Dunedin Weekend
Hello blog!
So, this weekend started out pretty wild, but it took a mellow turn and ended up being quite lovely. The weather has FINALLY been improving and mother nature is serving us blue skies with 50 degree days. My one complaint is that it is still super windy, but as long as the sun stays out I’ll be a happy camper.
The weekend technically began on Thursday - the night of my flat’s first red card party. A red card is a phenomenon here at Otago where each person in a flat has a ‘red card’ and they can pull their ‘red card’ at any time (even if someone else has a test or project due). If said ‘red card’ is pulled, then all members of the flat must throw a party and get drunk together. Some red cards involve games and bracket tournaments, while others take a more relaxed approach with music and plain old good company (we chose the relaxed version). The six of us posted in our complex’s Facebook group, inviting everyone and their friends to come over. I also spread the word to my friends who don’t live in the 809 complex, but sadly there were multiple parties happening on Thursday and everyone’s plans were up in the air.
On the night of the party, we all got ready and we moved our couches around, set up a nice beer pong table and put on some tunes. The party started at 8:30 (as mentioned in the Facebook invite) and I remember sitting in our living room at 8:20 feeling like the girl from 13 going on 30. We had music but no one on the dance floor and a beer pong table with no players and it was looking pretty bleak for us. But slowly our friends started arriving and our flat began to be filled with chatting college students and people dancing. All I was thinking was: thank god people came and we aren’t officially losers!! At the peak of the party I’m pretty sure we had 40 people in our tiny little flat in 809F! People even came that aren’t living in Uniflats cause they could hear the music from the streets. Some people from a few doors down also brought us a boombox so we were really bumpin. Overall, it was a solid red card and we accomplished our party goals. Success!
On Friday, I barely woke up in time for my tutorial at noon - whoops. But I rushed to class and then came home immediately after it was over for hot tea and a nap. The six of us in 809F all needed Friday to recover from our Thursday night party, so we made dinner together and baked some delicious blueberry muffins (from scratch of course) and then watched a movie.
Side note: what are the things called that you put muffins in?? There was a major debate on the proper name of the little paper wrapper things you use for cupcakes and muffins etc. I said they were called muffin holders, but our UK flatmate (Nicky) was adamant that they were cupcake cases. I still cannot figure out what in the heck they are called. Please inform me if you know.
On Saturday, we all made a pilgrimage over to the Farmer’s Market because it was beautiful and sunny outside. I exchanged my empty peanut butter jar for a full one at the Bay Road tent (they give you a 10% discount if you return your old jar) and then I bought some delicious cheese. It definitely was a successful Farmer’s Market adventure.
Right when we got home, I got a text from Amy asking if I wanted to join her to go watch her friends surf on the beach. Obviously I replied: “YES” because surfing is super cool!! I walked over to Amy’s and a bunch of us piled into Polly and followed another car full of people to the beach. I kid you not when I say we went to five different beaches before finding one with “the right conditions.” Once we found the perfect beach, the guys got suited up and headed out into the water. I’m not sure what I expected, but I was definitely blown away by these surfers - they were super talented and I have no idea how they managed to surf the gigantic waves along the coast of New Zealand. It looked pretty insane. While the guys were surfing, me and the other girls enjoyed the beach and the nice weather along the coast. After surfing was concluded, we decided to go get ice cream at St. Clair beach.
We walked to a little cafe that served ice cream and I ordered a vanilla milkshake off of the menu. About 5 minutes go by and they bring me my milkshake, but its literally just a glass of frothy milk. Obviously I drank it because I was curious and my suspicions were confirmed: it was disgusting. It was literally just flavored, sugary, frothy milk. It was wack. Apparently, in New Zealand, if you want a traditional (american-style) milkshake, you have to order it extra-thick? Anyway, I had to drink my weird sugary milk because I paid $6 for it and it kind of sucked, but I guess now I know?
After ‘ice cream,’ Amy dropped me off at my flat where I made some dinner and hung out for a little while. At around 7pm the whole surfing gang packed up again, picked me up, and drove out to Long Beach for a campfire. It was quite windy, so it took 45 minutes of struggle for us to finally get a fire going, but it was so worth it! We all sat in a circle on the beach, played music and goofed around. It was a very wholesome night, with some very cool people. At around 11:30pm we decided to put the fire out and we packed up to go home. When I arrived home, my flatmates were also just getting back from karaoke, so I hung out with them for awhile before going up to bed.
On Sunday, I slept in until 10:00am and had a leisurely morning at the flat. By 1pm I was dressed and ready to go get some work done at the library, but I made a stop at the book store along the way. This new book will be the third one I’ve read since being here in New Zealand (first two include: Slaughterhouse Five and Wuthering Heights) and I am so proud of myself! I’ve forgotten how awesome it is to read before bed and to read when I’m bored - I’ve thoroughly missed this pastime and I’m happy I’ve re-committed to it! The new book I bought is “A Man Called Ove” which I’ve heard really good things about, so I hope it will be a good read!
Anyways, after the bookstore I continued on to the library and worked there until 7pm. I’ve got a lot of work to complete for this week so I’m hoping it will all go by quickly. By 7pm I was exhausted and braindead, so I retired back to my flat to discover all of my flatmates ordering pizza in preparation for movie night. Obviously I joined in on the pizza order and we all watched The Nice Guys together on the couch. It was a hilariously weird movie, but I would definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for weird comedy.
All in all, it was a splendid weekend spent here in Dunedin and I could not be more unprepared for the week to start. Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading :)
