Maine in New Zealand!: Happy Birthday to the Queen!

This weekend was a long weekend, and boy am I glad it was. I lied when I said I didn’t have much to do for my last week at uni. I thought I didn’t, but I definitely underestimated how much time everything would take. It’s all good though – I’m making good progress!

Saturday, I know I had to walk over to the Te Aro campus to work on my photo project, but I took my time getting there. I stopped by the weekly market at Frank Kitts Park and the Mighty Mighty Market, like I do every Saturday. Once I finally made it to Te Aro, I buckled down and had a serious photoshopping session, and I got a lot accomplished! My project is due this coming Thursday, so I’m running out of time quickly! I didn’t get much else accomplished on Saturday, although I did make a yummy pasta salad.

Sunday was even less of a productive day. I didn’t intend to do schoolwork though, so at least I didn’t let myself down! However, I didn’t intend to go shopping, either, but that didn’t work out for me so well…

I wanted to go to the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt, which is a 25 minute bus ride from the Wellington CBD. When I got off the bus, I was at a mall! I had no idea it existed, but I found it, and of course I wandered around. There were such good sales for the Queen’s Birthday weekend! After I made it out of the mall (carrying a little bit more than I went in there with) I found the Dowse, which was nearby. It was much smaller than I thought! It was kind of a disappointment, but the content made up for it for sure. They had a ceramics exhibition, some huge wall drawings, and two sculpture exhibitions. I saw giant clay pots, a computer and desk lamp singing a Madonna song, massive geometric wall sketches, and some mythical sculptures. They were all so cool, I’m glad I made it there!

Look at the size of those things!

A steam engine.. made of clay!

"The Digital Age"

The artist only gives instructions, and then other people complete the work.
No 2 ever turn out the same!

Today, Monday, is the Queen’s Birthday, so is a public holiday. At restaurants here on public holidays, they usually have a 15% surcharge. Do they do that in the States? Also, the streets are always dead on public holidays. Maybe it just seems like that, because they are usually so bustling with people going to and from work, or to and from uni. It seemed as though there was nobody in Wellington today!

I was actually quite productive today. I practiced my Spanish with a friend, in preparation for an oral test I have tomorrow. In all the years I’ve studied Spanish, I’ve never had an oral test. So, I’m especially nervous for tomorrow! I studied some more after I left my friend’s flat, but then decided to take a break. My break consisted of walking over to the Te Aro campus to do other school work. I finished up some photoshopping while I was there. I don’t have too much left to do for my photo project, which is such a good feeling!

On my way back home from Te Aro, I stopped at a new restaurant on Cuba Street called Ombra. Oh my lanta was it goood! I got a couple small plates, and ended my meal with chocolate salami. It looked like salami, but it had chocolate, nutella, biscuits, and nuts in it… yum!!

I’m hoping to get a lot more studying done tonight. I have an Environmental Science exam tomorrow morning, followed by my Spanish oral test. Wednesday, I have a written Spanish exam. Thursday my photo project is due, and Friday I present it to the class. Then I’m done! For good! So bittersweet…

While I was at Te Aro today, I realized that in my post about university, I completely left this campus out! I’m usually at Kelburn, so that’s what I showed you. But two days a week (and usually more, because I have so much work to do there!) I’m at Te Aro as well. I took advantage of the fact that uni was empty today, and took some photos.