Preparation
It all started when a colleague of mine was at this university and raved about how beautiful it is there, etc. Then I said to myself, I have to go there too. No sooner said than done, I contacted MicroEDU to get the information I needed and everything worked fine. I had to go abroad for two semesters from my university. However, I can only recommend it to everyone. Then I started really worrying about it. Of course, there is a budget to be had if you really want to go abroad for that long.
Short list (approximate for one semester in €):
- Tuition fees: 5,000
- Housing: 5,000
- Travel, round trips: 4,000
- Going out, eating: 3,000
- Rent a car: 700
- Total: € 18,000
This is only done roughly and I have now also not saved on traveling and partying, which you will see in the further course of the report. Since I was abroad for two semesters, these costs double. Visit jibin123.com to get information about Mexico higher education.
Apartment
At the same time I looked around a bit about apartments. So my choice fell on the University Village (UV) pretty quickly. This is across from the Arboretum (2026 Oxford Ave). I can only recommend it, as it includes food from Monday to Friday, which I found very nice. The food is also varied, with noodles, a salad bar, various drinks, fruit and a warm main menu. Since I like to have a bit of privacy, I opted for a deluxe room, as you have your own bathroom and toilet. (~ 1000 € per month).
Should someone opt for the UV, please send the black security (Papa G) a nice greeting from Marco. It’s the best security I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that around 50% are German and 40% Korean, which often annoyed me because I spoke too much German.
The University
I am studying international economics in Austria and thus had my lessons on the Mihaylo. This is the business building, which is only 5 years old and therefore has the latest technology. When choosing the courses I would go to http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. In other words, if you like a course, check it out to see if the professor has a good rating. I found that very helpful because I didn’t exactly want the most difficult and expensive courses abroad.
In general, the campus is very nice. At the beginning I bought a longboard in Venice Beach and cruised around with it like many others.
Trips
I’ve traveled around a lot in the year I was over there. I’ve seen San Diego, New Orleans, Miami, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. I have also seen most of the national parks. These include Gran Canyon, Yosemite, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon. So if you have any questions about one of these cities, feel free to email me.
What should not be forgotten, of course, is Las Vegas. I visited the party metropolis number 1 5 times. Each time for a weekend. As a hotel we had 2x the MGM and 3x the Ballys. If you like a hot tub in your room like we do, when you give the pass to the receptionist, you just have to put $ 30-40 in the pass and say you’d like an upgrade. Most of the time it worked for us.
Party
Since I had a lot of partying, I can give a lot of tips on the subject. If you buy alcohol, the best thing to do is go to Costco, because that’s where you can get alcohol the cheapest. Costco is comparable to Metro, i.e. a wholesaler. You actually need a Costco card, but you don’t need a card for alcohol. Downtown Fullerton is good for partying every Thursday. On the weekend, however, I would go to Costa Mesa (Sutra, Ten) or LA (Exchange, Avalon, Standart Rooftop).
Automobile
So you can’t get anywhere without a car. Public transport is very badly organized and cannot be compared with those in Germany / Austria. I would advise you to rent a car for the whole semester. If you just want to buy something quickly, it’s a lot easier with a car. I would borrow the car from Sixt.de. I have already had very good experience with Sixt and the good thing is that if you book the car through Sixt.de, you don’t have to pay extra for the insurance because it is then included.
Summary
I can only recommend this university to everyone. I had a lot of fun over the whole year and also seen and experienced a lot. Use the opportunity to go surfing or diving. Huntington Beach is really good for surfing and Catalina Island for diving. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.
