If the fixed idea of ​​a semester abroad haunts you in your head, but the whole organizational stress scares you, let me tell you: It’s not as wild as it looks 🙂 Especially not if you start early enough.

First of all, I had chosen a university that appealed to me because of its offer and its location. The choice was extremely quick on the CSULB. Because it is right in the middle between San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego and Mexico. The perfect starting point to get to know the most important stations on the west coast. Learn more about California State University Long Beach on andyeducation.

Foreign student loans

Without that, the whole company would not have been an option for me. Because the tuition fees of $ 4600 alone were insane in my eyes and not feasible for me.
The paperwork is admittedly quite annoying, but also doable. Especially if you already know it from the Inlandsbafög, it goes faster by hand.
However, you should try to do this at an early stage – but only after you have been accepted to the university, as you have to send the confirmation of admission along with it.
Incidentally, the international office informs that the domestic office. So you don’t have to worry about that.

I’m trying to calm you down here: I had English as a basic course and wasn’t exactly good at it. I kept myself just about above water with 5/6 points.
Therefore, I was also a respectable portion of fear of the toefl. I bought the book “Cracking the TOEFL iBT with CD” (the latest edition) and worked through the book. Annoying thing. But then you know 100% what to expect.
By the way… don’t get confused. In the middle of the test everyone around me was already on the next section and I thought I was extremely behind or the system made a mistake. Puff cake. The test is not the same for everyone. While one is still in the reading part, the next one can already be in the listening part, since person 1 has simply received two more texts and person 2 is now given two additional tasks in the listening part.

Visa

You don’t have to worry about that. You make an appointment on the Internet (again, you pay fees for a variety of things – but you’re used to spending money now: p), appear on time and then your main problem is usually “How do I lose my time?” Waiting is just part of it here. I guess I was lucky. After an hour I was back outside.
The infamous interview isn’t wild either. What are you studying? Where? Since when? Why do you want to go to the USA? How do you finance that? And so on… again it doesn’t take that long.

Accommodation

Well, I can’t say much about that. Many recommend Craig-List to find something, but for me the search for accommodation was pretty quick. MicroEDU put together a list of recommended housing options, and like so many others this semester, I ended up at Oakwood Apartments. An apartment for 4 people – per person monthly. about 550 € (depends on the exchange rate). Oakwood is very clean, the apartments are quite large (living and dining area, kitchen, 2 bedrooms á two people with one bathroom each, balcony), you have TV, WiFi, a pool, a jacuzzi, a fitness studio, Mon.-Fri. Breakfast from 6-8am, Sunday brunch from 11-12am, the beach is only a 5-minute walk away and the university is 10 minutes away by bus. In addition, several supermarkets, some restaurants / fast food shops and a kind of “media market” are just around the corner. So perfect.

University

You are probably most interested in the choice of course. I was lucky here. I “only” attended history courses and getting into them was really easy. I only had to hear once that the course was already too full, but that I should just come back next week, as some of them would probably have dropped out then.
Others fared less well and had at most one or two courses after the first week of university. But in the end they somehow managed to do it too (even if some have chosen a course that has absolutely nothing to do with their field of study – nice crap!).
It is best to inform in advance how good or bad the chances are for your subject.

Additional

is under 25 to rent a car. 24 hours = $ 60-70.
Afterlife: Aside from Hollywood itself, 2nd Street near Oakwood is perfect for partying. In Las Vegas, by the way, you can buy tickets for many clubs on the Strip directly. So you can easily save 50% of the entrance fee – which (for women) are not too high anyway.
Shopping: I’m a woman 🙂 America is a shopping paradise. The closest malls are the Lakewood Mall and the Cerritos Mall. Personally, I liked the latter better, but actually they don’t take anything.

So and now a culinary tip: The Cheesecake Factory !! So delicious. These abnormally high-calorie pieces of cake taste so good, as if Willy Wonka had lent a hand personally !! But they also cost $ 7-8. But otherwise everything tastes amazing there too! Just try it yourself!

You will see, faster than you can imagine, write your own experience report =)