What I Learned From Studying in New Zealand as a Junior High School Student -- Alpha

 

When I was 12, almost 13 years old, I went to New Zealand to study for 2 years in Year 9 and Year 10. It started when I first came to New Zealand as an exchange student in primary school in Auckland. Furthermore, I felt breathtaking the view of the country, and felt refreshed by taking a deep breath. Therefore, when I finished my Year8 in Thailand I ask my mom to come study here.

 

Studying abroad can be challenging for everyone, especially if you are young, I also faced a lot of problems when coming here. When I first arrived here, I couldn’t speak any English, and communicating are one of my biggest problems. On the first year of studying here, I stayed in a school boarding house, and I had 2 New Zealand roommates, which changed every term. At first, I couldn’t talk to them in English sentences, instead I had to use all my body language to talk to them, but every night that I was with them, I tried to talk and learn how to pronounces, meaning and listen to them. As a result, I got a lot better at speaking, and I was able to communicate with them more than often.

 

Staying in a boarding house can be a hard time for someone, especially if you are an international student, so it was hard for me at first because I get bullied sometimes, faced some culture shock, and definitely homesickness. However, a good point of staying in a boarding house is that I could go to play basketball or any kind of sport after school or in the evening because it is close to the school, and the housemaster always had activities for you to do, which help me to forget about feeling homesick.

 Another big problem is finding kiwi friends here. There are a lot of factors that pull you away from getting friends. Firstly, it will be hard if you cannot listen and catch up the conversation. Secondly, our lifestyle and their lifestyle are not the same, but I am very lucky that most people here like to do outside activities like playing sports, which is the same as me. In the second year of studying here, I stayed in a host family. I also faced a lot of problems and learned a lot of new things, which helped me to become a better person.

I think coming to New Zealand had helped me to change a lot in a physical and metal way. I have learned how to adapt to different people around me and every problem that I faced help me get stronger. Moreover, there are a lot of times I cry and want to go home, but I always told myself that I can do this, and I am going to get through this. And I think finding someone who you could talk to about your problems is another way to get through too.