The University of Otago is located in Dunedin, New Zealand, and has a history of 150 years. International students make up 15% of the university.From October to February, I attended the attached language school, and from February to June, I studied abroad as an undergraduate student.After introducing the town, I would like to explain about language schools, exchange programs, and local life.
Dunedin is a city on the South Island of New Zealand and is the fifth largest city.There are Scottish-style buildings, beer factories and beaches with many surfers.If you drive about 5 minutes from the center of town, you can meet wild fur seals, and if you are lucky, you can also meet wild penguins.On the South Island, there are Tekapo, which is famous for its starry sky, Milford Sound, which has beautiful fjords, and Queenstown, where you can experience various activities.There are many good places in the North Island, so please take a trip.
At a language school, I attended an academic course called EFO (English For Otago), where I learned how to take lecture notes and how to write papers.The language school regularly organizes extra-curricular activities such as ball games, trips and cooking, allowing you to interact with students from other courses.However, I do not recommend starting your studies in October. It is difficult to interact with local students until February because local students will end the semester in October and will be on summer vacation until February.
In college, I took a programming class, a web page design class and an international exchange class.If there are many students taking the class, there will be a video recording, so you can watch it whenever you don't understand the class.In addition to regular lectures, there were small classes every week, so it was easy to ask questions to the teacher.Depending on the class, I had to read many pages of the textbook as preparation for class, and there were many assignments in the class.My language school teacher said, "Language school is a holiday compared to college."
Lastly, regarding my life there, I stayed in a homestay for the first two months and then lived in a share house to save money. I used a service called Trade me (like Mercari) and Facebook groups to find rooms and used furniture.There are supermarkets that sell Asian foods and Japanese restaurants in town, so I don't think you'll have much trouble eating.Overall, I think prices are about 2 to 1.2 times higher than in Japan, but cell phone charges are cheap. In my case, it was about 1.3 yen per month with 1.5GB of data, free calls and SMS.Also, during the summer season, cherries cost about 1600 yen per kilogram, so I remember eating a lot of them.Not only clubs, but also places like co-ops hold various inexpensive workshops, where not only students but also working people can participate and interact.The gym attached to the school is well-equipped and free for students to use, and there is also a New Zealand gym called Les Mill in town.It was very convenient for me personally because almost everything except the bus can be paid by card.
Looking back, it was a very meaningful experience for me.Please enjoy yourself.
