My Exchange at The University of Sheffield
I found out about the exchange programme from a friend who had done it the year before me and went to Ireland. She had a wonderful time and suggested that as I was also doing a conjoint degree that I should consider it. I am very pleased to have spoken to someone that had been on exchange before going as there are lots of little things that you don’t think about before you are told.
When I first arrived in Sheffield, I was amazed by how green and nature-filled the city was. I was always told that the UK was full of urban areas and that I would crave the greenspace. However, my walk to Uni everyday has been through the valley completed covered by trees and Sheffield is right next to the Peak District National Park. I have been overwhelmingly happy with the support from the Sheffield Students Union, particularly in our first weeks. We were able to do all sorts of activities everyday of the week, some included sport, art, movie nights, history talks, coffee, etc. I found that if you attended a good number of events you would see the same people and quickly make friends as similar people tended to want to be there to connect and spend time with new people.
I thought the teaching was different to UoA, a lot less focused on the high quantity of information and more on the understanding and ways you apply it to different contexts. We would have many lectures that were workshops where we discussed concepts and readings we had done in our own time rather that being given a ton of information. We also weren’t tested broadly on all the lecture material, we were given broader questions that related to the whole course. So instead of memorising as much as possible like I usually do at UoA, I needed to make sure I could apply the concepts and broader examples to the questions being asked.
The cost of food and general expenses in the UK is higher that what I have seen in NZ. It is harder too as you don’t know all the ins and outs of how to make things cheaper, such as discounts, travel, cheaper supermarkets, etc. It is important to ask these things and reach out to local students if you have questions. Do not be afraid to say to people that you are new to the area and don’t know, I found that people didn’t find this silly and I even had people explaining to me how their supermarket clubcards worked.
A highlight of my exchange have been spending time with people from all over the world. I have met people from countries I didn’t even know existed and learnt things about cultures that I didn’t know before. I have connections in new places and feel thankful to be more knowledgable about the world. I have also most enjoyed travelling around the north of the UK and in Scotland while being on exchange. During the early weeks we had more downtime with less assignments and so we made the most of exploring new places. The university also provided travel to new cities on the weekend which helped us all a lot in the early days when we didn’t know many people.
Challenges were frequent but they weren’t anything that you didn’t collectively share with other exchange people. My main challenges were in my course approvals and making sure that I new how to get to my classes in a new campus, and submit assignments on the new system they used. I learned early on to make sure I left enough time to ask and figure it out before there were time pressures.
The advice I would give is get involved as much as possible at the beginning of exchange as even if you are not super extroverted you will still then have options to join events later on if you want. This increases the chance that you meet people that invite you to things or add you to groups chats and just keeps you generally more connected. Also know that you don’t need to do all the events and exhaust yourself, it is okay to have your own time and focus on your studies.
Q&A
What were some of the highlights of the academic experience at your host university?
Some highlights include the open and interactive nature of the classes I went to for my courses. The lecturers felt more approachable, and we had good discussions overall. I found students more prepared to engage with the lecturer and this made us all more confident to do so too. I felt I learnt the content easier this way too as we were all encouraged to do the readings and study well before our lecturers as we wanted to be able to engage and also not look silly for not knowing what the material was. I also liked being able to share my NZ perspective and offer different insights into the course material.
Would you recommend any particular activity/activities unique to your host country or university?
I would recommend getting involved with hiking in the North of England as there are many great locations to do this. It is also a more relaxed environment to get to know people whilst understand the nature and geography of the place you live in. It usually ends in a pub lunch or dinner too so this would be a nice way to connect, particularly if the weather took a turn and you weren’t able to hike for as long. I would also recommend climbing at bouldering is massive in Sheffield and there are over 5 indoor gyms. It is a great way to connect with people as the sport is very social and the University has a climbing club that meets regularly and supports people of all skill levels.
What are your top 3 tips for future students attending your host university or going on exchange to your host country?
I would recommend getting involved with fewer rather than more societies or clubs at the University you go to. As it is harder to make consistent relationships when you are committing a little bit of time to many different groups of people. If you find a group you like spending time with definitely try to commit to their weekly activities if you can as I found this was the best way to actually get to know people.
I recommend expressing your interests and goals from exchange quite early on during the early exchange events. I found friends to travel with and play sport with because I tried to be very expressive about what I was interested in getting out of exchange. I know this can be hard but it made it easier in the long run to connect up with the right people to go on trips and ask to do sporting activities with me.
Get to know the different study spots within the University and genuinely walk around during the first weeks a lot if you have time. I found that the more I became familiar with the campus the more I felt comfortable there. Try not to settle for the first library you find or the first coffee place, definitely try to explore and get to know your surroundings as you never know when there sighting might come in handy.
Try new things as there are many opportunities that you won’t have had before. For me this was climbing, spikeball, roller skating and watercolour painting. I am glad I did these activities and learnt more about myself each time I tried something new. I also met a whole new group of people each time and this helped me feel more connected.
Lastly, I would say to remember to have time for yourself. I think it is easy to get so caught up in the activities and excitement of exchange that you put everyone before yourself. It is important to make sure you get enough sleep, keep track of your studies, eat well and take the time to do things you need and enjoy as this will make sure you get the most out of the exchange.
How much did you budget for your exchange? Was this enough? Were there any lessons learned that would help future students budget for their own exchange?
Be careful in the early weeks especially if you are in a new currency to not spend excessive amounts. I found it hard to know as pounds are about half that of the NZ dollar, but it was easier once I knew the conversion. I could feel myself getting slightly carried away when I was attending events and first getting to know people but realised that I didn’t need to spend money all the time to socialise. There were equally good options where I didn’t need to spend all the time, for example I could go and attend the free University social activities in the Union over paying to go to the pub each lunch. I just needed to do some research and keep in contact on the Uni social media pages and websites.
What are your most significant takeaways from your experience abroad?
I have learned how self sufficient I can be and that I do enjoy my own time as much as being with other people. You find there are a lot of challenges you need to overcome on exchange and a lot of uncomfortable moments where you need to be independent enough to work through them. I have realised that even the UK has large cultural differences to New Zealand, despite NZ being colonised by the British. There are simple everyday things and ways of socialising that are different to NZ, such as the humour, ways of meeting, social activities, and even the classroom settings and expectations are different in some ways. I have learned that I can live in another country and feel good about having new experiences in a completely unfamiliar place. This helps me feel more confident moving away from New Zealand to pursue opportunities to support my career related goals.
Do you want to share anything about travels you did outside your host city/country?
I hired a car with exchange friends and travelled to Scotland. This was incredible and some of the most rural, mountainous and beautiful places I have ever been to. I think I had this idea that the UK would be all city and no greenery, and that it could not compare to NZ, however this is not true and there is masses of country and wildlife.
Final Comments
I think that it is good to go into exchange with less expectations and be grateful for all the good things that do happen. I think also that google and other peoples opinions can only give you a small idea of a place. For me, I didn’t realise how diverse and beautiful England was and this was not the impression I was ever given. I think that wherever you go and whatever institution you end up at you will learn so many things and in a new place with new experiences you will be able to compare it to what you have in Auckland. At the very least you will learn how appreciative you are for NZ.
