I moved from the US to New Zealand for love. I forgot to build my own life when I got there. The author said she regrets not building her own life when she first moved to New Zealand for love. Courtesy of Ashlyn Oswalt. After navigating a long-distance relationship for a year, I took the leap and moved to New Zealand. I got my happily ever after, but lost a bit of myself in the process. If I had it to do over, I'd do some things differently. When I met CJ at a Montreal hostel , I didn't expect to purchase a one-way ticket to New Zealand around a year later. But after months of enduring a long-distance relationship between Chicago and Toronto (where he was living at the time), and falling deeply in love, I chose the path of least resistance: a New Zealand work visa and a flight to Christchurch, CJ's hometown. I moved without a shred of research, convinced love would be enough to build a personal foundation in a foreign country. I was in for a shock.…