I don't know what happened but...

Yesterday was a milestone in this study abroad adventure business - the start of my last full month in New Zealand. I'll be honest, I get a mixed feeling about crossing that point - I can't wait to be back in Boston and see friends again. But, on the other hand, I don't think I accomplished all that much, at least in the realm of what I wanted to do. Most of that was financial - save for maybe the past two weeks when the bottom fell out on the dollar, each NZ$1 was around US$1...let's average it at 1.35 or so. When I received orientation materials from the University of Auckland, they suggested a budget of $175-$275 (US)/week. Study Abroad suggested around $6,000 (US) - yes that's more than the uni, but I now completely understand why they suggested it - and yes, I was stubborn and decided to go on the lower end of the uni budget (less than the Study Abroad office - probably about US $225/wk). So now that it is around $1.60 +/- (link), I have virtually no money left to splurge, if you will.

(P.S. - no consumer prices haven't adjusted accordingly. So yes, I'm getting substantially more bang for my buck right now. For example, a 12-pack of beer at the local mini-mart has always been $25: in July, that was $18.50, now it's $15.15)

I suppose if there is one thing I have learned, it's the importance of forward-thinking. E.g. - when I do get a job, I am most definitely making sure, through some automatic process, that 15 - 25% of my paycheck is instantly squirreled away in my savings account. More if possible, because I think although it might be devastating for certain aspects of my social/relationship life, I should consider moving back home and staying put for at least a year, which will be significantly cheaper than moving to say, Boston or New York and dealing with all that.

I also don't feel that I traveled anywhere near as much as I could have. Many different reasons behind that - yes, money is part of it - but I am considering getting a loan from the bank of Dad (most likely will call him today).

But, as most of my close friends reading this stateside know, I have a big mental block about doing pretty much anything alone, especially something like traveling. I suppose it's more I just want to be with people to share whatever memories happen. I don't know. I suppose I didn't really make too much of an effort to get out and meet many people - but that's a catch-22...it would have required me to most likely go out alone, at least at first. (see the problem?) And yes, I know that I fell into some of my old habits that probably ultimately alienated (or at least gave a fairly negative impression of me to) some...especially in the relationship / looking department - to boot, I naturally have nothing to show for that.

Yes, a third goal would have been to meet someone, even if for just the four months I was / am here. I try to keep the fact that I am very actively looking to myself (aside from that omission and the borderline ecstatic state I go into when I think I finally met 'her'); a lot of my friends, especially guy friends, think I'm absolutely insane when I say I'm tired of being single - it's been...wow...four years since I last had a date that wasn't ambiguous in its intent. Well, it's not like I'm really enjoying many of the "privileges" - I'm not going out to clubs/bars/parties (however much I keep prodding friends to go) and meeting/hooking up with girls; I'm not all that active in the dating scene, somewhat by choice (not mine though!) - and I'm sure that's not going to change, especially if I move home...

The ultimate question is, even though I have 29 days left, will I actually do anything? Obviously, this coming week will be a low likelihood - it's the final week of classes, and I have a large test on Thursday that I kinda need to learn 2/3rds of the material for. That's gonna be this weekend. Next Friday is a Halloween/end-of-classes bash/shitshow...so looking forward to that. That will be followed by a week of intense studying as my first exam is on the 31st, and it's worth a whopping 100% of my final grade...take a breath for a moment, than I have to work on my senior dissertation for NU, which is due the 7th as it is being graded as a term paper here. Oh yes, then another week of studying for an exam (only 50% though) in a class I barely went to on the 12th.

Uh...wow, even though my carefully planned out schedule above will be completely trashed by say...midday today when I get up and can't be bothered with doing anything and play my computer game instead...I now see why it is said that everyone goes into virtual hibernation during finals. It seems like a long time...but it's definitely needed.