Organizational matters:
The nice contact and the quick processing left nothing to be desired. Organizing the visa was just as straightforward. For a week I got the documents like passport, photos, financial status receipt etc. and off we went to the consulate in Frankfurt. After a shockingly unfriendly “greeting” at the entrance, the rest was just a matter of form. Twice briefly chatted with the ladies at the counters (in English and in German) and you had the promise that your visa was approved. As a little info I might say that the second course we have chosen, due to the need for a visa and the number of units, requires mandatory health insurance from UCLA, cost considerably more than if we only booked one course. The first course cost $ 888, the second apparently as well, only about $ 350 health insurance and about $ 250 visa costs including travel. So a total of around $ 1500. If, like me, you have to pay for everything yourself, you can think twice about it …
Unfortunately, there was still a bit of a hustle and bustle until shortly before departure, as our health insurance card was not yet included in the UCLA welcome package. This should now be sent to us.
We had gotten used to life in America by the beginning of the summer session from our previous vacation. Since we had planned a trip to Las Vegas and generally didn’t want to do without a car, we rented a Jeep Liberty for around € 1000 from auto-europe.de for the six-week summer session. Quite cheap for such a larger car. It is important that you book with a German provider if possible, as they already have all the insurance included. With American car rental companies you have to pay a lot of insurance premiums on top of the apparent bargain (can be several 10 $ per day). If you are under 25 years old, it costs another $ 15 / day more in every rental car. The car has paid off in many ways. First of all, we didn’t have to pay a taxi or shuttle from the airport, which saved us around $ 200 (I’m talking about us all the time, there were four of us). The car rental companies all have their free shuttles to the car drop-off points. On the other hand, we were able to drive to the beach every day without stress, the trip to Las Vegas was comfortable and we ended up with a spontaneous trip to San Francisco. The biggest advantage, however, was that we could use the car as a large shopping cart. The nearby Ralphs would have been too far away for such large purchases to carry everything to the apartment himself. Sure, the four of us come together a little more,
We lived in a four apartment in Glenrock-West. This is the house that has such pointed balconies at the front. We had the apartment down the street with the lowest balcony. A huge shack with two bathrooms, two walk-in closets, two bedrooms (loft bed) with chests of drawers and desks, a kitchen with a huge oven and gas stove, microwave, fridge and freezer and a huge living room with a fireplace and an attached balcony that is twice as large.
Generally speaking, life in the on-campus Apt. Perhaps what is “more interesting”, but in the off-campus apts, it is much more comfortable and you can do what you want. House parties or inviting someone off-campus in general is no problem, the on-campus rooms are much too small for that. The additional distance is also not worth mentioning. Nothing is far away anyway. If you have a car, you should get a parking ticket for the underground car park under the house, as getting a parking space on the streets can be nerve-wracking and you have to park the car somewhere else on Thursdays anyway, as parking is prohibited due to street cleaning.
In itself, life is very good there. The food is not more expensive if you shop at Ralphs, In & Out Burger nearby is also super cheap and the parties at O’Hara’s (a college bar nearby) are great and cheap too. On Thursdays there are fraternity parties everywhere and in general you can just walk across the streets in the evening and just go into the house where it is loudest, there you can end up at one or the other funny party.
Getting to know people is generally not a problem either. There are many foreigners who are all looking for contacts. The Americans are superficial, but they are all very nice and interested. Unfortunately, it is inevitable that you automatically become friends with German people and do so much together, but their friends are then partly also Americans who then bring some of their friends with them, so you already have enough contact with Americans to then do it what to speak English more intensely. Otherwise, life is wonderful in LA. Lots to see (Beverly Hills), cool beaches (Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice Beach), good clubs (in Hollywood) and perfect weather.
University:
Now to the actual topic, which is why we all take part in these summer sessions – the university itself. We have chosen two courses: “Environmental Economics” and “Leadership – Principles and Practice”. The original idea behind this choice of course was, on the one hand, the times that drove us to the university from Monday to Thursday at lunchtime 🙂 As expected, the Leadership course with Prof Ullmen was totally relaxed. We had heard nothing but good things about the professor beforehand. The man is totally relaxed, makes interesting lessons with almost exclusively group activities and you don’t have to worry about your grade. The course was about the effect of yourself on others, how to get your opinion across and how to motivate others. These topics were each converted into small performances in group activities and then performed at the end of the lesson before the course. All half as bad as it sounds. Missing twice was also forgiven. There are three books to buy for the course, totaling around $ 80. You can actually save yourself the books from Ullmen itself, the third one was quite ok. This course is really not demanding, you don’t have to do any homework and in the end you are almost guaranteed to get an A. So it’s the perfect course if it’s not about content. the third was okay. This course is really not demanding, you don’t have to do any homework and in the end you are almost guaranteed to get an A. So it’s the perfect course if it’s not about content. the third was okay. This course is really not demanding, you don’t have to do any homework and in the end you are almost guaranteed to get an A. So it’s the perfect course if it’s not about content. Check toppharmacyschools to see more reviews from current students.
Environmental economics, on the other hand, was more demanding. Since we are studying industrial engineering and electrical power engineering and this subject also had to be written here at the university, it was of course a welcome opportunity to take a “real” subject at UCLA. This course dealt with the individual regulatory options for reducing emissions. Professor Bresnock is a reasonably strict ex-hippie who likes to get lost in gossip. Nevertheless, you can learn something in the course. The course is completely frontal teaching in the German lecture style. There are four homework assignments and a mid-term and a final exam. You have to take a day to do your homework and learn a little for the exams. In terms of difficulty, however, the subject is no more difficult than any other advanced business administration subject at German universities. A little prior knowledge wouldn’t be bad. We all managed an A to B +, but that wasn’t exactly normal. The way to the C is not far.
In conclusion, it should be said that the whole trip has already brought something to the study, but the course at Ullmen was basically without much content and more a platform to get to know people. Environmental Economics can be heard here as it was offered. In my opinion, for the money you shouldn’t fix yourself too much on university things and rather take the wide range of experience options with you. Las Vegas should definitely not be missing in your diary (even if you decide to do it beforehand, you won’t do the helicopter flight through the Grand Canyon for $ 150), San Francisco is also recommended. If you are sociable and open-minded, and the dollar is as low as ours (1.55 $ / €) you have the summer of your life!
