Study Abroad at Victoria University of Wellington

I adored everything about my study abroad. I made most of my friends at my hall. The RAs are incredibly interactive and sweet. The food wasn't amazing but it was still better than most of the food back home. Because of the friends I made, I always had a place to stay when I traveled during the tri breaks. I never had to pay for a hotel, just a bus ride. I was able to see Hobbiton, Rainbow Springs, and the Redwood Treewalk. I was down in Christchurch for a week, where I visited their adventure park, Hanmer Springs and a beach in Sumner. I attempted surfing. The classes themselves were amazing too. If you're sick, they understand you can't come to class. My professors all excelled in the fields they taught and brought in constant real-world expertise and advice. One of my professors was working at Weta, which in general just provides a really cool opportunity to learn from someone active in a field I'm interested in. I took some intense courses so sometimes I was overwhelmed but overall it was a great experience. I love what I learned, the people I met and the stunning views I was able to witness.

My time spent at Victoria University of Wellington was way beyond my expectations. Regarding the academics, the classes were relatively easy and that is even though English is not my first language. The teachers were easy to understand and always open to answer any questions. Also, the workload is not too much which allows you to go travelling and exploring the surrounding nature! The university's staff was always very nice and followed us through the first steps to the last day of exhange. Regarding the accommodation, I was with Stafford House, a university's residence. They organized a lot of activities, mainly in the beginning, allowing international students like me to meet other students and make friends easily. On the social scene, the people in New Zealand and Wellington are very nice, open, welcoming and ready to help. Wellington is the perfect little seaside city; everything is close and there is always something exciting to do. 10/10 for the study abroad program at Victoria University of Wellington, I'll always be grateful for this experience.

Overall, my abroad experience was amazing. I liked my home university more than my host, but for me, school was not the main focus of going abroad. I tried to travel New Zealand with my girlfriend as much as possible, and those trips were the best part of my abroad experience. The New Zealand landscape is incredibly varied, and all of it is beautiful. It also has some awesome wildlife such as dolphins, stick bugs, weka birds, star fish, Kia birds, (not-so-awesome) possums, jellyfish hedgehogs, (extinct) Moa birds, and so many birds in general. The Victoria University of Wellington Tramping Club was my favorite part about VUW. I would recommend it for exchange students wanting to meet new people and get out of the city to hike or rock climb.

From the ocean to the hills to the city skyline, it would be hard to imagine an environment more desirable to study in. Wellington truly has it all. From an American perspective, it boasts a San Francisco look and an Austin feel. Whether it be a beautiful walk down from Victoria's Kelburn campus, a unique concert on Cuba Street, or hanging out at Oriental Bay between classes, my abroad experience felt authentic and surreal. VUW also has a vibrant international student community; one which allowed me to meet many great friends from over seven different countries. This made for awesome travel possibilities, as we could jointly and affordably explore both islands during our stay. The local kiwis are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, and feeling at home in New Zealand is no problem at all. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity.

VicU has amazing faculty and studies! I have learned so much about Maori culture and psychology research there. I genuinely loved the learning experience.
I highly recommend any class with Dr. Peter Adds and Dr. Gina Grimshaw.
They are absolutely amazing lecturers and help you become engaged with the material.
However, it is also very isolating experience, and I had a rough time living at Stafford house.
They were very non-responsive towards our broken laundry and lost my important documents.
I would not have lived there if I had known how terrible it is.
I was struggling a lot with making friends and joining the community.
Even though I signed up with the buddy program, my buddy often flaked on our plans.
For the friends I have made, I got a chance to learn more about New Zealand life style and culture. I am very blessed to have met such amazing people in such a short time.

My exchange was amazing. I saw much of beautiful New-Zealand, the nature is stunning! The atmosphere in Wellington is very social. There are people chilling at the waterfront and there is always some street artist at Cuba street. The university, VUW, is also very supporting and has a nice library with a pretty view. The teachers are easy-going and my courses were interesting.
You can arrange accommodation via the university. This was expensive and basic, but it was easy to make friends in the flat. Housing is gonna be expensive anyway.
I joined the tramping club to experience the true kiwi life. It was super to walk through the nature and camp in the wild. Later, during the winter, we stayed in huts. If I would have had more time, I would do more great walks.

I am a Mexican student who was in an exchange program in Victoria last semester. Without a doubt I can say that this was the best idea I had throughout my whole career since the atmosphere of the city, the different nationalities and the classes where absolutely amazing. I really enjoyed the library, I spent lots of hours there just reading and learning as much as I could. Teachers are really comprehensive and the university actually care about the students well-being.

As a student, I have always been taught about a different way of viewing economics (liberalism and neo-liberalism) but the social ideals imprinted in the government gave me wings to get to know way more hat I was expecting. One of my favourite hobbies was fishing and the city is really keen and helpful in order to do so. I totally recommend it!

One of my main goals I wanted to accomplish while in New Zealand was to engage in the art community and focus on learning about this country’s art history both inside and outside of the classroom. My other main goal was to live more in the moment and work on building meaningful relationships with the people around me. I’m happy with how my experiences here have contributed to learning in both of these areas, but the lessons and new knowledge I now have weren’t necessarily acquired in the ways I expected.
I expected my learning in the classroom about art history and my engagement in the art/cultural scene in New Zealand to be two different experiences but they overlapped quite a bit. For example, I would learn about artists and movements in New Zealand history, then in my travels to a new city or region, I would be able to actively see this art, see the land depicted, and truly be engulfed in a way which was much more wholesome and surprising than I would have imagined. This goal overlapped with two of my career objectives to learn technical skills for a future job and to improve my communication skills because this engagement led me to talk with the people in these environments-- gallery directors, other museum patrons, artists, volunteers, and art students like myself. I could use the knowledge from the classroom to have a sophisticated, insightful conversation with those I met, and many of these conversations were extremely valuable to me looking back.
My goal to live in the moment manifested in a number of different ways which were extremely rewarding. Journaling my experiences (which I’ve never done before) has helped me to process many of my thoughts and feelings. I’ve done things and experienced things out of spontaneity which have resulted in unlikely friendships and some of the memories which I cherish most from my time here. Spending time and energy on my relationships with my housemates has been the most rewarding. I had no idea who my roommates would be before coming to New Zealand, and they’ve turned out to be two of my favorite people in the world! I’ve become closer with them than I would have thought possible in such a small amount of time, and they have become such an important part of my study abroad experience that I don’t know what it would have looked like without them.
Feeling connected to my community and life here in New Zealand has required me to make some adjustments to how I’ve communicated with my community back home. About halfway through the trimester, I began feeling torn between two lives while I tried actively maintaining relationships with people back in the US through social media and messaging apps. It was taking up so much of my mental energy and despite spending time trying to connect, I felt those interactions weren’t meaningful and most of the time they felt odd. I made a decision to delete several of my social media apps and I think doing this was the best action I could have taken for the situation. I spend less time on my phone thinking about home and more time thinking about my life in Wellington. Being less connected has allowed for these few interactions with people back home to be meaningful. I’ve been able to fully apply myself here in Wellington and that has proven to be so worth it! Although things might change when I go home, and there may be relationships I have to work to build back up, having a distraction-free experience in New Zealand has allowed me to go home with zero regrets about the say I spent my time.
Like I said, my time in New Zealand had some ups and downs as far as my comfort level with my new, temporary life. I sometimes questioned what I “should” be doing, if I should be doing more to find opportunities to try new things or if I was missing out on making a connection with someone new. I struggled with this feeling of responsibility, a responsibility to live like a study abroad student who never turns down a chance to get a new taste of life. In the end, I came to the conclusion that being a student living abroad doesn’t mean I have to prove that my experience was “worth it” every step of the way. The things that count are those that no one ever sees. A new bond created with an exciting and different place is fostered solely by the person and the place, and any other objective opinion from another about how that relationship should play out is irrelevant. The take aways may be big and life changing or they may be small, lighthearted keepsakes to remember and smile about years later, but your unique experience is yours only. It will be different from others, even those who spend time with you on your journey.