Video - New Zealand 2012

When I left New York for New Zealand in February 2012 I was sad, confused, excited and hopeful. 

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better experience - I'm a new and improved version of myself and I've been so so so fortunate to see some spectacular places.  Saying I'm "thankful" for the opportunity to be in New Zealand to live and study is an understatement - it just doesn't quite explain exactly what it has meant to me to be here, but I guess it'll do.

So, I made a video to share my adventures with friends, family and Internet stalkers.  It was really difficult to take 10 1/2 hours of video and whittle it down to 3+ minutes worth of clips to put to a song ("On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons), but I enjoyed the process nonetheless.

I certainly don't want to take it for granted that I'm living in a beautiful country, so it's important to me to continue taking breaks from PhD work to explore New Zealand.  Here's hoping that over the next two years I'll accumulate a lot more video clips to do something like this little video project again!

Sites of interest around the south island of New Zealand featured in the video:

• Catlins
• Taiaroa Head Lighthouse
• Heyward Point
• Manapouri
• Monowai
• Routeburn Track
• Mt. Cook
• Mt. Xenicus
• All Blacks
• Highlanders
• Turret Ridge
• Awakino Ski Field
• Brighton
• Long Beach
• Nugget Point
• Tunnel Beach
• Flagstaff-Pineapple Track
• Dunedin Midwinter Carnival
• University of Otago
• Mumford & Sons - Christchurch
• Mt. Saint Bathans

Enjoy!

Danilo Hegg Photography

A little known fact: when I'm about to embark on a trip to the wild outdoors, I try to find a picture of where I'm going to up the excitement factor.  There's something about seeing someone else's pictures that makes me want to be where I'm going RIGHT  NOW.

Danilo Hegg has been in Dunedin for 15 years and he's been to many places that I've had the luxury of seeing first hand and he's been to many places that I hope to see before my time is up in New Zealand.  I highly recommend that you check out his photos.  In fact, you should check out his pictures from this week's trip to Sutton Salt Lake (you'll spot a few pictures of me in there!).

T-t-today Tutor!

On Wednesday I walked nervously into a classroom 15 minutes early.  I pulled up an Excel document that contained survey data from over 200 med students and then I got the projector all set.  Just before 2pm the first of 12 students assigned to sit with me for two hours started flowing in.

Show time!

My task for the afternoon was to show these bright minds how the heck to create a pivot table so that they could make some conclusions about their survey data.  The survey had been distributed to them a few months ago and it asked questions about respiratory symptoms and demographics.  Our job was to considered whether housing conditions caused asthma-like symptoms in the sample.

My opening statement: "Hi! My name is Sara and I'm a PhD student in Preventive and Social Medicine.  Who is ready to have their life changed by pivot tables?!"

Silence.

I fumbled, bumbled, and stumbled my way through the tutorial.  It was my first time ever working with students and I didn't want them to think I was a huge dork.  I wanted them to like me and like the content that I was demonstrating.  But, it didn't help that there was a rumor that med students loathe public health tutorials.

All I could do to make up for my lack of clarity and other mishaps was smile and promise to get them out early.

Today, I had a second chance to redeem myself and it was fantastic!

I explained that the Data Dictionary contained the variable names and descriptions for all the questions asked in the survey.  Then I asked the students to consider what characteristics of the sample are important to look at and write down the variable name associated with the characteristic.  Next, they looked through the variable names for respiratory symptoms for which they'd like to know the frequency information.  Next, I showed them how to create the pivot tables.  They worked in small groups to make pivot tables and afterwards we discussed interesting things that they found (e.g. 30% of respondents have been diagnosed with asthma and a high percentage of students said they live in housing conditions that affect their health).

Thankfully, I've been taking a biostatistics and epidemiology class this semester and I was able to elaborate on things to consider when reading studies that used a survey design.  I even mentioned a little about my own experience collecting data through a mailed survey.

This group got into the whole tutorial; three students even stayed after the tutorial to talk to me about research in general and my own research - so cool!!

Since my research assistant at MInT is probably wrapping up in August, I'm sure I'll be looking for work.  After today's tutorial I'm really hoping that I can find something more long-term as a tutor.  I think it's really fun to teach when I feel confident about what I'm doing, so fingers crossed I get more opportunities to show off that I'm a tutor super star!

Sutton Salt Lake

Today is Anzac Day in New Zealand.  I should have been in the office getting ready for my year review, but I decided to go for a trip to Sutton Salt Lake (New Zealand's only salt lake) with my friend Celia Mendes and her lovely mates.

We set out to Middlemarch, which is known as a base for filming Lord of the Rings, in the morning.  The landscape in the area is polka dotted with neat rock formations known as "tors".

Fortunately, the rain that we've had lately decided to take a break so that we could enjoy a nice day of photographing the lake.

Despite several days of rain there wasn't much water in the lake!

I thought it was fun walking around the lake trying to catch reflections on that puddle in the middle.

From the car park it was only an hour return trip.  A nice little walk on a nice day, I'd say!

We stayed long enough to need a wee lunch break.  Then we hit the road to be back in Dunedin by 5pm.  

I'd recommend this spot after a few days of heavy rain.  Celia's friend, Danilo, mentioned that the lake was bone dry the last time he was there, so I'm not sure how pretty it'd be without some water.

Unfortunately, no current plans to get out of Dunedin in the near future.  I need to focus on my year review that will take place this coming Wednesday!  After that, I might need to take a little break from thesis-ing for a day or two to recharge.  Lately, I find myself spending all day in the office, but only working for a small fraction of that time.  The next two years will fly by and so I need to start becoming way more productive!

New URL

Update your bookmark!  I'll no longer post to saragdovin.blogspot.com.  Continue checking http://newyorkerinnewzealand.blogspot.co.nz/ for the latest stories from my corner of the globe.