Hamilton's Uni

First off, an interesting difference between here and home: in the United States, I go to college. In New Zealand, I go to uni (short for university). If I say "my college back home" everyone thinks I am talking about high school because sometimes New Zealanders refer to high school as "college". At first it was weird to tell people I go to uni but now it's starting to not sound so weird.

My host mum, Robyn, works with coaching elite athletes and other coaches. The organization she works for also hosts leadership conferences for adults as well as high school students. Last week, Robyn invited me to assist with a leadership conference held at the University of Waikato in Hamilton. The conference was for students participating in student government. The students came from different high schools/colleges within the Waikato Region (like a county). My job was to take a camera from seminar to seminar and take pictures of the students and speakers and activities. It was really fun. During a little bit of down time, I decided to walk around campus and do a little exploring.

This is campus

I think the lake adds some beauty from a distance but up close it is actually quite dirty

There were some ducks taking a sleep (New Zealanders don't use the phrase "nap" they call it "a sleep") and I noticed they were standing on one leg. I didn't know they do that!



A uni isn't a proper uni if there isn't some construction going on



The equivalent of Old Main



They don't name their buildings; they letter them



This is where Justin would be spending all of his time



The Law School

And this is where I would spend minimal amounts of time



The Library

I prefer the TSC to this Student Union Center



This building doesn't look amazing but I am sure the facilities are incredible



When I left Logan, the Fieldhouse had at least eight treadmills (out of about twenty) out of service. I didn't go inside but I was very curious as to how this facility compared to the Fieldhouse.

Another observation I made was that all of the student housing was in one area of campus and it was referred to as the "Student Village" whereas at USU the housing is spread through different areas of campus.

It was kind of weird to walk around someone else's uni and not have a clue where anything was located. Part of me misses campus life, but in reality I won't be sad when I'm done with it. Speaking of which, six more days of teaching and then my uni obligations (aside from a closing seminar on April 23rd) are finished!