The beginning is sometimes the hardest….

So I left Christchurch on the 15th March after 5 weeks chilling and basically doing nothing very productive. So I am now living in Dunedin, known as "little Scotland" and it is just that…based on Edinburgh, Dunedin has the same street names as Edinburgh, it also has a Robbie Burn's statue in the city centre to worship and the Robbie Burns pub looks like it would be my local…I should feel right at home. So at the moment I am back living in a hostel known as Central Backpackers and I am working for accommodation, which means I work every day 10 - 12 making beds and cleaning so I don't have to fork out money for my bed. The hostel is right bang in the middle of town so is very noisy and I get very little sleep. Even during the week days I struggle to sleep due to people in and out my room at all hours, lights on, lights off, lights on…bang bang with the doors (you get the picture). Otherwise the hostel is a really nice place. I would describe it as homely, modern and very clean (with thanks to me hehe). It is a small hostel with only 9 rooms; however they can cram 11 people into a room…impressive! I don't mind the work in the hostel in the morning, I like being busy and with 2 people working on beds and the kitchen/bathroom, the time flies and you're done in no time. The biggest problem I am finding at the moment is the lack of sleep, nodding off around 2am and having to get up around 8ish. Ok it doesn't sound really bad but I need my sleep to be of any use to anybody or I risk being an emotional homesick wreck everyday (which I have been since I got here just over a week ago, I am so sorry mum and dad for ranting to you when you were on your holidays).

So the reason I have come to Dunedin is that I have a big opportunity to get experience in Forensic Anthropology (or experience just working in a university/museum collections). Chris the curator has been amazing and is giving me all the opportunities and chances of getting my foot in the door and getting a good job. I am very grateful for everything he is doing and it is very rare for someone to go beyond the "call of duty". So I have just completed my first week volunteering in the museum. My plan of action is to work in the hostel 10 - 12 and then volunteer 1 - 5pm during the week. So I am getting treated like a member of staff which I am getting really stupidly excited over…getting to use the staff room, my own keys, my own staff laptop and even getting to use the staff toilets haha…I am always scared I will get caught by some other staff member because I look like a student still. As well as Chris, there is Rachna who is the assistant curator and she is lovely too.

So on my first day, Chris took me around the storage room and told me what he wanted done (there is a big list to get through) and showed me how the database works and other odds and ends that need doing in the actual museum itself. He said that the museum just inherited some doctor's collection and so that will be coming in soon and will need to be catalogued and examined. So there is plenty of work to do! Chris is brilliant in terms of trying to do anything he can to help me, even getting the department to "pay" me in food vouchers (big help as food here is SO expensive) and he even took me out for Chinese food this past Thursday. I stuffed myself as I hate cooking in the hostel…I have just been making toast most nights as I can't be bothered making myself dinner.

So far this week, I got to sort, label and box my first collection (I have a feeling that some of the words used to describe my job are triggering some security thing on the website so I need to use alternative words) and when I get access to my database I will examine them for pathology and fill out a record for the individual. I have been trying to get some order in the storage room by cleaning up a couple of displays so there is some order of where things are and what's to do. I have also tried to finish a couple of projects that previous students have started and abandoned…and for very, very good reasons. I am trying (and will continue trying till the day I leave the country) to side hand and foot bones. First of all there are hundreds and if you know anything about phalanges and the bones of said hand and foot…to me especially, they all look exactly the same and will therefore take me a long time to decide which is which. On Wednesday, a few interesting topics was brought up by Chris. So he tells me that to get into the university's good books and for a better chance of getting a job within the uni (any uni) that he will do what he can and give me all the help, materials etc. to help me get published. He said if I write up any papers to do with the museum collection or any projects I want to undertake and write up about, he will see what he can do in terms of getting them published in journals. As I was really not happy with the way my master's dissertation went that I have the opportunity here to learn what I wanted to get out of my degree. This is a great opportunity that I can't pass up and I am very excited with the prospects of this volunteering. There is definitely a good years' worth of stuff to keep me going in the museum and if I do get published then uni's will be looking at me a little more closely. So maybe later on down the line there might be something that will open up and Chris agrees with me that it is who you know and he will help introduce me to people as we go along. Maybe someone will be looking for help sooner rather than later and I hope to prove myself and show them I know my stuff.

So as well as working in the hostel, volunteering at the museum, I am also looking for some part-time work and a more, well I should say quieter place to live. So this weekend I have managed to get my CV out to a few places and hoping to hear from a couple of university jobs this week. This is the one thing that has me a little stressed and would like the last few things to fall into place now. A good part-time job and a home whilst I try get into a rhythm or routine (I've learned that I am a girl that needs a routine/schedule...need to keep busy)!!

So I have only been in Dunedin just over a week and to be honest I have spent every night in the hostel not doing much except getting addicted to Grey's Anatomy and not sleeping. The first night I arrived however, Keily (one of the girl's I lived with in the hostel in Perth who lives in Dunedin now) offered me a ticket to the rugby game taking place that night featuring the local team, the Highlanders (suitable name for "little Scotland") versus the hurricanes (wherever they're from). It was brilliant, they had bagpipes and everything…definitely can see me supporting my local team and I can definitely get into the rugby games.

So that is the start of my life here in Dunedin. I don't know how long I will be here but I am going to try and make the most of everyday…I just need to readjust my mind set and get a couple good nights worth of sleep (with the help of my new miracle sleeping pills) and I hope to be on to a good thing.

Keep fingers crossed for me!

Lots of Love, Claire xxxx