Introduction to Castle Street

Today I arrived in Dunedin on a giant bus and was dropped of at my new home (or should I say flat?). Our first stop in the drop off was on the "party street” for the school and boy was it evident. Lucky for us, the first person out had a key that didn’t function properly. So as we waited, a drunk student whose leg was bleeding profusely named Hugo talked/forced his way onto the bus and welcomed us international students, a kid came up to the window with a scale and a few baggies and yelled that he was selling, a girl flashed the bus, and massive crowds of students walked past with juice bottles filled to the brim with liquids whose color did not match the label as well as bottles of bear, wine, and hard liquor. The street was filled with broken glass and battered lighters while the houses were a strange combination of what could be drug dens and nice little flats with white picket fences. Of course we international students were dropped off in the nice houses; who’d have thunk it. The party houses were easily identified by signs hanging in front of the doorway adorned with names such as Beaver, The Jungle, and Refrigerator. I was told that the drinking culture is big in New Zealand, but that seems like an understatement after this experience. Oh, and did I mention that this scene took place in broad daylight?