Category: Academics

Mid-Semester Weekly Recap – New Zealand

Published on by claireoleary400Leave a comment

I wanted to give a little weekly recap of what I did in Dunedin, New Zealand this week. I’ve been here since July, so I’ve had a lot of time to get settled and go on a couple of adventures. I want to give you guys a look at what a typical week can look like over here.

It’s starting to get close to the end of the semester, and finals are starting to be around the corner. This was a huge week for internship applications for me. I’m an accounting major, and we start the internship application process a lot earlier than other majors. I’m currently applying to the Big 4 (the big accounting firms in the country and in some countries) for the winter and summer quarters of 2027. That took a lot of time, but hopefully I’ll move on to the interview rounds next week.

With finals coming up, I’m starting to get my final essays prepared. I’ve only had a few assignments over the semester, and most of my grades are focused on the final essay and the final test. I’m taking a history class about crime, shame, and scandal in New Zealand.  I’m writing an essay about the history of venereal diseases in New Zealand during both World Wars. I’m taking an anthropology class about religion and the supernatural, which is way out of my comfort zone. My topic is about the ritualistic practices of Haitian Vodou and how zombies are created and interact with the community. Finally, I’m taking a Pacific societies class and writing a paper on climate change and the historical and contemporary impacts on Tuvalu.

While I’ve had a lot of work this week, I’ve also had a lot of fun! My kiwi host (the resident New Zealander who I live with), and some of my friends and flat mates went to a club in downtown Dunedin that had a cave inside and an outdoor concert-like venue. I’ve learned that the Kiwis love their early 2000s American dance pop. Earlier this week, a friend of a friend was having a going-away party that happened to be birthday themed. Then this weekend I went camping out in Central Otago. We saw New Zealand’s oldest hotel and store, and camped in this tiny mining town. We saw a Salt Lake, which was red from all of the mineral deposits, and then hiked around Blue Lake. We camped in a valley and almost lost our tent due to the wind. All in all, it was a great week, and I’ll see you next time!

camping in central otago
camping in central otago
camping in central otago

Midterms

Published on by Katie SandovalLeave a comment

We took a summer break! This post is from June 17, 2025. The last few weeks have been pretty busy as assignments have started to pick up. The semester is also a little over halfway finished, which means it’s time for midterms. I’ve already taken two and have another one coming up in about two weeks.

One of my “midterms” was for my Japanese speaking class. It felt more like a review than a real exam, so I only reviewed the grammar points we learned from that class. For a speaking-focused course, I got partnered up with one of my friends and we had to write a short script. We didn’t need to actually speak our scrip out loud when we were done and we were even allowed to use our phones to look up words we didn’t remember, so it was actually a pretty easy test.

The second midterm, though, was for my Natural Disasters class and that one I definitely had to study for. We were tested on earthquakes, volcanoes, mass movements and more. Science isn’t really my strong suit, so I tried to review as much as I could, right up until the last minute.

The format of the test was also interesting, one paper had the questions, and we had to write our answers on a separate sheet. I kept catching myself almost forgetting to write my answer on the answer sheet sometimes since I just wanted to write it down next to the question. Even though I was stressing out on how I did, I managed to pass with a C, which I’m honestly happy with.

Aside from midterms, all seven of my classes have been assigning more presentations and homework. The workload itself isn’t terrible, but it’s happening at the same time I’m starting to get notices about things to do before leaving Japan.

Balancing schoolwork and preparing to move out has definitely been stressful. I also want to keep my weekends free for exploring, which means I’ve been trying to finish all my assignments during the four weekdays I have class. It’s starting to become a lot to balance, but I’m still trying to do my best to stay on top of everything.