A Week in Review

CLASSES
This week past marked the beginning of classes here, as well as the first meetings of clubs for the year. I am taking three "papers" as they are called here, a very light load compared to what I am used to with four courses, a few jobs and lots of clubs and extra-curriculars. I am enrolled in physical geography, world history and Shakespeare, all of which are fairly dry right now, but we are just getting the ball rolling...

CLUBS
I decided to check out Students for Environmental Action to get into New Zealand environmental issues and meet a few like-minded individuals. It just so happened that the first meeting was a pot luck, so I decided to bring a stuffed marrow. Marrow is the Commonwealth English term for squash, and derives from a comparison of the cooked flesh of a squash to bone marrow. In NZ marrow refers specifically to a really huge zucchini, or courgette. In the image you will notice that the one I purchased from the Otago Farmers Market is longer than my forearm (and as thick as my thigh!). I cut that big guy open, made a savory curried marrow stuffing, cut some decorative holes for a handle and steam release, and ran on over to the Clubs and Societies Building to share it with everyone. It was welcomed as one of the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing dishes of the evening - a review that didn't hurt first impressions...

INTRODUCTIONS
Thimo, at left, and Holly, right, are two of my good friends here. Thimo lives in the lower half of the building I live in, the venerable K Flat. Thimo is from Meunster, Germany and studies literature, philosophy, and theology. Holly lives in A Flat and goes to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and is a writer extraordinaire and philosophy major. On a rainy Friday evening we find these two sharing a couch. Thimo thinks deeply about the aesthetic qualities of the point where the gold meets the brown in his sweater, while Holly wonders why (and evidently regrets the fact that) there is a pillow in her hood, however convenient it may be.