My first week at Victoria was a whirlwind of new classes, classmates, and classrooms. It is hard to believe that any campus could be more difficult to maneuver that the mammoth spread of Penn State, but the buildings here are set upon such steep and uneven gradients that physically getting to class is a challenge. Weaving in and out and around building halls arranged like spaghetti noodles makes campus maps quite the fashion statement for first year students.
Each of my classes is interesting, and each professor is smart and engaging with a goofy Kiwi sense of humor. They say “Welcome to ecology. You’re in the greatest place in the world to learn it”. The work load is heavy but manageable, but work is fun when you are as inspired as I feel in this beautiful country.
On Friday morning, my Biol327 class met at the Otari-Wilton’s Bush Visitor Center for a nature hike. This nature preserve holds the largest collection of native plants in all of New Zealand. I has such a good time that I brought some other friends back there with me the next day. Beautiful ridges and valleys of native bush including a looped trail through dense kohekohe forest. I had the feeling of walking through a prehistoric jungle. The ancient trees here have trunks the size of mini-vans. My favorite was an 800 year-old Rimu, towering above the ferns and serving as a home to a variety of epiphytes living in the crooks of its branches.
The most amazing thing about our day trip is that this beautiful wooded sanctuary is only a 2 dollar bus ride from the center of the city. I can go from beach to bush in ten minutes. I love this town!
check out my new online photo album!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jzm153
1 comment:
wow. it looks truly awesome--it might even beat the peru-cool factor!
keep the posts and pictures coming.
do you have any particular projects you will be working on?
and which horse from LOTR was it. i don't know if you've seen the movie recently, but there's more than one in it. cough.
josh a
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