University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: economics
Study type: semester abroad
Dear testimonial readers,
I remember not long ago reading other SDSU testimonials and deciding to come here.
It was a good decision.
University
The university is quite large and has a good and wide range of subjects. See andyeducation for Griffith College Dublin Study Abroad. It’s nice that the classes are small and you learn in a very practical way. Due to the quizzes, presentations, homework, midterms and finals you have to do all the time, which I personally liked much better than the German system. I only had senior classes, which roughly corresponds to the German undergraduate level.
At the beginning of the semester you have to crash the courses, which means that you hope that there are still places available and then beg your way in. Especially in the area of business and media, the courses are totally overcrowded. I had very strict guidelines from my home university as to what courses would be recognized, so I couldn’t easily switch to others. In the end, with a lot of patience and begging, it worked out quite well, but you should definitely be prepared for this thing in terms of the courses you choose.
Almost always between 20 and 35 degrees, just great
Life
American lifestyle with many South American influences. People celebrate very intensely and you can have non-stop fun. Downtown is very chic and rather expensive, college area is frat area and dorms and pb is quite student with many clubs near the beach.
The university has a wide range of sports and the ALI also organizes excursions, and you get to know so many people after a short time that it never gets boring.
Housing
The best place to go is to look at www.craigslist.com for everything from cars to homes to jobs etc. I had looked at some apartments that I had found through listing on craigslist and had really good success as myself on craigslist have advertised. I stayed in a nice condo complex in Mission Valley right by the trolley station, including the pool and gym, I paid $700 for a room with a bath. Since I didn’t have a car at the beginning, I bought a semester ticket and was at the university in 10 minutes with the trolley.
Fun
I found the zoo and Sea World especially fun. In addition, you should definitely plan trips to Las Vegas and LA!
Money
Some had a German card with them with which they could withdraw money from ATMs for free. I personally opened an account here, which was quick and free.
Some things like cigarettes and petrol are cheaper than in Germany, groceries are on average more expensive I would say. However, the high rent in particular has an impact, which is due to California, which has enormous apartment prices even after the real estate crisis.
The bottom line is that it is an expensive semester, especially since as an exchange student you can only earn money alongside your studies under very specific conditions.
Personally, I got the maximum Bafoeg rate, which alleviates things a little.
Automobile
Found this on Craigslist. Some have rented a car for the whole time for about $200-$300 a month. You save time searching and a lot of stress. However, I had planned a road trip across the USA, which doesn’t go down well with some car rental companies, so I think you save a lot of money if you find a cheap car and sell it in the end with as little loss as possible. IT WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT A CAR. The public ones are miserable. The trolley is good but only covers a fraction of San Diego.
ID
You often have to show your passport at clubs and can’t get in without it, even if it’s obvious you’re well over 21 years old. Here in the US, a driver’s license is a valid ID card, so I got my California driver’s license, which saves you from lugging your passport around and can lead to cheaper car insurance.
Mentality
The people are very friendly and open. You get in touch quickly. People often ask how you are doing or something similar as a phrase, but I personally think that’s quite nice.
All in all, I would definitely recommend the semester. Apart from the fact that it’s expensive and crashing is absolutely no fun if you need certain courses… apart from these two points, it’s just great, funny, eventful, instructive, sunny and most don’t want to go home anymore…