Hit with a flight delay and a growling stomach just as I had to make my way to the gate. Shuffled my way through security and boarding, acting as if my excessively overweight hand luggage wasn’t wanting to make my shoulder pop. My lack of sleep was starting to hit. Tip #1: Don’t go clubbing the night before certain things e.g. when you have to move your entire life to another city.

No, I wouldn’t say it was the most stellar of mornings.

It wasn’t until I bought my one-way bus ticket from the airport, that it really hit me. A $16 bus fare. It hit me hard. I’ll be broke before I even make it to the city.

Welcome to #studentlife

Oh yeah, this is my new home. (The building isn’t curved btw it’s just the pano effect)

Move in day was a mess. “Let’s go at the earliest time to beat the traffic and herds of people!” In a dream world, maybe. Cars, wardens, people, suitcases, plastic anything and everything, “executive leather office chair” and more people. Mess.

Let’s just say the lifts at Uni Hall aren’t the most efficient. The stairs were feeling like a good option– but maybe not with multiple suitcases up to floor nine…

∞

O WEEK: A whole lot of new faces, chillin’ and deciding whether to socialise or sleep. Slowly roasting and being sucked of all energy in the humid Auckland heat.

Expectations:

Introducing myself a hundred times a day
Awkward elevator rides (I guess I could use the stairs?)
People– everywhere

Reality:

Exhaustingly introducing myself a hundred times a day (But you know, networking is all the rage at uni)
The occasional very awkward elevator ride (Stairs + floor nine? = NOPE)
People– EVERYWHERE

∞

Clubbing first night? Psssht. Uni Hall did it better: The Lantern Festival. A final bow to Chinese New Year festivities– hello to the year of the monkey! (And to the year of competitive law students and lack of sleep…) I’m pretty sure most of the hall made it out to the domain for it because fireworks, duh.

This was my first experience of the sheer number of people in Auckland. Being stuck in crowds with subpar karaoke in the background wasn’t particularly pleasant. Especially when you have a smorgasbord of colours, lights and sounds fighting for your attention. As we found a spot to sit and engaged in some friendly banter, it was a genuine shock as the grass around the museum quickly became a sea of bodies. Competing with the voices of a million others was also somewhat difficult, but hey, floor bonding.

This is (some of) us headed to the first year Toga Party, a “rite of passage” as the poster put it.

On the topic of floor bonding– shout out to floor nine of Uni Hall! It’s been fun, fam. Living with just over thirty other people on your floor can be a hard task so it’s certainly valuable to at least try and get to know them as you will be sharing a common room, fridge, bathrooms, study areas and also your Instagram and Snapchat deets. This was floor nine’s idea of first night bonding and no doubt, many other floors’ too. Tip #2: Don’t ask someone what floor they’re on if you think they might be on yours. Chances are they are and the conversation will multiply in awkwardness. (Can you tell I’m speaking from experience?)

Now, with the study hours piling up (from day one I might add!), I can feel my potential sleeping hours dwindling away. Moving on from O Week, I’ll be kicking into some Law, Media and Chinese content very soon so I’ll be keeping you posted. If you want to comment, ask me questions, share or just check in for the occasional read – I’m up for it! Catch you next time.

– Bryan