Hi my name is Imke Wieters and I am 17 years old. I come from Celle which is a little town in the north of Germany. I’m a student of the 11th form of the HBG Celle but at the moment I am on an exchange in Wellington/New Zealand.
For quite a while I was planning to do an exchange to another country to get to know another culture, to meet new people and to get many new experiences. I chose New Zealand for this because I have always been fascinated by books and films about New Zealand and Australia. It seemed to be an exciting thing to do.
New Zealand was a place at the other end of the world and it was a bit different from the places I have been before. I wrote to the New Zealand Embassy in Hamburg to get some information about possibilities to do an exchange. The officer in charge was really nice and sent me a booklet of schools in New Zealand and some other useful information.
So I chose some schools which seemed to be interesting and I tried to get in contact with them via e-mail. Almost all of them answered very quickly and offered me a place at their school.
I really wanted to go to a town which is not too small and so the choice was reduced to schools in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. I like the impression of Wellington High because it is a central situated co-ed-school without a uniform and that was actually something I wanted. My parents also liked it because the reply from the director for international students was very friendly and warm.
I’m absolutely sure that the choice was right. I really enjoy the environment of this school, the people are friendly and do not try to force you. My school in Germany is a bit stricter and the teachers there are sometimes a bit “higher” than the students. Here it is much more one level. It is a very tolerant place with different people from all over the world. You can make a lot of contacts to people with other nationalities other cultures and habits.
There is a wide range of subject choice so that you can take what you really want to do. You will concentrate on these things and because it is your choice it is not so likely that you give up. In my school in Germany I have to take at least 12 subjects. On the one hand that gives you a wide range of knowledge but on the other hand it makes it hard to concentrate on single subjects and to hold the things you are supposed to know.
This school expects much more work from you. It teachers you a lot of responsibility for your own needs. Students have to learn that they do the work for themselves. In my school it is sometimes a bit more forceful because of many tests and exams you have to set. You get specific marks which might be good to get an idea of where you are standing but it can also pull you down. In my opinion marks are really not everything. Because the school system is bit different in Germany it is not so easy to compare everything. I think I like the New Zealand system better in some cases because although the German idea of splitting up high school into three levels might be good for some people, some also suffer because to this. Students who get better results in school should get more used to help students with difficulties. Sometimes this splitting also causes a certain kind of arrogant behaviour between the different levels.
Another thing that I found amazing about the school in New Zealand is the equipment. They have for example heaps of computers which are free to use for all the students. It is good that students get used to these things in schools already.
The director for international students also organised a host family for me. I’m staying with a woman who is a teacher at Wellington High and two of her daughters. I really like it and I think I was very lucky to get this host family. There really want to help me to improve my English and we have a very good relationship. It is a nice climate and I can be more or less my own judge what I think is a very good and important thing.
In my free time I often go to town with friends, or alone. Everything is really close to the school which makes it easy to come around. We can go to the beach to cafes, shops to the museum or to other interesting places. Because I love to travel I try to come around at the weekends to get to know all of New Zealand. If there is no chance to go away I also like to meet other people or to stay at my house.
There is a lot to see in New Zealand. In my point of view it is absolutely amazing how many nice places there are in this actually small country. During the last holidays I went to the South Island with two other exchange students. We had a lot of fun and we saw so many things that we will never forget. We always went along the coast and we saw everything from golden beaches in the Able-Tasman Nation-Park over the glaciers to green rolling hills. We saw whales, penguins, dolphins, sea lions, albatross and sheep of course. It was a huge unforgettable experience. At another long weekend I got the change to hop on a van to Rotorua on the North Island to see the thermal areas and all these sties. Once I also went to a farm stay near Marton with a friend and her host family.
My advice for other students who want to come to New Zealand would be not to force anything but just let it happen. You should behave how you are. What I find very important is to come around this country because there is just so incredible much to see and to experience. In my point of view it is good to choose the place you go by yourself, in connection to your interests and you wishes. If possible always try to say for 10 months or a year, half a year is too short and is over so fast. It needs some time to feel settled and it would be sad to leave too early.