At the end of the year, it seemed right to do an overview of the fixed cost of living as an international PhD student in New Zealand, now that there is over a year's worth of data. No warehouse stores or coupons, so it is more difficult to get a bargain. Costs are annual unless stated otherwise and in NZ dollars.
School
$7,200 Postgraduate PhD tuition and admin fees
Medical
$600 - Medical insurance for university international students
(basically equivalent to travel insurance)
$58 - Doctor's visit at university health center
$25 - Dentist visit (10-minute cleaning and X-rays) subsidized by university
(normally ~$80)
$80 - Hygienist visit (30-minute cleaning) at separate location
$22 - 3 months of generic drug at university pharmacy
(with prescription, not covered by ins.)
$36 - 6 months of oral contraception at university pharmacy
(with prescription, not covered by ins.)
$1/pill - most other medicines at any pharmacy (e.g. pain relief, allergy)
Vehicle
$200 - Annual government car registration
$115 - AA car insurance, Third Party policy (not required but good to have)
$60 - AA membership
$2,000 - Gas costs (~$70-100 per fillup with older car) with two roadtrips around islands
Utilities
$19,240 - Rent ($370/week in lower-income neighborhood)
$8,000 - Groceries and household supplies ($120/week for low-carb groceries for two)
$2,000 - Electricity costs ($150/month summer, $300/month winter)
(being away during weekdays)
$900 - Internet, unlimited data, slow speeds ($75/month)
$265 - Contents/renters insurance
$240 - Cell phone plan, 500MB data, unlimited texting ($20 topup/month)
Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Halloween Party
I
submitted my article finally. What a relief! It was a lot more work
than I anticipated, even at the end with the formatting and last-minute
realizations that I'd left certain critics out. Fingers crossed that the
reviewers like it. I was only 9 words under the word count. I've now
moved on to another article about pedagogy (teaching) and Digital
Humanities. Then there is a conference in three weeks where I am
presenting on Wikipedia and editing bias...I'll get to writing my thesis
eventually.
On the plane ride back from the conference a couple weeks ago, I sat next to a guy doing his PhD in Tourism at Lincoln University, and since they actually put some effort into making international students feel welcome and giving them the chance to meet other people, he works in a kind of international development role and puts on activities for them. Anyway, he invited me to their last get-together for the semester at a Mexican restaurant this past week so D and I went and had a good time meeting other international students from Lincoln. A couple of them even used to go to our university but much prefer Lincoln because it is smaller and has a more welcoming environment. The food was not quite what we expect from Mexican food, but such it is in New Zealand. There was a student from the U.S. there and we were talking presidential politics across the long table -- several of the students from China were just listening intently and after we said we should stop because we were boring them, they said oh no, we weren't boring them; they find it fascinating how Americans get all into political discussions. They were a nice bunch of students, very full of energy and excitement. It's nice to have a break from the normal routine and hear about what other people are doing with their lives.
Despite a week with cold weather, Halloween turned out to be a nice, warm day. We brought a taste of America to New Zealand with our Halloween party, and folks enjoyed the theme, the food, and the carving of pumpkins (first time for most of them). We played some Halloween Pictionary and took the pumpkins outside in the dark to light them up with tea lights. I think this part really amazed some of them -- to see their own carved creation lit up with fire! And we got lots more trick-or-treaters this year -- I believe the balloons and sign on the mailbox helped. Still had to flag down one group that were about to pass us by. Very reluctant over here.
 |
| Felt really good to haul these back to the library! |
On the plane ride back from the conference a couple weeks ago, I sat next to a guy doing his PhD in Tourism at Lincoln University, and since they actually put some effort into making international students feel welcome and giving them the chance to meet other people, he works in a kind of international development role and puts on activities for them. Anyway, he invited me to their last get-together for the semester at a Mexican restaurant this past week so D and I went and had a good time meeting other international students from Lincoln. A couple of them even used to go to our university but much prefer Lincoln because it is smaller and has a more welcoming environment. The food was not quite what we expect from Mexican food, but such it is in New Zealand. There was a student from the U.S. there and we were talking presidential politics across the long table -- several of the students from China were just listening intently and after we said we should stop because we were boring them, they said oh no, we weren't boring them; they find it fascinating how Americans get all into political discussions. They were a nice bunch of students, very full of energy and excitement. It's nice to have a break from the normal routine and hear about what other people are doing with their lives.
Despite a week with cold weather, Halloween turned out to be a nice, warm day. We brought a taste of America to New Zealand with our Halloween party, and folks enjoyed the theme, the food, and the carving of pumpkins (first time for most of them). We played some Halloween Pictionary and took the pumpkins outside in the dark to light them up with tea lights. I think this part really amazed some of them -- to see their own carved creation lit up with fire! And we got lots more trick-or-treaters this year -- I believe the balloons and sign on the mailbox helped. Still had to flag down one group that were about to pass us by. Very reluctant over here.
 |
| missing items weren't ready yet: cheesecake, boo cups, and garlic bread |
 |
| forgot to capture pumpkin cheesecake at the beginning |
 |
| boo cups had melted ghosts but were still tasty |
 |
| "feely boxes" with marshmallows, cold noodles, & crushed pineapple |
 |
| got the biggest squash/pumpkins we could |
 |
| they carved up pretty nicely |
 |
| These are ours -- I was going for a round mouth but failed! |
 |
| Some of our friends' happy pumpkins :) |
Monday, March 9, 2015
Tutorials and Popular Art
It is possible I have taken on too many jobs, partly because of the last-minuteness of planning in New Zealand so that I didn't know for sure if I would have the tutoring one which takes the most time until right before classes started, and partly because I have trouble saying no to new opportunities (and more income). I am up to six now, though some of them are just for a short, fixed period of time and others will be in bursts when papers are turned in for grading. This will be a test semester to see how everything goes.
Meanwhile, I survived my first two tutorials! I was nervous but it wasn't too bad and after the hardest part -- starting the class and having everyone look at you for leadership -- it was mostly just prompting discussion through questions. The first group took longer on the questions so I had to rush at the end, but I still had time to give them the recent news article on human head transplants only being two years away and relate it to Frankenstein's relevance today, almost two hundred years after its publication. The second group was in a smaller room actually meant for that kind of small group which does make a difference in the atmosphere, and they were more active. I have so much more appreciation for the prep work that teachers do and the energy it takes to be that person in the room that everyone is expecting to lead them. I think the nervousness will diminish over time as I get more comfortable with the role and the groups feel more comfortable discussing and asking questions. You are so thankful for the contributors because they make the job that much easier. It is a unique position being the one in the room with more knowledge and experience, and I enjoy that power and ability to guide their thinking and questioning into certain directions. Sometimes they make the leap themselves, but other times you have to tease it out. It is odd that it has taken this long to have the opportunity to lead a classroom, after going down a degree path that points that direction in most cases. But I have to say, getting to discuss and write about literature for a living has to be a good gig. Probably why professors rank so highly on the job happiness scale!
I had a meeting with two women executives from the Canterbury Women's Club on the startup of the postgraduate network group. They were eager to hear my ideas, and we settled on a monthly meeting on-campus where a few women would give a brief overview of their research and then a woman speaker in the workforce would share her experience. The idea is to build a network and practice skills like presenting, mingling, and preparing for life after the degree. I hope everything goes well and is successful. If I decide to stay on in New Zealand after completing my degree, networks like this will be useful in finding employment.
My literature class had another good lecture which related some to my project. The lecturer was talking about the importance of studying both "high" art (like James Joyce and Picasso) and "low" or popular art, because just like now, people interacted with and consumed both types. He said, Wouldn't you want to look at what 95% of people were reading or watching? This relates to science fiction because until recently it was not seen as worthy of study in academia. Thanks to a generation of people fighting for it to be recognized, and the acknowledgment that studying popular culture is important too, it is now generally accepted at most schools as an appropriate topic for serious academic study. In my view, what we read and watch has a big role in our socialization, so it absolutely makes sense to critically analyze and engage with the culture we live in (or used to live in).
I had a meeting with two women executives from the Canterbury Women's Club on the startup of the postgraduate network group. They were eager to hear my ideas, and we settled on a monthly meeting on-campus where a few women would give a brief overview of their research and then a woman speaker in the workforce would share her experience. The idea is to build a network and practice skills like presenting, mingling, and preparing for life after the degree. I hope everything goes well and is successful. If I decide to stay on in New Zealand after completing my degree, networks like this will be useful in finding employment.
My literature class had another good lecture which related some to my project. The lecturer was talking about the importance of studying both "high" art (like James Joyce and Picasso) and "low" or popular art, because just like now, people interacted with and consumed both types. He said, Wouldn't you want to look at what 95% of people were reading or watching? This relates to science fiction because until recently it was not seen as worthy of study in academia. Thanks to a generation of people fighting for it to be recognized, and the acknowledgment that studying popular culture is important too, it is now generally accepted at most schools as an appropriate topic for serious academic study. In my view, what we read and watch has a big role in our socialization, so it absolutely makes sense to critically analyze and engage with the culture we live in (or used to live in).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)