we had to integrate all of the experiments and analyse ourselves whether there is any species difference and historical shifts (bear in mind that these things were not taught, you have to figure out yourself). He also mentioned that this subject has the highest failure rate among the psychology papers and I know why after having the first test. Everything was just insane. Nevertheless, looking on the bright side, my critical thinking level is notably enhanced (so different when I was in HELP). In sum, everything is just about thinking critically over here.
Besides school, I have something to talk about the flat that I was living. I was sharing with another 5 who are from US and also the Kiwis. I am so glad that I met my Kiwi host who offered help to me every single time and she was being soooooooo considerate all the time! And also desserts and Maori foods that she made for us, those were delicious and yum! :D On top of that, we were doing flat dinner throughout the semester, so each of us was responsible to take care for the dinner on one night. I had one flatmate who is from California, she made really great Mexican foods and she baked quite often for the flat as well! Ahhhhhh, I am missing her foods now! Unfortunately, she was here just for exchange so she would be going back home soon :(. I would miss her till we meet again! By the way, I also got them Asian foods which they never tried previously like sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken, fried udon mee, rice balls, sliced garlic with honey chicken and many more. I'm so thrilled that they do love those Asian foods awww.
My first semester in Dunedin was pretty good except for the harsh weather here. Weather in New Zealand changes super rapidly, one sec you were with your layers on but you have to take it off next sec because it was warm. It's just unpredictable, and I don't think umbrellas are useful since it can be really windy on most of the days (it would just destroy the umbrella). I still do not have the chance to wear my shorts even it's spring now, I am still able to feel the coldness at night :(.
Ahhhhhh! This almost slipped my mind! I am so grateful I met a number of great friends here! *Sorry for jumping from point to point, but I do really want to mention this. The moments that we had together were unforgettable, we had trips on few places in New Zealand, we attended yoga or judo classes together, signed up for sea fishing trip and horse riding lessons, went to different events in Dunedin, did all sorts of crazy things, and unlocking achievements and ticking off bucket list altogether! Moreover, I also met few other helpful friends from my crochet and modern jazz classes. I was amazed by the talents and perseverance that they possessed and they did bring an impact to me which indirectly assisting me growing up throughout the journey. I do appreciate that wholeheartedly.
I think this pretty much sums up my firsts semester in Dunedin, and I do pass by some of the other details because I think I should have stopped now and it does require strenuous effort to summarize 5 months in one blog post thou. *Hope you enjoy my long-winded grandmother stories and there will be posts coming up talking about trips in New Zealand! :)
