University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
San Diego is paradise! Great beaches, good weather, lots of palm trees, nice people, lots of partying! We had already rented an apartment in the college area on craigslist beforehand. The area was good during uni as we could walk to uni and also to the fraternity parties : -). However, in mid-May (after the semester was over) it got very empty in the college area – so I moved to Mission Beach. Nice right by the sea! Of course, it was great for us that we had already booked the apartment before we went there, but you have a very good chance of getting a great apartment on site. Just stay in a hostel for the first week (e.g. Banana Bungalow in Pacific Beach) and always diligently browse the craigslist for apartments. We then rented a car from dirtcheapcar. In hindsight I’m so glad we didn’t buy one as so many had incredible problems with their carts. Whether buying, repairing or selling….renting is the ideal solution for everyone who is happy to do without problems! In the first few days we got to know people and so we were already a group of 10+ people at the introductory event of the SDSU! Little by little, more and more people joined and we always went out to celebrate together. Taco Tuesday at Typhoon, Wings Wednesday at Bub’s and then at Shoreclub, Thirsty Thursday first at Beachcomber, then Sandbar, Friday to downtown and Saturdays too. If you want to and can, it’s really no problem to party here every day. There’s always something going on somewhere. San Diego is really great.See mcat-test-centers for what is GMAT.
The university was more of a side issue. I chose 4 courses (total 12 credits): Spanish 101, Finance 327, MKTG 371, Surfing. I knew beforehand that my home university would only recognize the finance course. So I started learning Spanish and surfing for fun. The courses are actually all very easy, you just have to know which courses require a lot of work and which don’t…MKTG 371, for example, was an easy but very work-intensive course…presentations, quizzes, papers, homework and so on. It was really a lot of work… but at some point I let it slide because I didn’t get the course recognized anyway. Crashing courses is a bit tedious at first, but my professors were all very nice and accepted me in the second week. So everything is half as wild! SDSU’s ALI (american language institute) also offers special courses for internationals – you can usually get into them without any problems. These courses are then usually also simpler…however, you probably don’t get to know any Americans there and you will probably only speak German…. The finals weren’t bad either…some people learned to death of course and then always put the others under pressure, but there are people like that everywhere…I can only recommend the basketball games of the Aztecs. There’s always a great atmosphere! There are also frequent concerts in the Viejas Arena! Kesha will be there with LMFAO on September 18th…it will be great too! If you’re up for fraternity parties, befriend Yanks from the fraternities. They can then take you to the parties. Mostly only girls though.
As for the money…it’s veeeeery expensive here! From apartments to cars and food to partying. Plan a lot so that you don’t get into financial difficulties. Example: go to uni in the morning and get coffee and a sandwich from Starbucks ($9), eat something on campus for lunch ($6), drive to Pacific Beach after uni for a drink (bring your own beer: $20), party bus to downtown ($10), depart to Ivy (beer $6, long drink $12). That’s how you get to more than $60 for a simple day. I usually spent like $1000 a month and then rent and car on top of that.
If possible, stay in San Diego a little after the end of the semester! Then you can do cool road trips…Vegas, San Francisco, Mexico, Los Angeles, Lake Havasu and and and. Of course you can do all that while you still have lectures, but in the end it’s cooler without any obligations : -)
Finally, if you’ve decided on SDSU: the right decision! Your semester will be awesome! Be open to new people and don’t be afraid to speak English. The Americans think the German accent is great and are very helpful! Enjoy the time and see as much of California as possible…because: nothing comes close to the golden coast!!