stephengardener.com » Study

Completed degrees

stega — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 06:35:00 +0000

My time at Auckland Uni is finally over. At least i hope it is; the results usually take a wee while to come out, and when they do i will be far from here, which puts me in the shit if i’ve managed to fail anything.
So we are into our final 2 weeks in Sunny New Zealand, and things are starting to disappear from our flat as our relationship with trademe.co.nz (kiwi version of ebay) goes into overdrive. Selling the contents of the flat you’ve lived in for the past 3.5 years is a full time job, but then it pays for all the dinners out and beers which are being consumed with a vengance as we say goodbye to NZ and all our friends.
The immigration thing is almost sorted now – just in time for us to leave They have issued me with a student visa (which i got just before sitting my final exam), despite telling me in a previous letter that they would not be issuing my visa until i provided them with proof that i was enrolled at Auckland Uni. The fact that i was in the process of sitting my exams didnt seem to convince them at first, but it seems now that they have accepted that i just might be a student. Seems the letters that were writen to various MPs pointing out how ridiculously stupid NZ Immigration service was being did the trick, as they have even agreed to repay the fees they overcharged me.
For any of you out there that are considering coming to Auckland to study, try applying to Christchurch for your student visa – i recommend avoiding the Auckland branches of the NZIS like the plague.

Taken advantage of.. (aka reasons not to come to NZ to study)

stega — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 03:04:00 +0000

Since i have been studying at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, i have had a less than pleasant time trying to renew my student visa which has to be done every 6 months. To go through the process costs NZ$70 (just under 30 quid) and tons of frustration. This year they have changed the rules slightly, i presume in order to reduce work at the immigration center, and have allowed unis to process applications. To encourage students to do this, they charge $120 if you apply at the immigration center, and $70 if you apply at uni. The university in their wisdom have seen this as an opportunity to shaft the international students even more than they do already. So we can pay the university $130 for the service, or we can apply at the immigration center and pay $120. The university said that they are charged $70 to process an application by the immigration center.
Our fees as international students per year are over NZ$20,000. Local students pay around $4,500. You would have thought that even if they cannot afford to cover this new service they are providing with the vast amount of money they receive from us every year, running such a service could never amount to $60 per student.
Unfortunately, international students seem to be the main source of income for the University of Auckland, and it appears they plan to milk us for as much as they can get away with. This is such a shame because i have really enjoyed studying here, and the academic staff have been mostly great (if a bit dissolusioned with the way the uni is being run).

Mud

stega — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 01:55:00 +0000

Back from our geography field trip down in the Bay of Plenty. I am looking at the population dynamics of mangroves in Ohiwa Harbour, so spent a few days trudging through swamps and getting stuck in mud trying to map the things.
As well as mangrove ecology, i also learnt a new drinking game called Circle of Death. A quick search on the net revealed several different versions of the game, none of which was the one we played. Will get the rules off Ed and put them on here.
We also managed to get awsome weather for the whole time we were down there. Good times
Got a week off this week, which is gonna be spent relaxing, writing tunes and catching up with people, with a bit of school work stuck in there somewhere. Might even get around to implementing a photo page on this site if i get the time.

Noodly Appendage

stega — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 01:58:00 +0000

This is excellent: www.venganza.org
Still struggling with my proxy server program.. and still gotta decide on the details of my geog research. As long as it involves lots of GIS, programming and nice walks around the countryside I’ll be happy. Also gotta decide whether im gonna us this as an opportunity to learn an open source GIS (probably Grass), or stick with arcGIS. Probably the later, just to make things a bit easier…

Blog!!!

stega — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 02:01:00 +0000

Finally got myself a blog.. although ive cheated slightly and used Greymatter rather than building my own
Spent half the day playing about with this – really should be working on my second compsci assignment.. ive gotta build a configurable HTTP proxy server apparently. Unfortunately it has to be in next friday, the same day as my proposal for my geography research project sad
Ollie is away for a few days with work, down in Hamilton, so stuck in on my own with only my assignment for company tonight. Arse. Fancied a climb as well.