Study Abroad at AUT University in New Zealand

When I came here I had quite a stressful start. After our journey from the other side of the world, we only wanted to arrive in a foreign place, which should become our home for the semester abroad. But to find an accommodation was really hard and it seemed kind of hopeless to find an apartment in the near future. After one night in a hostel, we had luck and found a place to stay just 200 metres away from the city campus.

It was nice to experience the efforts of the AUT that we, the international students, have an easy start at our study abroad university.

Now the time here in Auckland is almost over, in less than 3 weeks I will leave the City of Sails & New Zealand, which makes me really sad. I am glad & thankful that I had the chance to study one semester in one of the most beautiful and amazing countries in the world. I met so many persons from all around the world, which became really good friends of mine. The most incredible experience was the exchange of the different cultures. Especially the course, Te Ara Pou - Leadership, a Māori course, helped me a lot to learn more about others and about myself.

Last but not least, I want to say, thank you, to my lectures here at AUT, who taught me new stuff and to the Māoris, who helped me to get to know myself much better. There are so many things I learned, which I will take back home. I will return back as a kind of another person, which is good, because opinions, meetings with new people and experiences changed me and my view of life.

I thank all my new friends for the time of my life I experienced together with them.
THANK YOU to the AUT and the international coordinators Kenneth & Sam to support me and all the other international students. You are part of our great experiences here in New Zealand.

If someone will ask me about my opinion and my estimation I will definitely recommend going here.

I will leave Auckland with mixed feelings. Of course, I am looking forward to my family and friends back home in Germany, but I will miss Auckland, my new friends and the Whānau a lot. Hope, I will ever come back to this beautiful and amazing country, which will always be in my heart!

Kia Ora!

Ki ora everybody,
The greeting at the begin of this text stands for the most incredible experience I had from New Zealand. Going abroad means that going somewhere you don't know a single one, you don't know the place, and you don't know what you will expect.
For me the most precious thing of this study her was the Maori Paper; Te Ara Pou- Leadership. That's a paper which changes my life. I had a personal change; it is incredible if you get to know the "way of thinking" of Maori culture. The have peculiar habits, and particular ways of thinking, greeting, and welcoming people to the Marae, showing respect and their loving way of sharing and spending time together. (singing, dancing, drinking.... :-)....)

All in all, for me it was a hard task to open myself to other cultures because I was a
closed person before. (Thought the way we do it at home is the best)
What I learned here is to respect deeply and appreciate the differences. And that's the thing if you go abroad, it's nearly impossible to stay the same, to act the same when you come home.
Because you change, step by step every day and each day and in the end, you have this kind of experience, the most of the people dream about. An open heart and open eyes, welcoming people all over the planet for their unique way of being.

The first days of my semester abroad were really really stressful. After an all in all 30-hour long journey, I finally arrived with two other study colleagues in Auckland's Airport. We drove by Taxi into the City and expected a nice, spacious Apartment, that should become our new home for the next half year, but often it comes out differently than expected because the apartment was everything else than nice and spacious. Even though we knew that it would be hard to find an accommodation, we decided to take the risk and searched for another apartment. How to imagine, after such a long journey, our mood was at a low point. We ran through whole Auckland with our half-year-luggage, to find an accommodation for the night. My future roommate already said that she regrets to travel to New Zealand. The start was definitely everything else than perfect. But in the same night, we got to know the kindness of the kiwis: A young woman, who was a national player for the New Zealand Volleyball team, picked us up and found a backpacker hostel for us. From there our journey seemed to get better again. In the next morning, we went through whole Auckland and asked about 20 different accommodations if they have any room left for a half year long stay and finally we found an apartment 2 minutes away from the university. Simply perfect. Now the next big thing was the start of the classes. How will the paper be? How will my new fellow students be? Can I cope the university? But all my worries became irrelevant after the first view days. I've never experienced such a warmly and heartily greeting. All the icebreaking games and information we got in the beginning, enabled an easy entry into the new life abroad. The university fascinated me like nothing before with its fusion of the Maori and the Kiwi culture. When I now look at the period of time from the first day to now, I can definitely say that this semester was the most enriching experience of my whole life. I joined a Te Ara Pou paper, which showed me the culture of the Maoris and brought my spirit closer to myself. I got more new friends than in the last 2 years of studying at home. And just yesterday, my roommate explained that she definitely will drop some tears, when the day of our return journey arrived.

Great place to study network engineering. You have great lectureres, and access to equipment in class. Classes are good, not as demanding as expected, but otherwise great. The campus is located in the middle of the city, which is great for a student studying abroad. AUT offers accommadation services that I would recommend. A bit expensive, but located 3 minutes from the campus, so you do not have to think about public transport

AUT is a great school to study at. My biggest mistake were to not find the silent part of the liberary before after the midt term break. Good and quiet to studie.

Also: Are you studying engineering get yourself a place in the city centre. I've stayed at the North Campus which was a bit of a drag having to travel to very lecture. But the inter-campus buses were really good! Really friendly drivers, love all of them!

16 weeks or better one amazing semester at the Auckland University of Technology was a great experience. The AUT offers a diverse paper programm selection for my computer science master degree and the lectures educate at a high level and support in each situation. The study room for only postgraduate students creates a perfect learning atmosphere.
One of my highlights was the Noho marae weekend with over 80 international students at the beginning of the semester. I learned about the Maori culture and language, take part in traditional Māori cultural and custom, activities including learning the Haka.
The accommodation search was a big challange, but the AUT helps me a lot and finally I found once in the city.a

To take the summary ahead: The semester in New Zealand and at AUT was the best time in my studies. I'm doing an study abroad as part of my of master of computer science for 6 months at AUT. First of all I have to mention that the international office was a big help before coming to Auckland and also also in the first weeks to get things sorted. I attended three computer science papers, which all where at a high academic level. The professors and lecturers are definitely very motivated to share their knowledge. In addition I attended the Te Ara Pou Leadership paper, which I would highly recommend to everybody. Its an easy course with the opportunity to learn something about leadership with a combination of the Maori culture. Plus more than half of the class consists of international students. Another highlight is the International Noho Marae, a weekend in the beginning of the semester organised by AUT, where you will learn everything about the Maori culture and also make lots of friends for the lifetime. There is even a catchup every year, so we will all meet again in September in Norway.
Of course you also come to New Zealand to take the opportunity to travel. There are plenty of options to explore Auckland, the city is very vibrant and offers a lot. My favourite part is still to get in touch with some of your new international friends, rent a campervan and then explore the beauty of New Zealand. You will love it, so do it!

I have had the time of my life in Auckland, and that is especially thanks to AUT. I will never regret going here, and I will recommend it to everyone who is considering going abroad. AUT is doing a lot for the international students, and do not leave anybody out. The Noho Marae weekend in the beginning of the semester, did a lot for me. I came closer to many of the students, and I now have a whanau4life. I know that this is not the last time I am gonna see my whanau.