Huh. So last time I updated, I didn’t end on a very positive
note. And that was… about ten days ago.
Oops.
I didn’t mean to go this long without updating; I’ve spent
every evening for the last week telling myself to just sit down and catch up.
But after spending all day trying to make something out of our project, I couldn’t
find the motivation to write about it some more. So I kept putting it off in
favor of my renewed obsession with Pokemon (Fire Red). And now it’s been long
enough that the days have blurred together.
So I’m combining ten posts into one.
-After talking around in more circles all day Tuesday and
part of Wednesday, we finally settled on a way to implement the definition we
had previously created. While it wasn’t perfect, our sponsors and advisors both
reassured us that it didn’t have to be, because this is social science, and by
nature it’s flawed. (Not a direct quote.) We decided to run a survey presenting
people with a series of posts and asking them how they would respond to those
posts, and how they would rank them in terms of the three aspects of our
definition. With that settled, our collective stress level dropped
significantly, and we there was no more talk about our project’s worth or achievability.
-Thursday and Friday were spent writing and designing our
survey. We intended to spend all day Friday getting our weekly writing done,
but the survey took precedence; our advisors were kind enough to give us an
extention until Monday evening so we didn’t have to work over the weekend.
-That weekend (February 2-3) was Sevens weekend. The Sevens
is an international rugby tournament that takes place in Wellington and is a
Really Big Deal™. To celebrate, everyone wears costumes. You’re supposed to get
together a group of seven people and all dress to match, but there were plenty
of smaller groups and even individuals in costume. Our sponsors said we
shouldn’t work this weekend, we should just go out and have fun. So I bought a
hat and gloves, which turned a dress I brought into a costume, and went out
with my classmates. We found a live band playing on the streets and danced and
had a good time. The variety of costumes was impressive, but the quality was
underwhelming compared to, say, some Realms garb I’ve seen. I had a lot of fun,
but if I’m being perfectly honest, it made me rather homesick; there were too
many people I wanted there to share it with me. I also regret to say I didn’t
get any pictures. I’ll see if I can snag some that my classmates took.
-Monday was spent writing and revising. We stayed late,
breaked for dinner and a meeting with our advisors, then resumed and worked
until midnight to get it done. It was harrowing; large portions of work I had
written were scrapped and entirely re-written by my teammates, which left me
wondering why I’d bothered to write it in the first place. But that’s just the
brutal nature of revision. I was feeling better after our dinner break, and we
finished on a good note.
-Tuesday we shared our survey with our sponsors, received
feedback, and modified it accordingly. It went up on the Te Papa website by that
evening. That left the rest of the week to work on (more) writing and revision,
and wait for data to come in.
-Wednesday was Waitangi Day, the New Zealand equivalent of
Independence Day. The treaty of Waitangi was a document, signed in 1839,(?)
that gave Maori residents the same rights as the European settlers in the eyes
of the British empire. The waterfront with packed with people, featuring lots
of stalls selling snacks and Maori souvenirs, as well as a stage where various
performances went on all day. I was lame and spent most of the day at Te Papa.
I did, however, go on an adventure with one of my classmates to get a scooter.
They were on sale at a local store, and the rest of my team had got them the
day before. Because who wouldn’t want to scoot to work every morning? Also,
there was a tsunami watch. As with most natural disaster watches, it was
anticlimactic.
-More writing Thursday and today. By this point, we are all
infinitely more relaxed about the project. I know my stress is significantly
lower than it was two weeks ago; not only do we have a plan, but that plan has
been put in action, and there’s not much left for us to do but collect the data
and write about it. Our project is succeeding. It really is.
-My purse never turned up. I followed up at the train
station and with the police; no luck. But my mom was able to transfer some cash
to me through Western Union, and my new debit card is in the mail. I can get on
fine without the cell phone. The passport card can be replaced once I return to
America; I don’t need to worry about it now. The only things that aren’t so
easily replaced are the purse itself, a Christmas present from a few years ago
that I never got to use as much as I wanted to, and a bead necklace that one of
my friends made me. But stuff happens, lessons
are learned, and life goes on.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here over a month now. I
miss home. I miss my friends and my family. I miss the Realms events and the
SMAS meetings. I miss FNF and the CBF girls’ sleepover. I miss being there with
Pep Band to cheer on the undefeated men’s basketball team. I even miss the snow
that I hear you all are being bombarded with this weekend. And I miss hugs.
But I still love it here. I really do. Sometimes I feel like
I don’t ever want to leave. Often I feel like when I leave, I don’t want it to
be forever.
Well, I still have three weeks. I intend to make the most of
it.
