Home country: China, Programme: General English, English For Otago
Grace has been in NZ studying English after working as an assistant accountant for about a year in her hometown of Xian, China. She will enter the University of Otago this year to study accounting. Her first love is art but she realises that accounting will provide a more stable future. In her free time Grace loves tending her garden here in Dunedin – she has many vegetables and flowers but loves roses the most.
When Grace first arrived in Dunedin she felt quite sad and that was partly down to her not having confidence in her English ability. Now she has so many friends from all around the world and she has a lot of confidence in her English. She finds Dunedin people to be very friendly but she was surprised at first when passers-by on the street would smile at her!
One of the highlights of her time in Dunedin was visiting the polytechnic art exhibition. Her hometown in China is where the Terracotta Army was discovered – maybe this has inspired her love of art. She really loves the peace and quiet of Dunedin which helps her focus on her studies, but when she has time she loves to get out and do a road trip and with amazing destinations like Queenstown on our doorstep - who can blame her?
Dunedin was the natural choice for Grace as she has more chance to use her English here than she would in a larger city. The city has a vibrant community of international students from all around the world mixed together with Kiwi students from all over New Zealand. Everyone here shares the same goal - to get an excellent education and prepare for the future.
Grace will continue studying hard this year as well as making sure her garden is producing lots of flowers and vegetables.