Motivation
I wanted to participate in this exchange to broaden my horizons and experience law school in a different system, as well as explore a new city and culture.
Personal Development
From this experience I have gained many friends from all corners of the globe, both on exchange and as full time students, and their experiences and backgrounds have allowed me to learn more about not only law and law school, but also about places I have never visited.
Academic Development
This experience allowed me to learn in an institution with different learning processes than I was used to. I enjoyed the different method used, as American Law schools use the Socratic method, and it was a new experience learning to adapt to. The biggest challenge was getting used to classes revolving around cold calling in class. The workload was similar to UQ's.
Professional Development
A skill from this exchange that contributed to my professional development and future employability was to get used to being out of my comfort zone. There was a transition period to get adapted to the new environment, and learning how to get over this hurdle allows me to be prepared in the future to be comfortable in situations that might be outside my norms.
Costs
I used a spreadsheet and tracked my expenditure. $7,200 for rent and utilities, $3,000 for food and $1,000 for transportation (not including the airfares). There was also a mandatory health insurance with WashU, that costs $3,000 for the year that you must pay upfront, and they refund for the time you are not there.
Funding
The funding was beneficial as it removed some of the financial uncertainty I had when planning on going on my exchange, as I was not expecting to receive funding and had already planned out my budget. I used the funding to book accommodation that was originally not within my price range.
Accommodation
Accommodation was the most difficult hurdle in this experience. There were no short term (4 month) leases, and the options I was facing were either to sign a 6 month lease or to live in a hotel as dorms were not offered to law students at WashU as it is considered a post grad degree. I ended up choosing to stay in a long term airBNB as it would be fully furnished, and it could be tailored to fit my needs duration wise. Pros of my accommodation were that there was a kitchen and I could make my own meals unlike dorms, and had no roommates. Cons of the accommodation were that if I did not have access to a car, it would be difficult to get to campus. The university offered assistance in finding off campus housing, but was not very helpful as none of the options were for 4 months, and were not furnished. I would recommend future students to find students also going on exchange by contacting WashU, and forming a facebook group to be able to potentially match with roommates, as it would allow for lower monthly rent and options to split furniture if necessary.
Highlight
My highlight was meeting new friends in the orientation program prior to week 1 of classes commencing, and going to watch a Saint Louis Cardinals game with them. Baseball with the Arch in the background was an amazing memory!
Advice/Top Tips
I would recommend contacting the host university to find potential roommates, as the biggest difficulty I faced was finding housing. I would strongly recommend going on exchange to everyone, as it allows you to learn how to adapt outside of your comfort zone and broadens your horizons.
