Starting Uni

I maybe didn’t start my first week of classes at the University of Auckland (UoA) with the best circumstances as I got quite ill after the Piha trip. Don’t know if it was just the combination of being a bit down after my vaccine shots and overexerting my self on the trip to Piha, or if I also caught something. But whatever the reason I was quite knocked out during the weekend just resting, and when classes started on Monday I was still quite tired.

Anyways I started my first day (Monday the third of March) at two in the afternoon which is actually my second earliest day as all my classes are in the late afternoon except one on Fridays at 10 am. Which while quite nice in that I don’t have to stress in the morning, but on the other hand having classes end at 18 is a bit too late for my taste.

My first class was Entrepreneurial Opportunities which is a really interesting course on how to identify and exploit innovative ideas to create value, which feels like a great knowledgebase to have when going out in the real world.

Next I am taking two computer science courses, one in Computer Graphics and one in Big Data Management. So far I am enjoying both but they are a bit less exciting than my non CS courses. Computer graphics is concerned with how computers can represent and render 3d graphics on a 2d screen, so far with quite a heavy focus on the math involved. As for the Big Data Management, it is the only master course I am taking and as such feels maybe the most familiar. The subject seems very important and I am happy that I’m taking it as it covers somewhat of a hole in my previous education, but it is probably the course I am least excited about.

Finally I am taking a course in Marine Science, for second year science students. It is definitely a bit of a challenge jumping in at the deep end of a whole new subject with a completely different teaching style with a heavy facts focus compared to the more skill focused teaching of computer science and engineering in general. But it is also super excited being flooded in so much knowledge in a completely different domain that I know very little about and haven’t studied since Gymnasiet.

In parallel with starting up my studies I also got myself an international buddy, basically a local student who can offer help with getting settled in to life in New Zealand. And as part of this process there was also an intro event on my first day in school, where I got to meet a lot of other international students. I did however not stick around very long just because I was still very tired, but while there I won a voucher travel voucher as part of a competition for answering that what the Maori name for New Zealand is, as well as what it means (it is Aotearoa and means “Land of the long white cloud”).

On Wednesday I was feeling well enough to go to the last day of the Club Expo, basically a little fair where most of the over 200 university clubs had a stand and explained what they where about. So now I have joined too many of them 😅, including the Tramping (Kiwi word for hiking), Diving, Climbing, Board Games and Miniatures club.

On Friday I was feeling well enough to actually go for a walk out in the beautiful Auckland Domain just behind the accommodation which was really nice. And I even went and did a spot of tree climbing (don’t tell anyone 😅). The following night me and a few friends went to a Candlelight concert in the local Cathedral and listening to a string quartet performing film music by Hans Zimmer. It was very good, very pretty and an excellent way to finish of the week with first some Vietnamese dinner, then the concert and finally a night-time stroll home.

The last highlight of the week was a trip to the Pacifika festival which was held on Saturday and Sunday in the Western Springs Park, and which I just found out about during Saturday night. It was basically a large field with stands of food and “Pyngel” (various arts, handcrafts and souvenirs) combined with a large stage for each pacific nation present with dance and music. It was a fun and hot day out, and an excellent end of the week.