My Year in Windy Wellington

Hi everybody! I’m Faith, a third-year archaeology and anthropology student who has just finished up a year studying in Wellington, New Zealand. Lonely Planet certainly did not lie when they dubbed the city the “coolest little capital in the world”, as Wellington is absolutely bursting with character. I had a great time in the city, and my year in New Zealand has definitely been a memorable one.

In New Zealand, Wellington is known for two things: hills and wind, and you certainly get fit battling your way uphill in a rainstorm that’s blown in from the Cook Strait. However, don’t let this put you off, look a little closer and you’ll see a vibrant city full of its own special kind of charm. With a population of just over 200,000, which is actually less than Southampton, Wellington is an extremely small capital, but that doesn’t mean that it has any less to offer than a larger city like Auckland. As well as being full of history, it is also full of op shops (the Kiwi version of charity shops), record stores, bars and cafes, and you can easily spend a lot of time exploring the city and its suburbs. In typical New Zealand fashion, Wellington is also surrounded by hikes and in just a 20-minute bus ride, you can be out tramping in the bush (again, this is also some key Kiwi lingo). However, nature is also embedded into the city, and the Wellington Botanical Gardens are easily accessible from the city via a short ride on the Wellington Cable Car. The Cable Car became a fast favourite of mine as it turns a 20-minute uphill walk from the supermarket into a fun five-minute ride on a core piece of Wellington’s history. If you live in the city centre, it’s also a good way to quickly get up to the main university campus, as it’s just a five-minute walk from the Salamanca stop. 

During my time in Wellington, I had the privilege of studying at Victoria University, often simply referred to as “Vic”. I had a great time at this university and learnt a lot about things I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to study at home. Being abroad for the year meant that I had a little more freedom in my module choices, so in my first semester, I decided to finally put my physics A-Level to good use and take a first-year space science class. This was incredibly interesting, if somewhat mind-boggling, but something I found especially cool was the incorporation of Māori mythology and celestial navigation into the class. Māori culture and language are deeply embedded in life at Vic as well as throughout New Zealand, but it’s important to note that this wasn’t always the case. My main takeaway from my time in New Zealand was a new understanding of the consequences of the British colonial period in the Pacific, as I feel that this isn’t often explored in education settings in the UK, despite us being the cause of a lot of problems in the region. However, the Māori renaissance of the 1980s has seen a revival of Māori culture, and today, New Zealand is a thriving bicultural nation, something I learnt a lot about in my anthropology classes here.

Thinking back to Vic though, it is definitely a little different to Southampton. The way the university operates is fairly similar but there’s a lot more freedom in your module choices, and you can take classes across multiple disciplines, which can offer a nice change of pace. However, there’s much less of a club and society scene in Wellington, and there’s definitely less of a focus on sports. That being said, there are still plenty of things to get involved in, and I ended up taking up rock climbing with the tramping club, which I ended up loving and hope to carry on in Southampton. Tramping (basically just hiking) is a classic Kiwi pastime, but it’s a completely understandable one when you look at the stunning natural beauty of New Zealand. Get out of the city and explore the country is the best piece of advice that I can offer to anyone considering New Zealand for their time abroad. It truly is a beautiful place, and you can find any number of hidden gems if you take a road trip across the country. One thing that’s important to note is that, outside of the Wellington and Auckland regions, cross-country trains don’t really exist so this isn’t really a viable travel option. However, flights between the major cities can be pretty cheap, and the country has a really good long distance coach system for areas that might be a little more rural. Or, for even more of an adventure, you can split the cost of hiring a campervan with some friends and really get stuck into the great outdoors.

Overall, I had an absolutely fantastic year in New Zealand, and I could not recommend the country enough. I have made some absolutely wonderful friends during my time here, and I have seen the most beautiful things. I will forever cherish the life that I led in this funny little country and would encourage anybody to study abroad, be it in New Zealand or somewhere a little closer to home.