Such is Life

Things here have been pretty normal, just going about my everyday routine at this point. That involves going to classes, hanging with the flatmates (even though we have 2 who have yet to show up), and walking down the beach every couple of days. I’ve finished my book that I started last summer finally. No, I’m not that slow of a reader, I got about a quarter of the way through last summer then stopped. The title is Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, and if you’re a psych major or just interested in the fallacies of the human mind, I recommend you pick it up. It’s an incredibly interesting and (gasp!) educational read, but still very entertaining.



Gilbert writes well and he aims to discuss why we are so bad at predicting our future and what is going to make us happy. Now it’s on to the The Life of Pi, which I also started last year but didn’t get more than 20 pages in before I forgot about it. Kelsi claims it’s a great read, so I figure I’ll give it another chance.

If you’ve never heard of The Dear Hunter, you should probably listen to them. It’s one of the most interesting bands I have ever heard, really a mix of many different types of sounds. If you like The Receiving End of Sirens (and how could you not?) then you’re bound to like The Dear Hunter because the lead singer from TREOS’s first album, the one who made the vocals as strong as they were, left the band and started working with The Dear Hunter. The second album titled The Meaning of, & All Things Regarding Ms. Leading, is the stronger album of the two. Check out The Procession, Smiling Swine, and The Bitter Sweet 1 and 2: Meeting Ms Leading / Through the Dime for a good variety of sounds.



Kelsi and I went up to the Mountain biking park on an hour or so long hike. I'm excited to spend a lot of my time over there. It has the best mountain biking trails I've ever seen, and they're all located in one area so you don't need to go anywhere else to get all types of terrains, from easy to insane. Did I say I got a mountain bike? I did. I'm just waiting for my shoes and eggbeater pedals to get here so I can start riding.



Yes, in case you were wondering I put lots of pictures in to keep everyone from getting bored.


If the off-chance anyone has the urge to write me anything, here is my address

Brent Doscher
Apartment 7G4, The Cube
242-244 Taranaki Street
Wellington 6001
New Zealand

And if you want to call me you won’t get much luck calling my phone number you probably have for me. My new number is on facebook. Don’t ask me how to call or text it from the States, I really have no idea.

I’m going to comprise a list of some random thoughts so far from my trip regarding the US vs. NZ, NZ in general, or just random stuff. My brain, like many others’, goes in some pretty random directions.

- Noise canceling headphones are completely worth shelling out the 150 dollars for if it saves you from going insane on 20 hours of flying.
- There’s no such thing as the lemonade we Americans know. Over here it’s carbonated. Much like sprite, but better.
- Nothing is better than a warm shower after being on a plane for a day straight. Even if the hot water turns off halfway through and you have to come out of the shower stall naked to press the button in order to turn the hot water on again.
- Chickens stand less than a meter from the road where cars are driving by at 80kph, pecking at the ground, completely unfazed.
- Fanny doesn’t mean quite the same thing. In fact, it means the opposite. Just think, the other side the body…
- I finally know how disorienting it is to be a foreigner coming into our country
- NZ slang and accents are cool, but hearing people try to force it is quite annoying.
- At the Auckland airport, curb was spelled kerb. Doesn’t that make so much more sense?
- Glow worms aren’t actually worms. They’re maggots. You’re welcome for grossing you out and/or ruining your fun.
- Broadband is seriously messed up here. You have a monthly data cap on your broadband, so you pay to have the connection, but then are limited on how much you actually do.
- Being in a real photography program is a great feeling.
- Some students in NZ are just as damn idiotic as UNH students. It’s a little reminiscent of my child development classes. My roommate will understand the magnitude of that statement.
- Besides that 1 time in the airport while I was waiting for my Australearn group to show up, I have resolved to not eat McDonalds the entire time I am here. I don’t think they have the Tendercrisp here either, so if that’s the case, BK is out of the question as well.
- Apparently it can easily get as windy as 120 - 130kph in the winter in Wellington. Yes, I will be here for the winter months, if you’re wondering.
- I am tempted to kick a pigeon because of just how close they get to me. I think I could pull it off.
- Getting back at 2AM after going out on a Friday night is early.
- They really like Hawaiian pizza here. Not so much Pepperoni.
- The basic things that you would think would taste the same don’t. Mountain Dew and Coke both taste different.
- Ketchup doesn’t exist. It’s tomato sauce, and it’s not very good.
- It’s strange to see a culture that embraces the Maori, their native people, so much while Americans walk all over Native Americans.
- NZ doesn’t have security for some of its domestic flights. Very strange to experience.
- Movie theaters have comfortable armchairs.
- Massey U schedules classes only once a week. So I have 1 class every day of the week except for Wednesday, which I have off.
- Milk is really disgusting. If you drink milk a lot you may understand this. There’s one bottle of milk at home every once in a while that tastes different, and just off. I’ve never been able to really put a finger on why it tastes so weird, but normally that bottle just sits in the fridge. That bottle is what New Zealand milk tastes like.



I think that’s probably enough for everyone at this point, if you are really interested in the plenty of interesting differences, post a comment and I’ll make more lists for you. There’s heaps of things to mention.