I came to Lincoln from Haryana, India, to do a PhD in food science. Before that I was an engineer, worked in dairy plants, and taught at a university back home. None of it prepared me for my first fortnight here. I needed a student ID, a bus card and a map, and no clue where to start. Denise Pelvin, the international student advisor, sat me down and sorted it out. That is the job.

Kia ora (Hello, শুভেচ্ছা, Nǐ hǎo, Salam, Namaste)! I am Mohammad Mominul Hoque, a first-year PhD student at the Department of Pest-management and Conservation, Faculty of AGLS. As an international student at Lincoln University, I understand firsthand the exciting opportunities and unique challenges of adjusting to a new cultural and academic environment.

I am Jun, an international PhD student in Food Science at Lincoln University and a bilingual student studying away from home. Moving to New Zealand for postgraduate study has taught me that adjusting to a new country involves much more than academic work. It means learning unfamiliar systems, finding the confidence to ask questions and building a sense of home in a new community.

Kia ora everyone! I’m Shiddat, an international student from India who thought I was immune to homesickness because I survived boarding school in the mountains. Turns out that is totally not the case. Not in a small “oh the food is different” way, but in a full “everything is different” way, I was struggling with the definition of what people call “normal.”