Semester abroad in Northern California

San José is the economic, cultural and political center of Silicon Valley and, with a population of around 1 million, the largest city in Northern California. In this report, Management, Communication & IT Bachelor student Sabrina Hochrainer describes her impressions of San José State University, the oldest public university on the West Coast!

FIRST STEPS

The semester abroad in San José was definitely worth the experience, despite ups and downs. The first challenge I had to face was when I arrived. I missed my flight and thus had to rebook for the next day. After a bumpy journey, I finally arrived at the campus. I decided to take a campus apartment to experience more of student life in the US. There were five of us in our apartment, but that didn't bother me too much because everyone had their own room. We all got along right away, so it wasn't hard to get used to the new environment.

UNIVERSITY LIFE

The campus was really like you would imagine it to be in a college movie. Basically, there were two campuses: the main campus, where you had your lectures, lived and spent your free time, and the second campus, which was a little further away. Among other things, the college team's football stadium was located there. This campus, however, was more for the student-athletes who trained there.

SPARE TIME ACTIVITIES

The university offers a lot of recreational activities. For example, there is a gym with a climbing wall and pool as well as a bowling alley right on campus, various clubs that you can join to pursue your interests or fitness classes or excursions that are offered. There are also various events such as various sporting events (soccer, basketball,...), talent shows, etc.

MY PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT

San José is also a good place to travel. San Francisco is not far away and can easily be reached by train. But also more distant cities like Los Angeles or San Diego can be reached by Flixbus. One of my highlights was definitely flying to Hawaii for a few days and visiting a fellow student who was spending her semester abroad there.

DIFFERENCES USA VS. EUROPE

Unlike at MCI, I chose my courses at the host university myself. Most of the time, therefore, I only had two to three hours of classes a day. However, many homework assignments and projects had to be completed outside of class. It was sometimes challenging to work with new people, as the American way of thinking was often different from the European way. I also found it exciting when lecturers talked about their work in the surrounding big companies like Amazon, LinkedIn or Google.

The semester abroad definitely allowed me to develop personally and gave me a new perspective on things. There is something different everywhere, but it always depends entirely on what you make of it.

MY SEMESTER ABROAD IN 3 WORDS: Football - Cultures - Experiences