Haere Mai to New Zealand!

Hello World,

Arrival

Its week 5 for me here in NZ and im about to sum up all 5 weeks right now! You heard it.....RIGHT NOW!
So to begin with i had a tiring flight from SG all the way to NZ but it was fun. All 16 hours of it. Upon reaching the airport and finishing immigration and all I received a surprise.......my bro from Lebanon (Karim) was here to pick me up! After a long chat and finding our driver we went on our way to Unitec. We met the Village staffs (Village : place where students live) and after settling everything, went to the room. Here's how it looks like

this is from an app called 360 from the app market. Neat eh~

The weather was also something to notice. Even during summer it was still cold even when its hot and sleeping needs getting used to as there are no sounds of fans or A/Cs. just bugs from the outside.

Orientation

We had 3 orientations. One was for Everyone, the other was for international Students and last one was for our BAT in Automotive Engineering. We were given free subway on the international one and also the Maoris (the natives) performed Hakka Dances.

Maoris - they were kinda creepy performing the dance but they were alright~

Field Trip!!! (22-02-13)

We signed up for a bus trip around Auckland during our orientation.
First Stop - Marae is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies (from wiki) which was in campus itself.

- Marae -

We went in and we were told about the Maoris what the place was for, etc, etc. We were also taught a song and the lyrics were as follows
Te Aroha,                                      (the love)
Te Whakapono,                                  (Faith, Hope)
Me Te Rangimarie,                             (Anticipate Difficulties) 
Tatou Tatou e.                                 (Everyone Together)

When we finished everything we performed Hongi, which is the pressing of noses as a greeting.

No they are not kissing each other!

this is how it looks like on the inside...

the pillars have artwork on them

 Second Stop -  our next stop was Mt. Eden which used to be a volcano. We could see the whole of Auckland (well, most of it) from the top but not after a long climb. Fuuuh, good exercise!!!

HuuuuuugE crater!!!

Third Stop - we went round the city and stopped awhile at Skycity where the casino is and also Skytower.

Sky Tower

man commiting suicide.......NOT!!!

after that we went over Harbour Bridge and would you look at that!!!

Boats, Boats.....

...and more BOATS!!!

Fourth stop - Next stop was at North head which includes more climbing up the mountain

its called a Disappearing Gun

Lots of these here

 After a looooooong walk we finally stopped for our reward.

Fish & Chips

and a nice View to go along with it!!!

Fifth Stop - this stop theres more walking to be done at the city. We get to see lots of boats. Floating ones too!!!

O_O

 And look what popped in the Parking Lot...

a LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO!!!

while walking along we came along a few more other rare sights

he does not move.....at all, unless u tip him and only then he will change his Pose~

Cruise Ship!!!

 Last Stop - our final stop was at Mission Bay. Home to a Beautiful Beach.

Week - 3
On our third week we finally started classes. It needs time to get used to as before this we only had 3 classes per week compared to a full week of 5 days back in Malaysia. This course was also assignment based so it was quite new to me. We have Engine Management Systems, Professional Practice and last but not least Innovative Uses of Technology where we had to crack our brains to think of new technologies. Professional Practice was quite relaxing as it is a class where all of us were discussing on present issues. In our first class we introduced ourselves and talked about why we were here and what we were going to do in the future. Our first week of classes were kind of like an introduction and so the end of this week marks the end of introduction.
Mr Andy Pivac - Innovative Uses of Technology
Mr Anura Bakmeediya - Engine Management Systems
Mr Niranjan Singh - Professional Practice

Week - 4
On our second week of class we were given our assignments and were taught what to do, how many words (it's about 4-5ooo words/ assignment!) we should write and so on. Our friend Khalil from Malaysia on the 26th of February and he was still new to the place so Karim and I took the liberty to bring him around and introduce him to the Uni. Yesterday (10-03-13)we decided to go for Briyani in Sandringham road. The food was good and it costs 15$. Dont convert ok la. On the left hand side we have Karim, DheeNesh and Khalil. On the right hand side we have Mohan, Syam and David.

After we filled our stomachs we  parted with Mohan, Syam and David. We walked to Westfield St. Lukes to meet up with Khalil's wife (Sya), after meeting up with her we decided to jalan jalan around the mall as Dhee Nesh was looking for a GPS. After enough of cuci mata we decided to go home and rest.

that concludes my 5 weeks of stay (almost) until now.....until the next post

Buhbye!!!