Program Reviews

New Zealand is great! Everyone is super nice and the country is just full of adventure. Academically it is different compared to home but definitely manageable! More written answers instead of multiple choice, which was different for me. This experience will allow me to be able to adapt to whatever environment I’m put in. I brought a bag full of tramping gear and it benefited me as I planed to do a lot of hiking and exploring during my stay. So if you’re planing on doing the same I highly recommend this!

I arrived with a group of students from the United States. We were all met with open arms by our housing staff and shown to our rooms that were cozy and paired with fantastic flatmates. The information for O-Week was clear and engaging and I met lots of fun friends that I bonded with for my whole time at Vic. My biggest advice for future students is to get involved! Join clubs and go to university events and get to know the people sitting next to you!

Building a new community is HARD. especially when you're used to having your people around for support, no questions asked, whenever you need. It's easy to take that forgranted I've discovered. But there are beautiful, like-minded people all over the world, and it just takes maybe a couple steps outside of your comfort zone to find them. Get involved. Do what you love. That's how you will find your people. <3

I am so grateful to have chosen wellington to come to study abroad! I honestly couldn't be happier with my decision. My experience in this city, and in this country, has been amazing. I have met so many wonderful people and have made so many memories. I feel at home here, and I wish I could stay longer. I loved everything about New Zealand, including the opportunity to live with a kiwi family, and having fun exploring both the South and North islands. I have also grown as a person, and I've learned to challenge myself and do things outside my comfort zone. Coming from the states, I didn't feel too much of a cultural difference, so it was easy to get adjusted and to fit in. Overall, I had an amazing time, I will definitely come back in the future!

Wellington is a wonderful city full of life, culture, and lot's to do, see and explore. VWU is run differently from my home school in Canada, there are fewer assignments, but each is worth a lot more. I found most lectures pointless because we were not tested on the material that was went over in class. It was much more 'self-taught' then I'm used to, which made it hard to find motivation to go to class. Overall the school was decent, but I would not pick VUW for its academics.

School is much more challenging than my home university in the states. It seems that professors are less likely to hand out A's to hardworking students. The housing situation and accessibility of the whole city has been incredible in helping my study experience and also helping in balancing school and travel/exploration. Victoria university is a big school with a small feel. The cafe's around campus make studying throughout the day fun and exciting. The library is easy to use and accessible, although it did take a little for me to figure out how to use it. All in all the transition was made easier by friends who came abroad with me in my program and all of us working together to adjust and embrace unusual situations.

New Zealand has proven to be such a unique place to spend time in! With interesting classes and lots of things to do, places to explore, cultures to learn about and more I have had an extremely positive experience at Victoria. I also love how the environment around Wellington encourages you to go explore and try new things all over the country and beyond! The city is also a great international city and I have found it hard to become very homesick because there is so much to enjoy here. My favorite activity so far was taking a camper van with some friends all over the south island for a week during the mid-semester break and getting to explore some of the most beautiful natural sights I have ever seen. The Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park was definitely my favorite destination on that journey.
One of the things I have found very useful here is trying new foods! The cuisine here has much more of an Asian influence than what I see at home, and really getting to taste the flavors from the Asia-Pacific has actually helped me assimilate into a healthy diet and lifestyle without breaking the bank. As well as going to the farmers market every weekend to get fresh produce, I have felt more at home while also being adventurous.
Overall, I know for a fact that my experiences in New Zealand have changed my life. I feel like I have become more confident in myself and in my studies, I have learned a lot of new things, and expanded my horizons and learned a lot about the Maori culture, which is truly one of a kind. I feel more globally aware and I am getting more and more excited to travel the globe more in the future. I will be going home without regrets!

It was really great to have a chance to go to such a far away continent. As part of my major, I will be seeing many different nations over the course of my study, but I chose to take this program specifically because I saw it as an opportunity to really test myself and go as far away from home as physically possible, while still being somewhat culturally and socially similar to home - a bit of a training situation, if you wish.

The campus of Victoria University is varied, modern, and inviting. Amenities are available to students around every corner from quiet areas to study, food and snacks, or even pleasant places to hang out and relax. I have no complaints, and only compliments to give about the infrastructure of VUW as well as the city it resides in, Wellington.

Wellington itself, despite the capital of New Zealand, will seem quite small to students familiar with the city life. If you are willing to walk for a bit, you could easily make it across the town in an afternoon, though admittedly a bus or taxi is recommended to make it past the massive Mt. Victoria cutting the city roughly in half. There's plenty to do in the city, and the weather is consistently mild (though when it rains, expect it to continue for days at a time!) The only real negative I can focus on is that, as far as I can tell, buildings aren't very insulated against the cold, so when it DOES get a bit chilly there is little to stop your bedroom from dropping to surprisingly low temperatures overnight - bring an extra blanket!

New Zealand and its people is a beautiful nation, and those inclined would be happy to discover that one can drive a car across most of the northern island in a single day, but that day will be spent in perpetual awe at the sights abound in the landscape. If you go here, you MUST take a roadtrip of some sort, no matter how brief - the destination doesn't even matter! Just pick a highway and stick to it until you want a break, then find something interesting to stick to!

All in all I would highly recommend anyone who has the option to visit this country to do so, and to use Victoria University as an avenue for the stay - they made every effort possible to keep my stay a pleasant one, and frankly the dorms are almost as good as my house.

I could not be happier I studied abroad in New Zealand. From the Tararuas to Queenstown and Wanaka to Tongariro, the outdoor opportunities for tramping are limitless. New Zealand is both a comfortable and challenging place to study abroad with some surprising differences from home. Victoria has a very strong academic program with a very close community of exchange students. I would strongly recommend any student sho loves being outdoors to come to New Zealand.

As an America, I was a little hesitant about how much I'd fit into an international university. But as time went on and although the education system is more independent than in America, I found that Victoria is a great university. The Hub is always a great place to study and socialize and the campus is clean and welcoming. Being an American the most important thing to note is that independent studying is crucial to success in courses at Vic, but the material isn't much more difficult than what I was already used to. It's so nice to have experienced a new educational culture and I'll bring back to America a fresh and eager drive to study on my own and get better grades. I highly recommend studying abroad at Victoria!