Because of my field of study, I decided to go abroad to the USA again, because after my au pair year I was already convinced of the country in every respect. The decision was therefore made extremely quickly. Ultimately, the choice was Long Beach, as I had already toured some states in the North East and South or lived there for a certain time. West Coast, California – ready to be conquered by me. MicroEDU was very helpful, as the staff are really always available and not only respond quickly to emails, but also really helpful. I know organizing a stay abroad can be overwhelming, but MicroEDU really turned out to be very competent. Visit jibin123.com to get information about how do I get a New Zealand student visa.
Long Beach itself is right on the coast – beautiful beaches guaranteed. Furthermore, it is extremely conveniently located, as cities like San Diego, Los Angeles, Anaheim (Disneyland), Pasadena, Laguna Beach, Malibu, OC + Newport are really only a stone’s throw away. Cities like Las Vegas, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara are not that far away either. The 5 hour drive to Las Vegas is definitely worth it;)
Another plus are the many National Parcs such as Yosemite, Joshua Tree or National Forests. Almost all of my friends and myself, of course, took the 8 or 9 hour drive to the Grand Canyon / Death Valley, because it’s just part of it and it’s epic.
The campus is very green with lots of lawns to study or watch squirrels that run in large numbers and of course across the campus. All buildings are easy to reach and the risk of getting lost is very low. There is a typical American food court with Starbucks, Panda Express and other choices.
The declared highlight is definitely the pyramid, which is used as a venue for the university basketball games etc and of course the outdoor training facility for the football players etc – is something for girls: D
I myself have primarily taken English courses and was particularly very satisfied with American Literature and Yoga. Admittedly, it may be a bit stressful at the beginning, as all students are already enrolled in the courses and the internationals then have to do course crashing. As a result, most of the courses are already full and it is necessary to appeal to the professors for goodwill. In my case it worked really well and I didn’t have any problems with my choice of course. The advantage of Course Crashing, however, is that there is enough time for it and there is the opportunity to sniff many different courses before the final decision has to be made.
The various apartment complexes are good accommodation options, although I slept in a hostel for the first few days and used Craigslist to find potential rooms. I then decide to live with 2 or 3 Americans in a beautiful house and share it with 2 huskies and have not regretted it. The problem for me with the apartments was that it was mostly room sharing, ie 2 people in one room and I didn’t want that.
The rents are relatively expensive, I paid $ 650 but, as I said, had a nice house and their own bathroom, but there were also people who had paid just as much and lived worse. It also takes a bit of luck, but I think you should expect a rent of $ 500.
The beaches are wonderful, the students are really great and so are the parties. My personal favorite was Rebel Bingo – just google it – but it’s really great fun. There is always something going on at university, whether bands are playing, demos are being held or there are random clothes sales – it never gets boring on campus.
All in all, there is so much to see, so much to experience – paired with unique variety, unique opportunities and an unusually good student cohesion, which is not only visible to the internationals among themselves.
For me, Long Beach and Cali itself was the right choice and it’s really hard not to like it.
