大三出國、全英語課程 - 國際視野 : 淡江大學大三出國通報及學分採認系統

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2022大三出國輔導通報系統 - 留學心得報告[編輯]

政經 408820040 　鍾辰昕　　留學學校：懷卡特大學(紐西蘭)

(一)基本資料

The school which I choose to study abroad is University of Waikato in New Zealand’s Hamilton. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak control, NZ Borders was closed until October in 2022. I can only choose to study online before the NZ government opens borders. That is the reason why I only stayed in NZ for around ten months. 2022/10/31-2023/08/01. After finishing my online and offline language course, I selected four courses in Trimester A. They are Power, Politics and Policy Analysis; Introduction to Finance; Introductory Financial Accounting; Digital Business and Supply Chain Management. (92字)

(二)課程學習

【照片說明：Professor ask a volunteer to do the mind map on the whiteboard】

My favourite course in University of Waikato is 'Power, Politics and Policy Analysis'. If you are a student from the Department of Political Economy, or interested in politics. Compared to others, I will suggest people select this class. The reason is that the other class related to economics is the same as studying in Taiwan. It is just like the transfer of knowledge, the process is unilateral, you can not have an interesting interaction with other people such as professors and classmates in class. Next, I will explain why I like this class and some difficulties I encountered during the studying. First of all, I am interested in politics, and always want to have an opportunity to learn more about policy making and policy analysis. This course gives me the chance to learn what I never studied in Tamkang University. Secondly, the number of students in this course is only around twenty. Compared to other lessons, because of the small class, the teaching style of the professor is casual. Thirdly, the frequency of interaction between professors and students is high. Sometimes it is more like sharing opinions with each other than teaching. Even if I don't know the relevant laws and regulations of New Zealand, I find it very interesting. Finally, the difficulty I found in the course is that we discuss different topics every week, so the professor will ask students reading some articles to prepare and understand the issue, and after reading one to two articles, students need to finish the question list which will be discussed in the first hour of class. By the way, in the last hour, the professor will help us summarise today's discussion by drawing a mind map logically. As a student who is not familiar with New Zealand's culture, history, and bills and is not good at English. I need to spend a lot of time finishing the preparation before the class. In addition to these, most students are Kiwis (local in NZ), so as long as they are excited about the discussion, their speaking speed will become too fast to understand. It is really a big challenge for me. (358字)

(三)生活環境

【照片說明：Orchard Park】

The overall campus area feels spacious with additional facilities and full of grass. Excluding the areas where I don't usually go during classes and considering only the size and distance of the academic buildings, the campus doesn't actually feel that big. The advantage is that it doesn't take much time to go to classrooms. However, many buildings are interconnected, so it can be a bit challenging for newcomers to find the actual classroom. I have lived in two different accommodations at the University of Waikato, namely Student Village and Orchard Park. I stayed in Student Village for about a month when I first arrived at the university. For the majority of the time, I live in Orchard Park. The quality of accommodation provided by the university is nice, with each person having their own single room, but the bathroom, kitchen, and living room are shared. Both accommodation types I chose were self-catered, so they provide various kitchen facilities like electric stoves, ovens, microwaves, toasters, and so on. They even already prepare some basic kitchen utensils available in the common areas, so I do not need to buy them separately. The inconvenience is that we have weekly inspections and ratings to make sure that we maintain the cleanliness of the common spaces. The Student Village is arranged like a two-story apartment, with around seven or eight rooms per floor. Although there were windows, the rooms are a bit dim, and the sound insulation is average. The advantage is that it was closer to the supermarket for buying daily supplies. Orchard Park is four people sharing a small cabin. The rooms are larger than Student Village, and the layout of the entire cabin is great, with ample sunlight and a chill feeling, just like living in a vacation cottage. However, since the houses were made of wood, the soundproofing is poor. Nevertheless, there are noise regulations after 10 PM, so it is not a big problem. The drawback is that hot water for showering had time limits, and it would turn cold when the time was up. Additionally, the location of Orchard Park is a bit remote, with some distance from the supermarket and bus stops, which will increase your exercise time. We all know New Zealand is a vast country, and the distance between shops and residential areas is considerable. It's quite inconvenient to get around without a car. The only long-distance transportation method I relied on in New Zealand was the bus, but the bus frequency here is not high, and most buses stop running by six or seven in the evening. Moreover, the buses here don't announce the stops, so you have to recognize them yourself or rely on Google Maps. It's easy to miss your stop if you do not notice. The summers here are very short, and even during summer, it rarely gets as hot as in Taiwan. The overall temperatures are a bit colder than in Taiwan throughout the year. There is a significant temperature difference between mornings, evenings, and noon or afternoon. Even in summer, it's still quite cold around 9 AM. Additionally, the weather in Hamilton changes rapidly. It's common to have heavy rain one moment and bright sunshine just ten minutes later. It's recommended to always carry a jacket and an umbrella when going out. Finally comes to food, eating out in New Zealand is extremely expensive, so most of the time I choose to buy groceries and cook at home, especially during weekends. Since I need to buy enough food for one to two weeks, a small-sized suitcase is a perfect choice. By living in NZ, my cooking skills have been forced to improve unless I want to go bankrupt. (616字)

(四)自我成長

【照片說明：Replenish food stock every two weeks】

Living in a country where they speak a different language from my home country is quite challenging, especially in the understanding of language. Despite already having mentally prepared, the speaking speed of locals and professors still requires me to spend more time comprehending. Fortunately, the people I've encountered so far are all friendly and patient. Even when I couldn't understand at first, they are willing to explain to me again. As an introverted person, their kindness helps me a lot to overcome the fear of asking questions to strangers. Furthermore, the advancement of the internet and technology has made me more willing to explore unfamiliar places without worrying about getting lost or not knowing how to get back accommodation. After all, New Zealand is vast and sparsely populated. I always worried that if I am not well prepared, I will need to sleep on the street. By the way, the biggest cultural shock I've experienced in New Zealand is the closing times of shops and services. Not only do buses stop running before the sun goes down, but I've also known of cafes that close at two or three in the afternoon. I need to say that, most labourers getting off their work early has significantly increased the difficulty level of travelling in New Zealand for me, but I think this is a good thing for NZ labour. Taiwanese workers are always overworked, I think our government should learn from NZ. Generally speaking, most of the problems I encountered can be solved by the student center provided by the school. As long as you are not afraid to ask, they are very willing to provide assistance. (276字)

(五)大三出國建議

In my opinion, if you love nature and the beautiful natural sight, and do not care about the lack of entertainment, it is good to choose studying in New Zealand. The sights and plants are really nice, you can see many types of plants which you have never seen in the Northern Hemisphere before. But I also need to say that there are some disadvantages to living in New Zealand as a student, especially the people who don’t have a car. In NZ, the shops, supermarkets and even the convenience stores are all far away from the residential area. If you want to buy groceries, it is necessary to spend at least half an hour walking or transporting. Turn to the course selection part. In NZ, or just in the University of Waikato, the type of the course is really different from Tamkang University. If you do not lack the graduation credits, I suggest you do not take too many courses, one or two is definitely enough (The most courses you could select in the University of Waikato is four). Never think that one course only has two hours per week, even though choosing four courses you will still have much free time to manage. That is just an imagine, the truth is that when you join the course, your professor will ask you to choose your free time to attempt the tutoring or workshop (some courses need to join both of them). Finally, your class schedule will become very full, and this is not the most terrible thing. The worst part is that once you enrol in the course you have no chance of regretting it. If you want to withdraw from a course, you have to pay a very expensive processing fee. Besides that, there are many courses that have prerequisite credit requirements, so there are only a few courses that can be selected if you only study there for one year. Do not expect to learn any deep and professional knowledge, because you have to learn from scratch, just have fun out there. (347字)

(六)其他

Due to the inconvenience of transportation, there is no way for me to travel too far during a short holiday or weekend. Thus I plan to use the period after the end of the course to the expiration of the visa to travel around New Zealand, but it is a pity that I have not started the journey at the moment of writing this experience. I think that month should be my most interesting and meaningful experience in NZ, maybe. (80字)

補充照片

【照片說明：Sculptures of Maori culture in Hamilton Garden】

【照片說明：Casually photographed scenery】

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資料更新時間：05月12日 20:36

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