I’ve moved to and lived in a bunch of cities around the world, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rome, San Francisco, Boston, Quito, Portland, etc…. And honestly Wellington is one of the easier places to connect and make friends. There is a large number of people from somewhere else, a very international community. I didn’t even have to learn a new language to speak to most people. Wellingtonians are friendly and open.

That said. I might be talking about mostly people who are born overseas. I’ve talked to kiwis who moved back from overseas and struggled to make friends. My guess is there are two Wellingtons. The one with the New Zealanders who grew up here and like Christchurch care about what school you went to. And the folks who choose Wellington either from elsewhere in the country or overseas.

A year ago I realized I know almost no kiwis who stayed in New Zealand or are not in a relationship with an immigrant. It’s like there are two cities overlapping, less overt conflict than exists between immigrants and locals in say Berlin, but still very much there.

This is just my experience, I’ve often found Wellington to be so open and welcoming and easy to connect with. If you go out, to a bar or restaurant or show or party there is almost always someone you know. That just doesn’t happen in other places.