Classes: Finished.

I know I’ve been saying this a lot, but I really can’t get over how weird it is to be done with class in the middle of October. And with Vic’s exam schedule, it’ll be two weeks before my first exam and another 10 days after that before I’m completely (academically) finished in New Zealand. I don’t think that I’ll truly be ready to [insert L-word here] on 14 November, but I don’t think that I’d be ready to leave on 14 November 2010 either. This country is just too amazing to see in a short 4 1/2 months. But enough about that…

Last Wednesday was not only my last day of class, but also my Monteverdi concert. The concert was great, mostly because it was awesome to be performing again. I miss the plethora of opportunities that I have to perform back at UD so it was nice to have one chance to perform in Aotearoa. After the concert, our conductor took us out to dinner at a great pizza place near campus. All in all, a great evening.

On Friday, some friends and I joined some campus environmentalists on a march on Parliament. They were demanding a 40% reduction in carbon emissions instead of the 10% that John Key (Prime Minister) has signed onto. The march went straight through town, through the business district all the way to the Beehive. When we arrived we were greeted by two Members of Parliament, one from the Green Party and one from Labour. It was great to hear some of the politicians that I’ve been watching on TV and in the debating chamber since July up close and personal.

The next few weeks will hopefully be full of further exploration of Wellington. I still haven’t seen the zoo or some of the local beaches around the city. And there’s hopefully a short trip to some of the more exotic locations on the North Island. Its hard to fathom how hard its been to see a country barely bigger than Colorado. But then I guess the world is huge…

Kia Ora,

Liam