New Zealand: A Perfect Place to Study Agriculture Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The workload was very relaxed most of the time, but that meant that a lot more of our grade was based on our final exams, which made studying for them at the end of the semester much more stressful. Also, we spent a lot more time in classes than we do here at Middlebury, which filled up a lot of the time I might have been doing class work here (22 hours of class per week). Teachers were generally competent, and the information I received was definitely worthwhile. Some differences included there being more than one professor for each class - each on focusing on a specialty - which meant that there was quite a bit of overlap/review, and the teachers relatively often not showing up for lectures. The grading scale was also quite different, anything about an 80% being an A (A+, A, or A-). That was really nice though since in several classes only one assignment and the final made up the entire grade, so it took at least a little bit of the pressure off only having to get an 80 to get an A.

On-site administration of your program

Lincoln University had a large proportion of international student, so they definitely know how to deal with them. On the other hand, the international students are mainly the ones who live on campus (along with the kiwi first years), and they're grouped all together, so while I certainly made friends with lots of other Americans, Frenchmen, and Norwegians, I didn't make hardly any kiwi friends at the university. The University was very good about having events for international students on an otherwise relatively quiet campus, and had a couple of events that were good cultural introductions - for example a short talk before a rugby game to introduce how rugby works to international students. They also had events where international students could share their own cultures - an international student night where students from all over set up booths and shared art, food, and dancing.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Much less variety and fewer choices that we have here, but they had vegetarian options (you just had to register as a vegetarian to get them). The meal plan was very limiting compared to what I was used to - very restricted dining hours and you can only get one serving of the main dish. But generally things were edible. I loved breakfast. Also it was much more economical to eat in the dining hall than to buy one's own food - food in New Zealand is very expensive.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The university was generally good about arranging things for international students as I mentioned above. Another memorable one was a trip to Hanmer springs where we stopped for a wine tasting and visited hot springs.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Lincoln in a very safe town. New Zealand in general is a very safe country. I was never worried about my safety, even walking alone at night. The university had a very helpful and easily accessible health service, and the university provided international student health insurance that covered anything and everything. I did not need any vaccines for prevalent health issues in the country.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Dorm

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• International Students

• It was in New Zealand, which is an incredibly beautiful place.

• Lincoln is in the Canterbury plains... arguably the ugliest part of New Zealand.
• Living mixed in with Kiwis as well as other internationals.
• The social life. When Christchurch is back up and running, this will be a much better place to study.