American Abroad

At the University of Auckland where I spent one semester, I made many new friends and had an amazing experience. One story in particular comes to mind for this review, but I have countless others that could describe how incredible my time in New Zealand was. I am a biomedical engineering student at Penn State University, so when I was abroad I was required to take at least one engineering course. The one I chose was BIOMED 201, and on the first day of class I learned I was the only American in the class, surrounded by students who all seemed to know each other. On the first day of class, I arrived 5 minutes early, and the rest of the students arrived 5 minutes late, all together from the last class they had. It made me very aware that I as the outsider in this new community. Fast forward a few weeks to the BIOMED and ENGSCI (engineering science) department field trip. I was offered a place on the trip as I was technically in the program, and I wanted to experience the trip with the class. It was a 3 day trip to a town called Rotorua, and on the way we visited many biotech companies based in New Zealand. I arrived to the buses on the day of the trip a few minutes late, and was the very last one on the bus. In fact, I had to flag down the trip organizer who had no idea who I was, and stop the bus from leaving so I could hop on. I didn't know a single person on that bus and immediately felt this trip was a mistake. After an hour bus ride we made our first stop and I finally broke out of my shell and began to talk to some of the students. By the time we reached our hostel, I had many new friends and felt accepted into the group. After a night of drinking, pool, and story sharing, I had my first group of kiwi friends. By the end of the trip, I was close to a lot of the students and even learned about how biotech companies operate in New Zealand. The trip was both educational in a career sense, and helped me assimilate into the university culture. After the trip, I began spending more time with these students and truly felt apart of the University of Auckland. The students were very interested in American culture, and I was more than happy to share. My new friends helped me plan trips across New Zealand with their personal advice, and my travel buddies and I were able to see a lot of awesome places off the beaten path. If I were to ever return to Auckland or anywhere in New Zealand, I feel like I would have many contacts and friends to go see. This story reflects my experience at the University of Auckland as all of the students and faculty I interacted with were friendly and interested in what I had to say. This made my trip to New Zealand more immersive and truly a life-changing experience.