What an incredible experience!

I'm so glad that I chose to come to AUT! I came here as a third year mechanical engineering student from the United States. I picked AUT for two reasons. First, it was in New Zealand. Second, it offered classes that could take the place of my classes back home and allow me to not fall behind when I return to the US.

Overall, the classes were good. The professors were quite good and were very open to students coming up to them after class to ask additional questions. However, I did have some issues with the program. In two of my classes, the teachers changed after the midterm. I wasn't a huge fan of this as I had to get used to new teaching styles. Additionally, one of my classes was run like two separate classes: two teachers, two midterms, and two finals. I don't know if this arrangement is common in New Zealand, but I've never seen it before in the US so it took some getting used to.

For housing, I managed to get into the AUT student apartments and would highly recommend this living situation to future study abroad/ exchange students. The apartments themselves aren't anything special and it might be possible to find cheaper accommodations elsewhere, but the apartments are just so convenient. They're right next to AUT City Campus and with most of the international students living there, it makes it very easy to meet people.

All in all, New Zealand is an incredible place to explore, and I will never forget my time here!