bleh, so i was going to go to a cool class @ the gym this morning (sat morning...), but i'm stupid and forgot the buses are different on the weekends. guess that means i'll have to update my blog for all of you that have nothing better to do than read it. jk ;) you know i love you guys.
so the 2nd week of feb my nz conservation practices class went on our 1st field trip to cape kidnappers and te angiangi marine reserve. this trip was our field work trip and we were all doing research for our group projects. mine was on the birds at the marine reserve (we were supposed to see how the crows were affecting the birds, but we didn't see any crows...so we had to shift our goal a bit). on tuesday and wednesday my 1/2 of the class went to cape kidnappers. it's private land owned by 6 different owners which is set aside for restoration work, and has a HUGE predator proof fence around it, so that rats and cats and mice can't get in. in nz, conservation is more abt killing the harmful introduced things rather than saving the native things. rats, cats, and stoats are the biggest problems here because they eat ground nesting birds and their eggs. since there are no native nz predator mammals, they birds evolved feeling safe on the ground...now the rats take advantage of that :( since my research needed to be done at the reserve, i just helped out the other groups and enjoyed the view. it was REALLY hot, and up quite a steep hill, but the view was great :) on thursday and friday we were at the reserve. my data collection required 2 groups of 2 (one inside the reserve, one outside) picking 2 different sites to do a scan sample (look across the beach and note what kind of birds you see and what they're doing- ex: black billed gull, flying) and one focal sample (pick one bird in the group and watch it for 5 mins and record it's every movement- ex: heron, foraging, walking, standing, foraging, walking, preening...etc.). it drizzled a little on thrusday, but really RAINED on friday, which was the day i was supposed to help another group. since the weather was so bad we didn't get to do any research though :(
the 3rd week in feb i spent doing hwk. we had a popular science article due and i focused most of my time on that. i chose to write my article on the lesser short-tailed bat, one of the two native nz land mammals. if you're interested in reading it let me know, and since it's a pop sci article EVERYONE should be able to understand it...that's the whole idea :) on saturday, after my paper was turned in i went to the cuba st carnival. don't ask me why they do it...they just do. amanda and i watched the parade (my 1st...see videos @ the bottom) and cheered and yelled for christina as she went by w/her capeoria group. after we hung out w/jugnu and friends and had a few drinks. we then went on a bar hopping spree to the bollywood club, and rain. it was a very crazy night full of drunken drama and we didn't get home until 5am :'( sunday morning i woke up, fullying feeling the effects of the late night before, but was supposed to go bird banding at the zoo. not wanting to miss the opportunity for some hands on bird work, kate and i dragged ourselves to the wellington zoo. it was well work it, because we each got to band 3 birds :-D hopefully now that we know the people who run the operation we can help out in the future!
the last week in feb was our field trip to the south island. we took the 3 hr ferry across the cook straight (i slept the whole time because i was still so exhausted from my SUPER late sat night). when we got to picton we rented vans and drove to kikora. we checked into our hostel and enjoyed the hot tub that night :) on tuesday we had a guided walk along the coast line and i'm afraid my words will not do the scene justice, you HAVE to see the pics. i fell in love! it was SOO beautiful. wednesday we were supposed to go whale watching but it was canceled due to rough seas :'( now i fear my chances of seeing a wild sperm whale are slim to none :'( we decided to cut our losses and head to old mcdonalds farm early (that's the hostel we were staying in that night). christina, amanda and i went swimming in able tasman national park and it couldn't have been more memorable. we dug up sand dollars with our toes, i learned the sting ray shuffle, and a wild gannet was fishing right next to us. it was amazing. the next day we took a boat tour around the national park and went on a 3 hr hike. after we went for a quick dip and enjoyed scones and tea at nicky's (my head professor) family home. before getting back on the boat we quickly grabbed a bunch of wild mussels for dinner! of course they were delicious, and i was even more excited because i'd never cooked and eaten anything i'd caught before :) (not that it's hard to catch a mussel...). friday, my birthday ;) we took the ferry back home. amanda had told everyone to dress up so we could celebrate a little on the ferry, and it was a lot of fun to sit around sipping wine in our fancy dresses after a week in the field (bug bites make a GREAT accessory, lol). on the ferry amanda decided to have everyone help out and make me a list of dares i was to complete later that night. i wasn't allowed to see the list until 7:30pm, and there were only 24...but i was quite worried by the evil laughs that could be heard while the list was being formed.
we started the night off at mac's brewery and i also started my list of dares. unfortunately the public broadcast of this story ends here...if you want to hear about all of them, you'll have to ask ;) but don't worry, i didn't get arrested or anything.
this week has been the 1st official week of classes. it's was also free group classes all week at the gym! because it's been since nov that i last went to the gym, i decided it needed to get back into it in full force. i was REALLY good all week and attended ALL the classes i could...except for today :( on monday i went to pilates (my 1st pilates class, and i really liked it...it's WAY harder than i thought), tuesday i went to the x55 class (combo of step and light weights) AND my conservation ecology class (that's not at the gym...but hey, it's what i'm here for), wednesday i took the oxigeno class (combo of pilates, yoga, and ballet...didn't like it so much), thursday i went to power (a SUPER intense weight class...totally kicked my butt and i'm SOOOO sore) and pilates, and on friday i went to my ecological restoration class part 1 and 2 and a seminar on anoles and the pump class (another weights class very similar to pump, but not as intense, but it was still really rough doing those 2 classes back to back :'( my poor muscles!). friday night ashely had told a few of us about a free dinner the ASANZ was doing in the student union. kate, christine and i decided there's nothing wrong w/free food and went! however when we showed up we learned that the ASANZ was the adventist student association of new zealand...NOT what we were expecting. we were polite and ate and chatted with the quite group, but i excused myself after dinner so i didn't have to walk home from the bus in the dark...which didn't even happen :(
for the next few weeks i'll be working on my paper and poster for my bird project, and of course going to class, but i also start my internship on monday! i'll be going to the karori wildlife sanctuary at 8am on monday to help out. i'm not really sure what i'll be doing yet, but i'll let you know :) don't really have any other plans until nathan gets here. he should be coming around the 24th, but it's kinda up to the flights from kuwait as to when he gets here. we've had to cancel our trip to tazmania :( but we will still get to go to the great barrier reef, and hopefully around the north island in nz a bit. hope everyone is well, and thanks for the bday cards :) they're all hanging above my bed. thanks for reading!! :-D
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