Hey guys,
I'm almost 6 weeks in so I feel like I have a pretty good idea of my surroundings by now. I feel very comfortable here and am still not missing home too much. Here's a little insight on the food here, in New Zealand in general and at Uni.
The food here is very interesting to me. It’s not as much as a shock compared to other places in the world, however it definitely is not what I’m used to. I live in college hall, and for each hall they have their own dining space. At first I thought wow this is small compared to Susquehanna’s cafeteria, but then again it only feeds the people in my hall. They serve food three times per day, breakfast lunch and dinner, and they are all at specific times. If you miss the time, you’re either not going to eat or you’ll have to buy some food on campus. With the meal plans here, you can go to all three of the meals they prepare for you at the dining space at College Hall, no where else on campus. It’s been weird for me having a set time that I have to eat instead of eating whenever I feel like it, but it’s actually kind of nice having that one time that everyone gets together and has a sit down meal. For breakfast there are cereals, toast, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and sometimes eggs and hash browns. For lunch they have something different all the time, and for dinner it's usually a meat, veggies and pasta or rice. Here's a screenshot of an example of one of the menus:
Now, the food. I’ve noticed they are very meat heavy here. I’m not someone who particularly enjoys eating meat, but everywhere you go it’s either a meat pie or some kind of beef dish. Even though it’s not my first choice, I’m still gonna eat it. The options here are also not as large as we’re used to at home. Even at the grocery store there are barely any recognizable brands and types of snacks that I would usually buy. However I did find an international foods store that has goldfish (thank god) but I somehow feel like that’s cheating. I’m going to continue to eat whatever they serve me at the dining hall and pretend like I’m not an American who lives off of coco puffs and ramen.
Another thing I've noticed is that they don't really have the best coffee here. I'm someone who lives off of coffee and my k-cups, and here they only commonly sell instant coffee, which isn't as good in my opinion. I went to a cafe the other day and I asked for a coffee with cream, and the barista looked at me and had no idea what I was talking about. So if you want a coffee with cream, you have to ask for a long black with milk (for you coffee lovers).
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