New Zealand
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Sad Goodbyes and a New Adventure
In three days time it will be exactly a month since I left the second home I had forged after a Semester in Auckland. I’m currently sat in Cairns (Australia) airport mulling over the last month and the highs and lows that come along with leaving your exchange city.
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Video Blog – The Positives and Negatives of Studying Abroad
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ So as part of year abroad we were asked to produce a series of blogs for Geography. Each had to be a on a different topic and in a variety of formats (i.e.referenced essay, diary entry, video). This particular video blog entry was reflecting on the positives and negatives that I have experienced on my year abroad – it is slightly more personal and geography related than my other posts, due to it’s initial purpose, but hopefully you guys can take something from it: Cheers, Simon 🤘 🖖 P.S. If you guys want to see a few more…
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New Zealand Highlight
My time in New Zealand is unfortunately coming to an end. I thought I’d do a quick blog before I leave Auckland, on my highlight of the semester. It’s difficult to choose just one, because my whole time here has been unbelievable, but if I had to pick one it would be doing the Abel Tasman Great Walk on the South Island. New Zealand offers 9 Great Walks, that are multiple day hikes. You walk and camp or stay in huts, passing diverse and spectacular scenery. Abel Tasman was a four day trek on the northern tip of South Island. I thought I’d give you a bit of an insight…
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10 things you should know about studying abroad in New Zealand
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ Hope you guys have all had an awesome year at Uni and are enjoying your summer holidays. I’ve just got a couple of weeks left of my year abroad at Auckland so I thought I would put together a collection of advice and some important things I think you should know about, if you are going to or are considering studying abroad in New Zealand. Some of these are specific to the University of Auckland, but I am sure there are parallels to other Universities in NZ and studying abroad in general.
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Work-Life Balance Abroad
Apart from getting to see the world and meeting amazing people, studying abroad throws you in at the deep end in terms of developing life skills. I thought I’d share my experience of trying to ground a good work-life balance while being in New Zealand. It definitely hasn’t been easy, but I’ve learnt a lot from my experience so far…
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Studying at the University of Auckland: what’s different?
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate one blog post specifically to academics and the differences I have experienced between Auckland and Manchester. New Zealand and the UK definitely have many parallels and it didn’t take much time to adjust to a relatively similar style of life and study that they have here. But there are some distinct differences in how university works here compared to Manchester and the UK in general. One of the most resounding differences you will experience here is the way degrees are set up. Like many universities outside…
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A southern hemisphere summer
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ This summer has been pretty special. It’s been almost four months since the end of last semester but the time has absolutely flown by. It’s been a pretty full on summer and now that I am back in Auckland for the start of my next term, I thought it was time to write something down about it. I’ll try to keep it brief…
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NZ begins…
It’s been a bit of whirlwind since I set off for Auckland from Manchester on the 14th of Feb up until now. I can easily say that so far, it’s been an unforgettable experience.
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Summer loving
It is fair to say that one of the best things about spending your year abroad in Australia is the 3 month+ long summer holiday that you are given over Christmas. It allows for lots of travelling, both within and outside of Australia, as well as lots of time for sunbathing!
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Trans-Tasman Travelling Part II
After a short stop over back in Perth, it was time to fly to Auckland, to begin my dream travelling New Zealand. This trip is something I’ve been waiting for, for a long time and it finally arrived. Whilst it was exciting to arrive in New Zealand, I was left a little underwhelmed by Auckland itself. The city i found to be rather small, with not much going on, however I’m sure those that were studying there themselves would tell me otherwise (sorry guys!). But it wasn’t long till once again we were on our way. This time we had our trusty Wicked camper car which was to be our…
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Academic Life at the University of Auckland
By Megan Turner, Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand As an international student, the University of Auckland were very happy for me to take a range of courses from different subjects and faculties without any hassle. As well as geography courses, I was able to study In terms of course structure and assessment, Auckland is quite similar to Manchester, however there are some differences to look out for.
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NZ Time
Simon Hird / / Geography / / University of Auckland / / NZ London Heathrow This all feels very surreal. Over the last two years study abroad has been the goal, the next big thing, the last thing written in my diary, the thing my conversations always seem to touch upon, so much chat it almost felt mundane. Now it’s finally here I can’t really fathom that it is real. But this is happening… I am going to New Zealand… for an entire year. Writing it down helps – the excitement is kicking in again. The hardest bit up until now hasn’t been choosing where to go, or writing all…
