It pains me to say it - I'm an Aucklander

As I'm sure some readers will have noted with joy, I have had quite the absence from the pages of this newspaper of late.

Unfortunately for those individuals, I have merely been on holiday, not permanently banished.

Alas, I am back. Well, sort of. Back in New Zealand, now residing in Auckland for the coming university year.

It seems strange to even write that; I now live in Auckland.

And what a change it has been. The beginning of the university year, so far, has been a hectic one. "Freshers Week", as it is dubbed up here, is doing its upmost to have activity after activity ready for us first-year students.

Some of these are the most fun students have had for years, yet others are physically draining. I suppose a lot of it depends on what type of person you are. For example, for many of us being woken at 5:30am to the sound of foghorns and spoons being rattled loudly against tin pots by our dear residential assistants is not a particular high point. Nor was the ensuing 6am impromptu zumba class.

Nor would this be a moment of happiness for the sources of the reported 57 noise complaints that came as a result from surrounding apartments.

But for others, such as the crazed 18-year-old dancing like a mad man in a dressing gown only suitable for someone over the age of 70, this was apparently everything he wanted in an early-morning wake-up call. What also strikes a peculiar nerve is the way that, through the midst of this organised chaos, so many individuals are effectively beginning entirely new lives.

This is the city we will live in for the next few years - or even the rest of our lives. These are the streets we will walk home along, the shop assistants we will share a smile with as we buy a late-night pie, the friends we will sit alongside in lectures. And this is occurring for born-and-bred Wanganui kids all around the country. Of course we will all come home often, to see family and absorb once more the unique beauty and homeliness of our city. But the current moment represents hundreds of Wanganui people having followed a particular path after meeting that inevitable fork in the road.

That's a path that, so far, seems to be creating a fair few experiences for a fair few people, even if it does mean some rather late nights coupled with fog-horn-infused early mornings.

James Penn is a first-year law and commerce student at the University of Auckland and was named the eighth-best speaker at the 2013 World Schools' Debating Championship.