By Marlie Sharpe

I have been living in the USA on an exchange to the University of California Berkeley for 2 months now! Berkeley is located 30 minutes from San Francisco in the Bay Area. It’s a very student-orientated city with most buildings in the area being student houses. It can be super confusing finding accommodation for your exchange as there are many options. I ended up deciding to live in the Berkeley Student Coops, a very affordable option! You must apply separately to live in these and can choose between living in a huge house with 20-150 other people or living in an apartment or studio with 1-3 flatmates. If you choose to live in a coop, you have work shifts you complete each week which include cooking, cleaning, gardening and other tasks to keep your house running. The great thing about the coop houses is all your food is included in the rent and it’s a very relaxed atmosphere with lots of fun events. The largest difference between the houses and the apartments is that in the houses you are likely to share a room with 1 or 2 other people and you have your own room in the apartments. I decided to opt for an apartment with 3 flatmates because I prefer to cook my own food, and I liked the idea of a quieter space. My flatmates are all American girls in their 20s and they have two cats. We have a kitchen, where we do our cooking, but we have a shared laundry room, study room, and common space with the rest of the apartment complex. My favourite thing about the apartment complex is the huge garden and rooftop! The garden has outdoor tables, a basketball court and lots of nice trees. From the rooftop, I can see the Golden Gate Bridge and it’s a great spot to hang out with friends. My apartment is a 10-minute walk from campus and is located next to plenty of cafes and restaurants. It’s a 20-minute walk to the supermarket or a 10-minute bus ride. 

I have been lucky enough to buy a car while over here that I share with another girl on exchange from France! So far, we have done heaps of weekend missions around Northern California to Santa Cruz, beautiful beaches and some state parks for hiking. It is also easy to explore San Fransico by public transport. This was great in my first few weeks. I have spring break coming up next week and we are planning on doing a road trip to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Although I’m choosing to stay in California, a lot of international students are heading to Hawaii or Mexico for the week! One of the best things about being an exchange student is meeting other international students. Everyone is just as excited to travel and see and do as much as possible. It has been so much fun driving around with friends and visiting new places. Flights within America are also quite reasonably priced and it is easy to fly to other states. At American universities, one of the best ways to travel and explore is to join an outdoor club! There are clubs for hiking, skiing and snowboarding, rock climbing and many other hobbies. The clubs often do a lot of weekend trips to different places to go skiing etc. It’s an awesome way to meet people with similar interests and explore the country doing the things you are passionate about. For example, I joined the Cal Climbing Club, and we are going camping for one week at Red Rocks Canyon to go climbing, visit hot springs and do some hiking. After my exams finish, I have a one-month grace period on my US visa which I am planning on using to travel some more! I want to go to San Diego, New Mexico, New Orleans and maybe New York City!

Here’s some highlights from travelling with the climbing club and other exchange students: