University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
Organization
I completed the semester abroad from August to December and can warmly recommend San Diego to you. I’m studying for a Master’s in Business Administration with a focus on Accounting & Finance. Organizing the semester abroad was relatively easy thanks to MicroEdu. There was a lot of paperwork to do, but the lovely people at MicroEdu always helped where they could. Visit mcat-test-centers.com to get information about Northeastern University.
Course choice
As a Master’s student, you have the opportunity to choose three courses. If you want more than three courses, you have to pay extra for each credit. The choice of course was different from what I was used to in Germany. Before I make the trip to the US started, I was sent a list to choose so-called “special sessions”. These are courses in which only international students, mostly Germans, take part. This list has about ten courses, from which I had to choose one course as a master’s student and two courses for the bachelor’s students. I could only choose the remaining courses on site by having to “crash” the courses. This means that you have to get a signature from the professor at the first lecture, and with this you have permission to register for the course. But for the most part it worked without any problems.
Apartment Search
There are a lot of groups on Facebook where people who live in San Diego or students who are about to end the semester want to rent their apartments/rooms. You can look for something there in advance. The other option is to search on site, which of course involves more stress. But you can look at the apartment and the area, which could be very important. I previously booked an apartment in Mission Beach on Facebook, which saved me the stress of looking for a place to live locally. When it comes to the question of whether to live near the beach or on campus, I think the beach area definitely has a lot more to offer. Alone that you live on the beach and can jump into the sea every morningor can jog along the beach, speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Also, all the bars that turn into clubs in the evenings are so close by that you can walk there. If you are too lazy, you can also call an Uber and have them drive you there for almost nothing. We stayed on Mission Beach and it was $5 to drive to busy Garnett Ave, split between 3-4 people it was almost free.
Leisure
Recreationally, San Diego is a great place in my opinion. There is so much to do in San Diego alone. Whether it’s partying, swimming, diving, hiking, enjoying the sunset, going to the zoo or the safari park, partying in downtown chic or casually wearing shorts in Pacific Beach. I never got bored. Besides all that, we also did road trips. We rented a Ford Mustang from the Alamo and drove it down the west coast to San Francisco and then through Yosemite Park back to San Diego. The Grand Canyon is also less than 10 hours away by car. We rented a room on Airbnb near the Grand Canyon for one night and were able to rest there before driving to the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Band and Antelope Canyon the next day. After this adventure we drove back to San Diego via Arizona.
Costs
San Diego is a very expensive city. Except for the fuel costs, it is definitely more expensive than in Germany. Above all, the poor euro/dollar exchange rate did the rest. Healthy foods are very expensive in San Diego. Cooking for yourself (unless you can get by on rice and chicken every day) is almost more expensive than eating out. In San Diego there are special days, such as Sushi Monday, Taco Tuesday or Wings Wednesday, where you can eat very cheaply. I used these days, especially Wings Wednesday, almost every week. A wing for 25 cents. It doesn’t get any better;)
Conclusion
San Diego is a very beautiful city. The people are very laid-back, the weather is always good, the beach and the sea are beautiful. The campus is huge. So if you’re up for adventure and value traveling and partying, you should choose San Diego. But if you want to improve your English, I might not recommend San Diego as your first choice, because it feels like half of the students there come from Germany and you often hear the German language outside, which may not be what you imagined. San Diego is like a vacation spot. It was definitely a wonderful time there!
