The time at UC Davis was a very exciting and beautiful time and I will now tell you why that was so. Learn more about University of California Davis on andyeducation.
Then we start right away with the first week, when we “only” had welcome events, around 3-4 information events and around 5 celebrations and parties (small and large ).
Because as an international student you can go to the international parties (mostly a little smaller) and to the big welcome events for all new students, you always have something to offer and a lot of variety. For example there was a movie night (with about 500+ others in the stadium) or the UC Davis clubs presented themselves with shows, for example the basketball team, the choir and also the cheerleaders. But I’ll come back to the clubs later.
All in all, you were well introduced to the first few classes and had a basic understanding of how studying at UC Davis works. It was also a very good opportunity to get to know a lot of new people, from the internationals and the “locals”.
After the first week the courses started, which with 3 courses per quarter are about 12 hours of attendance. This is more than relaxed. But it must be said that this is a good and recognized university that has correspondingly high standards. This means that in addition to the lecture times, you often have to do a lot at home, which can take a lot of time. Nevertheless, if you don’t want to have an A +, it is not a problem to find enough free time for yourself and your interests.
The professors were also all very good and the classrooms as well as the campus were nice and you could find your way around after about 1-2 weeks. It should be noted directly: In Davis you need a bike (you can’t do without it!). But you can buy it used there and sell it again or sometimes borrow it from your landlord.
That brings us to the next topic, living. Since I lived off-campus, I can unfortunately not say what the accommodations at the university are like. But what I can tell you is that apartments and rooms at a reasonable price are very rare in Davis, especially if you are only a quarter there. Therefore, find a place to live as early as possible. The International Office of UC Davis can also help you with this.
The International Office also has many former students with them, all of whom are still very young and know what studying really means, they are also very friendly and always help very quickly and as best they can. So if you have a problem, the team will always help you quickly and efficiently.
Now we come to the interesting part, the leisure activity, and there is almost too much of that at UC Davis ! To start with a few facts, UC Davis has roughly 33,000 students and over 500 different clubs, from soccer to math to LOL (video game). So it doesn’t matter! whatever interests you have, there is at least one club where everyone with the same interests can meet and have fun. Be it sports, singing, dance, math or anything else, there is really a huge range of activities that can also be used excellently to look at new things, since almost all clubs are free.
Another good news for the sports enthusiasts among you: There are tons of sports clubs and almost 40% of the campus are training grounds or stadiums. In short, exercise is a very big component at UC Davis (and almost every other US university, too). That’s why there is some game almost every weekend where a UC Davis team plays and that always means a lot of fun and you get to know a lot of new people. But of course you can also have a lot of fun as a non-sports enthusiast at UC Davis.
The games are, however, events where you can have a lot of fun, but also in Davis itself, i.e. not on campus, there are some bars and events where you can always have a lot of fun. So all in all, you can celebrate very, very well at UC Davis and pursue your interests and also discover many new interests and all of this while studying.
Unfortunately, you need a lot of time at the beginning until you get to know the structures of the university, get really warm in the clubs and discover all the beautiful things. As a result, a quarter is actually much too short. So if you have the opportunity to stay longer, stay at least two quarters there, it will be more than worth it.
I was only there for a quarter, but still had a lot of fun and gained a lot of new impressions and got to know many, many new people, but if I had been able to, I would have added at least another quarter to it, because you can see a lot apart from Davis can. For example, San Francisco is right around the corner or Nappa Valley and many other places.
You can experience a lot and you never get bored when you use the thousands of possibilities that you have in that time. Besides, don’t forget to study.
That was it from me for the first time, so as you may have noticed , I really enjoyed the time and I can only recommend UC Davis and if you have any more questions, ask the people from MicroEDU, they can almost all of them answer your questions and if you want you can also ask me your questions. To do this, just get in touch with MicroEDU, they have my contact details and can then give them to you.
I wish you a lot of fun and no matter where you end up going: you will have a great time and enjoy it!