Hello everyone,

First of all, I would like to say that the last four months in San Diego were probably the best four months of my life so far. So I recommend to all those who are considering doing a semester abroad in the USA to go to San Diego in California because the city really has a lot to offer.

Application process:

Since a semester abroad is an integral part of my study program, I started planning my semester abroad early on. Really a lot, except to think about where I would like to spend my semester abroad and fill out the necessary forms, but I didn’t really have to do it. MicroEDU actually handles all the important things for you, the exchange was always very easy and the support was really great. If you meet all requirements (Toefle Test) you will be accepted by the UCSD. According to Abbreviationfinder, UCSD is the abbreviation of University of California San Diego.

The real planning for me only started two weeks before leaving for the USA. From here I started looking for apartments or shared flats via craiglist.com (pretty much everything runs on this site, whether buying a car, buying a bike or buying furniture). Unfortunately I have to say that it is rather difficult to find something from Germany, first contacts and viewing appointments can be made and arranged, but it is much easier to simply call people on site, so you will definitely get an answer. With first contacts and a hotel booking for the first four nights in San Diego, I flew to SD about two weeks before the start of university. I had set myself the goal of looking for an apartment in the first few days, which also turned out to be pretty easy. The second viewing appointment was a complete success, I moved in with a middle-aged Brazilian who had already rented a room to a 26-year-old Brazilian. The rent wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was still within my budget. Cheaper rooms can be found in the various residential complexes in La Jolla and across San Diego. I chose this room because of the top location (2 minutes walk to the beach :)) in La Jolla (probably the most beautiful district of San Diego), in the middle of Pacific Beach (the “surfer” party district) and the university grounds. I would definitely move to La Jolla again because for me personally PB is too far away from the university (40-45 minutes by bus). who had already rented a room to a 26 year old Brazilian woman moved in. The rent wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was still within my budget. Cheaper rooms can be found in the various residential complexes in La Jolla and across San Diego. I chose this room because of the top location (2 minutes walk to the beach :)) in La Jolla (probably the most beautiful district of San Diego), in the middle of Pacific Beach (the “surfer” party district) and the university grounds. I would definitely move to La Jolla again because for me personally PB is too far away from the university (40-45 minutes by bus). who had already rented a room to a 26 year old Brazilian woman moved in. The rent wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was still within my budget. Cheaper rooms can be found in the various residential complexes in La Jolla and across San Diego. I chose this room because of the top location (2 minutes walk to the beach :)) in La Jolla (probably the most beautiful district of San Diego), in the middle of Pacific Beach (the “surfer” party district) and the university grounds. I would definitely move to La Jolla again because for me personally PB is too far away from the university (40-45 minutes by bus). I chose this room because of the top location (2 minutes walk to the beach :)) in La Jolla (probably the most beautiful district of San Diego), in the middle of Pacific Beach (the “surfer” party district) and the university grounds. I would definitely move to La Jolla again because for me personally PB is too far away from the university (40-45 minutes by bus). I chose this room because of the top location (2 minutes walk to the beach :)) in La Jolla (probably the most beautiful district of San Diego), in the middle of Pacific Beach (the “surfer” party district) and the university grounds. I would definitely move to La Jolla again because for me personally PB is too far away from the university (40-45 minutes by bus).

University:

UCSD really has a lot to offer. So I find the expensive tuition fees acceptable, because if you want something for your money, you get it. The countless events can be attended free of charge and the many student associations really offer many different leisure opportunities. I am studying business administration in Germany and have taken undergraduate courses at UCSD. These can be passed very well with little learning effort, so that there is enough time for free time. I chose Energy Economics, Product Marketing and Management, Spanish and Photoshop. A very colorful mix that I had a lot of fun with. I enjoyed the lessons in all subjects very much, the material is a lot, but easy to understand and easy to catch up on. The lecturers and TA’s are really helpful and try to much more committed compared to Germany. The campus is huge, theoretically you wouldn’t have to leave it, because you can really find everything you need for life there.

Life / Leisure / San Diego:

Since I only had about two hours of uni every day, I had a lot of time in my free time. Going to the booth every day and enjoying the sun, which really shines every day, is part of life in California. Everyday life in San Diego is very different despite learning, that certain holiday feeling has remained the whole time.
San Diego itself is a gigantic city, what I like so much about it is that everything is spread out. When you are in La Jolla you have the feeling of a beautiful beach town, if you want to go to the real big city you just have to go downtown. So there is something for everyone.
Getting to know people is not a big deal, I made most of my friends through the university and the extension program. You can of course also get to know Americans, but in my opinion it is difficult if you do not work together on projects in class or live with them. So most of the time I did something with internationals, which was really a great and fun time. To my delight at UCSD, compared to Norwegians, there weren’t many Germans. However, when partying in the evening you mostly came across Germans, Norwegians or Brazilians.
In my opinion, you can party very well in San Diego. The weekend always starts on a Thursday. What I particularly liked is that there is a lot of variety, as Pacific Beach has many small bars where you can drink and dance cheaply and downtown has many big clubs to go out. The only thing that I couldn’t really get used to is that all clubs or bars close at 2 am, which is very early for German standards. However, since there were always house parties that followed, it was never said that the party was over at 2 o’clock.
I spent most of my stay in San Diego with friends, as there was something going on every week. I traveled to San Francisco and of course LA. San Diego is definitely the ideal starting point to travel to and discover California.

Costs:

You can definitely find cheap rents. Eating and drinking is generally the same as in Germany, and fuel costs are considerably cheaper. If you don’t go shopping a lot like I do and don’t go to downtown party every weekend (admission almost everywhere $ 20 !!) you come to me with the same amount of money that you spend in Germany every month. However, since you only study a semester abroad once in California and of course want to enjoy the time and take as much with you as you can, I would recommend planning a certain extra pocket money for road trips and special events such as Halloween etc. I know it’s very expensive fun, but it’s definitely worth it.
Everyone who has the opportunity to have this wonderful time should, in my opinion, definitely do it and definitely in San Diego.
Half of my closest friends in San Diego have extended, for example they have been offered jobs at UCSD that enable them to stay another semester at UCSD for free. The other half of my friends, including me, definitely want to go back. So I plan to do my master’s degree in San Diego in January 2010. Once you’ve lived in San Diego, it’s hard to get away from the dream of going back there.