Study Abroad at Victoria University of Wellington

New Zealand is the most magical country, and if you love hiking and getting outdoors this is the place for you. Absolutely go to Wanaka and Queenstown. The Tararuas provide some really diverse hiking on the North Island. Wellington itself is a really lovely place to live. Some students who study abroad in places like Mexico or Thailand experience some strong culture shock, but living in New Zealand provided a really easy transition with just the right amount of challenge. It's similar to the U.S. in many ways, but there are also some significant differences. Couldn't be happier I studied abroad here.

I am from Italy and I had to opportunity to study one semester of my degree abroad. Among my possible choices, I picked Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and after 4 months spent here I can say that I definitely made the right decision! In general the university's environment has been super friendly and very "international": the staff did everything to make us feel at ease. It's very easy to make new international friendships, especially if you decide to live in University Hall accommodations, who provides for you many occasions (parties and events) for meeting students coming from all over the world! The only problem I had consisted in adapting myself to the academic system and to the different examinations and classes methods, since the Italian-European system is much more different. However, VUW provides for a lot of workshops, where international students can learn how to write essays, make references etc. Wellington is very quiet and peaceful, like all the cities in NZ, that is why it is highly recommended to make new friends, otherwise it could become boring. In general, I can say that I will never forget my experience here and I highly recommend it to all students looking for challenging exchange semesters abroad!

My time in New Zealand was probably the best experience of my life, and I'm already dying to go back! Victoria was a great university, and I enjoyed the courses I took there, especially Plant Biology! I was lucky to live in Uni Hall, which was only a 5 minute walk from campus, and it was really nice to live independently in a flat (well, with flatmates of course) for the first time. I didn't quite participate in as many school activities as I would have liked, but I tried to explore as much of the campus as I could, such as trying the different little restaurants and exploring the art gallery. It was also really nice to have an entire two weeks of break, as I took that time to go on an amazing road trip in the South Island. I was also quite prone to injury, and student health and the physiotherapy center on campus were very helpful, as was the general healthcare policies of the country.

It was a really interesting and a new experience to study at a university that uses completely different teaching formats and contents. Everybody was very supportive and helped each other out whenever someone needed help. That was probably what I liked the most. I felt welcome here right from the start.
I wished that the Tutors would have had more experience. Most of the times they are just normal Bachelor or Master students that hardly know more about architecture than I do. So, when I had a question other students couldn't answer, the Tutor couldn't either. The projects of the students and their learning process would be improved a lot if working architects would Tutor them. Universities, which do that, are normally higher in ranking as well.

Studying abroad has been the best decision have made for both my academic and personal success. The reason that this experience has been so successful is because of the opportunities and experiences that I have had here in Wellington and at Victoria University. This city's atmosphere has allowed me to experience many new things and has helped me to become a more independent person. Also, at Victoria, I have been able to manage course while being able to travel and see New Zealand. I have had the fortune of meeting many wonderful people from all over the world and making life long friends!

I had a lot of fun during this trimester at Victoria University. The people are very kind and ready to offer help. I've never had any big problem, and in every case, the staff from the University has always been very nice. I loved my courses, and the teachers made everything interesting, I enjoyed them a lot. We did a lot of projects, but it was nice. Also, the University organizes a lot of activities throughout the trimester, which is very nice especially for exchange students. It is a great way to meet new friends and have fun. I've lived at the University Hall, and it was a great place. I was only 5 minutes away from Kelburn campus, and the University provided for everything, even for extra expenses when the dishwashing machine broke. I've enjoyed a lot my time here I'm going to miss it a lot, I suggest everyone come here for an exchange!

I am currently an exchange student from Lancaster University (England) studying at Victoria University of Wellington (NZ) for 1 year.

Firstly - New Zealand is an amazing and beautiful county and I really love living in Wellington, the city is small so it is easy to find your way around as well as plenty of things going on each week!

Course/University experience: sadly the University is the one part I am really not enjoying about my year abroad. It may be due to my course choices (I am taking mostly 300-level biology and chemistry courses) but I find it very difficult and stressful. The chemistry courses here are very broad and cover a whole range of topics, for example one module is devoted to physical chemistry whereas at my home uni the content would be split into different modules eg. thermodynamics and computational chemistry. This has meant that the course content does not overlap very well and I have been left with gaps in my knowledge when trying to complete assignments here. Furthermore I find the University very assuming - you are not told about things and are expected to magically know. For example - all lectures after 1pm start at 10 past the hour despite appearing as on the hour in the timetable. The timetable is also incomplete and only contains lecture times - it does not update for tutorials or labs. There was also no introductory talk on how to check items out of the library.

Societies: There aren't all that many societies at Victoria and the one I did try to join (canoeing) -the other members weren't actually students at all!

Accommodation: I am currently living in Uni Hall, accommodation provided by the University. I chose this option as I thought it would be easier than having to sort out private accommodation from overseas. Considering this accommodation is aimed at International student's I'm not sure the location is very good. It is a short 10 minute walk to the university (which is great!) but very far from the supermarket/food shops - a 40 minute trek up and down 90m
with heavy shopping (the only supermarket you don't have to drive too is very small!). The public transport does not bring you close enough to the accommodation. Furthermore the accommodation is very expensive for what it is and the rooms are very disproportionate, I am paying $240 a week for a small, dingy room whilst my flatmate pays the same for a room half the size with loads of sun - not very fair! Maintenance response is also poor - I reported my heater 2 weeks ago and it still hasn't been fixed, and the fire-alarms which ran out of the battery the second week of being here have only just been fixed 10 weeks later. The houses here are also very cold/bad at retaining heat as they are not insulated and only have single glazed windows. The provided kitchen equipment is also pretty poor - most of it was bought by previous residents! The events hosted by Uni Hall are excellent however and are technically free (if you forget about the $150 non-optional activity fee paid at the start of the year). It is also very difficult to meet actual New Zealanders! Uni Hall creates a community of International students with little chance to meet or socialise with actual Kiwis. The wifi - you only get 2GB per person per day! So my house of 5 gets 10GB in total each day. The fact that the WiFi is limited is a bit ridiculous - especially in a house designed for internationals where most want to call home each day! We run out of WiFi most days meaning trying to work in the evenings is both pointless and frustrating.

Food: Food is very expensive here, especially fruit, veg and dairy products. Markets are available on Sundays to purchase cheaper fruit and veg but it is very season dependent!

Public Transport: Poor depending on where you live - no bus links from town to my accommodation.

City: There is so much going on in Wellington! Loads of great places to eat (if you can afford it!) and many cute and unique shops to explore. There is a craft market on Saturday on the water-front that I love and night-markets selling food Fridays and Saturdays.

Despite the negatives I have enjoyed my time here so far overall and I am definitely glad I came. It really depends on how focused you are on grades and doing well. My home university will reduce all the grades I receive here by 10% so I need to work extra hard to ensure my average doesn't slip - this has ruined my experience somewhat.

Hope this has helped and hasn't put you off!

My time in Wellington was truly amazing. I really enjoyed studying at the Uni. It was a big change from my school back home that only has about 3,ooo students to Vic which has about 21,000. The academics were very interesting. I studied Philosophy and Maori culture. I very much enjoyed the social life. The Uni only being up the hill from the downtown area is very nice and there is so much to do. From night markets, to all of the good eateries, to even the salsa dancing scene I got into there-it was all just a great experience. The salsa dancing may have even been one of my favorite hobbies I picked up and learned there! I also travelled a lot while there. This may have been one of my favorite parts of it all. I met so many great people and shared such amazing memories that helped create great bonds. I think one part of my trip that made it unique was the moko I got and the bond I built with Hohua Mohi, my ta moko artist. It really was an awesome experience.