Leah's Exchange to Northern Arizona University | USA - Murdoch University Study Abroad and Exchange

I had never really considered exchange before, even after both my sister and best friend studied abroad, I still didn’t think it was for me. However, one day at uni I realised I had the urge to travel, meet new people and just experience more in the form of a new adventure; and exchange was the perfect opportunity for this!

In August 2017, I said goodbye to my friends and family and headed to Los Angeles, en route to Flagstaff, Arizona. The idea of living and studying overseas all by myself seemed daunting, but equally exciting and as soon as I arrived in Flagstaff, I immediately knew I would have an amazing time. Flagstaff is a beautiful town with historic buildings surrounded by mountains and incredibly friendly and welcoming people. It’s a very outdoorsy town and everything is in walking distance, but there’s also the Mountain Line bus that takes you through campus to downtown for free with your NAU card.

NAU is an awesome university with a really great campus with so much going on. I found the workload heavier than at Murdoch, which was overwhelming at first, however the assignments are worth less and much easier. If you’re organised then you’ll have no problems and I still had plenty of time to explore and travel. I lived in South Village Apartments on campus, which was super convenient and I loved the mix of both international and American students in the community. I made so many amazing friends that I got to see all the time because they all lived next door! I probably made more international friends than American because we were all in the same boat, however American’s are so friendly and were all very impressed with my accent.

The Grand Canyon is obviously a must see and NAU arranges an international student tour, but there’s also so much more around Flagstaff to check out. Sedona is only a forty minute drive and is great for hiking and exploring as well as Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, the Petrified Wood Forest and the Hoover Dam, just to name a few! There are also some really cool towns such as Jerome and Winslow, and Phoenix and Las Vegas are the closest cities. It’s definitely worth hiring a car on the weekends or making American friends who have cars! Maybe one of my only regrets on exchange was not exploring as much as I could have. There was definitely enough time to explore and so many other places I wish I could have seen, but I was a little tight on money!

Overall, exchange has been my best experience yet and I would recommend it to everyone. It’s such a great opportunity to experience living in another country and I learnt so many valuable lessons abroad by living independently and meeting so many different people. I would definitely encourage everyone to try new things and take advantage of all the opportunities whilst abroad to make the most of the experience. It was super hard for me to say goodbye to Flagstaff, to all the amazing people I met and the friends I made for life. I will always be really grateful for my time spent abroad!