Introduction: About me.

Hi! The idea of this blog is to document one immigration to New Zealand and hopefully help others to meet their goals.

They say: If you have a dream, go for it! You can't walk there? Then creep! You can't creep? Lie down in the direction of your dream!

 My name is Lena. I'm 23 female with a Russian citizenship and 11 months old female Yorkshire terrier dog, Chiquita. 

I come from the Republic of Altay in Russia which is on the border with China. After school I moved to Saint-Petersburg (European part of Russia) and lived there for 2 years. Saint-Petersburg is and will always be my favourite City. I belive it has a soul and a history.

Life was not exactly complete in Saint-Petersburg, I followed the insight and moved to Nothern Europe, Finland, Helsinki. Finland changed my life and my vision completely. It became my second home, and I will be always grateful for people I met and lessons I was taught there. 

Last year I was very upset and lost in life disputing between Finland, Germany and Russia until the day I saw a dream me telling somebody that I'm moving to New Zealand. It was in the very beginning of November 2011. I didn't know at that time where NZ was located and what the country was about.

I checked basic information online and started to read a forum for Russian people in New Zealand.

New Zealand

On the 1st of December 2011 I made a decision to move to Auckland, New Zealand in the end of August 2012 and announced it to friends. 

I believe you should tell people about your dream, because your words become your actions, and actions turn into your life.

I'm going to focus on certain common immigration issues in my blog. The ones that I can think straight and going to write about first are:

1. Moving a dog to New Zealand. It comes the first because this process is the most expensive and time consuming.
2. Visa. 
3. IELTS, English language test.
4. Flight to Auckland.
5. Apartment in New Zealand.
6. Job.
7. Driving licence.

 If there comes something important meanwhile, I will add it later, so keep updated.

My basic background:

• Russian citizenship
• Good English
• Specialist degree, so called bachelors of honors (= bachelors + 1 year) in Accounting and Financial Analysis, Saint-Petersburg University of Economics and Finance (FINEK). Ready in June 2012.
• Bachelors degree in Plastics Technology (Engineering), Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland. Was supposed to be ready in June 2012, now postponed to December.
• Work experience. See about it later.

I decided to blog in English, but you can ask questions in Russian as well.
Please, if you find any information from the blog useful, let me know by leaving a comment.

Let's agree to meet in New Zealand soon. Wish your dream to come true!

With Love,
Lena

11.01.2012 Helsinki, Finland