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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!
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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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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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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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Auckland pre-departure
By Megan Turner (The University of Auckland, New Zealand) I have one day to go before I fly to New Zealand, a journey that will take twenty-six hours and include two planes, one layover and no comfortable sleeping positions. My suitcase is almost full, but I have only packed half of my things and it still feels like there are a million things left for me to sort out. It’s tricky to condense a year’s worth of stuff into 30kg of hold luggage, especially when I have to cover all seasons and I’m trying to think of everything that I could possibly need in a country that I have never…
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Final NZ round-up
By Vanessa Maloney (University of Auckland, New Zealand) I have to admit that over the summer this blog got pushed to the back of my mind, but (finally) here are my last reports on my year abroad. I am now back in good old rainy Manchester so writing this last entry is an excellent excuse to look back at some sunny pictures and imagine myself on a South Pacific beach! First things first… before I talk about the more recent events, I just wanted to upload some of my Canoe Club pictures as promised. These are pictures from weekend trips throughout my second semester. Some of the most fun that…
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Arrival in Auckland
By Thomas Chapman (University of Auckland, New Zealand). I’m here! The world. Oceania. New Zealand. Auckland. So far my reception of New Zealand has been great. The campus is right in the city centre and everything is right on hand. Things like setting-up mobiles and banking could not be more straight-forward, which is great when coming to the other side of the world (literally). I suppose it’s just the amount of smaller tasks and their time-consuming nature that is a little ‘boring’, but once you’ve done them then you’re free to begin a 6-month adventure and to study. The hardest task of all by far though, has got…
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Semester 2 weekend adventures
By Vanessa Maloney (University of Auckland, New Zealand). I’ve just had my last exam and realised I should probably upload a blog about all the fun I’ve been having this semester. This semester has been incredible. I feel like my first semester was good because everything was so novel and such an adventure as I was getting to know the country and meeting new people. However, this semester has been a whole different experience as I feel like I have been living more like a local and less like an exchange student – especially as I have a job and am no longer living in halls. I feel so settled…
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A Bit of Advice
By Vanessa Maloney (University of Auckland, New Zealand). I have decided to dedicate a blog to some advice and information for anybody who is planning to come to study in Auckland (but it might also be useful for anyone visiting New Zealand in general or anybody doing study abroad). It’s just a few nuggets of information that I would have liked to have known before I came here. Hopefully it will be useful to someone. So here goes… 1. Academics/ University life I’ll start off by getting some of the practicalities out of the way. Auckland Uni is a really good university which is pretty similar to Manchester but also…
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An Upside-down Christmas
By Vanessa Maloney (University of Auckland, New Zealand). The last three months or so have made up a new and exciting phase in my New Zealand adventure. I finished semester one in December and I’m just starting semester two now. Most year-long exchange students have to at some stage answer that nagging question – will I go home for Christmas? In my case I decided to stay down under. It certainly wasn’t an easy choice, especially as I miss my friends and family so much, but in the end the cost of flights and the desire to make the most of my time here won me over. Part of me…
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Kiwi adventures: Part 2
By Vanessa Maloney (University of Auckland, New Zealand). Part two: Road trip, All Blacks and Fat Freddy’s drop! The two-week mid-semester break gave me a well-need break from the stress of catching up with essays. Me and a couple of friends decided to head off around north Island on a road trip which ended up being one of the best parts of my kiwi experience so far. We started off going to my friend’s holiday house (or ‘bach’ as the kiwis call it) on Lake Tarawera near Rotorua. The trip had a bit of a bumpy start as a wallaby jumped out in front of our car, resulting in the…
A study abroad journal by students, for students.
