Marcus | Glenfield

“I think, I’d say high school, because I wasn’t raised here. So, getting here to New Zealand is different, everyone around me was different, and I wasn’t used to people different to my culture, different from what I am. 

So I was born and raised in the Philippines, and then I moved here five years ago. So I was a new kid, and I was pretty old. I was like 15/16. So, it was different for me, when I got here, because it was so different from my culture. It wasn’t hard to get used to, but it was really different from my culture.

In New Zealand, I think everyone here is very welcoming. Everyone is so nice. Even if they don’t know you, they’re still nice to you. So, it’s pretty easy to get friends. It’s easy to get people to know you. They’re all so nice to each other, and it makes me feel like I need to be nice to everyone, as well. 

I think it’s very important here, especially right now, because there’s a lot of different ethnicities here, and everyone here is enjoying themselves, especially in high school. I think it’s more important in high school, because you get more friends in high school, and those friends, they’re different. They’re all different. They have different qualities. They have different races, and being friends with those people, I think those are the most important things. Because you kind of learn their culture and how different they are from me, like what country they are from, you learn what’s their background, and I think that’s important, because that gives them respect, and they’ll give you respect back, from knowing where you came from. 

You know how New Zealand is about environmentally friendly stuff? So, I’ll probably do architecture for uni. They have this course. It’s about urban planning and the environment in New Zealand. So, it’s helping the future of where New Zealand is going to go, in environmental ways. So, I’ll help to make a greener environment.”