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Christchurch Vlog

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This weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Christchurch and Akaroa, and I recorded memorable moments from the trip. On Friday, we stopped by Orana Wildlife Park, and I got the chance to get up close to the lions which was incredible. We then spent our Saturday in the city of Christchurch and went to the local farmers market. Before we left to go back to Dunedin, we drove down to Akaroa where we went on a boat tour and encountered penguins, fur seals, and dolphins. Overall, this weekend was filled with good food, friends, and cute animals!
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Sevusevu Welcome Ceremony

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Last week, our program had the opportunity to visit a local village here in Fiji and partake in a welcome ceremony known as sevusevu. This ceremony is performed for visitors coming into and being accepted into the village by the village headman or Turaga ni Koro. Before we went inside for the ceremony, the Turaga ni Koro said a chant in order to announce our presence for the ceremony to begin. All of the students and staff then entered the building where the ceremony took place and removed our shoes before coming inside. We also all dressed moderately out of respect for the people of the village, and the Fijians were similarly wearing clothing that covered their shoulders and knees. We then all sat down on a woven mat before the Turaga ni Koro and the elder men from the village with Dr. Garton sitting before us as our representative. For this ceremony, a half bundle of waka is offered to the village which is the lower part of the same plant that produces kava. The Turaga ni ...
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Koala Study

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The anticipation surrounding the Koala Study day on Magnetic Island was unreal. All of us in BIOL 3100 were thrilled to be studying and “working” with these adorable animals. I even remember back in Sydney some people at the Featherdale Zoo claiming they didn’t want to pay for the picture with the koala because we would be holding them and studying them up close and personal in Magnetic Island. I had even expressed how excited I was to my mom the day before the koala study to hold an actual koala. Boy, were we in for a rude awakening! The day finally came to do the koala study, and our day started bright and early in the morning. That was when we learned we would actually be collecting koala poop! This tidbit of information was a bit of a disappointment, to say the least. We thought all of our hopes and dreams of interacting with these animals were completely crushed. So, we carried on with the study and each grabbed a bike of our own to make it down to the forest where we wo...
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