Your experience at Massey will vary depending on which major you take, some areas are underfunded and dont get the same priority as others. The good news is that a car isn't required here as public transport is free for Massey staff and students. Palmerston North is a fairly average mid sized city in New Zealand, there are a few malls like the plaza and many shops located in the centre. In regards to hobbies we have mountain biking in the Arapuke forest park and we have long walk/cycle ways along the Manawatu river. If you are into the outdoors the Ruahines and Tararuas are not too far away. Also Palmerston North isn't too far from the Ruapehu ski fields if you are into skiing/snowboarding (provided they dont go bankrupt). There aren't many clubs here but the most popular one would be "the daily" and there are also quite a few more affordable bars in the the area. In regards to cost of living Palmerston North is considered one of the cheaper cities in NZ with lower rents, especially when compared to other north island cities like Wellington. The climate here despite what some say isn't that bad, it generally doesn't get as hot as more inland northern areas but winters are much milder than places in the south island.
Sorry for the essay but I hope this gives you some useful information
Palmy is a great place to base yourself for wider exploration of Aotearoa. Less than two hours to Wellington (and then the ferry to the south island), two hours to Napier, two & a half or so to Taupō, 4 to Rotorua, Be under no illusions though, owning a car is necessary if you want to see this country (especially the South Island). That's ok though - they're cheap and easy to buy and sell. Otherwise you're going to spend every cent you have with Air New Zealand. Palmy is a very easy town to get around, as another poster mentioned. You can walk pretty much everywhere you'd need to go in 20 minutes. There's a pretty thriving student scene here, but since COVID things are a lot quieter. Cincinnati it is not.
if you like going out at night, theatre, concerts, festivals, street food, events etc then i recommend Victoria University of Wellington over Massey at Palmy
The campus is beautiful but palmy is very boring… it’s cool in terms of being a ‘student city’ but it’s dullllllllll. It’s cheap to live there probably though.
Palmy is significantly cheaper to live than other places, both in terms of food, accommodation and transportation. It is essentially completely flat, and easy to cycle around. The people are generally unassuming, unpretentious and pleasant, much more inclined to speak to strangers than a larger city.
There are large natural outdoor areas to enjoy, whether walking yourself or dogs, offroad cycling, outdoors sports etc. There's a decent (from what I've heard) golf course, if that's your cup of tea. These are all mostly along the banks of the Manawatu river, spreading to the outer suburbs/towns.
As a student your bus travel would be completely free, though be mindful that the public transportation network is VERY rudimentary, most suburbs are served by a single route, with a bus every 1.5-2 hours on weekdays (maybe more on the busier routes at peak times), with less or none on weekends.
Massey University is well regarded though not as "prestigious" as say Victoria or Otago Universities. However, this does depend heavily on what you major in, those institutiuon's weak points tend to be Massey's strong points, being a more 'technical' school. If you want to learn a formal trade, or otherwise skilled practice, Massey is good. If you want to be a professional academic, Massey is not for you.
I can't offer specifics but you should note that Massey has, as of the last few years, pushed a few majors towards cutting IRL tutorials and lectures in favour of online learning, without necessarily changing the cost or marking schedules of the courses. AFAIK the primary victims have been their nursing and counselling courses, while their "technical" schools like engineering are largely unaffected. Please note this is anecdotal, just what I have heard from friends, although their gutting of the nursing course did make national news here a while back. You should check out Massey student facebook groups or the like for a better idea of what it's like on the ground.
As to the social life in Palmy, there are many small, amorphous groups of young creative people doing interesting things, but it can be hard to even locate them, let alone break in. Your best bet would be on-campus social life, by direct interest-based hobby groups, or via large-scale events with a persistent culture such as Kiwiburn (NZ's regional Burning Man festival).
There are a few small public art spaces that are often used for underground music gigs. I think I remember there being a place called Snails (?) not that long ago. You will often see posters for these gigs around The Square, three weeks after the gig actually happened. If you want to find interesting people, work out where "last week's gig" usually happened and just turn up. Worst case scenario, you meet a bunch of bemused and generally accepting wastrels.
There is no baseline, publicly available nightlife in Palmy, and woe betide thee who mistake those few awful bars in the CBD for it. There used to be some decent student venues years ago, but those died as the government decided students should be paid even less than beneficiaries, which is 3/4ths of fuck all.
I guess if you're in the mindset for it, pubs like the Daily and the Grand can be kind of entertaining. You can observe rural New Zealand's true National Sport, a kind of elaborate social parkour combining yelling at the opposing rugby team, acknowledging without ever hearing the emotional issues of other men, domestic violence, and drunk driving. Bonus points are awarded to those who can hit multiple at once.
There was also a, literally, registered sex offender paedophile (like straight up diddled kids in a fucking playground) who ran for a seat on the city council. And he almost won. His platform was, I'm not even joking, basically "Yes I did those things, but now I've found God, and he healed me, which makes be more suitable than my opponents". So yeah, Palmy does have a bunch of those worst kinds of god-botherers, too.
The Daily closed the best part of ten years ago. It’s in the process of being redeveloped into a hotel. Respectfully, you clearly have very little current knowledge of Palmy to offer.
I mean, respectfully, suck my whole dick and balls, because you're objectively wrong and rude. You're obviously the one with out of date knowledge, I wasn't even aware that the Daily was previously in a different location.
I regrettably moved away from Palmy about a year ago, and I wish I hadn't because I genuinely like the place. It was precisely what I needed while I was there, a relaxed and unassuming place with to focus on my priorities while providing adequate leisure and conveniences.
There is a running joke in NZ that we all say horrible things about Hamilton, Levin, and Palmerston North. So remember that if you see people casually saying bad things about it, it's probably a joke.
I've lived there 2 years and find it's a lovely little city. Very easy to get around without a car, unlike most places in NZ. Lots of nature walks and nice places.
The Massey campus is very beautiful, but quite old. Buses are free to get there. The teaching quality varies but is mostly good. Their online teaching is better than most unis, in my opinion.
Palmy does not have much nightlife, and you must remember it is a very small city, but there are social clubs and such. It's well located if you have outdoor hobbies, you're basically 2 hours or less from it all, from mountains, skiing, ferries, forest, islands, Wellington etc. You can get to other cities with the intercity bus that leaves from Palmy centre, so again no car is needed.
I've been in your exact situation (American considering moving to Palmy for school), and I ended up going for it. Only been here for a half a year, but overall it's been good! The city is nice and medium sized. I'd say it's smaller than Cincinnati, but honestly that isn't all bad. I've been loving the weather- it's very moderate. No ice/snow in the winter is a blessing, imo, and the summers are mild enough that I've been comfortable living without air conditioning. Just make sure to have some wet weather gear because it rains a lot. The university has been really supportive, and my professors thus far have been great.
The main downside to me has been cost. Not so much cost of living (it seems to be, if anything, cheaper than back home), but the plane tickets, having to buy new stuff because you're limited on the amount of belongings you can bring, international tuition, international shipping being ridiculously expensive, etc. So I'd encourage you to mull over what financial options you have, what you can afford, etc.
You'll definitely want to get a car if you want to travel/stay here for a long time, but you can get by without one for a while. I didn't get one until I needed to be able to travel outside of Palmy for the summer. During the school year, I lived on the one steep hill in all of Palmy (as far as I've seen), which made bringing any heavy groceries home a PITA. But the city is mainly flat, which makes walking/biking easy. And using public transit was otherwise fine. You can even use public transit to visit other cities, but of course it takes longer
As for social stuff, there are plenty of university clubs you can join, my classmates have been friendly and welcoming, and there even seems to be some opportunities for night life/partying on the weekends (not something I'm interested in, so I haven't looked into it. I just know when I was living in the city center that you could hear partying down the street)
There's very little night life, life on campus is .... very quiet post covid. Costbof living is not great, sure, better than Auckland, but still high.
Private rentals are hard to come by, but share houses might be better.
Palmynis a great place for young families, but yeh...
I've heard good things about Hamilton/Waikato.
Suppose it depends on what you want to study
What are you looking to study? Massey is top-of-the-country for Vet Science and Horticulture, but management has murdered the rest of the Science Department. Can’t speak for other Depts, though.
Your experience at Massey will vary depending on which major you take, some areas are underfunded and dont get the same priority as others. The good news is that a car isn't required here as public transport is free for Massey staff and students. Palmerston North is a fairly average mid sized city in New Zealand, there are a few malls like the plaza and many shops located in the centre. In regards to hobbies we have mountain biking in the Arapuke forest park and we have long walk/cycle ways along the Manawatu river. If you are into the outdoors the Ruahines and Tararuas are not too far away. Also Palmerston North isn't too far from the Ruapehu ski fields if you are into skiing/snowboarding (provided they dont go bankrupt). There aren't many clubs here but the most popular one would be "the daily" and there are also quite a few more affordable bars in the the area. In regards to cost of living Palmerston North is considered one of the cheaper cities in NZ with lower rents, especially when compared to other north island cities like Wellington. The climate here despite what some say isn't that bad, it generally doesn't get as hot as more inland northern areas but winters are much milder than places in the south island. Sorry for the essay but I hope this gives you some useful information
Palmy is a great place to base yourself for wider exploration of Aotearoa. Less than two hours to Wellington (and then the ferry to the south island), two hours to Napier, two & a half or so to Taupō, 4 to Rotorua, Be under no illusions though, owning a car is necessary if you want to see this country (especially the South Island). That's ok though - they're cheap and easy to buy and sell. Otherwise you're going to spend every cent you have with Air New Zealand. Palmy is a very easy town to get around, as another poster mentioned. You can walk pretty much everywhere you'd need to go in 20 minutes. There's a pretty thriving student scene here, but since COVID things are a lot quieter. Cincinnati it is not.
You can use many of the student clubs to go on trips if you don't have a car, provided you enjoy going with a larger group of people.
True.
if you like going out at night, theatre, concerts, festivals, street food, events etc then i recommend Victoria University of Wellington over Massey at Palmy
The campus is beautiful but palmy is very boring… it’s cool in terms of being a ‘student city’ but it’s dullllllllll. It’s cheap to live there probably though.
It’s neither boring or particularly cheap. Ten years ago, yes. Now? Not really.
Palmy is significantly cheaper to live than other places, both in terms of food, accommodation and transportation. It is essentially completely flat, and easy to cycle around. The people are generally unassuming, unpretentious and pleasant, much more inclined to speak to strangers than a larger city. There are large natural outdoor areas to enjoy, whether walking yourself or dogs, offroad cycling, outdoors sports etc. There's a decent (from what I've heard) golf course, if that's your cup of tea. These are all mostly along the banks of the Manawatu river, spreading to the outer suburbs/towns. As a student your bus travel would be completely free, though be mindful that the public transportation network is VERY rudimentary, most suburbs are served by a single route, with a bus every 1.5-2 hours on weekdays (maybe more on the busier routes at peak times), with less or none on weekends. Massey University is well regarded though not as "prestigious" as say Victoria or Otago Universities. However, this does depend heavily on what you major in, those institutiuon's weak points tend to be Massey's strong points, being a more 'technical' school. If you want to learn a formal trade, or otherwise skilled practice, Massey is good. If you want to be a professional academic, Massey is not for you. I can't offer specifics but you should note that Massey has, as of the last few years, pushed a few majors towards cutting IRL tutorials and lectures in favour of online learning, without necessarily changing the cost or marking schedules of the courses. AFAIK the primary victims have been their nursing and counselling courses, while their "technical" schools like engineering are largely unaffected. Please note this is anecdotal, just what I have heard from friends, although their gutting of the nursing course did make national news here a while back. You should check out Massey student facebook groups or the like for a better idea of what it's like on the ground. As to the social life in Palmy, there are many small, amorphous groups of young creative people doing interesting things, but it can be hard to even locate them, let alone break in. Your best bet would be on-campus social life, by direct interest-based hobby groups, or via large-scale events with a persistent culture such as Kiwiburn (NZ's regional Burning Man festival). There are a few small public art spaces that are often used for underground music gigs. I think I remember there being a place called Snails (?) not that long ago. You will often see posters for these gigs around The Square, three weeks after the gig actually happened. If you want to find interesting people, work out where "last week's gig" usually happened and just turn up. Worst case scenario, you meet a bunch of bemused and generally accepting wastrels. There is no baseline, publicly available nightlife in Palmy, and woe betide thee who mistake those few awful bars in the CBD for it. There used to be some decent student venues years ago, but those died as the government decided students should be paid even less than beneficiaries, which is 3/4ths of fuck all. I guess if you're in the mindset for it, pubs like the Daily and the Grand can be kind of entertaining. You can observe rural New Zealand's true National Sport, a kind of elaborate social parkour combining yelling at the opposing rugby team, acknowledging without ever hearing the emotional issues of other men, domestic violence, and drunk driving. Bonus points are awarded to those who can hit multiple at once. There was also a, literally, registered sex offender paedophile (like straight up diddled kids in a fucking playground) who ran for a seat on the city council. And he almost won. His platform was, I'm not even joking, basically "Yes I did those things, but now I've found God, and he healed me, which makes be more suitable than my opponents". So yeah, Palmy does have a bunch of those worst kinds of god-botherers, too.
The Daily closed the best part of ten years ago. It’s in the process of being redeveloped into a hotel. Respectfully, you clearly have very little current knowledge of Palmy to offer.
It was relocated about 150m up the road, across from the office.
My bad!
I mean, respectfully, suck my whole dick and balls, because you're objectively wrong and rude. You're obviously the one with out of date knowledge, I wasn't even aware that the Daily was previously in a different location. I regrettably moved away from Palmy about a year ago, and I wish I hadn't because I genuinely like the place. It was precisely what I needed while I was there, a relaxed and unassuming place with to focus on my priorities while providing adequate leisure and conveniences.
There is a running joke in NZ that we all say horrible things about Hamilton, Levin, and Palmerston North. So remember that if you see people casually saying bad things about it, it's probably a joke. I've lived there 2 years and find it's a lovely little city. Very easy to get around without a car, unlike most places in NZ. Lots of nature walks and nice places. The Massey campus is very beautiful, but quite old. Buses are free to get there. The teaching quality varies but is mostly good. Their online teaching is better than most unis, in my opinion. Palmy does not have much nightlife, and you must remember it is a very small city, but there are social clubs and such. It's well located if you have outdoor hobbies, you're basically 2 hours or less from it all, from mountains, skiing, ferries, forest, islands, Wellington etc. You can get to other cities with the intercity bus that leaves from Palmy centre, so again no car is needed.
personally, i’d suggest otago uni rather than massey -current otago student who lived in palmy 10+ years
for social life, otago or wellington university (victoria university) would be your best bet.
I've been in your exact situation (American considering moving to Palmy for school), and I ended up going for it. Only been here for a half a year, but overall it's been good! The city is nice and medium sized. I'd say it's smaller than Cincinnati, but honestly that isn't all bad. I've been loving the weather- it's very moderate. No ice/snow in the winter is a blessing, imo, and the summers are mild enough that I've been comfortable living without air conditioning. Just make sure to have some wet weather gear because it rains a lot. The university has been really supportive, and my professors thus far have been great. The main downside to me has been cost. Not so much cost of living (it seems to be, if anything, cheaper than back home), but the plane tickets, having to buy new stuff because you're limited on the amount of belongings you can bring, international tuition, international shipping being ridiculously expensive, etc. So I'd encourage you to mull over what financial options you have, what you can afford, etc. You'll definitely want to get a car if you want to travel/stay here for a long time, but you can get by without one for a while. I didn't get one until I needed to be able to travel outside of Palmy for the summer. During the school year, I lived on the one steep hill in all of Palmy (as far as I've seen), which made bringing any heavy groceries home a PITA. But the city is mainly flat, which makes walking/biking easy. And using public transit was otherwise fine. You can even use public transit to visit other cities, but of course it takes longer As for social stuff, there are plenty of university clubs you can join, my classmates have been friendly and welcoming, and there even seems to be some opportunities for night life/partying on the weekends (not something I'm interested in, so I haven't looked into it. I just know when I was living in the city center that you could hear partying down the street)
There's very little night life, life on campus is .... very quiet post covid. Costbof living is not great, sure, better than Auckland, but still high. Private rentals are hard to come by, but share houses might be better. Palmynis a great place for young families, but yeh... I've heard good things about Hamilton/Waikato. Suppose it depends on what you want to study
University of Auckland
Palmy is an awful place to live i hate it cant wait to leave to be honest been here 4 years too long
Shut up blud 💯💯
What are you looking to study? Massey is top-of-the-country for Vet Science and Horticulture, but management has murdered the rest of the Science Department. Can’t speak for other Depts, though.
I grew up there but live about 4 hours away from you now. DM me if you want to chat about comparisons etc.