DAY 2
Crawled out of bed around 7 am and did a little exercise in my room before heading to breakfast at 8 am. Remember how I said their dairy products were amazing? Well I had their yogurt with some delicious granola and have definitely found y breakfast of choice for this trip.
So they are an English speaking country but have different names and meanings for things. For instance, coffee:
Short balck = shot of espresso
Long black = espresso + water
Flat white = espresso + water + milk not cream
Very confusing!
After breakfast we headed to the Commerce Building for our first lecture. First, Neil Gow gave us a quick overview of NZ discussing government, market environment, similarities and differences compared to U.S., a briefing on its ag, anfd some challenges they face. It was an intersting way to start and learn how globally focused they are in knowing what is happening in the U.S., EU, and China. Why is it so important to be keyed in? Well, considering that exports are their life blood, especially ag and tourism, they need to keep a competitive edge.
They focus the market on value adding and productivity. By using technology they can disregard the distance factor i.e. chilled containers for dairy and meat. 90% of dairy products are exported!
Moving onto the agriculture sector they look at productivity by utilizing low cost ruminant based livestock systems. By that we mean they utilize their year round pasture grass to harvest the sunlight in turn for a protein source rather than grain. Also, due to their climte, there is no need to house animals. There are enough trees and hedges (P.S. trees galore, such variety and all intermingled) to shelter the animals and homes from the wind and weather.
There is one thing chaniging how pastures are kept and that is irrigation. We havea later lecture that will go into further detail of this topic. It is interesting because its not for crops like us because 3/4 of the farming land is grassland.
He left us with these challenges NZ is facing: exchane rate, productivty and income equality (min. wage =$13.75, there us no tipping and sales tax is inluded), productive land use especially dairying, meat industry, water, energy and oil, sustainability and "greening", and dealings with China. All of these will be discussed throughout our trip. During his lecture and just in observation, ag is HUGE here and the citizens are aware of its importance. Wish that was the case back home.
Next, Dr. Greg Ryan gave us a quick overview of New Zealand history. He discussed how it was first influenced by Polynesians and the Maori were the natives. They hunted a lage, docile mammal bird type animal called the Moa to extinction. This is a culture that still exists and one we wil havd the opportunity to experience. The Maori soon became outnumbered by Europeans and NZ really took off during the gold rush period of 1852-1868. Gold and wool were major exports in its early years.
After Dr. Ryan's lecture we had a quick lunch before heading into Christchurch. Our bus driver Ted gave us a bus tour on our way into town and pointed out the main attractions in the City Centre (CBD= city business district).
The Feb. 22, 2011 earthquake really rocked the city centre's world. It is heartbreaking seeing all of the condemned buildings still standing with continuous construction.
The unique thing is how the locals tried to make the best out of the disaster. Groups started "greening the rubble" to help keep the memories and be optimistic about the future they would take old, recycled materials and make like statue gardens out of it. These are in areas where buildings used to be.
As I mentioned, there are a lot of buildings still standing from nearly 3 years ago and it us because it is such a long process to tear down. Since buildings are so close here that they can't simply bulldoze or blow them up like we do. They have take to take them down, piece by piece.
Christchurch sure has some stories to tell. The Cathedral was a building destroyed in the quake where many lives were lost. Shortly after the quake, a young architect wanted to help and try his new idea. He built what is called the "cardboard cathedral" as a temporary replacement. The structure is made completely out of cardboard that will last for roughly 20 years. How cool! I plan to visit it during a free day along with the world's ONLY container mall. Yes, it is an outdoor mall made out if refurbished shipping containers.
Ted dropped us off for 2 hours if frer time by the city musuem and botanical garden. Katie. Kinsey, LaNae, and I roamed around the gardens. It wad a huge park withq a duerse display of trees and flowers. Baiscally everything is in bloom right now and I captured a bunch of great photos. It was simply breathtaking all of God's and nature's magnificent creations.
Us four decided that at every major stop we would take what we coined a "boy band" photo. Yeah, we are weird but it will make for a fun and interesting photo book with many stories.
At 4 pm we headed to the Riccarton mall for an hour. It is owned by Westfield, same company as the O street mall in Lincoln. How ironic! Didnt recognize many of the stores but good fashion!
We arrived back at LU around 5:30 where I went to Wi-Fi and uploaded a few photos and visited with friends. Ate dinner at 6:30 and have been journaling since. Weny to bed early at 9:30 in preparations for the New Year's Eve festuvities in Hagley Park.
Oh a few last observations I have made. Tyre = tire and there are a lot of vehicles running around also driving on the left side instead of the right, but there are very few pick up trucks. We drove by a Ford dealership where typically we see trucks and trucks but we only saw a few.
Very intersting in comparison to how we all have been brouhgt up and how similar yet very different each country can be.
Monday, December 30, 2013
New Zealand: Day 1
DAY 1
Left MSP at 7:30 am and flew to Atlanta and then 5 hours later arrived in LAX at 2:00. First time in California! Met up with the group and went to check into our international flight at 4:30 and then roamed the airport till we boarded our flight to Fiji at 8:30.
It was a long 11 hour flight but I slept, read, and watched Polar Express. I am reading Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. During our flights we were fed plenty of food. It wasn't terrible but it was food and kind of gave me a stomach ache with all the food but just sitting there and it sitting in my stomach. We landed in Fiji at 6:00 am just as the sun was rising. The Fijians were very nice. Bula means hello and Vinaka means thank you.
It was pretty cool crossing the international time line because we never experienced Dec. 28,2013! Weird right? Next, we hoped onto another plane to Christchurch for 4 more hours on a plane. So that totalled 22 hours on a plane for me!
We got to Lincoln University inthe town of Lincoln around 12:45. Yes, we left Lincoln, Nebraska to arrive at Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand. The area had an earthquake in Sept. '10 and Feb. '11 and multiple buildings on campus are now condemned.
Our group is housed in Hudson Hall and they are quaint little dorm rooms. We all finally got to shower after traveling for nearly 30 hours. BEST SHOWER EVER!!!
Sack lunches were h ad and they put eggs on nearly everything and are quite proud of theur CookieTime cookies that are chocolate chip, double chocolate and even apricot flavored.
Next, we had a short orientation of the university and our itnerary by Heather Stevenson our main host. As we went through all of our activities, it made me giddy realizing how amazing of a trip this is going to be!
The landscape is so diverse here that within a 150 mile radius you can be surfing or snowboarding. We'll go from plains to mountains and glaciers to rainforestto fijords and then incredible oceanic and night sky views. This truly will be a trip of a lifetime, no doubt!
We had some free time so LaNae and I ventured around campus snapping pictures. Later went to the New World market grocery store in town for some toiletries. Logan and Jared joined me in hopes of buying some alcohol since the legal drinking age here is 18, but Logan forgot to grab his passport so instead they simply got to escort me there and back.
At 6:30 pm we had a BBQ dinner. Kiwis sure like their meat has we had five options; chicken, steak, lamb, and three flavors of brats. The food has been amazing thus far. Their dairy products are unbelievable, especially the ice cream.
After dinner, about 25 of us sat around in the TV lounge and drank the local beers for an hour before heading into town to the local pub. It was a nice mile or so walk, but we arrived at the Famous Grouse and were quickly accepted by the locals. I enjoyed a litrr of Speight's Gold Medal Ale. Csn't quite figure out what to compare it to back home. Gold's beer is like Coors. It was an entertaining trip with some individuals learning new tricks from the locals. I have videos for proof. Later, Katie and I played pool with Reese and Nate. We all headed back around 11. It doesn't get dark till about 10 and the sun rises around 5:30. Once I hit the bed, I was out till 6:45 am.
Left MSP at 7:30 am and flew to Atlanta and then 5 hours later arrived in LAX at 2:00. First time in California! Met up with the group and went to check into our international flight at 4:30 and then roamed the airport till we boarded our flight to Fiji at 8:30.
It was a long 11 hour flight but I slept, read, and watched Polar Express. I am reading Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. During our flights we were fed plenty of food. It wasn't terrible but it was food and kind of gave me a stomach ache with all the food but just sitting there and it sitting in my stomach. We landed in Fiji at 6:00 am just as the sun was rising. The Fijians were very nice. Bula means hello and Vinaka means thank you.
It was pretty cool crossing the international time line because we never experienced Dec. 28,2013! Weird right? Next, we hoped onto another plane to Christchurch for 4 more hours on a plane. So that totalled 22 hours on a plane for me!
We got to Lincoln University inthe town of Lincoln around 12:45. Yes, we left Lincoln, Nebraska to arrive at Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand. The area had an earthquake in Sept. '10 and Feb. '11 and multiple buildings on campus are now condemned.
Our group is housed in Hudson Hall and they are quaint little dorm rooms. We all finally got to shower after traveling for nearly 30 hours. BEST SHOWER EVER!!!
Sack lunches were h ad and they put eggs on nearly everything and are quite proud of theur CookieTime cookies that are chocolate chip, double chocolate and even apricot flavored.
Next, we had a short orientation of the university and our itnerary by Heather Stevenson our main host. As we went through all of our activities, it made me giddy realizing how amazing of a trip this is going to be!
The landscape is so diverse here that within a 150 mile radius you can be surfing or snowboarding. We'll go from plains to mountains and glaciers to rainforestto fijords and then incredible oceanic and night sky views. This truly will be a trip of a lifetime, no doubt!
We had some free time so LaNae and I ventured around campus snapping pictures. Later went to the New World market grocery store in town for some toiletries. Logan and Jared joined me in hopes of buying some alcohol since the legal drinking age here is 18, but Logan forgot to grab his passport so instead they simply got to escort me there and back.
At 6:30 pm we had a BBQ dinner. Kiwis sure like their meat has we had five options; chicken, steak, lamb, and three flavors of brats. The food has been amazing thus far. Their dairy products are unbelievable, especially the ice cream.
After dinner, about 25 of us sat around in the TV lounge and drank the local beers for an hour before heading into town to the local pub. It was a nice mile or so walk, but we arrived at the Famous Grouse and were quickly accepted by the locals. I enjoyed a litrr of Speight's Gold Medal Ale. Csn't quite figure out what to compare it to back home. Gold's beer is like Coors. It was an entertaining trip with some individuals learning new tricks from the locals. I have videos for proof. Later, Katie and I played pool with Reese and Nate. We all headed back around 11. It doesn't get dark till about 10 and the sun rises around 5:30. Once I hit the bed, I was out till 6:45 am.
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