“When I told my grandma I was leaving for New Zealand, she asked why I would move to the end of the world. I tried to convince her it’s not the end of the world, but that didn’t really work, so here, grandma, a bunch of reasons for you.”

Graduation project

“I am finishing a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Engineering Systems, and for some reason I really wanted to do something related to agriculture (don’t ask me why). Without an interesting topic for my project I wouldn’t be going anywhere, so when I heard it would be related to not only agriculture, but also viticulture, I didn’t have to think twice. There are not many opportunities to work in a vineyard in the Netherlands, let alone do something with AI for them, so I was, and still am, very excited to do that. I get to work in a really cool team towards making an autonomous grapevine pruning robot. And we get to drink beer at our office every week. On the cost of the research group.”

Nature

“Of course, I started looking for a project in New Zealand somehow, and I think the biggest reason was the pristine nature here. There is no way you have seen The Lord of the Rings and didn’t think about how beautiful the landscapes are (in fact I am watching it while writing this piece and still thinking about it). I know it really is the most obvious reason to visit New Zealand, so I feel like there is not much I have to add here.
Maybe besides the fact that they also have rainforests here. And I recently slept in one, where I saw glowworms for the first time!"

"There is also heaps of cool birds here, from the famous kiwis, through penguins, to silly weka’s running in front of cars and sneaky keas breaking into the cars.
The country has no natural mammal predators. That’s why New Zealand has taken very strict measures to prevent the spread of mammals and to restore as much damage as possible. People are encouraged to hunt them (I even started being happy when I see them killed on the side of the road … and that’s crazy coming from me), besides whales and seals which can be seen here too."

Sports

"All the landscapes also allow me to do my hobbies. And to find new ones! The fact that I have both the ocean and the mountains less than an hour away while being able to bike easily in our flat city is still unbelievable for me. Thanks to that I am able to go hiking, climbing, mountaineering (soon also skiing!) every weekend, and started surfing.
I can even go climbing outside on a weekday afternoon with the view on Christchurch and the ocean."

Culture

"New Zealand is a bit like the US but done better. Colonisation? Sure. But there is just so much appreciation for Māori culture. I have learnt so many words with repeated syllables you cannot even imagine. No, but for real, they seem to try to fix many mistakes here and I love it. And I finally moved to a place where I can speak the official language!"