University of California Los Angeles Review (12)

University of California Los Angeles Review (12)

North America

University: University of California Los Angeles

City: Los Angeles

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: natural sciences

Study type: Other courses

At the beginning of 2006 I took the TOEFL test in Hanover and from then on I knew there was no turning back. After I submitted the documents to MicroEdu a little later, the only thing standing between me and UCLA was the visa department of the American consulate, but a nice trip to Berlin should also solve the problem. Visit existingcountries.com to get information about Saint Marys University student review.

GO WEST

I flew to LA three days before the start of the Summer Session to see the city a bit. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed when I arrived, I had imagined glamorous America differently – somehow cleaner. But maybe it was also because my shuttle drove through the somewhat worse areas, at least that’s what I told myself.
My hostel for the first “uni-free” days was right on Hollywood Boulevard, which unfortunately also looked better in my travel guide. But the city tour the next day should make up for a lot.

On Sunday we finally went to UCLA. The size of the campus, especially the sports facilities, was very impressive, so his room seemed even smaller than it already was.
I lived in the dormitory “Rieber Hall” in a 3-bed room with double occupancy. The rooms were very small and functional, but you didn’t spend that much time in the room anyway and it was definitely enough to learn.
In addition to the computer and fitness room, the “highlight” of the Rieber Hall was the “Dinning Hall” or canteen. The food was of good quality and there was also an apparent variety in the menus. Nevertheless, after 3-4 weeks it became more and more difficult to get enthusiastic about it, some helped themselves with their daily pizza, I saved myself with salad over the last few weeks.
The most important thing, however, was the social aspect, because here in the “Dinning Hall” you met everyone every evening and sometimes ate and talked for two hours. In addition, the plans for the night / next days / weekend were made here.

Although I would already be on the next topic – the others.
No matter where you go, the Germans are everywhere. This is also and especially true for UCLA. In Summer Session C there were at least 40 German students and another 10 from Austria. That’s why you didn’t get to speak English that much, for some reason you get in touch with people of your own language faster than with others.
Of course, I also got to know students from Brazil, Japan, USA, South Africa…. But in the evening in the “Dinning Hall” you were again surrounded by Germans.

When you are in California, you naturally want to see something of the country, and the weekends are ideal for numerous excursions. These are also offered by California Tours at student rates for all UCLA students.
I don’t want to advise anyone about these guided trips, they are well organized and you learn a lot about the country and sights, and you also meet new people.
However, you can save a lot of money if you organize the tours yourself. We have rented a minivan several times and have driven it to San Diego, Las Vegas and Yosemite National Park. It was also not a problem to find people interested in these excursions, you just had to ask in the evening.

Now I would like to devote myself to the academic part of the stay. Having said that, learning at UCLA is very difficult because there are so many things that distract you: the pool, field trips, and of course, parties.

I took two life science courses on the topics: Introduction to Molecular Biology and Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution.
The content of these courses was excellent. Although it was a very extensive material that was dealt with, it was well worked up in the lectures and discussed in the associated tutorials.
I have never seen tutorials of this quality and technical equipment in Germany. A microorganism provided by Karl Wöse was sequenced in the molecular biology course. But the accompanying courses for the other lectures were also very descriptive, while in Germany I only knew 30-year-old preserved specimens from the zoological collection, at UCLA you were trained on living objects, so to speak.
However, there is also a high learning pace with extensive literature, three weekly tests and a total of five exams in six weeks.

My summer session at UCLA was a great experience and I would do it again despite the price.

At this point, I would like to thank the evg. Thank you for the Studienwerk Villigst. Without the support of the Studienwerk I would not have been able to experience these wonderful six weeks.

University of California Los Angeles Review (12)