First week living in New Zealand: pre-departure tips and first impressions

By Maja Peach, University of Auckland, New Zealand

One week into living in Auckland and it has been even better than I had expected, with so many opportunities to meet people from all over the world and start experiencing life in New Zealand together. The first week has been filled with making friends, discovering the city, orientation activities, and even a boat trip to a nearby seaside village. I thought I’d start by writing about my tips for what to prepare before leaving and detail some of the highlights of the first week!

PRE-DEPARTURE TIPS

There are some essentials I would recommend to sort before leaving, these will probably seem obvious but should be added to the list of must-haves:

• Definitely have Student Visa and ESTA (only if travelling through the US) printed out/easily accessible for the airport as I was asked to show proof of these at check in
• Have a think about how you are getting from the airport to your accommodation before you leave so you have peace of mind when you get there (there was a free airport pick up taxi from my accommodation for a group of us)
• Sort a bank card (a travel card of some sort) so you are able to pay for things without incurring as large international fees as you would from your home bank

Things sorted after arriving:

• Phone sim – most people I met had bought the first one recommended at the airport or the one the Uni recommended, however, these were pretty expensive and I decided to go without a phone sim for the first few days and order a cheaper one instead. I got Kogan mobile.
• Kiwi Card – New Zealand does not accept international drivers licenses, I would recommend getting a Kiwi card so you don’t have to risk losing your passport every time you go out, you just need proof of address (which the accommodation reception can send to you) and then head to AA centre to get it done.
• The fun stuff: shopping for flat essentials and decorations!

FIRST WEEK ACTIVITIES

When I first arrived at the airport there was an organised pick up for my accommodation, there ended up being a group of us doing this and I met two of my first friends there. I then met my flat who are all lovely (we live in Carlaw Park Student Village – Nicholls) and exchange students as well, so we are all in the same boat and spent the first day exploring cafes and the local area.

Orientation week started a few days after moving in and there was a big international student event which was another good opportunity to meet a lot of new people. There were also lectures and talks from various university groups, the police and the coastguard. 

The rest of the week consisted of accommodation run events like a karaoke night, paint and sip and a bbq which were a great way to meet lots more people. We then ended up going out most nights after with the people we met and so far, I have been pretty impressed with the clubs and bars we’ve been to. However, the one thing is that they are all relatively far to get to apart from the local student bar. 

One of the best parts of the week was getting boat across the bay to explore Devonport. We walked up Mount Victoria and watched the sunset over the amazing views, ending the day paddling in the ocean.

The experience so far has been great and I can’t believe it has only been a week! We have all got so caught up in planning the future adventures it’s easy to forget we have class on Monday!