On Reflection of Study Abroad in New Zealand

New Zealand is a great place to be at and I am sure others who have been there will agree with me. N for New Zealand and N for Nature; New Zealand is Naturally beautiful. I am glad I chose New Zealand for my study abroad and got to see both North and South Islands, both of which are beautiful in their own aspects. Studying at a world class university which was also the nation’s best was a privilege but the experience was made memorable due to wonderful company of friends. 

Everyone changes a little bit after their study abroad. For example, some become a “C” – just pass student from an “A” student while others change their status from “in a relationship” to “single”. I changed too, and by a lot. Gears shifted in my academic and social life. I went from a geek to party animal and my academic motivation to do well plummeted. For the first time, I spent more time basking in the park under the Sun than in the library under piles of books. I went to more bars and pubs in a semester than I had been in my whole life. I made more American friends and spent more time with Americans in New Zealand than I had in America itself. Most surprisingly of all, I got dreadlocks which drastically changed my appearance and attitude, both internally and externally.

I spent these five months happily during my study abroad. And I am thankful to my home and host universities plus study abroad program IFSA-Butler for this. If I were to study abroad again, I would want to change would be accommodation facilities. I stayed at Wellesley Student Apartments in Auckland and it was run like a tight security prison which was annoying and kind of ruined living experience. I would also want to live with people from different countries rather than all Americans as arranged by IFSA-Butler. 

Also, I would want to study abroad independently instead of seeking support from a study abroad program like Butler because I want to arrange everything on my own and it will also be significantly cheaper. I am confident I can arrange everything on my own, just like other non-Americans who study abroad independently.

All You Can Eat Pizza in Auckland

I am not a big fan of fast food. My grandparents were proud farmers who owned several acres of land and grew surplus crops every year. We almost grew whatever food we consumed except for animal food products of course. We also reared cows, buffaloes, goats and at some point pigeons too.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I did not grow up going out to eat in restaurants. We rarely visited restaurants. They were for travelers who had no way to prepare their own food. Or for lazy people of course. Going out to eat in restaurants was not associated with wealth either. You see in western world, opulence is associated with going to fancy restaurants. Rich people back in my country Nepal all ate at their own homes, in a fancy setting maybe whose meal may be prepared by several maids.

However, despite not being a big fan of fast foods, I was craving pizzas for some reason. Don't know why. So I went to a pizza place today with my friends for lunch. There was a lunch deal, all you can eat for 9 bucks beginning from 12 noon to 2 pm. The New York style pizza was delicious. My taste buds were all rejoicing and my stomach wasn't complaining either until I started biting my fifth slice. Mind you, these slices were pretty large. It was in Auckland at a place called Sals pizza. And this deal is active only on Sundays. Any of you in Auckland if reading this should check it out. You will be impressed.

After finishing my fifth slice, I could not stuff anymore without fearing throwing up. But I still went for another help and got two additional slices. My friends and I all got two slices and walked out with it, happy that we didn't have to worry about the dinner in the evening.

As an engineer we always have to do analyze a system's behaviour or response in time or frequency domain. Well I analyzed rate of my pizza consumption in time domain. Here is what it looks like. We speeded through our first three then we slowed down.

 

Reflecting on Exchange Semester in New Zealand

I have bitched a lot about wellesley student apartments which violated my earlier principle not to write anything bad about anybody on my blog. So I decided instead of saying good things about WSA (which would be a lie of course), I won't say anything. I don't want to use my blog for bitching anyway. Self-talk works much better and has no repercussions. Let's talk something else.

I reflect on my five months I have spent in New Zealand and it seems like I have lived a dramatically different life than I was used to living hitherto. For the first time in my life, I did not have to study to get an A. I was not chasing after anything (besides chicks :D). Grades were secondary for me. Believe it or not, this was a big change for me because I was always used to getting good grades, often the best in my class. I graduated from the best high school of Nepal as a valedictorian. Big deal, you might say. It was big deal in a way at that time. I had a final couple days ago and I walked out proudly with half an hour remaining on the clock. I knew I could have spent some more time trying to recheck my answers or simply spending more time thinking about questions I might not have answered properly. But I didn't care. And this seemingly insignificant activity was symbolic for me. I was in control. For the first time I felt, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

How long can we live our lives chasing after a goal? Starting from birth, we are always in this race. To get better toys, we need better grades then to get scholarship and a placement into good college, you need good grades, SAT score, recommendation letters, et cetera. To get good recommendation letters, you have to do what teachers say. Always follow what they tell you to and impress them. Once you are in college, then you need to get good grades yet again if you want to go to Grad school or get a good job. Give us a break.

How wonderful would life be if we could just lie in the Sun on a beautiful day in a park somewhere and read a book of our choice? That would make us happy, healthy and somewhat intelligent too since we are reading . I mostly read non-fiction so reading for me usually entails lots of knowledge. Well this is exactly what I did on numerous days here in New Zealand. All university courses were pass/fail only since I was in NZ for an exchange only. This gave me flexibility to design and lead the life I wanted. I could spend time doing what I desired. I could bury myself in the library reading what I was interested in instead of solving some random engineering problems or thermodynamics equations.

I think you got the idea. I will miss New Zealand for all this.

Why Wellesley Student Apartment sucks

If haven't already, you should read these posts to understand why I am saying that Wellesley Student Apartments suck. 

Wellesley Student Apartments, Auckland: A review

Laundry Nightmare at WSA in Auckland

Now there are more troubles. Guess what? Despite cleaning our apartments to the best of our abilities, the cleanliness inspector failed our apartments. And I can assure you that the apartment was as clean as it could be. She failed us for not wiping off the skirting boards. Really? They are there for a reason: to collect dust, silly. And similar other stupid stuffs. For instance, our windows were clean but she complained it was not clean enough. We wiped all those windows but there was no way we could have wiped outside of the windows. The windows don't open completely.

So, all of us have to pay a fine of 50 dollars each. I'm not kidding. That means our apartment pays 250 bucks. Ridiculous! There's no way any of us are paying that. So we wrote a formal protest letter. Here's how it reads. We're all waiting for their response. I would never ever live in Wellesley Student Apartments again. Even backpacker hostels like XBase hostels have lesser rules.

Formal Protest against Unreasonable Standards used during Inspections

Dear WSA Management,

We are writing to you in a formal protest against unreasonable standards used during inspections.

The contract clearly specifies that:

3.9.1 Residents are expected to keep their bedrooms and apartment common areas tidy and free of safety hazards.

3.9.2 Residents are expected to maintain reasonable hygiene standards and keep bedrooms and apartment common areas clean.

Since our bedrooms and apartment common areas are tidy, free of safety hazards and reasonably hygienic, we do not understand why it failed inspection. We assure you that we spent an entire day cleaning the entirety of our apartment and it undoubtedly meets the outlined sanitary standards in the accommodation contract. In no way is our apartment in breach of rule number 3.9.1 since our apartment was very tidy and there certainly was nothing that posed a threat to anyone’s safety. Our apartment was also not in breach of rule number 3.9.2 since it was certainly in a reasonable hygienic state at the time of the inspection. The state of our apartment at the time of inspection was unquestionably cleaner than its state when we arrived in the beginning of the semester.

This is a formal protest against the seemingly biased and unreasonable standards utilized while conducting these so-called cleanliness inspections. These inspections seem to be more of a way to impose the management’s power and favouritism rather than impartially inspect the rooms for serious infractions that may deem the apartments hygienically unliveable to the next residents.  

Lastly if your intention is to deliberately fail residents in order to collect fines, these intentions will be met with fierce resistance.

If this matter is not resolved soon, we are prepared to appeal to higher authorities as suggested in the contract.

Sincerely,

WSA Residents

RESIDENTIAL RULES – WELLESELEY STUDENT APARTMENTS 2010

3.9 Tidiness and cleanliness

3.9.1 Residents are expected to keep their bedrooms and apartment common areas tidy and free of safety hazards.

3.9.2 Residents are expected to maintain reasonable hygiene standards and keep bedrooms and apartment common areas clean.

3.9.3 Residents are expected to participate in the University accommodation recycling scheme for waste materials.

3.9.4 Residents may not bring additional furniture into University accommodation without the express permission of Accommodation Services management. Any found will be removed and may be reclaimed at the end of the Accommodation Contract.

3.9.5 Communal areas are to be kept tidy and free of unattended Resident personal belongings.

3.9.6 Residents are not permitted to keep bicycles or other large equipment in bedrooms, apartment common areas, corridors or communal areas. Bicycles left in bicycle sheds or racks are left at the owners’ risk.

UNIVERSITY ACCOMMODATION REGULATIONS

3. ROOM INSPECTIONS

The Residential Manager or other authorised staff may enter the Accommodation for the purposes of routine inspection at all reasonable hours of the daytime. Where possible, 24 hours notice of any inspection will be given. In addition, the Residential Manager, delegated staff or other duly authorised persons (including contractors) may enter the Accommodation at any time for any of the following reasons:

1. There is reason to believe a resident is in clear or imminent danger.

2. There have been 2 or more breaches of the Regulations by the Resident.

3. There is a requirement for maintenance on the facilities.

6 COMPLAINTS

6.1 Residents who have complaints should raise them in the first instance with Accommodation Services management. Complaints of a serious nature should be made in writing to Accommodation Services management.

6.2 If the complaint relates to an alleged breach of a regulation by another resident, Accommodation Services management will deal with this in accordance with the Discipline Procedures above.

6.3 If the complaint relates to alleged actions of a resident which do not involve any breach of regulations or any other University policies or procedures Accommodation Services management may refer the matter back to the complainant. In such cases there is an expectation by the University that the two parties work together to resolve their differences and Accommodation Services management may, if requested, act as a mediator.

6.4 If the complaint relates to University accommodation or alleged actions of University accommodation staff, Accommodation Services management will consider the complaint and respond to the complainant.  Accommodation Services management may at any time request that the complaint is detailed in writing.

6.5 If a written complaint is not resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant, they may contact the senior manager responsible for Accommodation Services. This manager will consider the issue and report back in writing to the complainant with their decision.

6.6 If a complaint under 6.5 above is not resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant, they may then contact the University Complaints Officer to seek a resolution

Wellesley Student Apartments, Auckland: A review

(Disclaimer: This post is a review of Wellesley Student Apartments managed by AUT (Auckland University of Technology) on 8-10 Mount Street, Auckland, New Zealand. Contents of this post is based totally on my stay here from July to October 2010 and any criticism should be directed to me. Although my accommodation was arranged by my study abroad program IFSA-Butler, the views expressed here reflect my personal experiences and should not be taken as a general experience of all study abroad/exchange students.)

Wellesley Student Apartments lies on Mount Street

I will try to keep this post short and sweet, possibly numbered style to make it more readable. 

First of all, the benefits of staying in Wellesley Student Apartments:

1. Close proximity to AUT and University of Auckland. It's only 5 minutes walk at most to UoA and is probably one of the closest university apartments you can find.
2. Five people share an apartment but each get their own bedroom. Nice kitchen, two bathrooms and pretty good living room with a TV with 5-6 channels.
3. Utility costs like water and electricity is included in costs so that you don't have to worry about it.
4. Has its own laundry facilities. I will discuss this more later since laundry facilities are often disappointing
5. Conducts events occassionally to encourage mixing up of residents.

Wellesley Student Apartments, inhabited by almost 650 people.

It looks pretty appealing right. Basically, it offers all you want in a decent apartment. But there are several issues with their management. 

My Living Room in Wellesley Student Apartment.

Problems you may face while staying in Wellesley Student Apartments:

1. WSA Management will treat you as if they have absolute control over you. If your flat gets a violation for being noisy, even if you appeal that you were not there, you would still get a fine. I will elaborate on this later.
2. Internet service provided by Orcon is extremely slow even though when they sell you, they'll tell you that it is broadband. It is the only broadband service you can purchase and use in WSA dorms. You could buy other wireless providers. Internet is so slow that I can never even access my online banking. WSA buys a limited amount of bandwidth and when that is used up, everyone's internet becomes slow. So, if you use 5 GB per month out of your allocated 10 GB and another resident uses 20GB, then everyone's internet gets slow irrespective of how much you used individually. Sucks.
3. Laundry facilities suck. Read my other entry on Laundry Nightmare at Wellesley Student Apartments. More than half of the washers they have are dysfunctional and they have not been repaired since I started living here. As for dryers, they will never dry up your clothes. Many residents walk across the street to Forte Laundromat, a commercial facility to do their laundry. It took me more than two months to find out three secret dyers that dry your clothes, others don't. They're located just as you walk in to the laundry room.
4. There are four elevators/lifts for almost 650 residents of which only a few are operating at any given time. You will waste so much time just waiting for elevators. You cannot use stairs to enter the building even though you could use it to exit. Since it has 14 floors, using stairs is very tiring for residents living higher up. On one weekend, starting from Friday night to Monday morning, only one elevator was functioning for D-H section, for 325 residents and the floor was all filled in puke. Some asshole must have thrown up at night after getting drunk. Residents were forced to use the only elevator. Imagine being in that elevator. The management made no effort to get it cleaned up. It was disgusting.
5. Bedrooms have inadequate lighting for studying. Bedroom has one light bulb while living room has three and even restroom has two. The book-shelf which is immovable lies between the only light-bulb on the wall and my study table. Not everyone wants to buy a table lamp especially if you are staying here for a short time.
6. Apartments do not have balconies. For the amount one pays, one would expect a balcony. WSA's next door neighbour O'Rorke Hall which is residential dorm managed by University of Auckland has really nice balconies and roof-tops.
7. There are lots of exchange students from America living here. I was placed in an apartment with all Americans. Many Americans were also placed in all-American flats which they absolutely hated because they studied abroad to meet other people, not live with all Americans. Where and whom you stay with will have a big role in your living experience. I didn't mind living with all Americans but would have loved to live with people of other nationalities. When I filled my residence preference form, I chose to live with internationals and Kiwis but somehow was placed in all American flat. It's much easier for WSA this way but it misses the whole point of study abroad/exchange.
8. There is no sense of privacy in your flats. Security will bust your apartment after midnight if you have people who do not live there even if you are quiet and no one has complained about it. They will hand you violation ticket and you have to pay fines if you receive three of them. If you want friends come over and just have a casual gathering, you have to register it as a party and has to be over before midnight on weekends and 10:30 on weekdays. If your friend is intoxicated and unable to walk back home, he cannot crash on your couch. Any overnight guest has to be registered beforehand with signatures from all five residents and only one guest can stay for a maximum of one night. After that, you have to pay 20 bucks per night. No extra bedding or anything is provided. Basically, even after paying for your flats, WSA management will keep an eye on what you do inside it, you're never without watchful eyes of Big Brother WSA. It really sucks to be living under so much rules and regulations even though you are now in college.
9. Room inspections before end of semester is really harsh and unreasonable. WSA will expect you to clean everything including toilets, showers, kitchen, windows even if they were dirty when you started living. My bedroom failed because my mattress did not have a protective cover, which they were supposed to give me at the beginning of my residence. I didn't even know I was supposed to have one. The lady conducting inspection is the most rude person and a cruel soul you will ever come across. On more than four occasions, she stopped me from entering the building asking me if I live in WSA. Although it may be justified on grounds of being extra-careful, I genuinely think she has a problem with my face. If your room inspection fails second time, everyone living in the flat gets a fine meaning everyone suffers if there is one messy person living in the apartment who fails to clean/vaccum his bedroom. You think that is fair? Tragedy of the Commons, bro.
10. On one occasion, the inspection lady knocked on a bedroom door and entered without even waiting for a response. I will not quote the name of the resident to protect his identity. That is how WSA management treats your privacy.

My Kitchen in Wellesley Student Apartment.

 I get nightmares about security breaking into my room while I'm sleeping or doing something else. I cannot deal with WSA management anymore. My apartment got three violations for having guests past midnight so I had to pay 50 dollars fine. I tried to talk to security who handed us violation but he said I needed to talk to management. I tried to appeal to management that I was not even present in Auckland let alone apartment during first violation and had just walked in 5 minutes before my third violation. They said I cannot talk to the manager, instead I had to write a formal letter which I did. I was expecting to talk and sort this out but five days later I received a letter from management that said that my case had been talked with security and fines cannot be removed. If I did not pay fines within next three days, more fines would accrue for not paying that fine. I was shocked by their style of unilateral decision making. Their bureaucracy in which security directs you to management and management cites security as basis of their decision shows how they deny you a voice to even appeal against any charge brought against you. Tired of this, I decided to pay fines that I did not deserve. Writing another letter would not only be a waste of my time and energy but would exert additional pressure on environment with waste of paper. I hope they recycled my letter.

My Bedroom in Wellesley Student Apartments

 Personally, I would not recommend anyone living in Wellesley Student Apartments because even though apartments are nice and it is close to the university, management will ruin the experience. Despite being merely caretakers, they will act as if they fucking own WSA. The only person who has been reasonable to me is a guy named Tom. He is really nice. If you have any problem, don't talk to receptionists, talk instead to Tom. Other people will treat you as a potential perpetrator/violator. I had been trying so hard not to write this post for so long because I dislike saying not-so-pleasant things about others, but my study abroad experience was really affected by them. I get nightmares about that evil-faced lady who keeps asking me if I live here or that my apartment is disgusting and unhygienic.

Alternatives. If you planning to study abroad in Auckland and need a place to stay for a semester, there are several alternatives that you may want to read about and do some research before arriving here.

1. International House managed by University of Auckland
2. O'Rorke Hall managed by University of Auckland, whcih is also only five minutes walk to the university
3. Parnell Student Village, which is located in a really nice neighborhood and only 15 minutes away in walking distance. I would recommend staying here because it is more international than WSA which is mostly occupied by Americans. Even Americans living in WSA think they would have loved to stay with people of other nationalities.

If anyone is hurt by any statements expressed here, I offer my apologies and even though it appears as a hate post against WSA Management, it was necessary to say these things so that other people don't have to go through same problems. Please leave your comments/feedbacks/criticisms regarding this post if you have any.

The Best Day in New Zealand

Yesterday was probably one of the best days I've had so far in New Zealand, full of surprises that is.

I woke up around noon with my friend's text that reminded me of the rugby game in the afternoon between Auckland University and Engineers. Interestingly enough, my flatmate Frankie was playing for University while my Thermodynamics classmate Lucca was playing for Engineering Team. We were quite confused as to which team to support since both of them had one of our friends each. The winner was going to receive 500 dollars worth of beer at a bar. We were poised to be treated no matter which team won. We weren't worried.

The day begun with a free bus ride from the university to Rugby stadium. And that included a free awesome T-shirt with an iconic New Zealand map imprinted on the front, a cougar mascot on the left arm and Tui logo at the back. We were all so happy to receive such an awesome T-shirt for free. On arrival, there was free hot dogs and vege patties for us. Just before the game began, we found out that we could receive free booze on showing the T-shirt we got for free on the free bus. We couldn't ask for more. The game was very exciting. The final score was 20-19, with Engineers beating the University team by a small margin. We got to watch an exciting rugby game for free while drinking free booze, sporting a free T-shirt and not having to worry about how to get back since a free bus ride was waiting at the end of the game.

New Zealand's map on the front of free T-shirt that we got. Photo: Digital Subway

Tui logo and see the Cougar icon on the left arm. Photo: Digital Subway

My friend Vikram jumping on the trampoline during Rugby game. Photo: Digital Subway

I wasn't prepared to call it a day yet. My IFSA-Butler friend Mathieu had told me about the All Whites vs Honduras football game during the evening to be held in Auckland. For those of you who missed Fifa world cup games, let me remind you that All Whites is New Zealand's football (or soccer depending on which continent you are reading this) team that played against Honduras during the actual world cup 2010. It was a shame that I could not go to South Africa to watch world cup football but I wasn't going to miss this. No, the tickets were not free, but the transportation was. It was freaking one hour away by bus.

The game was an absolute bang for the buck, $42 (NZD) that we paid. It was more interesting than the world cup game itself. The fact that we had amazing seats with an amazing view added to the experience. And it was special for me because it was my first game at a stadium with more than 18,000 other spectators. All Whites had tall and strong built players while Honduras had swift, not-so-tall but skilled players. The game was competitive. The linesmen made a couple errors, benefiting All Whites, drawing cheers from supporters at home ground. The score was tied at 1-1 with one heading goals each. And then All Whites received a penalty at closing 90th minute. The stadium was bustling with energy with everyone standing, awaiting for the penalty to be converted into a goal. The ball hit the bar, bounced and was punched away by the goalie but was kicked back by an All whites player, sending it a little above the bar. All Whites maintained their unbeaten streak with the game ending in a draw.

All Whites vs Honduras at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. Photo: Digital Subway

When I had woken up with the text in the afternoon, I had no idea my day was going be full of surprises and sporting excitement. I guess it's all part of studying abroad that entails a lot of fun, relaxation, surprises and excitement when you expect it the least.