Sarah Johns

Though I experienced my fair share of culture shock, I made life-long friendships and memories I will never forget. One of my favourite memories was attending an American Football game in the university's 30,000 person- capacity Stadium, followed by a huge ' tailgate' consisting of thousands of people celebrating their team winning the game with barbeques and camping chairs in the car park.

The university is ranked as the 36th best in the world. I received high-quality teaching in both my geography-related modules and elective modules. It was really interesting to study topics that I wouldn't usually have the opportunity to study such as Native American History and Urban Planning in Chicago.

As well as living and studying in the amazing beautiful campus-town of Champaign-Urbana, there were lots of opportunities to travel relatively cheaply across America. I visited 14 U.S. states including Colorado for a ski trip West Coast. The campus was also located just south of the incredibly stunning Chicago, though best to bring a book for the journey as you face a drive through three hours of cornfields to get there!