Things to do before going abroad

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Von: Silvana Astudillo
E-Mail: Silvana.Astudillo@gmx.de


California, the Golden State - this state has always been a fascination for me.
Many connotations like Hollywood, palm trees, long sandy beaches, wealth, gold,
Beverly Hills, Baywatch, The O.C. and most of all sunshine come up when I think
about it.
Having had the chance to study one semester there, more specific: in San Diego,
made one of my biggest dreams come true and I hope that in the following I can give
you some insight of why this has been one of my greatest semesters ever and why
California will continue to be a fascination for me.


Things to do before going abroad
Before going abroad there were lots of things to be taken care of and it required a lot
of nerves to do all the paperwork carefully.


TOEFL, Visa, Health Insurance, Money Matters
San Diego State University is one of the few universities which requires the TOEFL to
enter. When you apply to take the test (which costs about 130$) they send you a CD-
ROM with which you can practice, do exercises and test yourself at home in order to
prepare for the big day of the exam which I took in Berlin. The day I went there it was
good to have arrived early, that way I could get my thoughts together before taking
the exam which only took a few hours to complete.
A few weeks later I had the results in my mailbox - they were quite positive and I
made an appointment at the American consulate in Frankfurt for the VISA and most
importantly booked the flight for the 15th of August 2006.
Like I mentioned earlier lots of paperwork needed to be done, it seems like the US do
love bureaucracy. The SEVIS fee and also the VISA were quite expensive (thank you
Mom and Dad at this point) and “No, I’m not a terrorist I would really just like to study
there for one semester.” It is amazing how many detailed questions were asked.
To my appointment at the consulate in Frankfurt I had arrived very early but which I
did not know was that the appointment they had given me was the time to be in line
and not the time where I was going to be asked why I wanted to go abroad. So I
spent quite a few hours talking to a few of about 300 people who apparently all had
their appointment at noon and time went by fast eventually.
One good thing was that SDSU offered health insurance so I did not have to
purchase an additional one here in Germany. You were also only able to choose your
classes after having purchased health insurance.
After having been accepted at the SDSU, the ISC (International Student Center) had
sent me a “Welcome Packet” via e-mail which answered many questions and gave
good advice.
SDSU advices to take about 2000$ in form of Traveller’s Checks as a starter with you
which -I should find out later on – you will need until you get settled.
Bank accounts can be opened easily with no extra charge but it is always good to
have a credit card so you always have the chance to take money off of your account
back home.
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The flight – San Diego here I come

School did not start until the 30th of August 2005, so in order to have some time
before to get settled, Annika – another student that was to study at the same school -
and I chose to fly a couple of weeks earlier.
So on Monday, the 15th of August 2005 we took the plane from Frankfurt to Atlanta,
Georgia where we were supposed to have a stop-over but then had different
connection flights to San Diego, California.
Our plane had left Frankfurt a few hours late so I missed my connection flight but
Annika was lucky to get hers. Unfortunately I had carried some of her carry-on
luggage and she had to sort of jump on her plane so I held on to it. Since there were
no more flights to San Diego that night I got to spend the night in this small but comfy
hotel close to the airport. Knowing that my luggage was on the way to San Diego
gave me some comfort but the 2 kilos of cereal that I had taken off of Annika made
me worry a little bit.
My flight was scheduled for 6 am the next day so I went and checked in and very
soon learned my lesson not to EVER take over somebody else’s luggage. But the
cereal also made its way to San Diego.
My luggage was there – yay! And Juan, the head of the ISC came to pick me up and
Annika was with him to pick up her luggage which had not arrived the night before –
very strange, I say but we were happy that in the end we got there safe and did not
lose anything.
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It was about 28° that day, sunny and warm and I wa s overwhelmed by all those
palm trees and those big SUV’s that we usually do not see at home in Germany in
that amount of number. Juan took us to our Youth Hostel in Downtown where we
checked in and then took us to the ISC on campus, we were very excited.


Check in and getting settled
At the ISC we should soon get to know the “Welcome Team” which is a group of
friendly students who voluntarily help international/exchange students out in order to
not have them feel lost.
Gustavo, member of the “Welcome Team” and who should soon become one of my
best friends, checked us in and answered many questions concerning housing, cell
phone etc. that I had. We were informed about the day the “Orientation” was going to
take place and some excursions that the ISC hat planned for the international
students such as the San Diego City tour or Seaworld.
Since I had taken care of formalities such as health insurance back home in
Germany the check-in was quick and on Orientation day we received lots of more
helpful information, do’s and don’ts and we had our pictures for our Student picture
ID’s taken on which you could put money on to pay your copies or food and it also
carried the Red-ID (my own identification number) with which I could log on to the
Internet and find out about my personal classes and grades.
That day I also chose the classes I wanted to take this semester. SDSU has a good
system for signing up and a great variety of classes. I signed up for all my classes
online and was able to print out the syllabus, books required and information
regarding the classes and the respective professor.
Now we were ready to take our next challenge which was to find housing.
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Housing

Finding housing in San Diego turned out to be a big challenge because prices are
outrageously expensive and public transportation is not very advanced. Luckily they
had finished extending the “Green Line” which made it possible to get to school by
trolley.
Luckily there were plenty of volunteers, two of them were Mark and Chau (both
Gustavo’s roommates) who helped us out a lot and eventually became very close
friends of mine. They drove us around to see apartments, mostly referred to as
“apartment-hunting” and gave us good advice on where it is safe to live and where
there are good connections to the trolley since I did not plan on buying or renting a
car.
I decided not to live on campus because the rent for single bedrooms was barely
below a 1000$ and you would have had to also stick to the campus rules which
included curfews or a certain meal plan. Furthermore mostly American students live
on campus in so called fraternities and sororities.
Off-campus prices for single bedrooms are 300$ and more. A good webpage to find
housing and lots of other useful information is www.craigslist.org where we got most
of the addresses for potential housing from.
At the ISC we were introduced to Steve, a landlord who owns an apartment complex
about 25 minutes from school by trolley – in Mission Valley – and who likes to rent
out the apartments to international students. We went, had a look, liked it and signed
the contract (month-to-month, very important so that way you can move out any time
as long as you give one month notice). Our apartment was available from September
on and Chau offered us to stay at his place in the meantime which was very nice and
it saved us a lot of money which we otherwise would have spent on the Youth Hostel.
I was pleasantly surprised by the all of the volunteer’s empathy, the time they spent
on us and the effort of trying to make us feel like home.
In September we moved into the 2-bedroom-apartment (2 bedrooms, living room,
kitchen, bathroom and laundry facility) which rent was 1000$/month, utilities not
included. Annika and I shared the bigger room and later on we had a Chinese
student move into the other room. In about 6 other apartments next door international
students had moved in also and this way we had a very fun and mixed group of
students who all became good friends and with some I am still in touch with.
Steve became our “personal manager” because he was always there to help us out
in personal matters or things like shopping which – unlike in Germany – you have to
have a car unless you live right next to a grocery store or risk your life getting run
over by a car while walking. He also took us up north to L.A. once, made it possible
for me to see Aretha Franklin live from the Jacuzzi, showed my a great spot to find
sand-dollars (Coronado Island), took us snorkling, taught me how to surf and
informed us about free events all the time. I was amazed about how many events
(concerts, markets, shows, art exhibitions) took and still take place in San Diego
downtown.
Steve’s most famous words are: “for free?!” I cannot even list all the exhibitions and
events I participated in or Sushi I have eaten “for free”. He knows San Diego as to
what in german you would refer to as “wie seine Westentasche kennen” – Thanks
Steve!
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Bank account, cell phone, public transportation, utilities
I opened a bank account at the Union Bank of California which gave you 50$ as a
thank you for opening an account and paid in my traveller’s checks. That way I had
my money in a safe spot and was able to pay by card with no extra charges.
Cell phones are almost a must-have if you like to keep in touch with other students.
Since the one I brought with me was very antique I purchased a new one with a
prepaid card. Unlike here in Germany in the States they charge you by minutes which
means that every time you are using “air-time” which means you receive a call, not
only the caller but you as well is being charged (usually 10cts/1min). It took a while to
get used to it but I have to admit that I like the German system better.
Public transportation is not very common in the States but San Diego was improving
its system and we were lucky enough to profit from the extension of the “Green Line”
which took us right to the SDSU-campus. A semester pass (about 120$) could be
purchased on campus which came in form of a little silver sticker which was put on
my student ID. It allowed me unlimited rides throughout the semester on any line in
and around San Diego. In the first weeks TV and radio stations were on campus to
greet the students getting off the trolley and ask them about their opinion about the
trolley. It was very funny to see how excited many were about it whereas to me it is
something completely normal.
Busses ran frequently and like the trolley station the bus station was only about 15
minutes away from home. To the closest beach it was about 10 minutes by bus so on
the weekend and in my spare time it was no problem to jump on the bus and spend a
day at the beach. Riding the trolley was safe because securities watched over the
passengers not only when riding the trolley but also on the bigger stations.
Since utilities were not included in our contract we paid a monthly electricity bill to
SDG&E (San Diego Gas and Electric) which was usually around 30$ (shared).
We also got a home-phone and got a very good deal with one company where we
paid a fixed monthly rate which covered all the local phone calls. For all national or
international calls I had the possibility to purchase a phonecard in any grocery store
or gas station. Those phonecards were quite cheap and you can talk up to 300
minutes for only 5$.


Classes
From my advisor I was given different fields of studies from where to pick out classes
of interest. I signed up for 4 different classes (= 13 credits, International students had
to have at least 12 credits): Spanish (4 credits), Psychology (3 credits), Criminal
Justice Administration (3 credits) and Translation (German-English, 3 credits)
1 credit = 1 hour


Spanish

California and especially San Diego has many native spanish speakers since it is so
close to the Mexican border. I wanted to improve my spanish skills and prepare with
this class for the following semester which I spent in Madrid, Spain.
This class took place 4 times a week and lasted about 50 minutes.
The instructor was a spanish native speaker from Pamplona, Spain who is very
committed and whose classes were fun to attend because she had a good way of
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explaining and attached great importance to pronunciation which for many Americans
due to their language was quite difficult to do.
The class itself held only 20 people so it was a quite private atmosphere and every
single one had the chance to speak frequently.
Exams were taken once a month and Vocabulary- and Grammar-tests every Friday.
That way every student was required to study and keep up with the material on a
daily base.


Psychology

This class took place twice a week each one was set up for 1 hour and 15 minutes. It
was held in a huge lecture room which held about 1000 students if not more and had
two huge screens for PowerPoint-Presentations. Unlike at the FH in Magdeburg
almost every single classroom but definitely all the lecture rooms were equipped with
a beamer which made it easy and comfortable for the instructors to organize their
class and for the students easier to understand and follow.
The Instructor was a family dad, young, committed and had a very interesting and fun
way of explaining the most difficult topics. At the end of each lecture we were asked
certain multiple choice questions relating the just discussed and we could answer
directly with an A-B-C-D buzzer. This way we were able to see the results instantly
and if less then 90% had answered the question wrong the instructor would explain it
again and ask the question again in order to then have a more positive result.
Exams usually covered 3-4 chapters and were held 4 times. The night before the
exams we could log on to the “Psychology Portal” where we could participate in chats
with other students of this class and discuss class related questions or ask the
instructor personally. I also had the chance to take an online-test to see if I had
understood or not.


Criminal Justice Administration

Probably the most interesting and exciting class I have ever taken. I have never seen
such a passionate, enthusiastic, disciplined and pragmatic instructor before – Paul
Sutton. I can only recommend his webpage www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~psutton/, I still
enjoy reading through it. Even though the class held about 80 people, discipline,
attention, responsibility and critical thinking was required every single minute
because even though it was supposed to be a lecture it mostly ended up in one big
interesting discussion. It took place twice a week (1.15hrs). We were shown many
videos and he managed to explain the most difficult topics with clear, vivid and
concrete examples which made it easier for me to follow. He kept his classes very
up-to-date so we could relate to certain topics individually or even keep discussing
them outside the classroom.
The most interesting thing in this class would have been the “prison tour” which I
unfortunately was not able to attend because it was planned for January 07 when
I had left already. There students get to see California’s biggest prisons such as San
Quentin (the only one which contains death row) and the chance to talk to inmates
personally after having worked on and researched specific information regarding
certain inmates, their story and sentence.
Tests were taken once a month and workouts (additional homework) could be
handed in for extra credit.
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Another thing I would like to mention is the size of the lecture halls, the one this class
was taught in resembled a hall in a movie theater, the seats had very soft, red
cushions and you had plenty of room for your feet and little desk which is attached to
the each seat you have to fold up in front of you
I could go on and on but to keep it short this class has most definitely left the greatest
impression on me and intensified my curiosity for the study of Criminal Justice. I can
only recommend it to future students.


Translation (German – English)

This class held only about 15 people and was mix of american and german students
which was perfect so we could discuss and explain certain translation difficulties
since we had native speakers on each side.
Our instructor was a german native speaker, she came up with many interesting texts
and based her classes on teamwork. That way we had to often meet up outside our
regular classes which made studying and preparing for exams more fun.
Exams were taken every other week and at times we could work together as a group
to do certain translations.


To wrap it all up I enjoyed every single one of my classes and I wish I had the chance
to study even more because since SDSU is so well equipped and the instructors very
professional studying is more fun and interesting.
The variety of classes is amazing and huge. Classes - which one can possibly only
take in California - are offered: Surfing, Sailing, Diving, Golfing etc.
If one day did not only have 24 hours and one week 7 days I would have probably
taken more classes to profit from all the opportunities at SDSU.
I like the system of having exams on a more regular base, that way there is no big
exam in the end and you can study in small portions.
Multiple choice (Criminal Justice Administration and Psychology) was something I
had to get used to and I did not like very much.
Books and Supplies are very expensive and the chances of being able to resell them
after the semester are very small because many times there are new editions which
decreases the value of books bought earlier. Almost every single textbook included a
CD-ROM which delivered background information and with which I could practice
before the exams.
Even though some classes did not have to do anything directly with my field of study I
enjoyed getting an insight into other areas, learn for life and awaken new interests
such as Criminal Justice Administration.


Campus
The SDSU campus is huge and can be compared to a little town with its own
restaurants, stores, hairdressers, flower shops and sports facilities.
Since it is very widespread it was good to have participated in the Orientation at the
beginning of the semester but it was always helpful to have a campus map on me in
order to find places more easily.
It has a very big library with computer areas from which every student had instant
Internet access or print out papers. In addition to that there were many designated
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computer areas in different departments so I never had to wait long when I had to do
research or just check my mail. Wireless was accessible all over the campus.
In the bookstore I could buy all of the books needed for class and also resell it after
the semester.
There was no “Mensa” but a huge variety of restaurants and food which in the
beginning was overwhelming but in the end I had tried pretty much everything and I
now find it hard to stick to the three choices I have here in the “Mensa”.
Since the weather was sunny and warm throughout the whole semester we most
likely ate outside where we had our “International table” where most of the
international students met to have lunch or study together.
Every Friday at noon “Coffee hour” took place at the International Student Center.
During “Coffee hour” certain countries were to represent their nationality and give
other students an insight into their culture. Most likely one country prepared lunch –
something typical for this country – students donated 1$, tried the food, had the
chance to get to know many other international students and make plans for the
upcoming weekend.


Culture and personal highlights

I am already realizing that this report is becoming very detailed and I could probably
go on and on but I will try to keep it to the most important. San Diego has lots of
culture to discover and if someone ever says “I was bored in San Diego.” it is
definitely a lie. You can find everything and I mean literally e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. I have
seen many exhibitions of different artists and listened to quite a few singers and
interpreters I have not known before. The sunny weather and healthy climate has
played also a big role in making this stay so wonderful. The 22nd of December, the
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day that I left, the temperature was 22° no cloud s and blue sky. It had rained once
until then.
There are 3 major shopping malls and plenty of grocery stores. 4 big sandy beaches
and the border to Mexico is only about 30 minutes away.
My personal highlights would fill pages but I definitely have to mention my surf-
lessons, the Aretha Franklin concert, the San Diego Zoo, the trip to L.A. and
Hollywood, San Francisco, Alcatraz, Las Vegas and Baja California (Mexico). I got to
know so many fun and international people and with the closest ones I am still in
touch, some I have met again already.
One of the sad “highlights” was the execution of Tookie Williams in San Quentin
whose life we discussed in my Criminal Justice class and reinforced my anger and
hate towards the death penalty. It made me study and learn about this topic more
than ever before.
I have to say that I did not feel homesick at any time, yes I did miss my family but
studies and friends kept me busy and there was so much to explore and so many
experiences to make – not only good ones but also some strenuous ones.
Annika moved out in October because she was dealing with some major personal
issues but was well taken care of by the school’s psychologist as far as I know.
I did not want to get involved in issues like that one so it was better for both of us for
one – in this case her- to move out. We were just two different of a character to
perfectly get along with. The last months we barely saw each other but I’m sure she
also had a wonderful time.
I kept the room to myself which was also a good thing because at times I needed
some time to myself to think things over, relax or sort myself out.
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Eventually a friend moved in and took over the place after I had moved out.
I got to know Americans as friendly an open minded people and I am happy to
consider some of them as very good friends and one of them as my boyfriend – Chau
- who is coming over next spring in order to take a German class, that way I can give
him an insight into my culture as well as he has given me one into his during my stay.
This semester has enriched my study and I expanded my English skills. It made me
grow and develop as an individual and I can only recommend an experience abroad
to other students.

I would like to thank my Mom and Dad for giving me all the support needed:
financially as well as “psychologically” at times; my advisor Leigh Love without her I
would not even have had the chance to study there; and last but not least all of the
students and friends I have met during my stay and made it so special fun and most
of all an unforgettable experience.