The Very Real Challenges of Driving

Disclaimer: Mom, this might not be your favorite post ever.





Alpine Highway -- At this point, I had no idea what was in store for the drive ahead



When I first got here, there was some talk in the office about needing to take a driving lesson before getting my rental car. The other new engineer in the office from New York had barely driven before coming to New Zealand and has had a few incidents (to say the least). Management asked me how comfortable I was driving, and I said I thought I'd be ok, so they decided to forgo my driving lesson.

It's been going pretty well, but after a day of driving across the country  I have a few comments to make on driving here. I've found that the hardest thing about driving is New Zealand is... driving in New Zealand.

Hear me out.

There are plenty of things that could be hard..

1. Driving on the left side of the road

A coworker gave me the advice, "Follow traffic and go the wrong way on the roundabout". Turns out that's all there is to it. Honestly, the hardest part of driving on the left is remembering which side of your steering wheel has windshield wipers and which has a turn signal.

2. Navigating without GPS

Navigating in New Zealand is pretty simple because there's really only one road in any direction. As long as you don't stray from the path you can get pretty much anywhere you want to go. Sometimes the road will even change and as long as you keep going straight it'll all work out. For example to get to Taylor's Mistake the road will change from Blenheim to Moorhouse to Ferry to Main to Mariner to Wakefield to Evans Pass to Summit Road and you won't make a single turn. Just keep driving and you'll be there in an hour.

3. Other drivers

You might even thing the other drivers could make it difficult, but surprisingly, Kiwis are pretty good drivers. They will always let you cut in front of them in a pinch... as long as you're not on foot. Pedestrians do not have the right of way here.

4. It's really just being in New Zealand that makes it so hard. There is no such thing as an easy drive here and that makes it so difficult and ultimately, exhausting.

Here are the tales of the three longer drives I've done so far -- its definitely not all sunshine and rainbows:

My first free Saturday, I decided to get out of Christchurch and drive to Akaroa. I texted my coworker, Sarah, to see what she thought of the idea. She responded, "Yes, but make sure you're back by dark. The roads to Akaroa are really windy." Sarah's from Wisconsin (where I imagine the roads are flat and straight), so I thought, being from Pittsburgh, an hour and a half on windy roads couldn't be too bad. Plus, the directions were literally to make a right and keep going for an hour and a half. How hard could that be? Well those roads certainly were windy. Up the mountain, around the mountain, down the mountain, and around the bay... The views were unbelievable. I told myself that I would stop at the overlooks on the way home, but by the time I was heading home, I knew I just needed to go with the momentum and drive straight home before I passed out. but I made it safely! and before dark.

The view from Akaroa looking back at the hills I drove around. They don't look like much but those roads are windy!

I mentioned that my drive to the Taylor's Mistake hike yesterday was terrifying, but I just want to reiterate this one. I followed the road (because thats what you do here) as it took me up a mountain, but then I came to a 3 way intersection. One way said "Road Closed" but had some dates that didn't apply, one way was a dead end, and the last way said "Scenic Reserve" and had about 5 ft of grating instead of a paved road - similar to what I had seen on the Rapaki Track, where cars were not allowed. I chose the "Road Closed" path.. naturally. This road turned out to be a one-lane-for-two-way-traffic road, on the side of a cliff, with no guard rail. A few minutes in to scaling the side of this mountain, I started to feel like this was not the way to be going. There was also no other traffic, so I started to wonder if I had misread the sign and the road actually was closed TODAY. If that way the case I was in a liiiittle bit of trouble because there was no way to turn around. Luckily, I got to a place in the mountain with some extra room to back a tight turn around. A little shaken up, I drove back to the point where I had made my original choice, and decided the "Scenic Reserve"  (what does that even mean??) had to be the way to go. I parked my car next to some others, and started walking. A couple minutes later a car passed me. I felt extremely unsafe, but more than that,  I was thrilled to know that I too could be in my car! I ran back to the car, drove in to the scenic reserve, and quickly became terrified of the cliff, yet again. You know the rest from my other post, and once again, I made it home safely, but absolutely exhausted. I drove straight to my new apartment, left all of my belongings in the car, and laid down in my new bed.

Too scared and confused to take any pictures of the actual drive, but this is how happy I was to be off that road



I went out with some friends last night and told them about my drive to Taylor's Mistake. Each of their responses was pretty appropriate. From the native Kiwi: Welcome to New Zealand. You should probably let someone know where you are and when you're back if you ever do that again. From the French Canadian: OMG I would've been terrified. From my boss: Oh yeaaaaa. I really should've warned you when I told you to go there. Thanks, boss.

Today was a new day, another opportunity for an exhausting drive. We have Monday off work, so I decided to take a two day trip to the west coast. I had heard the drive was nice, and there's just one road so I figured it would be pretty pleasant. Wrong again. Damn this country. The first half of the drive was absolutely beautiful!!

The mountains were massive (I guess I can finally agree with Sarah that the port hills of Christchurch are in fact "hills"). They were all different, and surrounded by beautiful creeks and rivers and lakes.


Rain was coming just to the left of this frame, so had to pull over and snap this one while I could

But after I got through the mountain ranges, and in to the rainforest, the blue sky disappeared and was replaced by an overbearing grey sky. It started to rain and the road signs changed from "Scenic Lookout" to "Death Corner Overlook". I'm not even kidding. Don't mind if I don't. So I kept driving, thinking it would get better. It couldn't be that grey on the coast right? I stuck it out and went to Hokitika as planned, felt tired by the drive, and bummed about the weather, and decided that I would go to my hotel in Greymouth, take a shower, rest for a few minutes and then try to enjoy the rest of the trip as a new person. When I got to Greymouth, the entire "city" was shut down for a motorcycle race (not my cup of tea) and I couldn't even get to my hotel. I had little patience left, so at that point I gave up, got a coffee, and told myself if I left now I could make it back through the mountains before the sun went down. Luckily, I was right (finally), and the mountains were just as beautiful on the way back, but by the time I got home I was so exhausted that I collapsed on the my couch and was able to convince myself that I had ebola. #paranoid. But also just so downright exhausted.

Pulled over to capture this view on my way back. Loved driving through the mountains, but happy to be home.

I'm happy to report that after some rest and some food, I no longer think I have any form of an illness.


I think I'm going to take a break from driving for a while. I'm excited to get settled in to my new apartment tomorrow and you'll be happy to know I have plane tickets for my three upcoming trips. Phew.

Hiking Chch

Christchurch really grew on me his week. The clouds went away and despite a couple overnight rain showers, the weather really improved. It's still much colder than I thought it would be -- looks like I won't be needing all those tank tops I packed -- but I took the opportunity to get outside and get moving. I took almost the first week off as I adjusted to jet lag. It's a 17 hour difference so I was too tired after work and I was putting in serious effort to try to sleep until my alarm in the morning, so I figured waking up the sun was probably counter productive. As the jet lag wore off I was able to run after work, and it felt so good :)

Stop 1: Hagley Park and the Christchurch Botanical Gardens 
I'm about a mile from Hagley Park, a large park that has so much going on. There's a golf course, rugby fields, a little lake, the Christchurch Botanical Gardens and so much more. I found a nice running route around the north part of the park, and through the botanical gardens. The strange part is, there are hardly any people running here! The park has a presence in the city like central park, and some people run the outside loop of the park, but there aren't too many people cutting around the trails. Such a change for me! Also the "river" here is more like a creek. One of my coworkers told me to run along the river, and that was definitely not what I expected.



Bridge over the "River" in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens

Stop 2: Rapaki Track

This is the "hill" Sarah wanted to run up last weekend. It's actually a track, maintained by the government and hikers are warned that it is "extremely steep" in some places.

The Final Ascent

With the long weekend, nearly everyone in the office decided to travel (oh yeah, I forgot to mention Monday is NZ labour day). So Friday after work I went out to try to Rapaki track again. It was just as beautiful as last time, but this time on my way down I caught the sunset- amazing.

Sunset on the Way Down Rapaki Track

 I love this route because you get to be so close to so many sheep and the way they look at you just makes me laugh. 



Everybody Smile!



I posted this before, but I love the way this guy just looked at me as I was running down. Not as scared of humans as they probably should be.

The Rapaki Track also is one of those routes that rewards you at the top. The top of the track is at the summit of the port hills, and when you get there you look on to the bay on the other side of the hills that you wouldn't be able to see any other way. It really is incredible. The picture I took really doesn't so it justice. Mom, I'm hoping you'll try this one day Christchurch cause your photo will certainly be better than mine. 



View from the Top!

Clearly I would recommend this to a friend.

Stop 3: Taylor's Mistake

Today my only real plan was to move in to Sarah's apartment, but not until late afternoon, so I decided to drive out to Taylor's Mistake and do the 3-hour hike there. This one was a little different from Rapaki Track because it's on the water the whole way and you're going from the top of one of the port hills, around the hill and then down to Taylor's Mistake beach. The drive to get there was terrifying! It's a one lane road, for two-way traffic, on the side of a mountain, with no guardrail. On the way up you're on the outside lane (driving on the left) and I wasn't entirely sure I was going the right way, so when I finally got to the carpark I was so relieved. There were a couple steep parts but generally not too bad. I think I'll try to run it next time.

Headed to that little patch of sand in the middle of the frame



Another view - this time showing the track I'm walking on along the way



A look back along the track

Made it.




Almost back to the start you walk along this gorgeous bay



Last turn before the top

Where am I?

After all the excitement of getting to come to New Zealand, saying bye to all of my friends, and spending a little extra quality time with my sisters and my dad, I landed in New Zealand. That first day if anyone asked me how it was going I responded saying, "it's weird and uncomfortable." Thank you to all of those who responded "It's new and exciting!" I needed that.

My first reaction to NZ was, "wow all the buildings are really short". Similarly, the Thornton Tomasetti office is two stories. No more 18th floor for me. I do sit on the second floor though, so I can see mountains ("hills" - but I'll get to that later) in both directions. The office is quite small, probably 15 people total.  A bunch of people from the office went fishing last weekend and so this Friday we had a fish fry for lunch! Everything in NZ is fried, so in addition to the fish we fried wedges, broccoli, and bananas. It was a great first Friday lunch!

My morning walk to work

That Friday afternoon, the weather was beautiful and some coworkers and I went to an outdoor bar for happy hour. By the time I got home it was 5 am NY time and I was ready for bed. It was great to hang out with the people outside the office, try a few kiwi beers, and have a good laugh. Fun fact: a lot of kiwi beers are "hand poured" which means that they come out kind of like a guiness - no carbonation and about 55 degrees (not cold). I had an IPA which was really strange as a not cold, smooth beer, but apparently is quite common here. I hope you're all as interested on kiwi beer as I am ;) .

Saturday morning, a coworker, Sarah, and I decided to go for a run. She asked me if I wanted to do hills or flats, and I said, let's try the hills. My mistake.. That was a mountain! We walked up most of it, had some spectacular views, saw probably 100 sheep, and ran back down. Sarah is going to move in with a friend for a couple months, so offered to hand off her apartment to me! It's a massive two bedroom apartment (so mom you can stay in your very own room!). I'm so excited to get out of the motel.


I didn't have my camera on Saturday, but I did this route again, and took this picture the second time.
"Excuse me, Pardon me"

With no plans for the rest of the day, I got in my car, memorized my directions because I don't have GPS, and drove out to Akaroa. It's about an hour away, on the peninsula off Christchurch. The roads are extremely windy, but I made it, and the views along the way were breathtaking, despite the overcast skies. I think I'm starting to like NZ :)

View of the Bay in Akaroa, NZ



180 degrees from the last photo
I really liked the orange on the mountain, but a shopkeeper told me its a terrible weed in NZ and they are required by law to spray it or it will spread like crazy ad not die for 20 years.

Thank you guys so much for sending love the past few days -- I really appreciated it even though I was bad at responding. The culture shock from NY to Christchurch was pretty extreme, and I definitely questioned my willingness to accept this job a few times. Someone in the office told me that every person in Christchurch is picked for our ability to adapt to adverse circumstances, and work well under a deadline. I tried to keep that in mind when I was feeling blue.
I think this trip is going to fly by, and I'll be glad I did it, but I'm definitely still adjusting. Luckily, the scenery helps with that :)
Miss you all and love you all! Wish you could be here with me!

Getting My Chance

As an engineer, I've always wanted to solve some form of a natural disaster. Ambitious, sure, but don't worry, I realize that I cannot stop all earthquakes, fires, and floods. Instead I have decided to do what I can, design buildings for what us engineers call, "life safety", and do the math to find out why some buildings don't live up to our expectations.

In college, I cold-emailed the dean of the engineering school, who was a civil engineer from New Zealand. I read about his research online- he was working on a project to prevent the next Hurricane Katrina -- cool right? Kindly, the dean emailed me back to tell me that he was not actively researching, but that Judy Mitrani-Reiser could use some help in her lab. And, so I starting working towards my goal. With Judy and her team, I began researching hurricanes, building trends, and damage trends in the state of Florida to help insurance companies access risk more accurately. It was pretty cool.

About a year in to working in Judy's lab, I decided to go abroad to Sydney, Australia, and I fell in love. With a city, with a country, with my friends and my experiences. And to be honest, I left my heart there. Specifically, I left my heart in my concrete class. My concrete class pushed me to my limits on study abroad and taught me a lot about myself.

But let's start at the beginning. On my first day in my concrete class in Sydney, I walked in to a room of 200 civil engineering students (Hopkins classes had 12 students). I was the only student not from Australia. The professor then walked in and told us that 33% of us would fail. I looked around, wondering what I got myself in to, and a nice Australian boy introduced himself to me. This was Dan. 1/3 of "the civils" who made my study abroad experience what it was. The civils introduced me to 24 hour study parties, involving watching an MTV countdown of the most Australian songs ever, a tour of the grocery store so I could see how many kinds of chips they sold in Australia, a trip to swim at an empty beach on a Friday after our 9 am class, and, of course, a lot of studying, because, lets face it, that class was hard.

But another amazing thing happened that morning. There was an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Before this, Christchurch was considered a pretty safe place in terms of earthquakes. The fault lines that ran through New Zealand and created all the mountains that we all come to New Zealand to see, avoided Christchurch. They went up the west side of the South Island, but not all the way over here. Right after the professor told us that 33% of us would fail the class, he also told us that as Australian engineers, this morning would change our lives. That the concrete codes would change, the building philosophy would change, and our lives as engineers in this region would be changed. He told us to face reality, that few of us would be engineers in Sydney for our whole lives. That many of us would engineer structures in Hong Kong, the United States, the UAE, and even New Zealand. This really did change everything.

As study abroad ended, I told myself, and the civils, that I would be back. I planned to come home, graduate, and go back to find a job in Sydney. That fall, I took a senior design class at Hopkins, that was taught by an adjust professor from Simpson Gumpertz and Heger. I loved the class and the work that the professors did, so during my winter break, I went to visit their office in DC and shadow my professor for a day. I spent some time at the end of the day talking to people around the office. I had applied to Lehigh at this point, so my professor introduced me to a Lehigh alum, Bob. Bob told me all about this new project that he was trying to work through. A building had differentially settled in Christchurch, NZ after the 2011 earthquakes. There wasn't much precedence at the time for re-leveling a building that had sunk more in one corner than the rest of the building. Bob was working through many repair schemes, that he shared with me. And that was it. I decided that day that SGH was the company for me. I could do work on differentially settled buildings in New Zealand and create new ways to save a city. Done deal. But not so fast...

I got an interview with the Performance department at Thornton Tomasetti. Shortly after the interview, they gave me an offer. Many people in my masters program knew my feelings about Australia, and another student, told me that TT often sends new people to New Zealand to do earthquake repair work -- um hello, dream come true. It could happen to me because it happened to another Lehigh MEng grad who went to work in the New York office of Thornton Tomasetti (Hey Kiki). I told my mom, and she asked when she could book her ticket. Not quite yet.

When I got to TT, I got involved in the Property Loss Consulting group. The PLC group, in a nutshell, works on insurance claims for adjusters, as structural experts. We verify claims and repair schemes, very similar to the work I was doing in my lab at Hopkins. I started talking to the head of the practice in New York, and not long after that, the idea of coming to the TT Christchurch office came up. We just had to see what the demand was in New Zealand, and unfortunately the timing just wasn't right. I was super bummed, but told myself my chance would come.

It took a little over a year of ups and downs, the idea of New Zealand on the table a few times, but never made a reality. Then one night, at 4:30 am I got an email from Kiki (The Lehigh graduate who had been sent from the NY office to New Zealand) She said she had mentioned my name a few times at happy hour, and asked if I would still consider coming to New Zealand. I replied "I could potentially be interested... when?" Less than a week later, the head of the PLC practice popped the question(s), "Do you want to go to New Zealand? And can you leave tomorrow?" Well tomorrow was a little soon, but 6 days later I was on a plane, still in shock, on my way to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Many people were so surprised that I was able to go in just six days, but most of them didn't know that I've been wanting this opportunity since that very first morning in my concrete class. I'm so excited to be here, and in my first week, I've gotten the chance to relevel three different buildings. I'm only here for two months, but I fully intend to make the best of it, and see all that New Zealand has to offer. I'll write here about my experiences, and post photos of my adventures!

Thanks for reading :)