University: San Diego State University
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Business Administration, Marketing
Study type: semester abroad
I completed my semester abroad from August to December 2015 (fall 2015) at San Diego State University. I’m currently studying for a bachelor’s degree in International Marketing. I had known for a long time that I would like to do my semester abroad in San Diego. I’ve been there a few times before and fell in love straight away. I would highly recommend San Diego to anyone. It’s a beautiful city and there’s always something going on.
At the beginning I was a bit overwhelmed as to where and how to start organizing my semester abroad. Luckily, doing some research led me to the MicroEdu website, which not only had useful information for me, but also made applying to SDSU relatively easy. It’s a bit overwhelming at first with all the paperwork to fill out, but MicroEdu has always been helpful and always quick to respond to my queries. Visit mcat-test-centers.com to get information about Lakehead University.
Course choice
As an undergraduate ( Bachelor ) you have to choose 12 units. The courses usually had between 3 and 4 units. As a business student, you had to choose two so-called “special sessions” before the start of the semester. Only international students are in these special sessions. What I can recommend here is to pay attention to how many units the courses have, because in the end it is best to get exactly 12 units with all the courses selected. Unfortunately, I had the problem that I came to 13 units with the courses I wanted to take and accordingly had to pay for the extra unit. So think carefully about which courses you choose in advance, because unfortunately it is no longer possible to exchange courses on site.
For the remaining courses, you could either “crash” courses, i.e. go to the respective professors and ask whether they would accept you for the course, or you could try to choose other special sessions if there were still places.
accommodation search
When it came to accommodation, I wasn’t sure at first whether I wanted to live near the beach or near the campus. Ultimately, I decided to live near the campus at BLVD 63. BLVD 63 is an apartment complex, which is fairly new and mostly student-only. It is also very close to the campus and has a shuttle bus. It was a bit pricey, but it was very worth it. I would move there again every time because it is very easy to meet new people there. In general, however, there are also many Facebook groups in which people offer their apartments/rooms for rent. It’s definitely worth taking a look there, just to get an overview of the possibilities.
I already organized my room from home. However, there is also the option of searching on site, which can also be stressful if you don’t find anything quickly.
Leisure
In your free time, you definitely won’t get bored here. You can do a lot here. Depending on your mood, you can just lie on the beach and enjoy the sun or try one of the many hiking trails. If you want to do some sport, you can also rent bicycles, rollerblades or surfboards at Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. There are also many museums to visit such as the US Midway Museum, an aircraft carrier that has been converted into a museum and is now docked in San Diego Harbor. Balboa Park is also very nice, there are also some museums that you can visit, but you don’t have to.
San Diego also has a lot to offer for those who like to party. In my opinion, the best bars are in Pacific Beach. This is also where most of the students meet for Taco Tuesday. On Taco Tuesday, tacos are usually half price or as little as $1 to $2. If you go to San Diego, you should definitely do it at least once.
In addition, there are so-called party buses almost every Thursday that go to either Omnia, Parq or Fluxx. Also highly recommended. You always get to know new people here and it’s just great fun. Of course there is always something going on at the weekend. I can only recommend Trujilos to anyone who likes Mexican food. In my opinion, Trujilos has the best burritos in all of San Diego and the best part is that it’s right on campus.
In addition, as an SDSU student, you can actually go to all sports events, such as football, basketball, soccer, and the university for free. For some games you should only get tickets early, as they are sometimes sold out quickly.
Miscellaneous
Very common for the US, most things are quite far apart, so it’s best to rent or buy a car while you’re there. If you do decide to rent a car there are car rental companies such as Drit Cheap Car rental who have special offers to rent a car for several months at a time and also have great deals for those under 25 years of age are. I myself rented a car together with my friends. A few of my friends bought a car and ended up selling it. A car is not a must, as there is also public transport, such as buses or trolleys. However, it can take a little longer to get from A to B. Having a car is definitely an advantage.
