As a senior from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, studying abroad on this wonderful campus, I feel like I have some insight into the things that make Purdue different from universities in New Zealand.
1. Squirrels
I frequently see lots of squirrels around Purdue. Sadly, we don’t have these animals in New Zealand. We have an incredible amount of sheep, but not anything even comparably cute to squirrels. While this may seem like a gross exaggeration, squirrels are my daily pride and joy at Purdue. With their chubby bodies (from all those nuts), their fluffy tails and the way they gallop around campus, it is hard not to love them.
2. Campus Size
Many universities in the United States are big – Purdue has a total of 40,000 students, and the campus itself is nearly 2,500 acres. I’m constantly getting lost. Purdue has stadiums, two trains, dorms, cafes, dining courts, two Starbucks’, three bookstores, and a little shopping center only a short walk away. This is pretty impressive, especially coming from a tiny university with only 12,000 students. At the University of Canterbury, almost everything is off campus and the nearest Starbucks (and only one in the entire city of 360,000 people) is a thirty-minute walk away (ew).
3. Greek Life
As New Zealand does not have any sororities or fraternities, my experiences of Greek Life has come directly from movies. I especially enjoyed Neighbors starring the dreamy Zac Efron. I expected all the parties to be exactly like that, and was semi-disappointed to find out they weren’t. While I’ve only been to three frat parties, they were not glamorous at all. They were held in basements with tons of other people (but sadly no Zac Efron). It can sometimes feel like you’re in a sauna because it’s so hot. This is essentially great if you’re like me, whose hair poofs up at the slightest bit of moisture (super cute).
However, Greek life is a great way to get really drunk on free alcohol (thanks guys) and dance to obnoxiously loud music. If you have a chance, I would definitely recommend going for the experience! You never know, you might meet a cute frat boy.
4. Drinking Age
Being a senior and only being 20 really puts a damper on my American experience. In New Zealand, the drinking age is thankfully 18, so I’ve been legally buying alcohol and going out to clubs for over two years now. Coming here, however, has been super sad as I’m too young to do all the things I used to do back home. I thought the days were gone where my friends had to sneakily buy me alcohol, but apparently not. This is also a great reason to go to frat parties.
All I ever hear about from my of-age friends is the Cactus nightclub at Purdue, and how great it is. Something, sadly, I will not get to experience this time around. Just to point out again how good it is living in New Zealand – the legal age to go to the casino is 20, so I’m also missing out on that here too. Yay for me!
5. Shopping
While it’s probably not as great as shopping in LA or NYC, shopping in Indiana is a lot better than shopping in New Zealand. The closest mall is only a fifteen-minute drive away from campus, and has pretty much everything you need (sadly no Forever 21). From Hollister to H&M to Sephora, I’m pretty much obsessed. And guess what? We don’t have any of these brands in New Zealand. There is an online Sephora store that just opened, but the prices are cray, so I would not recommend it. I’ve decided H&M is my favourite store ever (along with Sephora, obvi) and I would live there if I could.