I've now been in New Zealand for one year. It's been a great growing experience for me. In the lab I've learned an incredible amount and decided on a path to pursue in my biomedical research career. I've tried new hobbies, explored new places, made some good friends. I've even begun to embrace the Kiwi culture, despite trying my best to maintain my American-ness during my first several months here.
Next month is the Combio Meeting in Christchurch, the largest biology/biochemistry meeting in New Zealand. I've been selected as the Otago representative for the student speaker competition, which is very exciting. There were only two candidates in the Otago competition on Friday (the other was a PhD student working on honeybee genetics), but I came away with the W. Should be a fun and informative meeting, and when I return I will embark on an approximately 11-day cycle journey from Dunedin to Hokitika, where I'll fly home from. More details on that later, but I now have the necessary mountain bike, purchased for NZ$350 on TradeMe. The more immediate adventure is that Sunmi (Williams '08) is visiting New Zealand this coming week and we are planning a hiking trip on the Kepler track in Fiordland, possibly followed by exploration of Milford Sound.
1 comment:
Congrats on being selected to present at the conference! I also hope you have a great time with your friend visiting.
Appreciate the lack of corruption in New Zealand. It was just voted the least corrupt nation.
By the way, Halloween is still a great holiday here. Very few pumpkins seem to have been on display, but instead much more elaborate displays with ghosts and skeletons hanging, lights being strung, etc. Alex will share his stash with you I'm sure.
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