My experience at the University of Illinois was bizarre and fantastic! I had many “am I really here” moments in the States, not least wandering through the infamous Wallmart, the unique streets of Chambana (Champaign-Urbana) or walking along the main street in Campus town, Green St. I made many friends from Australia, the United Kingdom and America. My only regret is that I couldn’t stay for two semesters!
The University of Illinois is situated a couple hours south of Chicago in the middle of the mid-West in the midst of thousands of kilometres of corn fields. Champaign-Urbana is a town of roughly 100,000 people with half the population attending or working at the university.
The most unique part about the University of Illinois would have to be the “Greek” lifestyle. The University has the highest per capital population of fraternities and sororities; therefore they make up a very big part of the lifestyle. Frat parties, bar exchanges and Greek lettering becomes a way of life. While I did not join a sorority or frat (many of my friends who stayed for a full year did) the experience of attending a frat party for Halloween, a barn dance with friends and studying in a sorority house were fantastic. Thanksgiving break was amazing too, having a traditional meal with a sorority girl and her family in Springfield was a highlight of my stay.
Academically, the University of Illinois is a well-respected institution. I study Masters of Health Economics. I enjoyed my classes, although I found the large amount of weekly assignments, quizzes and participation-style assessment to be very different from the assessment I was familiar with at UQ (mid semester, assignment, final exam). For economics students, I found enrolling in my classes to be somewhat difficult, economics courses are very popular and filled up quickly.
Overall, I had a fantastic time at U of I. I made fantastic friends, both international and American, had a great time and even managed to learn a thing or two. Living overseas on exchange gave me the opportunity to travel also; during my stay I visited Chicago (2 hours north) and San Francisco for half the Thanksgiving break. If you would like to have the quintessential American college experience, make lifelong friends and have a fantastic time I would definitely recommend U of I for exchange.
5 top tips
1. Get invited to a Greek Barn dance
2. Attend an American Football match at the 30,000 person university stadium
3. Have a burger at Murphys bar
4. Go to Chicago and take a million photos at the Bean
5. Have a snow fight in the quad