University: University of California San Diego
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Cultural Studies, Pedagogy and Teaching, English / American Studies
Study type: semester abroad
My application to UCSD went through MicroEdu. I was given a lot of help with questions because I was able to find important documents, papers or answers in my email inbox the very next day. It is impossible to make mistakes in the application thanks to College Contact, as everything is corrected and checked before the documents are sent to the university. See liuxers for KPU Study Abroad.
The University of California San Diego is in La Jolla, a slightly north part of the city. The campus is really big and included six colleges, each of which has its own supermarkets, food courts and patios in addition to the institutions and departmental rooms and laboratories. As an international student, I applied to the UCSD Extension’s UPS program, which meant I was unable to register for courses online. This is where the so-called class crashing took place, in which you go to several courses at the beginning of the quarter and ask if you can participate. To do this, you should choose about 12 courses, attend all of them in the first and second week of the quarter and collect as many signatures as possible so that you can then select the three best courses and continue to attend them.
Since I only needed three seminars for my Cultural Studies, it was possible to attend these seminars:
- film noir
- Stanley Kubrick’s Master Works
- Jazz Roots and Early Developments
It was pretty easy to get signatures here. However, I have also met many students who studied physics or engineering and had great difficulties. It should also be mentioned here that UCSD is a renowned university and the learning effort is correspondingly high. In addition to midterm and final exams, homework, essays, term papers and external visits for credits often have to be completed, which can take quite a lot of time in the long run.
I really enjoyed my seminars because the professors and tutors are very interested in the learning success of the students and are very happy to help (be it in conversations or by email). Basically, I have the feeling that people in California are very nice, accommodating and interesting.
Since I wanted to save myself the stress of looking for an apartment, I looked at some apartments online in advance from Germany and decided on an apartment from Anatolia Corporate Housing, which is in the immediate vicinity of the university, but still takes about 15 minutes by bus because the size dimensions in the states are huge. The apartment was great: I had a private room in a shared apartment that I shared with different students. In addition to the private room with a desk, two beds and plenty of closets, you also had your own bathroom. The living room and kitchen were shared, but I didn’t see this as a problem, but rather as another opportunity to be with many international and American students.
Must see places in San Diego:
- Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach
- Balboa Park
- Coronado Island, Silver Beach
- Downtown, Old Town, Little Italy, Imperial Beach
- La Jolla Cove
- Las Americas Outlet Center, UTC, Fashion Valley, Mission Valley
Many trips to Mexico, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco were possible from San Diego, so there is also a lot to see there. However, everything should be treated with caution, as you can very quickly find yourself in regions where tourists are not really welcome or just then found food.
In our free time we often went to bars, restaurants, concerts and surfed in the sea (definitely try it). However, you should also carefully plan where you want to go and how much you want to spend, since San Diego is considered a tourist city and is accordingly expensive. But it is the money that is invested.
Conclusion:
It was very worthwhile to collect impressions at UCSD and in San Diego. You get to know an incredible number of different people and make a lot of international friends. The city is beautiful and there is always something to see and do. The seminars were a lot of fun and it was important to me that I take home impressions of an American university. San Diego offers many opportunities to spend your free time and have fun. It was a great time.