She's ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Hello all, I'm sorry my tardiness has reached such epic proportions this time around. As a heads-up, I think I probably won't update again until June or so when I next have university holidays. This year has been really crazy so far in terms of work load. I'm doing my Hono(u)rs year at the moment, which is considered to be graduate level by NZ's reckoning, though I'm not convinced.

In any case, the emphasis has changed from learning in class to learning through reading and research. I only have 6 hours of class a week, and spend the rest of my time working on assignments and doing readings. There is a huge amount of work to be done. Psychology Honors has a reputation for being particularly evil, and all of us spend most of our time in a state of constant dread. (There are about 70 Psyc Honors students I think.) This is the main reason I haven't had time for blogging.

However, we all have fun together too when we're ignoring the incipient panic, and I'm learning a lot. I'm currently taking Drugs, Brain, & Behavior, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Latin American Literature. I'm also doing a big project looking at how kids use rating scales (like a series of smiley faces or a thermometer) to rate their feelings. I'm also a "tutor" for a 2nd year class, which basically means I run some of the lab sections for the class. I'm enjoying it, although I still find it quite nerve-wracking to be the voice of authority. My final major preoccupation of the moment is my attempt to figure out what to do with myself next year. Suggestions are welcome.

Exciting things in the last several months have included going to see a talk by Neil Gaiman (probably my favorite living author), seeing several shows at the New Zealand International Arts Festival (including some surprisingly enjoyable modern dance), and visiting Tongariro National Park.

Tongariro National Park is the home of Mt. Ngauruhoe (perhaps better known as Mt. Doom) and also of probably the most well-known day hike in New Zealand, the Tongariro Crossing. I took the train up. It was an absolutely beautiful journey north from Wellington, and I spent a few days in a mostly deserted town near the park. The hike was beautiful but crowded. Pictures follow. It was a great trip. I hope to do some traveling during the mid-year break as well. That's all for now, folks!

A vista from a hike in Wellington

A stop on the train journey north -we were getting into ski country
and since it was off-season, it was basically a ghost town

An unfurling silver fern -the "koru" (spiral) shape of the unfurling leaf is
very important in Maori art and also as a general NZ symbol

Mt. Ngauruhoe (AKA Mt. Doom) -this and several of the other volcanoes in the area are active, in the sense that small amounts of smoke are coming from them and they could theoretically erupt at any time

A volcanic crater along the Tongariro Crossing
-about a minute later, the cloud had completely cleared

A lake seen from Mt. Tongariro

Fellow hikers silhouetted

Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu seen from Mt. Tongariro

A vista