Amazing Semester in Aotearoa Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Overall it was less intense than Brandeis. Classes are structured differently so there was much more weight placed on final exams, especially in intro level classes. This left me with a lot more free time in the first half of the semester than the second. But no complaints, not really better or worse, just different. University of Auckland is also a large urban school, which just has a different culture to it than a smaller school like Brandeis. The final exams were all heavily standardized, in the way that SAT and AP tests are, which surprised me.

On-site administration of your program

The IFSA staff were all very kind, helpful, and accessible. Interacting with them was always a lovely experience.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in Carlaw, which is the newest of the 3 student apartment options I was given. The other 2 were Parnell (an extra 20 min walk off campus) and Unilodge (closer to campus, a single tall building, rooms had a pretty good view of the city). Carlaw was definitely the best for my needs. It was slightly off campus but still only a 10-15 min walk. There was a nice community feel, with lots of events and basketball hoops outside, that kind of thing. Extremely nice flats, barely 5 years old when I went. Highly recommend.

Cooked my own food. Good food options on campus during the day. There was a grocery store a 15 min walk away from where I lived.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Really depends on the individual. Because you're directly enrolled in the university, that makes it easier to find local students to talk to. I had 2 flatmates from NZ and it was a priority of mine to form relationships with people from NZ, so yes I felt like I was fairly integrated. But it's also easy to mostly hang out with other Americans. It's not super hard to get more integrated, it just takes a bit of effort. So I think it largely depends on what you want to focus your energy on.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Had good medical insurance through IFSA. I did fill out an online application to see a therapist about a month into the trip and it took a while to finally see someone at the school, about 6 weeks. Everyone I met in the health center was very kind, things just took longer than I was expecting.

Auckland seemed like a very safe city to me. The only common advice I heard was don't walk in the parks at night. Otherwise, the streets are well lit and the area around campus especially felt very safe.

I met so many incredible people in my program and in Auckland, I would absolutely choose it again.

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

Auckland is not an especially cheap place to live. It's pretty comparable to Boston & the Greater Boston area.

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• Apartment

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• Local Students

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• Local Students

• Meeting local students & others in my program
• Flexibility with IFSA -- after orientation you could participate in the events as much or as little as you wanted (and they were all very fun)
• Taking Maori and Pacific studies classes at the University

• The first few days were a little stressful because we had orientation, had to wait a few days to unpack/get settled and get a NZ sim card

The Nearly Native or Trail Blazer