Cliché but true: experience of a lifetime!

The study abroad and exchange program at AUT gives you the opportunity to meet fellow students from all over the world, they encourage you to travel around the beautiful nature of New Zealand and they offer possibilities to meet natives and get a glimpse of the Maori culture! Just before the semester they created a facebook group with all international students who were about to come over to AUT and because of this I already met a great group of people on my second day overseas. Your family might be on the other side of the world but in no time we created a big new international family for the semester! For me it wasn't only the city itself but mostly the people I met who made my semester this great.
I saw a lot of the country as you generally have plenty of time to travel around, either in the semester break, the weeks before the semester actually started and sometimes a weekend trip in between. New Zealand is such a diverse country in terms of nature!
Overall, I felt really welcome everywhere in the city and in the university: everywhere on campus people we're willing to help you out if you had any problems. Every Thursday the city campus hosted small performances, gatherings of clubs and free lunch, it brought people together and on sunny days it provided really good vibes!