How do teachers and teaching appear to international students moving from the home country component of a twinning programme to the overseas partner university? This narrative study explored the perspectives of five Vietnamese students in their first months of studying for a commerce degree at a New Zealand university, having completed the first two years of their degree in Vietnam. The narratives drew on two interviews with each student, which were conducted and transcribed in Vietnamese, then translated into English. The lens of positioning theory was used to explore the students' experiences of teaching and learning in the new setting. Self-positioning and other positioning in narratives revealed that the students initially experienced a period of pedagogical dissonance when their new teachers did not act in familiar ways. As a result, they initially positioned their teachers as uncaring and themselves as being forced to "self-study". Within a short time, however, the students identified requirements for high achievement in the new environment and repositioned themselves in agentic ways and their teachers in a more positive light. This research has the potential to inform the professional development of teachers working in intercultural settings, and to support international students studying in a foreign country.