University: California State University Fullerton
City: Fullerton
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: communication sciences, media
Study type: semester abroad
Application and preparation
I’ve always wanted to live and study abroad for a while, especially in the United States. In 2018, after a lot of preparation, it was finally possible for me. In August 2018 I went to California State University Fullerton and I have to say it was the best time of my life. I think you can see that in the fact that I spontaneously extended my stay abroad by one semester. See existingcountries for Hawaii Pacific University Review 2.
I can only recommend everyone to organize their semester abroad through MicroEdu. They helped me a lot with the application and all the questions! Thanks again for that!
One of the main reasons I chose the university in Fullerton was that it has very low tuition fees. Unfortunately, a semester abroad – especially in the United States – is very expensive. I can only advise everyone to expect more expenses and to take care of the financing in good time !
The University
Fullerton is a small town near Los Angeles in Southern California. I chose this university because it offers a wide range of media, literature and cultural studies. The state of California, especially Hollywood, is known for its film and media industry. And I wasn’t disappointed. We learned everything about films and media here first-hand. So we had many guests straight from Hollywood in our courses. I never would have thought that the courses here would not only enrich me, but also be a lot of fun.
I chose courses in Communications and Cinema and Television Arts. The level in the courses is much easier than in Germany – you have to do a lot more for that. There is almost always homework and then there are the midterms and finals. The courses here are very different from ours in Germany. You spend a lot of time outside of the regular lesson times for the individual courses. The professors were all very nice and very understanding towards us internationals. I learned a lot of new things in each class and it was very interesting to hear a lot of things from the American point of view.
In Fullerton I got to know the whole American student life. I lived close to campus so I could walk to uni. The campus was huge and it took a while to get used to. There was a lot to discover on campus : from typical fast food places to shady benches under orange trees, there was something for everyone. There was hardly any boredom. The university also offers a huge gym with a pool, which I can highly recommend. However, international students must pay $120 per semester.
Leisure
The state of California has a lot to offer. In my free time we traveled a lot and of course tried to discover as much as possible. The beauty of this state is that it is so diverse. There is simply everything here: from the big city such as Los Angeles to quiet beaches, national parks or mountain landscapes. Fullerton is a good base for travel. I’ve done several road trips, been to Mexico and several times to Las Vegas and San Francisco. We also flew towards New York at the end and explored the east coast a bit. At the end of the year I saw a total of thirteen states of the USA.
Best of all, though, the Hollywood degree meant we could always go to the movie premieres. I met a lot of stars and even got to go to a real Hollywood after-show party once. Of course there were also many student parties and every Wednesday we went to the college party in Rems ! The “Rems” is a mixture of bar and club and has student-friendly prices!
Accommodation
All the while I stayed at University House, which I would recommend to anyone! It is only a few minutes’ walk to the campus. Shops are also right next door. The University House also offers two fitness studios and two pools. In addition, there is always a washing machine, a dryer and a dishwasher in each of the apartments. There is also the option to print for free. Unfortunately, the University House is also very expensive.
Many say you can’t get along in Fullerton without a car. However, I have to say that my friends and I have not rented a car permanently either. We always rented a car at the weekend (via Check24) or whenever we needed it. You can also get anywhere with Uber and Lyft. We hired a super shuttle from the airport.
Conclusion
During my semester abroad I got to know many different people from all over the world and made many new friends, with whom I am still in contact. I have to mention that the time abroad also developed my personality a lot. There were new challenges every day, living in a country with a foreign language and foreign people. At first I was very nervous about whether everything would work out here. Fortunately, the people in California are all very nice, open and helpful, which has often made my time here easier.
All in all, I can only recommend everyone to do a semester abroad. The cost, time and effort was definitely worth it. It was the best time of my life and I could always spend a semester here again. Now I’m sitting here and writing the experience report and I want to go back straight away – even though I’ve only been back in Germany for three weeks.