I don’t know how Auckland became one of the most livable cities in the world, but living here as an international student, to me, has been a battle every single day.
Everything is expensive in Auckland, even a far cry from many European cities I’ve been to. Rent is more than 200 bucks per week (not per month) for a tiny single room in a suburb that takes me nearly two hours to commute both ways. Groceries cost me another hundred each week (I cook everyday). I also have to pay $210 for a monthly bus/train pass (how terrible the public transport here is another story). Oh, and sportswear, can you imagine paying $600 for a travel rain jacket?
To some extent it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to live without a car in Auckland. Supermarkets won’t deliver for most of the stuffs you buy. One time I moved to an unfurnished room in Mt Wellington and really needed to get something to sleep on. Since delivery wasn’t an option, my boyfriend and I ended up carrying mattress, pillows and bedding sheets all the way home for nearly two kilometers. When he left a few days later, it was just me wrestling with furniture shopping.
Auckland suburbs aren’t really pedestrian-friendly. I can make a long list of roads and intersections without zebra crossings, but the Panmure roundabout near my home is the worst. Trucks and cars would approach from God knows how many lanes, so either I risk my life crossing the terrifying traffic or waiting for the drivers’ mercy. In fact, I already gave up taking trains at the Panmure station after the very first time walking through that deadly intersection.
It’s never easy to live abroad especially when I come from a socially and politically different country that’s still dependent on ODA sources. But this unexpected culture shock made me question myself and my adaptability. Have I really grown up after surviving all those years of stressful work and five months in Europe?
The Bubbly Traveler 
Ôi tình cơ đọc được bài của chị về HB ADB – JSP và Auckland, trộm vía nói trước bước không qua nhưng em đang có ý định chuẩn bị apply cho năm sau và Uni of Auckland là một trong những best option ngành em muốn học. Đọc xong bài thấy hơi căng chị ạ 😀
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Không sao đâu, tp. nào cũng thế em ạ, mới đầu chưa quen nên cũng hơi hoang mang thôi. Nếu em theo dõi blog sẽ thấy nếu ra khỏi trung tâm TP thì Auckland cũng đẹp và bình yên lắm.
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Reblogged this on Lincoln Life Blog.
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Food and beer is so expensive here in Auckland – and I’m saying that having moved from London which is notoriously pricey!
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😭😭😭
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I am sorry you are having a hard time… 😦
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Auckland is just testing my adaptability skill… 🙂
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very true!!! I like the optimism haha you might like this one: https://foreignereverywhere.blog/2017/07/25/the-3-month-period/ I hope that by the end of your experience you are in love with Auckland 🙂
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Haha yeah, I literally said ‘I hate this country’, ‘I hate this culture’ sometimes during my 3 month period. I’m on my 4th month now, things are getting much better. 😀
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Auckland is shockingly expensive these days. Cities in the South Island (particularly Dunedin) are much cheaper to live in and there is no commuting 🙂
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Looking forward to my South Island road trip in November and see the differences myself 😉
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Wow it does seem to mean that NZ and Australia has moved up in cost of living alot!
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Not sure about living costs but the house prices in Auckland, yes, have moved up. It’s now the world’s fourth least affordable city to buy homes. 😀
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Oh yeah it does not help that a lot of foreign buyers came in…
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You mean Chinese buyers…
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I am always shocked with the prices here in Australia after time in Italy and more recently in Vietnam. However when I was in NZ last November I was really shocked by the high prices there.
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Yeah, Auckland isn’t the most expensive city in New Zealand. Waiheke island is worse. 🙂
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