23 hours awake. Butterflies in my stomach. Adrenaline flooding my body. It is already night when the plane starts its landing approach over a sea of light.
San Diego. Here I am. Getting my luggage, out of the airport, into a taxi and off to my accommodation. The first view at the skyscrapers with the sea in front, while reflecting the lights – is beautiful. My new home for the next four months. Staying in the middle of Downtown with my friend from Hamburg is just amazing. Off to bed, after a really long journey…
The jetlag, caused by the 9-hour difference to Germany was rarely noticeable, for the fact that I went straight to bed. Downtown itself is a really nice place to be; the harbour, the Gaslamp District, Little Italy and many small restaurants and bars are around. Also, the beaches like Mission or Pacific Beach are easily to reach within 10 minutes by car. In Little Italy for example is every week a Street-Food-Market with fresh roasted coffee, European Bread, fresh vegetables, jewellery and homemade variations of guacamole. Also, Live music is around and you get a really nice impression of the lifestyle, people and local specialities of the city and the country.
My first days were very exciting. First of all, there is the experience on the Freeway. Americans are driving crazy, no rules, who first comes goes first. A co driver who gives angry looks out of the open window to the other road users is very helpful sometimes.
My first impression of people in America, or California is that most of them are open, friendly, helpful and interested, as soon as you tell them that you are from Germany. People like to communicate and will always ask you questions about your day and what you are up to. It is just a question of being polite.
In San Diego there is a lot to discover: from the famous Zoo, up to breath-taking beaches over to hidden corners waiting to be explored. Right in the first week my friend and I fulfilled our dream and bought longboards! What a feeling! The boardwalk at miles long beaches are just perfect to have great rides, enjoying the sun, view and the wind blowing in your face.
Sport is a very big thing in the US, such as Football, Basketball or Baseball. Therefore, we went to a Baseball game in order to feel the American spirit in the stadium. With Hot Dogs in our hands and Baseball caps on our heads we experienced and enjoyed the cheerful atmosphere of the San Diego Padres game – while trying to get the rules of the game.
Another point on the to-do list for California is definitely surfing – or at least trying to. It always looked so easy, when the professionals at the surf contests were performing their skills. But actually practising it on your own is a challenge. The hardest part is to get up on your board and STAND! Once you reach this point, it is the most amazing feeling in the world, just enjoying the ride and the power of the wave.
Potato Chip Rock hike! Yes, let’s do this, it won’t be that hard. We were such freshmen or women to believe that! The sun was burning straight on us. We were sweating, legs were burning, dry mouth. After every further step and every opportunity to enjoy a little shade, we were able to find our way up to the special rock. The View impressed us and seemed just taken off a postcard. Finally, we made it – California here we are!
Hi, I’m going to tell you something about my life in the United States. I’m studying at the National University in San Diego.
I arrived in the United States at the 12. of august 2016. My flight landed in Los Angeles and from there we took the train to San Diego. I’m sharing an apartment, which is located 5 min away from the beach, with 3 other students from Stuttgart. Pacific Beach is a nice area to life, it is safe, the beach is kind of in front of our house and there are many possibilities to go grocery shopping and the university is just 15 minutes away by car.
At the orientation days in the university we met a bunch of new people. Most of them were from Germany but there were also a few from other countries. At the first day we got our schedule, which was totally different from that we got a few days earlier by email. At the first version we had just 1 day per week but this changed to 3 days a week. We had some games to get to know each other and many, many rules were told. For example it´s obligatory to attend the class and you have to buy at least one book per month, which are pretty expensive.
After the orientation days we had one week off and me and my friends made a road trip to San Francisco. We took the highway 1 to get there. It´s a beautiful street which follows the cost. We had to stop at every beach because one was even more beautiful then the other. Finally we arrived late at night in San Francisco and after a few problems concerning the parking space for our car we could go to sleep. The weather in San Francisco was pretty cold and windy.
We were freezing the whole time after the sunny days in San Diego. The city has many beautiful areas like the fisherman n´s wharf and the golden gate park but there are a lot of homeless people in the city. It´s not nice to see them living on the street, taking drugs and speaking to themselves. After 3 days in San Francisco I was glad to leave the city. We spend the next days at the Yosemite National Park. It´s definitely worth it to go there and spend as much time as you can. The nature was so beautiful and there´s a lot to see and do. Unfortunately we didn’t had that much time so we did „hiking“ the american way. You drive with you car as far as you can, get off the car, walk 100m, take a picture and go back to your car to drive to the next spot.
Visiting Mono Lake and the Sequoia National Park is also a thing you have to do while staying in California. It would have been nice to have a few more days off, there is still a lot to see.
Unfortunately when we got back the university started. Studying here is really different to study in Stuttgart. We got at the beginning a syllabus where everything is written down, what we’ll going to do each week, what we have to hand in and when our exams will be. It’s really strict and the syllabus is like a „holy“ paper where you can find all important informations.
During class we have to write everything down, there is no summary at the end of the class. In the first month we have to present two presentations, write two exams and we have to hand in one essay. Furthermore we should read each day a few chapters of the bock, preparing the next class. Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate because you have to write down a lot and listen at the same time. But all in all it’s easy to get good grades because the exams are multiple choice and the grading is not that strict.
You will hear from me soon,
Ramona