Details

• United States of America
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Prepare for the interview, inform yourself about the USA and be prepared for personal questions. Look out for housing early enough and choose something as close as possible (extreme heat in summer months, limited public transportation)

2. Accommodation

Look for something as close to campus as possible in my opinion for reasons stated earlier. I lived in a shared townhouse half a mile of campus together with a roomate, I found it on Facebook Marketplace. There is also a lot of student housing available around campus. The city is generally pretty safe, there are some homeless people but they were harmless during my time.

3. Academic life at host university

I would recommend only taking classes on Tempe campus as the shuttle bus to the other campuses takes quite long. There is everything you need on campus, a lot of (fast food) restaurant, a shop, etc. Teaching style is more personal especially in smaller courses.

5. Every day life in the host country

There is public transportation available, but it's not very reliable and I didn't use it very much. The city is pretty safe around campus, only a few homeless people but not too bad. The university has great sports opportunities, there is a huge gym, you can join different clubs or play football in an intramural league for example. If you go in fall you can watch American football games in the stadium which was a great experience. The university also has many other sports teams, for example basketball or volleyball, where you get free tickets as a student.

6. Testimonial

One thing that made my exchange special was the possibility to travel and explore some of the most beautiful parts of the world. I visited California, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff (you can even go skiing there), The Wave, Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon, and even more. I also really loved to watch college football games and get into the US college spirit. Also getting to know and making friends with a lot of people from all over the world.