Hi, I’m Quang Pham and I’ve been studying at King’s for three years. I came halfway through Year 10 from Vietnam. I am now in Year 13 at King’s.

I was given a choice by my family to study in Japan or NZ. I love Japan but in the end I wanted to be part of a NZ school and chose King’s. I found out that I knew three other boys from Vietnam who were studying at King’s: Anh, Hien and Duc-anh (Tom) so I thought “King’s is for me”.

Before I came to study, my family and I flew to NZ and travelled around both Islands. This gave us a chance to experience the distance from Vietnam to NZ just to see what it was going to be like at the age of 14. I think the original purpose for travelling around the North and South Island was for my family to check out several schools, but the focus quickly became about key parts of the South Island. Milford Sound and Queenstown were my highlights from that trip.

I noticed on my travels the abundance of ‘lamb’ on the menu. This was new to me and I wasn’t the biggest fan of it! The smell, look or texture made me feel ill and initially I found it quite strange. Now I find most foods are great and you can get nearly anything in NZ, but I do miss traditional Vietnamese food, it is seriously good food in Vietnam.

If I had to describe my schooling back in Vietnam and compare it with King’s I would say, the facilities in our schools in Vietnam are very different. We don’t focus on buildings and facilities in the same way. Often a group of parents from a certain classroom will fund the resources for that class e.g. air conditioning, curtains, internet etc. Parents will independently add ‘resources’ to their child’s class. Each class will have a minimum of about 50 students, and we all stay together for most classes for the whole day so less movement around the school unless we have PE or Technology. Overall, there is less choice in most year level subjects. We had 13 mandatory subjects with a significant test at the end of each year.

Therefore, King’s is completely different. I have much more choice, I don’t have to study as many subjects as I did in Vietnam and I get to follow my interests and passions. Studying Japanese is a highlight for me at King’s, thanks to the teachers and students. I also had Mr Eade for English in Year 12 which I really enjoyed. The learning approach suits me better at King’s. I know I am very fortunate to come to NZ to study at high school and I am thankful to my parents for the opportunity.

If I was explaining Dunedin and King’s to my friends back in Vietnam I would say it’s a good place to study and easy to get around. I would encourage others to come and study and then to go to the university. Dunedin is smaller than I expected but I don’t think I’ve seen everything there is to see yet! In my ‘spare time’ I like analysing movies and storylines as well as hanging out with my King’s friends. I joined the ‘Handball’ team this year! This is huge for me. So far so good.

My big ambition this year is to complete Year 13 successfully and perhaps go to the formal and then apply to Otago University and or broadcasting school! My interests and plans are still evolving.

Thanks to everyone at King’s and to my family for the opportunity of being here in Dunedin, New Zealand.