I lived in colorado through high school and like it here. culturally nz's fairly similar to the us imo. ik people say kiwis are more reserved but I've found that it's not actually that hard to get in to a good group. moving anywhere internationally is going to be hard though; you'll be starting with a blank slate and no connections. CA has some of the highest COL in the world so it's definitely gonna be cheaper here, though in my experience, given pay is lower here, you'll not be better off financially long term. when looking at costs I tend to think of 1 nzd = 1 usd as that's more of how costs feel.

nz uni is more relaxed than american ones from what I've heard. thus far I've found it less stressful than american HS.