By Anneka Sprangers

My name is Anneka Sprangers, and I am a 22-year-old girl born and raised in Hamilton, New Zealand. I am a fourth-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental planning. For my last trimester, I will be studying on exchange at Cardiff University in Wales.

I love travelling and exploring new places; there is a joke within my family that I am not happy unless I have a holiday booked! I have travelled to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia in the past with friends or family, however, this will be my first solo experience. When I heard about the Global Experiences programme, the opportunity to study and go abroad was too good to pass up. It is a great academic challenge, a chance to build new relationships, and of course, explore the United Kingdom.

Cardiff University interested me as a future environmental planner due to the high regard people have for its urban and environmental planning faculty. It specialises in a variety of fields, including sustainable transportation planning, which I am particularly interested in, making it an obvious choice for an exchange. Cardiff University is also a strategic partner of the University of Waikato, which means there is subject overlap between the two institutions, making it ideal for students like me who only have compulsory papers left to complete. All this made an exchange at Cardiff University the perfect way to finish my time at the University of Waikato!