I completed my semester abroad at California State University San Marcos in autumn 2009 (fall 2009). In the following report I would like to describe to you how my semester abroad in the USA came about and how it went. I have also attached some photos so that you can get a first impression of the campus and the cool sea.
Choice of university
It was clear to me very early on that I would probably spend my semester abroad in the USA. Since my home university only had a limited number of exchange places in the USA, I was forced to organize my semester abroad myself. Through fellow students I found out about the organization MicroEDU, which a short time later held an information evening at my university. Since it made a competent impression, and many of my fellow students had quite good experience with MicroEDU, I decided to go to the USA through the organization. My actual choice fell on the east coast, where Boston was a new addition to the MicroEDU catalog at the time. However, I quickly decided against it, if only because of the high costs and the cold weather at that time of the year, so he scrutinized the universities on the west coast of California. For me it was very important that I spend my semester abroad in the USA with as few Germans as possible. Since I knew from San Diego, for example, that a lot of Germans study there, I decided to choose a small and rather unknown university. So my choice fell on San Marcos, a very small university with almost 9000 students, which was also not in the MicroEDU program for too long. Unfortunately, there were no experience reports yet, but that didn’t bother me too much. I came to the decision to choose a small and rather unknown university. So my choice fell on San Marcos, a very small university with almost 9000 students, which was also not in the MicroEDU program for too long. Unfortunately, there were no experience reports yet, but that didn’t bother me too much. I came to the decision to choose a small and rather unknown university. So my choice fell on San Marcos, a very small university with almost 9000 students, which was also not in the MicroEDU program for too long. Unfortunately, there were no experience reports yet, but that didn’t bother me too much.
After I got in touch with MicroEDU, a link was sent to me a short time later so that I could download the CSUSM application documents (to be sent to the ALCI) and a checklist (for necessary preparations). Applying for a visa turned out to be a bit more complicated, for a) you have to make an appointment at the US embassy and b) you have to collect all the necessary documents and pay fees before this appointment. However, it was also funny because very strange questions were asked, but they have to be answered “seriously”. In addition, the CSUSM had to prove the language level by either a TOEFL test (American version) or an IELTS test (British version), for which you also had to dig into your pocket. I have to say personally that the IELTS test, i.e. the British version, is a bit more expensive, but much more pleasant, because you don’t sit at a computer like with the TOEFL, but everything takes place in paper form and in the form of personal conversations. so that the nervousness is also taken away from you. In retrospect, it turned out that I didn’t have to take the language test because the CSUSM carried out its own language test on site, which was free and also easier. So before you take a TOEFL / IELTS test, please contact MicroEDU or the CSUSM website to find out whether San Marcos is still offering this test, so that you can save unnecessary costs. because you don’t sit at a computer like in the TOEFL, everything takes place in paper form and in the form of personal conversations, so that you also lose some of your nervousness. In retrospect, it turned out that I didn’t have to take the language test because the CSUSM carried out its own language test on site, which was free and also easier. So before you take a TOEFL / IELTS test, please contact MicroEDU or the CSUSM website to find out whether San Marcos is still offering this test, so that you can save unnecessary costs. because you don’t sit at a computer like in the TOEFL, everything takes place in paper form and in the form of personal conversations, so that you also lose some of your nervousness. In retrospect, it turned out that I didn’t have to take the language test because the CSUSM carried out its own language test on site, which was free and also easier. So before you take a TOEFL / IELTS test, please contact MicroEDU or the CSUSM website to find out whether San Marcos is still offering this test, so that you can save unnecessary costs. because the CSUSM carried out its own language test on site, which was free and also easier. So before you take a TOEFL / IELTS test, please contact MicroEDU or the CSUSM website to find out whether San Marcos is still offering this test, so that you can save unnecessary costs. because the CSUSM carried out its own language test on site, which was free and also easier. So before you take a TOEFL / IELTS test, please contact MicroEDU or the CSUSM website to find out whether San Marcos is still offering this test, so that you can save unnecessary costs. According to Abbreviation Finder, CSUSM is the abbreviation of California State University, San Marcos.
It is also important that you have a “Transcript of Records” issued by your home university, i.e. proof of previous achievements at your university, which must be submitted together with a list for the preliminary course selection (more on this in the next chapter).
In addition, the USA requires a certificate from your bank that you have sufficient liquid funds for a semester abroad in the USA. In addition, your parents, family members or friends can act as a guarantee for you. It is purely about the security that you leave the country again and that nobody has to pay any return flight costs for you, or even that you do not stay there as a welfare recipient. Sounds strange, but that’s how it is. Some banks issue this certificate free of charge, others charge a fee of around € 15. Here it is an advantage if you have a friend who works at a bank and can issue such a document in English. You can of course dictate the text. The certificate should look something like this:
To whom It May concern
Bank statement
Account number xxxxxx
Dear Madame or Sir,
This bank confirms that Mr./Mrs. xxxxx is a client of this bank and that he / she holds enough funds in this account to cover payment for all the expenses totaling the amount of $ xxxxxx to study at California State University San Marcos during Fall Semester xxxx.
Friendly Regards,
Regarding the bank, it is also worth mentioning that you should definitely have a credit card before you apply, as this is necessary for embassy matters and language tests.
Before you start your journey, you should also have applied for online banking at your bank (by the way, this is a good way to pay the tuition fees directly by international transfer) and enter an authorized representative for your account, who may have access to these and important things even when you are absent can regulate for you.
The following banks and cards are recommended to get cheap or free cash in the USA:
The DKB (Deutsche Kreditbank) offers its customers worldwide a free service to withdraw money. It also has several cooperation partners in the USA.
The Deutsche Bank is also recommended as it works with the “Bank of America”. Here, too, money can be withdrawn free of charge at a BoA ATM with any normal EC card (caution is advised when withdrawing with the DB credit card, as a fee of $ 4 is charged in the USA and an additional fee of 6 € in Germany ).
The BarclayCard is also interesting, as it offers students a lot of advantages. Oh yes, one more thing, the VisaCard system is more widespread in the USA than the MasterCard system.
Please also ensure that you apply for BAföG abroad as early as possible. The earlier the better, because on the one hand you get a monthly allowance for accommodation and meals in addition to the reimbursed university fees and on the other hand you have the first money in your account relatively late, at the earliest at the beginning of the semester. So it should be applied for at least 5-6 months in advance. If you are too late, you first have to pay everything out of your own pocket. And if you are normally not entitled to domestic BAföG, it does not mean that you will also be denied BAföG abroad. Inquire!!!
Course choice and courses
As hard as it sounds now, you are a student of the ALCI (American Language and Culture Institute) and you don’t actually exist as a regular student at the CSUSM. But this is generally the case in California. First of all, the ALCI is responsible for all foreign students. However, this does not mean that you are not allowed to study in other departments. The tasks of the ALCI are to introduce you to the campus and to check your skills (language, understanding, speaking) whether you are even capable of studying in the desired subject area. If your language skills are insufficient, you are only allowed to attend ALCI language courses. Don’t panic, even with very little knowledge it is doable, especially since Europeans have a real advantage with their English.
Since the ALCI did not seem to have enough experience with students from other disciplines and especially with European students in my time, it actually only caused problems for me personally. Due to misunderstandings and perhaps also a little ignorance on the part of the ALCI, I was not allowed to attend courses that would have been relevant for my studies in Germany. Allegedly I lacked the necessary “prerequesits” (requirements) for the desired courses. Instead, I should attend the same courses that were actually intended for “FRESHMAN” (freshman), such as Business Law and Business Writing. When I visited the Student Help Center of my department at CSUSM at the end of my semester abroad, it unfortunately turned out that I should actually have taken the courses I wanted.
So here are some important tips for choosing a course:
As mentioned above, for the CSUSM you have to get a “Transcript of Records” from your university and fill out a list yourself for a preliminary course selection.
Submit the list with the preliminary course selection to the ALCI, but it is best to also take care of your course selection yourself by visiting the respective department of the CSUSM where you would like to study. Do not let anyone put you off, neither the ALCI nor the department, as they usually do not give you any information because you are an ALCI student (as I said, does not normally exist). Just stay persistent and insist on personal advice.
For such a conversation, it is advisable to download the CSUSM course catalog beforehand in Germany and to make an appointment with an international representative of your department in Germany before you start your journey. You can use them to discuss your choice of course so that you can be sure that the courses will be credited to you after your return to Germany. In addition, some departments in Germany offer a precise course description of the German courses in English, which is best printed out and taken with you to the USA. Based on this course description, the Student Help Center of the respective CSUSM department or a professor, depending on the case, can tell you exactly which CSUSM courses are equivalent to the German course and whether you are allowed to attend the courses or not.
Using the information you received from the CSUSM department, you put together your schedule. Feel free to consider several different courses, as you have to “crash” the courses. This means that as an international ALCI student you cannot register regularly via the university’s internal system, but have to go to the respective lecturer at the beginning of the first lecture in order to be accepted into the course. If there is enough capacity, you will receive a “Permission Number” from them, which you have to submit later to the “Registration Office” so that you can be admitted to the course.
You should know that it is not too easy to get the courses you want, as the financial crisis in California has cut the budget of the universities, which means that the range of courses has shrunk and apprenticeships have been canceled. There will be long waiting lists for the courses even before the start of the university, making it difficult for you to get a place in the desired course. But don’t let this discourage you. A little tip, write an email to the respective lecturer in advance during your introductory week and describe your situation to him, that you are an international student and urgently need the course. Many of the lecturers welcome foreign students in the course and this makes them preferable to domestic students. If necessary, you can visit the respective lecturer personally during the respective office hours and convince them of your necessity in a short conversation. As I said, if you try to do it yourself, it is no problem a) to get the right courses and b) to get the courses you want.
Regarding the courses, I can unfortunately only write courses on business administration. Compared to Germany, the overall course of the lessons was very similar. The courses were quite small, with a good working atmosphere and it made you feel well integrated. The lecturers were very nice and courteous and always very helpful. If you had a specific problem, you could visit the respective lecturer in his office hours and he was really eager to help you. The teaching methods are actually the same. We work a lot with PowerPoint and also with WebCT (an internal online learning platform). However, the learning effort is different. This is enormous. Since the lectures are usually very closely related to the books to be read, you have to read a lot, of course in English. But don’t worry, in contrast to German books, the English ones are very well written and easy to understand, so it’s also fun. You are constantly forced to learn not only through reading, but also through small quiz tests and intermediate exams that are spread over the semester. But you can usually include a piece of paper with notes in the exam and this usually consists of multiple choice. In addition, either an “assignment” must be submitted during the semester and a “term paper” at the end of the semester, or several PowerPoints are required, which must be created either individually or in groups. The amount of work also depends on the level of difficulty of the course. In California there are so-called units. Overall, California law requires that 12 units have to be fulfilled during the semester in order to be considered a “full-time student”. But it doesn’t have to mean that a course with 2 units is easier or less work than one with 4 units. Usually the difference has more to do with the deepening of the topics. This means that a 2 unit course is not as specific as a 4 unit course, but both usually involve the same amount of work and that should be taken into account. If you choose, for example, only 2 unit courses, this means that you have to complete 6 courses in the semester, which is associated with a lot of work due to the number of courses and there is no fun. If you choose 4 unit courses, this means that you only have to complete 3 courses over the course of the semester, with less work overall.
Supervision as an international student
The introductory week and support are the responsibility of the ALCI. During the introductory week, you mostly sit with students from Asia and only a few students from Europe or South America, which is completely normal in the USA, as the proportion of international Asian students is very high overall. You get an information folder that contains everything about the CSUSM, such as maps, semester plan and all descriptions, and you get to know the most important buildings on the campus. There is also a lecture on “The American Etiquette” (behavior in host families), although I have to say that the European one is far more complicated. In addition, there are still some formalities to be completed in the first two days, such as proof of health insurance, address details, emergency numbers, etc.
It happens very often that the supervisors treat you like a toddler in kindergarten and sometimes you feel that way. But it’s not that bad. Once you’ve made your first acquaintances, the introductory week is only half as boring.
Personally, I found the continued support of the ALCI during the semester to be very disappointing. The boss, as well as the deputy boss, were so busy with other things throughout the semester that there was very little time for supervision. If you had a problem, you could contact the ALCI, but they only got advice and in the end had to solve the problem on your own. The only question asked was “Have you already done that, and if not, why?” In my situation, for example, this led to the fact that after a short time I turned to my lecturers and fellow students rather than my supervisors. Sometimes this degenerated into disputes with my supervisor, who, in my opinion, simply did not understand how to deal with students from Europe. I never would have thought
The range of excursions offered by the ALCI was also very limited. Initially, the supervisors made an effort and organized beach barbecues and even a trip to San Diego on Halloween. Later, however, everything subsided and by the end of the semester most of us had very little to do with the ALCI. If we then asked, it was: “We always organize, but you never feel like it and don’t sign up for anything!” I found this statement to be very silly.
What was always really great, however, were the international cafés, a meeting that took place once a month in the international office. There were then various specialties and drinks for free. A little tip here:
This international office was located in Craven Hall, which is also where the university administration is located. It is actually responsible for international students who do not only study for one semester, but also permanently at CSUSM. But in the event of a problem you could also contact the supervisor there or the manager “Danielle”, who I found were very competent, friendly and helpful. There you could also get good tips from other international students who had been studying at CSUSM for a long time. So check it out more often!
The campus and San Marcos
The campus celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2010. The buildings are therefore all relatively new, as is almost everything in California. The classrooms were technically very well equipped, fully air-conditioned and clean. If a room was free, you could stay there without any problems, do housework, chat or just hang out with friends.
The Kellog library “is just awesome”! Books, films and scientific material on all subject areas can be found on 4 floors, even some in German, such as a Brockhaus encyclopedia. There is a quiet reading room equipped with modern leather sofas and reading lamps, several group work rooms, and two PC pools with enough space for Microsoft and Apple computers. If the PC space is scarce, there is the possibility of borrowing a laptop from the help desk. Numerous individual workstations are also available, from which one has a wonderful view of the hills and the California sunset. The nice thing about the library is that you can simply take drinks, food and your bag with you to your workplace. WiFi with your own email account is available on the entire university site. The library even has its own Starbucks café.
The nearby Craven Hall, where the university administration is located, also houses the bookstore, where all learning materials are available, as well as a “snack bar” and the “cafeteria”, which is very different from a German canteen. It offers a sushi bar, a salad bar, a burger counter, a pizza counter, a sandwich counter and an Asian counter, where a menu (small portions) with a refill drink costs on average between 5 and 8 dollars each, which is relatively expensive by American standards.
A little tip:
Below the campus, about 10 minutes’ walk away, there is the next supermarket (Ralph’s) with good offers, as well as some small eateries (StirFresh, Mexicans, pizzeria) where you can eat delicious things for cheap money.
However, there are enough vending machines for cheap drinks and sweets on the entire campus.
Many rooms are equipped with automatic doors and you can also find disinfectant dispensers in several places, which are generally very important in California, because in this way one tries to avoid the spread of bacterial infections and does so with success.
The university also offers many small groups of all kinds, where you are also very welcome as an international student. If you still have enough time besides the drumming, you can get involved there or work out in the associated “gym”, which is a bit more remote, however.
The distances in California and San Marcos take a lot of getting used to. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, the city is spread over a larger area. There is actually everything you need for life and pleasure. However, the places are often not very easy to get to without a car. The public transport network is nowhere near as well developed and structured as in Germany. From the campus, however, you can reach everything by bus, train and with a lot of time. Buses depart from the “Flag-Circle” (FOTO), a central square near the library, and the “Sprinter” stop, a very modern but slow little little train (German Siemens product), is close to the campus (10 minutes’ walk) ). However, there is also a free shuttle bus between the Sprinter station and the campus every 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the ticket for the buses and the sprinter is not included in the tuition fees and must therefore be bought weekly or monthly. The price per month ticket is approximately $ 49.00. With this you can then drive back and forth in the area between Escondido, the next larger city east of San Marcos, i.e. inland and Oceanside, west of San Marcos lying directly on the coast. With the Sprinter, the journey to Escondido takes just under 10 minutes and to Oceanside around 45 minutes. It is of course much faster by car in Oceanside (just under 20 minutes on Highway 78). Los Angeles in the north can be reached in 1.5 hours by car via Interstate 5 and San Diego in the south can be reached in about half an hour via Interstate 5 or 15. If you have your own car, you have to factor in parking fees at the university, which are very, very high. Illegal parking or parking without a valid ticket can cost up to $ 150.00. There are enough parking spaces around the campus (several parking lots and a newly built multi-storey car park), but not all parking spaces are always open, so you should plan a long search for a parking space in the morning. My tip here: If you have your own car, you can park it for free in a side street of the industrial park near the sprinter station and then take the shuttle bus from the sprinter station to the university. This is an easy way to save a few dollars. Illegal parking or parking without a valid ticket can cost up to $ 150.00. There are enough parking spaces around the campus (several parking lots and a newly built multi-storey car park), but not all parking spaces are always open, so you should plan a long search for a parking space in the morning. My tip here: If you have your own car, you can park it for free in a side street of the industrial park near the sprinter station and then take the shuttle bus from the sprinter station to the university. This is an easy way to save a few dollars. Illegal parking or parking without a valid ticket can cost up to $ 150.00. There are enough parking spaces around the campus (several parking lots and a newly built multi-storey car park), but not all parking spaces are always open, so you should plan a long search for a parking space in the morning. My tip here: If you have your own car, you can park it for free in a side street of the industrial park near the sprinter station and then take the shuttle bus from the sprinter station to the university. This is an easy way to save a few dollars. so that you should plan a long search for a parking space in the morning. My tip here: If you have your own car, you can park it for free in a side street of the industrial park near the sprinter station and then take the shuttle bus from the sprinter station to the university. This is an easy way to save a few dollars. so that you should plan a long search for a parking space in the morning. My tip here: If you have your own car, you can park it for free in a side street of the industrial park near the sprinter station and then take the shuttle bus from the sprinter station to the university. This is an easy way to save a few dollars.
Accommodation, life and leisure in San Marcos / California
You should actually take care of accommodation relatively early, just to get your student ID card, as it will not be given to someone without a permanent address. The choice of accommodation is relatively easy as there are actually only three different types of accommodation to choose from.
On the one hand, there is the possibility to live directly on campus in the nearby “dorms” which are very modern and equipped with their own pool. However, the prices are very high (between $ 600.00 and $ 800.00 / month), depending on whether you have a double room or a single room. Add another $ 200 for food. You live with several students in a kind of flat share, with a shared flat with its own kitchen, bathroom and living room. But it can be louder and louder and especially if you have a double room, you are just not undisturbed. The waiting lists for such a room are often very long and if you don’t want to spend a full year in San Marcos or have a scholarship, the prospect of such a room is rather slim, as these are usually given to permanent students.
Another option is to use the San Marcos Homestay Service from Jenny Cole, a very competent homestay broker. I decided on this after two weeks of hotel (Ramada Inn, good and cheap, the next hotel close to the campus!) In San Marcos and I have to say, as much as I initially resisted it, the better I found the decision in retrospect. The advantages of the Homestay Service are, on the one hand, the choice of the location, the coordination of the host family on you, and the price-performance ratio. Since it was clear to me from the start that I didn’t want to live in hot San Marcos, I decided on Oceanside, the next largest city on the coast. When filling out the form, I stated that I wanted to live relatively independently and independently in the host family, and that I preferred a family that lived relatively close to the beach and the sprinter station in Oceanside. The mediator, Jenny Cole, found me accommodation in just one day that was almost perfectly located. It was a 5 minute walk to the sprinter station and a 5 minute walk to the beach. My room was spacious, I had my own bathroom and was allowed to use all the common rooms. After a short time I became part of the family and felt completely integrated. If there was a problem within the family, it was not a problem to talk to the members about it and if there was another problem (be it for example university or doctor), the family was always helpful and helped me with a lot. The monthly rent is generally $ 550 without and $ 650 with meals and an advance agency fee of $ 250 to the homestay service and a deposit of $ 100 to the host family. Of course, you get the latter back in the end.
My tip here:
If you should opt for this type of accommodation and you are relatively independent, then choose accommodation without meals, as Americans differ greatly from Europeans in terms of cooking and shopping habits. For this, it is contractually regulated that your host family must drive you to the supermarket on request. The contract can be changed afterwards and you can take the food with you. In my case, I stuck to my decision (without meals), but I was invited to dinner very often by my host family. It also depends on the relationship with the family.
A clear advantage of the homestay service is that if you don’t get along with the family at all, or if you feel uncomfortable with them, you can stay with a new host family within the first 14 days at no additional cost. However, you should not be too hasty with this decision, as the first impression may not always be the best. Personally, I thought: “You won’t stay here for three days!” After all, I stayed the entire semester and I really liked my accommodation. The more open you are, the more open the Californian is. In the end, I made new friends to whom I can come back for vacations at any time. The little downside in my case was that I had to put up with a total of 90 minutes of driving the Sprinter (between Oceanside and San Marcos) every day. The daily visit to the beach and the view of the sea made up for it. If you want to go to a homestay with a friend, this is not a problem either, as there are many families that take in several students at the same time. If you decided on a homestay at an early stage (i.e. still from Germany), you will be picked up at the airport in California either by the family or by the agency free of charge and brought back after your semester! Otherwise there is the possibility to book a transfer, which costs 60 dollars from San Diego and 100 dollars from LA I think. but made up for it. If you want to go to a homestay with a friend, this is not a problem either, as there are many families that take in several students at the same time. If you decided on a homestay at an early stage (i.e. still from Germany), you will be picked up at the airport in California either by the family or by the agency free of charge and brought back after your semester! Otherwise there is the possibility to book a transfer, which costs 60 dollars from San Diego and 100 dollars from LA I think. but made up for it. If you want to go to a homestay with a friend, this is not a problem either, as there are many families that take in several students at the same time. If you decided on a homestay at an early stage (i.e. still from Germany), you will be picked up at the airport in California either by the family or by the agency free of charge and brought back after your semester! Otherwise there is the possibility to book a transfer, which costs 60 dollars from San Diego and 100 dollars from LA I think. In California, either your family or the agency will pick you up at the airport for free and bring you there again after your semester! Otherwise there is the possibility to book a transfer, which costs 60 dollars from San Diego and 100 dollars from LA I think. In California, either your family or the agency will pick you up at the airport for free and bring you there again after your semester! Otherwise there is the possibility to book a transfer, which costs 60 dollars from San Diego and 100 dollars from LA I think.
The third and last variant is to take care of your own accommodation in a private apartment or a shared apartment. Unfortunately, this variant is not very easy either. It is often the case that rooms in shared apartments and single apartments are not rented for one semester. A good opportunity here is to found a new flat share with other students and look for vacant apartments. Advertisements can often be found on campus or in the university’s internal online system, where people are looking for new flat share members, or via Craigslist (http://sandiego.craigslist.org/), where you can find everything from home to pets to cars in San Diego County (which includes San Marcos). However, you have to expect much higher rents ($ 800- $ 1200) and deposits and of course you are completely at the mercy of the landlord.
To really experience the vastness of California, you have to have rented a car at least once and taken Interstate 5 from San Diego north to San Francisco along the sea (Enterprise-rent-a-car, is relatively cheap here, from $ 45 per day). It is breathtaking how different the landscape in California can be. Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon shouldn’t be left out if possible. From San Diego you can take cheap cruises to Mexico for 4 – 8 days and domestic flights within the USA, for example to the north or to the west coast (NY, Washington, Miami) are also relatively cheap. However, if you leave the USA you should always have your visa with you, otherwise there could be problems with the entry. A little hint:
If you decide to have your own car, you’ll also need to get your California driver’s license (which costs just $ 25) to insure your car. It consists of theory (60 easy MC questions) and practice (driving a lap around the next block) like the German one. But you can repeat as often as you want, even on the same day. Only the appointment for the practice has to be requested early enough, as you have to accept a waiting time of up to 3 months. After passing the theory, at least you get a provisional driver’s license!
Of course, there is no shortage of amusement parks, nature reserves and Indian reservations in California. Diving, snorkeling and surfing should still be done as long as it is hot enough, as it slowly gets cooler from the end of September and it doesn’t freeze in winter, but it can get very cold. You can enjoy the sun almost every day, but don’t forget to drink!
You have to be careful with partying, alcohol is generally only available from the age of 21 and is strictly forbidden on the beach and in the streets (bottles must also always be kept covered). However, there is always a possibility to have a drink somewhere.
Another important point that is not actually part of the accommodation, but which I would like to mention here is communication with Germany. I first bought a cheap “prepaid” mobile phone in California, but calling home or with friends was quite expensive. If you would like to have personal contact in addition to email, messenger, Facebook / StudyVZ, I can definitely recommend Skype. If you don’t know it yet, Skype offers not only Messenger and Internet telephony, but also the possibility to call landlines all over the world for cheap money. This all works via a laptop / iPod with a headset. You can top up your Skype account credit via PayPal and make calls to Germany for 1 – 2 euro cents / minute, for example. So those parents can be especially happy who are not that technically gifted when it comes to PCs, but have a landline connection. Should you still decide to call home on your mobile phone, there are special foreign prepaid cards in every supermarket, with which calling is not too expensive. I just never tried it personally because I drove very well with Skype.
Conclusion
A total of between € 9,000 and € 12,000 can be budgeted for the semester abroad in San Marcos. It depends, of course, on your own way of life. For Europeans, life in California is of course very cheap at the moment due to the relatively strong euro. All in all, I can say that the semester abroad was a great experience and was also a lot of fun. I don’t think I would choose San Marcos again, of course. However, this has to do with the poor support and the anger I had especially with my supervisors from the ALCI. I found the university itself and the surrounding area very beautiful.
In general, of course, it can be said that the financial crisis is also very noticeable in California. The state is bankrupt! Of course, I would not advise anyone to study in San Marcos or in California in general, because anyone who would like to go there will like it too!
However, next time I would definitely prefer a larger university with more years of experience in looking after foreign students and a larger range of offers. I can wholeheartedly recommend MicroEDU as an organization for planning your studies abroad. Should there ever be a problem, you can contact the staff directly, who are always ready to help you.
I say goodbye to you and of course I wish you a lot of fun for your semester abroad in San Marcos / California! Take it easy !!!
