University: University of California Los Angeles
City: Los Angeles
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Business
Study type: Summer Sessions
First of all, I would like to thank the entire MicroEdu team and especially Melanie! Emails were always answered super fast, no matter how small and unimportant the question was. You can tell the team enjoys their work. Visit act-test-centers.com to get information about UCSB study abroad program. With this support, all the work was done very quickly in advance and went off without a hitch.
On the Sunday before the official first day of Summer Session C at UCLA, it was time for me to move into the dorm. On a recommendation I chose the Rieber Hall with 3 bedrooms. In hindsight, I would definitely advise against it. It’s really very tight. But my roommates were very nice and uncomplicated, so the 6 weeks were doable.
Unfortunately I have to say that the accommodation was not really clean. Neither Rieber nor Saxon Suites. Especially the mattresses bothered me. But bearable for a limited time. The restrooms were fine considering how many used the toilets and showers. It was actually never traffic jams and basically clean.
I think the food was good! There was enough choice and certain standard dishes that were always available. So you were always full and it tasted good. Towards the end of the session it got a bit crowded and you should generally hurry up for breakfast. By the way, 11 meals are quite sufficient if you don’t eat 3 times a day (at least not on campus).
Now to the courses. I had chosen a macroeconomics and an English (ESL) course. The courses were fun and not too difficult so you could really enjoy the summer. However, for people who speak good English I would not recommend an ESL course as it is really for beginners. It is not a challenge to attend such a course with relatively good knowledge of English. But it definitely has a positive effect on my free time;)
I thought it was a pity that I didn’t have a real professor as a lecturer in Makro. A UCLA master’s student gave the lecture. He did a really good job, but I was just a little disappointed.
Westwood is a good area to live in. It is full of students, all the main shops are within walking distance and other parts of the city are also only a few minutes away by car, taxi or bus. Santa Monica isn’t far and therefore Venice Beach isn’t either. Hollywood offers great nightlife, West Hollywood is also good for partying and I can only recommend the LA part for shopping. Downtown LA is then a bit further (about 30 minutes by taxi), but definitely worth a visit at night.
UCLA also offers some evening entertainment for students. There is a party bus to Hollywood on different days to the most popular clubs and a free limousine to Santa Monica to a bar on Thursdays.
Aside from LA, the California location offers many other options. Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, Grand Canyon, Mexico and many more.
It is worth taking a rental car with several people and seeing as much of the country as possible that way.
Now to the people you get to know. It really depends entirely on the person. Contact with Germans is very easy and I would say we were really lucky with our group of Germans. There were also a few Americans and other Europeans, so a lot of English was spoken.
Before the session I thought not to hang out with the Germans, but looking back I’m happy with how it went. I can say that I was able to take some friends home with me and really enjoyed the time with everyone.
The fun factor also clearly depends on the person. I would say we made good use of the time and didn’t waste a day. If you don’t want to/can’t have the courses credited, it’s best not to take work-intensive courses and just enjoy the time.
While there were a few points I didn’t like, the UCLA 2012 Summer Session was a great time and I will always look back on those 6 weeks with fondness.
We are young, in LA and the weather is good day and night…enjoy yourselfs!
