I live in Arizona too! I've been here for more than 10 years now. Where are you coming from? Taipei, Taichung? If you need any help, you can email me. Chiunwei@yahoo.com When are you coming? Arizona is REALLY REALLY hot! Right now the temperature is about 110 F (or around 40 C). You don't need to bring too much winter clothes because most of the time it is HOT here in Arizona. Don't worry about rice cookers and bulky stuff like that. You can buy everything here. Hopefully you will like it here. Most newcomers hate the heat but once they get use to it, it's not too bad.
To:Pei66 If you are going to NAU, then it's a completely different story. Sorry to tell you, you have to pack A LOT of winter clothes for NAU. During winter it snows up there. I don't live there so I don't know if you can buy a rice cooker and other stuff up there. I am pretty sure they have a Chinese store up there too. There are quite a few Chinese students there though (ABCs). I think you will have fun there.