A Dream Come True - My Semester in New Zealand Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

In order to stay on track for graduation I had to take two of my major classes, and one literature class while studying abroad in New Zealand. I take classes that I normally wouldn't have gotten the option to take back at my home university, so I chose to take a New Zealand Literature class, and then one of my major classes I took Sport Psychology. I have to say these two classes were incredible! The literature class gave me a great view of the New Zealand culture, and even an in depth look at the native culture of New Zealand, Maori. My Sport Psychology class, although involved A LOT of reading and writing, was my favorite class. The class was taught by Gary Hermansson, a sport psychologist for the New Zealand Olympic team. He is such a down-to-earth guy and would casually provide examples from his time at various Olympics! Overall, I had a great educational experience, and although my classes did involve a lot of work they didn't make me miss out on exploring the glorious country!

On-site administration of your program

TEAN's on-site staff was incredible! They had the perfect balance with staying in touch with students, as they were neither too over-bearing, nor impossible to contact. If needed, the staff was a simple text or phone call away. Other than that, they met up with us monthly to see how we were doing and discuss our trips, classes, and plans for the remainder of our time. Although they did give us our freedom in the country, they were always looking out for us; a perfect example, was my incident in Queenstown, New Zealand. I ended up dislocating my shoulder during my trip to Queenstown, and within 24 hours (me, still being slightly unaware of everything) I had on-site TEAN staff, along with US-based staff and even TEAN-staff in other countries send me emails, texts, and other notifications to see if I was okay and if I needed anything. The feeling I got from all those messages was incredible, it was nice to know that TEAN actually cared for my safety and well-being.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in Tawa Hall at Massey University in Palmerston North. The hall consisted of single rooms and one main common room. Overall, it was nice to have my own room and such; however, at the time I stayed there it consisted of mostly incoming first-year local students. Being my junior year, I was older than a majority of the students, which wasn't really a problem but if I could do it over I would have changed housing the international/'more mature' housing.

The food was great! Nothing extremely different than the USA. If you study in New Zealand, you have to try all the Fish 'N' Chips places!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt extremely integrated with the local culture. Rather than stay in one specific area of New Zealand to learn about the culture, I chose to travel the country and explore what I like to call the greater 'country culture'.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Massey University has it's own clinic right on campus which I took advantage of! During my mid-semester trip I ended up dislocating my shoulder in Queenstown and had to be taken to the ER there to have it popped back into place. Once back at Massey I went to the on campus clinic to get my shoulder checked and every week following I went there for physical therapy until it was time to come home to the USA.

I felt completely safe walking around my host city, day-or-night. Obviously, any place can be dangerous, so my advice to future students studying in any city in any country, would be to don't make poor decisions and use your intuition.

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

New Zealand is a bit more expensive than the USA - however, there are deals everywhere! The majority of my extra money went towards traveling. Besides traveling, I ate cheaply and I wouldn't spend a lot of money when I went out. I maybe spent $50 USD weekly (not including traveling).

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Enthusiasm
• Transitioning students to host country and culture
• Easily accessible

• Absolutely nothing!

The Avid Adventurer