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Massey University, New Zealand

October 2016

Horizons A Newsletter of the Office of International Education

An Island Getaway.

Looking to get in touch with your inner naturistic side and still get an

awesome education? Massey University in New Zealand is the right spot

for you! This is one of New Zealand’s leading educational institutions,

offering innovative courses in a wide range of studies on three different

campuses in Auckland, Wellington, or Palmerston North. Experience a big

city lifestyle in the metropolitan area or have the opportunity to explore

vast mountain ranges, hiking trails, and beaches. Massey University is

dedicated to International Student Support (ISS) to assist with

accommodation arrangements and on-going support through your stay.

Explore the natural wonders, and enjoy the true taste of Kiwi culture in

New Zealand through Massey University.

In This Issue

Program Spotlight:

Massey University

Q&A with Returnee

Alexander Carr

Meet International

Student Soyeon Chun

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Q&A with Returnee Alexander Carr Alexander Carr is a senior and a Psychology major with a

Foreign Politics minor. He studied at Massey University in

New Zealand in the Spring of 2016.

What made you choose New Zealand for your study

abroad experience?

One of the factors in choosing a college was choosing a

good study abroad program. I knew that at Roanoke we

would be able to travel fairly easily for a semester. When it

came down to picking a country, I was torn between the

Netherlands and New Zealand, and New Zealand had lots of

outdoorsy opportunities and it was like a big outdoor

playground, where you can enjoy all of the mountains and

beaches. New Zealand is ironically the exact opposite of

Australia as far as its poisonous dangers, the only real

danger in New Zealand is falling off a cliff.

Did you do a lot of traveling? What were your favorite places to go?

I did not travel outside of New Zealand, so I didn’t go to Australia or any of the other Pacific

Islands. I did travel quite a bit within the country. I had class 5 days a week, which made it a

little tough to do a lot of traveling, but my biggest adventure was in my two week

mid-semester break. During that time I was studying in Auckland, which is in the northern part

of the north island, and on my break, a few friends and I flew down to the south island and we

hiked two of the Great Walks. The Great Walks are these really beautiful trails all over the

country, and we did one each week.

We did something called Abel Tasman, which was a 60 km trek along the coastline, which

were these picturesque beaches one after another. The beaches would go inland toward the

mountains and come back out a bunch of times, then we took our shoes off and waded

across tidal rivers. The next week, we did the trail that was the exact opposite, ascending into

the mountains and fjords, and we experienced really powerful wind and weather that was

really exhilarating. We traveled to a bunch of the different cities. We went to Wellington,

which is the capital of New Zealand, whereas Auckland is the biggest metropolitan city.

Wellington was a cool city, and we spent about three full days there.

What was your favorite moment abroad?

We did something called the Tongariro Crossing on my 21st birthday, which is another great

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walk. This walk was just a day hike. It was basically this volcanic plateau, where there are

millions of years of volcanos building up and erupting as the Earth’s crust is moving, so you

have a bunch of calderas snaking along one another, and then the current one that hasn’t

blown yet was where they filmed Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings. So we hiked up and

along the calderas and it was snowy up on the mountain top, but there were blue skies. It was

gorgeous because you could see all these different plateaus and the mountain sides, and

there were these emerald lakes that were frozen over so we could walk across them.

How easy/hard was it to adjust to a different culture?

I found it surprisingly easy, since New Zealand was a British colony. It’s not as independently

cultured from Great Britain as the United States is, but it was still very westernized and

modernized. Only in the past 40 years has it been really westernized, and a big international

country. 40 years ago it was mainly just farmland and towns. It was pretty easy to adjust;

there weren’t many culture difference that I found were hard to adjust to. Actually, I found that

popular culture, like music, fashion, and movies were basically the same as in the United

States because they have consumed our media and follow a lot of our news.

What advice would you give to students going abroad?

You should think of what your expectations are for studying abroad. Come up with what you

imagine you will be looking forward to the most, and then write those out. Make sure that you

will be happy with the opportunities that you’ll have in those places. Be aware of the expecta-

tions you have and then try not to have them anymore. You’ll have all sorts of things you’re

looking forward to and then the experience will inevitably be totally random. You’ll go to plac-

es you never thought you would go and it’ll be way better when you enjoy them as they come.

Coast of New Zealand

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Soyeon is a Math major from Pyeong Chon, Gyeonggi Provence, South Korea. She is a jun-

ior at Roanoke College, and has been in the U.S. for three years.

Where have you lived? What makes the places that

you’ve lived different from the U.S.?

I lived in Korea and Thailand. Korea is a very small country,

about the size of Virginia. There are a lot of people in it, and

it’s very crowded. It was hard to adjust to a quiet place like

Roanoke, when Korea is so different and there are so many

people. When I was living in Korea, I didn’t have any problem

going from one place to another. You could go from the top to

the bottom of South Korea in four or five hours. When I was in

Thailand, I lived in the capital city of Bangkok and in the

northern side of Thailand, in the country. When I was in

Bangkok, there were a lot of tourist people, and there are a lot

of things going on, so it’s very busy in the city.

How did you feel about being a foreigner in Thailand

vs. in the U.S.?

In Bangkok, there were lots of tourists, but in the country side we were the only for-

eigners there. I felt very welcome in Thailand; in Bangkok they loved to learn Korean

language, so whenever we went to the mall or outside somewhere, people were very

friendly. It feels different than the U.S. because there is a lot of diversity here. I don’t en-

tirely feel like I belong here because I’m still a foreigner, but I’m here and I’m a part of it.

What has your experience been like at Roanoke College?

It is great! I was kind of worried when I thought about coming to school at Roanoke Col-

lege because it’s a small school, but once I got here it was really easy to talk to profes-

sors, and ask them questions. Also, there are small classes, so you know everyone in

your classes, and you can ask them questions and you don’t have to go through the clas-

ses alone. I like the advantage of being in a small school.

Where would you like to travel in the U.S.?

Since I’ve been in Roanoke the whole time, I would love to travel to the west coast, and to

big cities like L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, and New York.

Meet International Student Soyeon Chun

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Contact Us

The Office of

International Education

Dr. Pamela Serota Cote

cote@roanoke.edu

Carmen Boggs-Parker

boggs@roanoke.edu

Travel Writer?

Submit your travel

writings and photos to

the RC Abroad Blog!

Send submissions to

Elizabeth Bullock

rc-abroad.tumblr.com

Language Corner

Explore New Worlds. Discover a New You.

Korean English

안녕하세요

An young ha sei yo.

Hello.

만나서 반가워요.

Man na so ban gab seub ni

da.

Nice to meet you.

고향이 어디인가요?

Eoneu nala salam iseyo?

Where are you from?