I studied in Auckland and followed some great classes. But above all I had the time to meet people from all over the world. I have friends now in many countries and continents. The most special thing about AUT is that after graduating I am still in contact with my friend. I regularly meet them or at least some of them. AUT even helps to improve it by letting someone organise reunions in Europe and America. This time shaped my life, life changing.

I wanted to see more than just what work and study had to offer - and this was just the program - it literally changed my life!!! I met people I still call family and still call Glasgow my second home. It was the international student program at my Glasgow university that made all the difference - those trips will remain treasured memories forever.

Studying abroad at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) is great! You meet a lot of nice people and you have a lot of fun! I also recommend living at the Student Apartments from AUT which is really close to university and also offer many activities.

I would like to share something surprised me. Before I came to NZ, I was expecting more western people living here. However there are so many immigrants such as Chinese, Korean and Indian. This fact relived me a lot. Because I am Asian, I had been afraid of being discriminated. I have watched some TV programs about discrimination I could not imagine my life would be this nice when I was in Japan. Being discriminated is a sad thing ever I can encounter in my life and I always cared about what kiwi people think about people from overseas. However there are no such thing and I was able to live like being myself.

I was worried about my English skill too. Because I am from Asian country, Japan, I didn't really have opportunity to interact with people from different countries by using English. Therefore it was a little bit hard to get used to NZ life. I was just too nervous to talk to people around since I was always caring about making mistakes. Therefore I found this studying abroad was really tough at the beginning. However I was wrong, I didn't need to be a perfect English speaker but try to interact with people as much as I can. There are many people from different countries and i realised that just enjoying living in NZ is the most important thing.

I now can say that my life in NZ is awesome and multi cultural country is really interesting. I learnt a lot of things not only kiwi stuff but also other countries'. I really love this country and I do not want to go back to Japan. I would like to keep improving English to be global person and someday I would like to come back here...!!

I experienced lots of cultural differences in terms of presentation and performance. In event design class, we were divided into groups and created an event. The project was supposed to end with group presentation. We started off quite slow and had discussions but it was so rough. When we were preparing for the presentation, my team members were not trying to decide what to say. On that day we were not nervous at all and someone roughly spoke and presentation finished.
In performance class, again we started off quite slow as a group. We could finally finish the final script and try to start running through 3 days before the performance day. But one of us did not come so long and the person came one hour before the starting time of out performance! Also right before the performance, we rehearsed couple of times but members except for me were sometimes checking the script. I felt I'm more perfectionist than others in this country. I felt like "yeah whatever, follow what happens..."

In the end, both of the experiences strengthened my mentality and ad-lib skill. It was also a good opportunity to compare me with other people!

I have met so many interesting people at AUT, it is so full of joyful students and thoughtful staff members that I'm even thinking about coming back again in 2016. The papers that I took are going to be very useful to me back in Brazil, such as Distributed and Mobile Systems and Highly Secure Systems.

Besides the other international friends I made, I also experienced so much love from my domestic classmates. They all knew each other before, but they let me in their group so easily. They really became my family here. I knew that I could always count on them no matter what. I can't wait for them to come to my uni next year, so I can mean the same thing to them!

AUT has made my abroad experience here in New Zealand. The courses I took were challenging and thought provoking, and the people I met in my classes were some of the friendliest and welcoming people I have met since being in New Zealand. I was constantly surprised by their curiosity in where I came from, my home institution in the United States, and what life in America was like. The friendships that I have forged here will continue for many years to come, and I know that I will stay in touch with the people I have met here.