Ready to go home but excited to come back August 01, 2024
By Audrey W (Environmental Chemistry, Middlebury College) - abroad from 02/26/2024 to 06/20/2024 with
University of Otago, New Zealand: Study Abroad Programme
I loved learning and experiencing Māori culture, hiking a ton with friends, and exploring the area. It was worthwhile.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Courses were relatively easy and not super engaging. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I liked my flatmates, and the UniFlats office was somewhat helpful. The UniFlats generally were in rough shape though. |
| * Food: |
Very expensive, but nice to make your own food and not have a dining hall! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Student insurance had very good coverage. However, my experience with doctors was that they were not very thorough. I had a persistant staph infection from late April until July. I saw 3 student health doctors and they put me on 3 rounds of the same antibiotics. They never tested me for staph. When I got home, I went to the doctor, who tested me and found out I had a antibiotic resistant form of staph, that could have escalated to MRSA if I had not gotten treatment sooner! |
| * Safety: |
Generally felt safe walking around but was nice to have a friend at night. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
I had a great experience and would love to come back to NZ someday. |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Food and gas are very expensive but the exchange rate was good. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | ~$70USD on food, ~$50USD on gas, although was traveling a lot, ~$20 other |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Shop at Countdown, and buy the cheapest produce at the farmers market. Travel with friends to lower gas costs if driving! |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | You don’t have to be best friends with your flatmates, but you also can be! Meet as many people as you can. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Avid AdventurerThe wardrobe you packed was better suited for a semester of camping than club hopping. Outdoorsy, you might forgo a crazy night out for an early all-day adventure. You'd rather take in the rich culture of an old town than the metropolis of a modern city, but for you getting off the grid is ideal. |
Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
HIST245: Global Migrations |
| Course Department: | History |
| Instructor: | Angela McCarthy |
| Instruction Language: | English |
| Comments: | Minimal critical thinking was required, most information was just regurgitated. 3 papers made up our grade, one of which was just summarizing a paper my professor had written. |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
MAOR108: Waiata |
| Course Department: | Māori |
| Instructor: | Karen |
| Instruction Language: | English/Te Reo Māori |
| Comments: | Challenging performance class with super interesting lectures about Māori culture, stories, performances. Amazing professor and tutors, and great final performance! |
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| Course Name/Rating: |
MAOR110: Conversational Māori |
| Course Department: | Māori |
| Instructor: | Craig/Taipa |
| Instruction Language: | English/Māori |
| Comments: | Intro language course for Te Reo Māori. Included conversations about Māori culture and history, as well as basic pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence structure. |
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