USA - #BIMdannmalinSantaBarbara

Antonia: Hello and welcome to our podcast of the THWS #Bimdannmalweg. In this podcast we talk about experiences of students who have been abroad for a semester and today I have dear Christian and dear Tizi visiting. Hello.

Tizian: Hello Antonia.

Christian: Hello Antonia.

Antonia: It's best if you introduce yourselves briefly and where you were and when you were there.

Christian: I'm Christian and like Tizi I'm also in my seventh semester of International Management at the University of Applied Sciences and we were in the USA together in our fourth semester, but now I'll let Tizi introduce himself briefly.

Tizian: Thank you Christian. Exactly, my name is Tizian and I study like Christian in the seventh semester International Management. And last year we were at the University of California in Santa Barbara from June to September together with two other fellow students and we are happy to tell you something about it.

Antonia: Nice, I'm glad that you are here today. First of all, why did you choose the USA and how did you find your partner university? If I have it right in my head, this is not a partner university of the FHWS.

Tizian: Exactly Antonia, you saw that correctly, it is not a partner university of the FHWS. That actually came relatively spontaneously. In my first attempt, I was supposed to go to Anderson University in the USA, which I think is actually a partner university. Unfortunately, that didn't work out because of Corona and then I sat down with the guys who actually wanted to go to Australia. One afternoon we were sitting in Christian’s dorm while we were writing a paper and we thought to ourselves that it can't be that we don't go away. We have to do something. And then we just started googling and looking at what time periods would be possible. That was then only the summer. We then came across an agency in Frankfurt via various websites that offered this university and then the decision was made relatively quickly that we would like to go there.

Antonia: That's nice. Did it not work out with Australia because of Corona or did you have other reasons?

Christian: Actually only because of Corona, because at that time it was still so that nobody were allowed to enter Australia. Exactly, and then we just found this agency and it all went quite easily. That was in the summer from June to September. We were able to take our exams from FHWS online from the USA, which was only possible through Corona, because everything was online. Then we basically did a semester there during our semester break.

Antonia: Yes, that's kind of a cool opportunity, that through Corona everything was online and you could be abroad for a semester without missing an exam period. If I remember correctly, the semesters in the U.S. are a bit different from ours. Here it is March to July if I have it right in my head and then October to March or the end of January. How is that in the USA?

Tizian: It's a little bit different. Not every university offers that summer term that we were in. It's just a limited number. Usually, it starts in the spring after the spring break, which is sometime around Easter. Then it's always quarters so it's always about 4 months so until mid-June, that's when Spring Quarter ends, that's when summer is. That's when most Americans are just catching up on credit points, credit points that they missed. So, it's like when we fail an exam and we make it up. And then it kind of goes on again in the fall, early October, for another 4 months. It's always a little bit different, but normally the structure of the semester is like this.

Antonia: Okay, good to know. How was it for you? The four of you went there together, so I assume you also planned and organized everything together. Did that all work out?

Christian: Well, university-wise we did everything through this organization, it all worked out well. The only problem we actually had was with the accommodation, because many accommodations did not response to our messages at all, many were also very dodgy and therefore we decided to go through the university into a housing and then the four of us lived together in an apartment. That was actually quite cool, we had our German retreat.

Tizian: The problem was actually that because of Corona they were only allowed to occupy half of the housing, these classic American dorm rooms, and so a lot of capacity fell away and therefore the offer of the remaining places was so small that it was really hard to find something and we really thought about whether it would work out. But with the solution we found, it was optimal.

Antonia: Nice. And how were the prices, so everything: flight, accommodation, life there.

Tizian: What we're not used to, of course, are study costs, because fortunately we don't have those for the most part in Germany. But we were lucky that the summer term in Europe is just less popular, because we have semester break there, therefore it is cheaper. A normal semester costs around I think 8,000 euros or dollars, I think dollars. And for us it only cost 3,500 euros for this summer term. But then what's also very stark is the cost of living. For example, in the apartment where we lived there were only double rooms, so I lived together with David and Christian with Fabi and then we still paid about 550 € per person for it, for the fact that you lived in a double room. That was already heavy and food is also expensive. Sure, they earn more there, but everything is more expensive. You can't underestimate that.

Antonia: Did you have to take care of your own food?

Christian: Yes, we could have booked a meal program, but we calculated it and it would have been about 25€ per person per meal and we thought that we could do it cheaper ourselves. We also had a small kitchenette and there we did the magic. But the issue of food is actually critical in the U.S.. So going out to eat is quite expensive and also cooking yourself is quite difficult because the ingredients are different there and also not very healthy if read what is written on the back.

Tizian: One example is, Christian and I once made chicken nuggets, the ones for kids in dinosaur form, and it said: no antibiotics and no steroids contained. When you consider that they even have to write it on the products that they do not contain such things, you realize that maybe it's not so good for the body. But we survived it.

Antonia: Delicious, you get hungry right away when you think about it.

Christian: Exactly, then we don't have to take any more antibiotics.

Antonia: If we go back to the beginning, before your semester abroad even started, did you have any special expectations or perhaps fears before your semester abroad started? Fears maybe related to Corona, because Corona was still very current when you went to the USA.

Christian: The biggest fear was the visa, that we would get the student visa and be able to enter the USA. We were not vaccinated at that time and had to take a PCR test before the flight. If this had been positive, we would not have been able to fly, so we paid a lot of attention the two weeks before the flight to not catch Covid. The return flight was actually more relaxed because we had double vaccinations. Did we have any other fears?

Tizian: Well, because there were four of us flying and we had known each other for a long time - we're good friends - you're more confident and less afraid of individual situations, because you'll get them solved somehow and you face them together.

Antonia: You're not alone.

Tizian: Yes, exactly, you face every problem together and therefore work in a more goal-oriented way. So, we had no fears about that.

Christian: We also had no problems with homesickness, because there were four of us. It was more like a big trip with friends.

Antonia: Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. Probably the anticipation of doing this experience or adventure together with good friends outweighed all the fears.

Tizian: Definitely. As Christian said, it was more like a big camping trip. Camping trip also because the beds were probably just as comfortable as when camping. But yes, so you were looking forward to it instead of thinking about what could go wrong.

Antonia: How did that work out between the four of you? Maybe it's more of a question that relates to women, because with women it can be that everything works out totally well or you have a fight right in the first week. Did that work out for you or was there any tension?

Christian: Because we were friends before, the situation was actually quite relaxed. Everyone could always do what he wanted. If one of us said that he was going to the gym now, the other one either said he would join or not. So, no one was forced to do anything. Even at the end I said I would rather stay with the people we met and not go to San Francisco again. That's definitely an important point, that everyone can do what they want, and no one is forced to do anything.

Tizian: I agree. Of course, if you spend too much time together, I don't want to say you get on each other's nerves, but of course if you always have to share a room it gets a bit difficult from time to time.

Christian: Especially because we don't know that from Germany. Here you normally don't share a room.

Tizian: But for them it is normal. Some of them live in a room with 8 people. Like in a real battery.

Antonia: Like in a youth hostel.

Tizian: You're just not used to that in Germany. But there are also many situations where you are not always together, for example, one goes to the gym and another to the beach. But especially in everyday situations, like going grocery shopping, you might have clashed, but only because no one felt like doing the grocery shopping.

Antonia: So rather disagreements, no quarrel, rather listlessness. I think it can be difficult when you live together, that is, not only live together but also share a room, and then you also share the same friends and are also in the same courses at university. And you are all four from the same study program at the FHWS; therefore, I assume that you have chosen similar or even the same courses. What was it like for you with the courses?

Tizian: We were lucky that we didn't have to choose any important courses, i.e. those that would have been taken in the normal semester, we only took our elective courses. That means we were able to choose what we wanted to do. That was very pleasant. We had all the courses together. There was also a lot of group work and I think it was also a bit difficult for the Americans with us from time to time because we simply had a different demand on the whole thing than they did. So, they were very focused and wanted good grades and for us it was more like "Oh, meeting in 5 minutes" and we were still sitting on the beach, what do we do now. But in general, it worked out very well with the courses.

Antonia: Yes, I think during the semester abroad, the being abroad part has the focus, the courses can sometimes not be your biggest focus then.

Tizian: ... of course they are not.

Antonia: You already mentioned that it was sometimes a bit difficult in term of university, when the Americans were simply invested in the topics. But how was it otherwise, did you make friends with them? Did you make friends within the courses or rather with people outside the university? How was that for you?

Christian: Yes, so friendships we have actually found pretty quickly. And that was actually our goal. On the first day we were still pretty tired from jet lag and the whole trip, but then on the second day we went straight to the beach. I also asked the cashier at the supermarket where to go to party or where to meet people. She then said that there was a street on the beach where every day are parties and there we have met many people with whom we have also done a lot outside of Santa Barbara. 

Tizian: The other two for example have immediately met two people from there on the first evening and went on a mountain hike with them the next day. Some mountains near Santa Barbara where there were also mountain lions and then the two came back and they had painted stripes under their eyes, like battle paint, and they had super strong sunburn. But they said it was super cool. So, it was also important to get to know people right from the beginning.

Antonia: Cool, that sounds like a great trip! What other leisure activities or excursions did you do? What did you do in the area? Did you also travel further in the USA?

Christian: We actually did quite a lot. Because the courses in America were also online, we were flexible. We often went into the city with people from Santa Barbara or took a boat trip or went out to have dinner. They go to brunch quite often on the weekends.

Tizian: And bottomless mimosa, that's like a champagne breakfast and you get unlimited champagne.

Antonia: Yes, I've heard that before.

Christian: Once we did a really big road trip. So, we did 2 road trips but on one of them we went to Las Vegas and then we rented a car. That was actually very funny, how was that exactly?

Tizian: Except for Christian, no one had been to California before, and we just wanted to see all the national parks. We wanted to do that in a few stops and rented a car. Christian and I went to the rental agency and rented a car. Apparently in America the employees are allowed to take the cars home after work if they want to and then we had a saleswoman who went out with us and showed us the car and then said "Please be careful, it's my baby." And we were like "yeah yeah, we'll be careful." Afterwards it happened that we drove the car off-road once and got stuck, then a Coke exploded in the car.

Christian: In Las Vegas it was of course 40 degrees in summer and we didn't think that it might not be a good idea to leave all the Coke cans in the car in the heat.

Tizian: Then we did sand dune surfing once, then there was also half a sandbox in the car. Then we drove through the Death Valley.

Christian: There the road is going downhill all the time so we had to brake the whole time and then the brakes overheated and we had to stop. It was already dark in the Death Valley but we had to wait about an hour until the brakes cooled down so that they wouldn't deform and then we could continue.

Tizian: But we actually got the whole deposit back.

Antonia: Wow, that must have cost a few tears.

Tizian: For her, yes.

Antonia: Was that also your funniest experience or are there more?

Tizian: There are definitely more. There's one funny story I can tell. There were definitely a lot of funny stories, but some of them can't be told here. One story, from this said party street, where all the fraternities are, is about Christian at some random party.

Antonia: Some random party? Nobody knows who and where?

Christian: Yes, there are always several parties next to each other, in the fraternity houses.

Tizian: At these parties, of course, they didn't want people from outside to come in. There is then the beautiful term "jump over the fence". I spoke to Christian on the phone and asked him where exactly it was. And he just said, you have to go there and there and then jump over the fence. All of a sudden, I just hear him screaming. Later he told me that there was a little gap at the bottom of the fence and apparently a skunk came through the gap and Christian kicked it so far away because he was so scared. I think this skunk is still flying over Santa Barbara today.

Antonia: But it didn't spray, did it?

Tizian: No, he kicked fast enough.

Christian: There were more people standing a bit away, and they were also yelling because of the skunk. That was pretty funny.

Antonia: Are there actually skunks in Germany?

Christian: Actually, I don't know.

Tizian: Christian is prepared in any case if one shows up.

Christian: Survival. But I also have to say, some things went wrong. For example, when the guys were in San Francisco and I was with the guys from Santa Barbara. They took me to a roof top party in L.A..

Antonia: Is that close?

Tizian: It's about 150km, but the traffic is terrible, it takes forever to get there.

Christian: We said we would take the cheapest hotel. Sure, as a German I always take the cheapest hotel. The others have then already mentioned that we have to be careful. In the end, we actually took the cheapest hotel. We were then on this roof top party and afterwards in the club and later we arrived at the hotel. That was then a hostel, but not just any hostel but a very shady one, as you know it from movies where then also very shady people are. It was also very dirty so what was there under the beds you could really hardly identify, very strange things. We then decided to sleep three in the car and have not set foot in this apartment, because it was simply inhumane. Then we wanted to be very quiet so that no one would notice that we were sleeping in the car and then I accidentally pressed the car key and then it beeped very continuously and everyone noticed because the car was also blinking. That backfired.

Antonia: Wow, not attracting attention worked out really well. Too bad. I think especially after you've been to a cool party and possibly partied some more afterwards, all you really want to do is go to bed and recover physically as well as mentally and spiritually, and then you have to sleep in the car...

Tizian: Still better than getting stabbed.

Christian: Yes, that's another thing in the USA. I had a red bandana with me, and they told me not to bring it to L.A. because there are a lot of gangs in West Hollywood and there is a lot of gang crime. That's pretty heavy. The contrast to Germany is very big here.

Antonia: Did you belong directly to a gang with your red bandana?

Christian: Luckily, I didn't even take it with me. If you get picked on stupidly on the street, you just have to ignore it and keep walking, because you never know what they have with them or what they have done. I was really glad to be back in Germany, because that can't really happen in Germany, except maybe in Frankfurt's train station district. You can't walk around outside at night either, especially as a woman, so they always take an Uber or something similar.

Antonia: Understandable! What was it like in Santa Barbara? Was it similar to L.A.? Because L.A. is so huge, what was it like in Santa Barbara? How big is that and what is it like?

Tizian: I think it was 70,000 people. Because it's up north, it was more like a posh suburb. I found out later that I think Prince Harry also lives in Santa Barbara, something like that. But you notice directly that there is a little more money in Santa Barbara. Thus, the city is also very neat and tidy. The whole thing is in a Spanish style, because in the past many settlers came there. Santa Barbara also has a really nice beach and in general it is just nicer than L.A..

Christian: We were like in a little bubble there. The contrasts between cities in the U.S. are huge. We really lived like in a little suburb.

Antonia: Sounds good. How was it with cultural differences, did you guys notice anything?

Tizian: Yes, what we remember is that in Germany we also use zodiac signs, but it's not really a topic of conversation when you're talking to people of the same age. But in America, so much emphasis is placed on it, the second sentence in a conversation is always: What is your zodiac sign? The problem is that you can't translate our zodiac signs 1 to 1 into English. We were there once at a party and Christian was talking to a girl. She asked directly "What's your zodiac?". Christian looked at me briefly and then shrugged his shoulders: In German it would be Krebs in English then probably Crabs, but that is wrong. She was totally confused, and Fabi and I could hardly contain ourselves from laughing. Since then, we've known for sure that zodiac signs are a really big thing there.

Antonia: I had a similar experience. My zodiac sign is Virgo and I also very naturally meant I was Virgin. That also caused confusion, and everyone laughed. Now I know better.

Tizian: I mean, Christian also had a pretty strong sunburn at that moment, so Crabs also fit really well.

Antonia: I hear you guys have had sunburns a lot.

Christian: Yes, basically you have to say that the weather in Santa Barbara is very different from the weather in L.A.. In L.A. we always had around 35 degrees, in Santa Barbara we had 24 degrees all the time. We often played soccer in Santa Barbara with people from there and on the day in question we played soccer for 2-3 hours and then went to the beach. At one point I wasn't feeling so well, and I laid down for a bit but when I woke up later I had a really red head. That's when I really adapted to my zodiac sign.

Tizian: It lit up like a Christmas tree! I think during our time there, each of us got at least one really bad sunburn.

Antonia: So bad sunburn in the sense of peeling skin and all that?

Tizian: Yes, exactly, as I said, Fabi had it already on the second day, which was the record. It's a bit colder there because it's right next to the ocean, but the sun is very strong and it's easy to underestimate that. You quickly look like a roast chicken.

Antonia: How was the climate otherwise? Was it always warm and sunny or did it rain sometimes?

Christian: As I said, it was consistently around 24 degrees, but in the evening it cooled down quickly and then you also needed a sweater. But overall, it was always very pleasant. I don't know if it rained at all. It was actually only sometimes foggy in the morning.

Tizian: Every now and then it drizzled a little. But that's also the phenomenon of California, when you drive towards Death Valley or Las Vegas you suddenly have 45 degrees and when you arrive home in Santa Barbara in the evening you suddenly have only 14 degrees. So, when you pack your suitcase, you have to pack everything.

Antonia: We're used to it differently here. When it's hot here in the summer, it's also very warm at night.

Christian: I couldn't sleep with the window open at night because I was actually freezing.

Antonia: Exciting. Did you notice any other differences? We've already had climate and culture, how was the university compared to the FHWS?

Tizian: I looked at the university rankings at some point and this university was ranked 55th in the world and even 8th among state universities in the U.S.. But you have to say that it always depends on the focus of the university. The focus of our university was physics and engineering. They actually had Nobel Prize winners as lecturers in these courses, which was very striking. Therefore, the focus on economics was unfortunately not very big, but that may also have been due to the fact that we were there in the summer term.

Christian: So the level was already a bit below the level of the FHWS.

Antonia: That sounds familiar. At the university I was at in Spain, the focus was on sports, although they only offered one sports program. But the extracurricular sports activities they offered were very important there. They had several Olympic gold medal winners. Because of that, the focus on economics and business administration was a little less. But it was still nice, I hope for you too. Or rather, I learned something anyway. So, next question: if you would sum up your whole time there, what would be the most important To Dos you would give someone for there. What would you recommend and what not?

Christian: Actually, just get involved with everything. Take everything with you and read up on different topics in advance, especially where you can travel and what is offered by the university. For example, we have only seen there on the spot that we can actually go to the gym for free, which you actually could not. We said we belong to the staff, then you just had to fill out a form.

Tizian: They are still waiting for Christian to come to work. You should also not chill the whole time on campus or in the apartment, because it takes you 11 hours to get there by plane that is not something you do every once and then, so you should visit and explore everything within reach and just take as much adventures with you as possible. First of all, it's cheaper than flying there again at some point and also, it's great to be able to make all the experiences and adventures together with your friends.

Christian: Definitely get to know a lot of locals.

Tizian: A tip is also: The distances in the U.S. are somewhat greater than here in Germany, so you should always think in advance how you get from A to B. Another tip: you could buy bicycles at the university. But the better tip is: don't let this bike get stolen, which unfortunately didn't work out so well for one of our friends. He bought a bike there and two weeks later it was gone.

Antonia: That's very unfortunate.

Tizian: But the bicycles have helped in any case to get from A to B.

Christian: And also again to the distances: it was said that there is a supermarket nearby, but we walked more than half an hour to get there. You could also take the bus, we learned later. The distances are really different than we are used to. If we had considered this beforehand, we might have found a better solution, for example renting a car for the three months.

Antonia: You already told us about your road trips, how is it to rent a car there, is it easy? Even if you are not American? And did you also fly within the USA?

Tizian: At that time we even searched through a German program, I think it was booking.com, and through that you could rent the cars directly. But just like here, we unfortunately had to pay a young driver fee. So you don't pay the normal price but something on top because you are under 25 years old. This costs about the same as renting the car and makes the whole thing very expensive. But there are no other obstacles, you just have to apply for an international driver's license.

Christian: We did that in advance as well. We did our research and we all applied for an International Driver's License.

Tizian: Exactly, and you have to have a credit card with you to pay the deposit for the car. What was a bit difficult was the staff at the car rental agencies. They often had the attitude: If I don't come today, I'll come tomorrow. Once we were there, rented a car for a day and the guy from the rental came just 3 hours late with a McDonalds cup in his hand and then just said: Yes sorry he was in a traffic jam. That can also happen to you, but normally everything works out.

Antonia: You have just mentioned the subject of money, how is it there? You don't pay with euros but with dollars, did you exchange the money here or there? Can you pay with an EC card? Probably not.

Christian: Basically, I paid with my German credit card, because the money is automatically converted. And in addition, I exchanged some money here to take with me for the beginning, because you never know how it is there. But there it is really very relaxed; you can pay a lot online. We didn't really need cash at all, except in Las Vegas. There we have then withdrawn money, for really unsightly conversion fees, if I remember correctly there were added almost 20% fees on top. Overall, we did not need any cash, only at the gaming table in Las Vegas.

Tizian: But you always had 3% conversion fees every time you paid with the credit card. What is also important to know: this year the exchange rate has changed strongly. Now it is 20% more expensive than when we were there in 2021.

Christian: We went out to eat 3 or 4 times and it always cost around 30€ per person, even though they weren't fancy restaurants. If that would have been converted now 1 to 1, it would have been excessively overpriced.

Tizian: You always had in mind 100 dollars are 80 € and so you could always quickly calculate the costs in euro in your head and it never seemed to expensive, but now with 20% more it is really expensive.

Antonia: Wow. Especially when you come home after the semester abroad and you take a look at your account balance and realize: Yeah ok exciting.

Tizian: There was always one day a month when the credit card bill came and that was not a happy day for us.

Antonia: That’s what I thought, but in retrospect was it worth spending so much money there or are there moments now when you think, yeah ok there and then it wouldn't have been necessary to spend so much money?

Christian: Actually I don't regret any of it. Of course, sometimes you wonder if it was all necessary, but I thought everything we did was good. I also really wanted to shoot once, that also costed 120 dollars, but it was worth it. I even got to shoot 3 different guns. Bottom line, every experience you only get once, especially now at this age and out of college. I have traveled to California before and that was a totally different experience. I told myself this time, I'm going to enjoy it and I'll get the money back somehow afterwards.

Antonia: I think especially now you are at the right age to make such experiences. Sure, you were 18 and practically an adult, but you weren't really mature. Meanwhile, even at the time you were in the U.S., you were 21 years old, you were legally allowed to drink alcohol there, you were mature enough to make your own decisions and deal with problems on your own and so on. Then of course it's a big difference if you're a teenager or 35 years old.

Tizian: You often only realize it later. Often you think to yourself in passing, was it really necessary to spend so much money yesterday or to pay 90€ for the club in Las Vegas but then in retrospect, the longer it's been, the more you appreciate it and are happy about the memory and the experience, that's priceless.

Christian: I also always enjoy seeing the pictures and videos of our time there and the people we met there. I would do it all over again!

Antonia: Are you still in contact with your friends there?

Christian: We still had contact for quite a long time, I think until February, but then unfortunately we had less and less contact. But now we still send each other memes or snaps from time to time.

Antonia: Yes, I also find it difficult to keep in touch at such a great distance. You always question what is worth telling now or do I write to the person just to know what they are doing, is it worth it at all? It's a pity, of course, but the main thing is that you still have each other, I mean Fabi, David, Tizi and Christian, and you're all still studying together.

Tizian: Yes exactly, we still do a lot together here.

Antonia: In fact, I never see you, not a single one of you 4. What are your majors?

Christian: BFI and sales marketing.

Antonia: I don't have that.

Tizian: I have the very popular focus on economics (VWL) and Financial Services on Thursday. But I think you have Wednesday and Friday, right?

Christian: Yes, there is no overlap. We have Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tizian: Then you can at least go to Katze on Mondays.

Antonia: Uh yes, no. I do not party anymore as I'm writing my bachelor thesis at the moment.

Tizian: Fair enough, we accept that.

Antonia: Okay, so back to the topic. If you had to describe your semester abroad in 3 words, what would they be and why?

Tizian: Definitely, as we just mentioned: cost-intensive. Experiential. And simply very good intercultural exchange. Would you agree?

Christian: Yes!

Antonia: Were the people you met there all Americans or were they also international students?

Tizian: They were Americans, but almost all of them had an international background. But we also met Germans, one studied in St. Gallen and the other in Frankfurt. We met them right at the beginning and they often took us with them and showed us everything, but otherwise it was really only Americans.

Christian: But most of them didn't come from California, but from all kinds of states.

Tizian: Exactly, it was sometimes very difficult with the dialect.

Antonia: Is it really the case that you can't understand what they're saying?

Tizian: It depends, especially when they know that you are not from America, they make an effort when they talk, so that we have a chance to understand them. But I remember once we had a conversation with a guy from Alabama and I really didn't understand anything. But in general it worked. With our International Management English, we actually got by just fine.

Antonia: Did your English improve there?

Christian: Yes, especially the speaking. Especially because of Corona, we haven't had many opportunities to speak English lately. Sure, through online lectures and so on, you always heard and read a lot of English, but opportunities to speak were very rare. And there in the U.S. we could really speak a lot.

Tizian: I once came up with a theory. When you go partying your English gets better and better in the beginning, but there's a turning point, from then on it decreases rapidly. But then it got better over time.

Antonia: Sounds very familiar to me. I think everyone has experienced that. When you have the self-confidence and think you speak super good English until you realize, well I'm missing 100 words and I can't even form a sentence and it doesn't make any sense what I said.

Tizian: Yes, especially if you then can no longer complete what you actually wanted to say and they look at you really confused and then it is actually always rather an uncomfortable situation.

Christian: What I found very funny was when you told them something and they just didn't even listen to you. I think they often had a very short attention span. Then you told them something, at some point you realized that they weren't listening, and then we just kept talking in German.

Tizian: But sometimes small language mistakes happened. For example, we were on the beach and Christian looked out at the water and suddenly asked: Are there actually seagurks here? Translate that into German.

Antonia: Sea cucumbers.

Tizian: Correct, but they looked at us and were totally confused: what are seagurks? Of course, that also happened sometimes, but then we could always laugh about it.

Antonia: Yes, that's very entertaining.

Christian: I think they found us funny.

Tizian: I don't know.

Christian: Maybe they just laughed out of pity.

Tizian: Exactly, out of politeness.

Antonia: If you would go abroad again now, would you do anything differently?

Tizian: Yeah, I don't think I would go back to Summer Term because then there's really not as much going on as during the rest of the year, not like Spring or Fall Quarter when really the whole campus is crowded. There's just more going on. And if we had known earlier, we could have maybe picked a better location to live. Closer to the beach road. Fabi had picked out a few apartments close to that street at the beach back then, but for the most part they were always just one room with a kitchen and no furniture, we would have had to buy them all new there. That wasn't an option. So, with more start-up time, we might have done it differently.

Christian: Yeah, I would also say that Spring Quarter is better. Because we didn't actually see the inside of the university. We went to the library and once I took a psychology test in the university because I got 10€ for it, but that was it.

Tizian: That was just due to Corona and the Summerterm.

Antonia: That's a big question. Sure, there's less going on in the Summerterm, but it also costs less. Is it worth it paying more to go in Spring or Fall Quarter?

Christian: I would say Summerterm.

Tizian: No, I would recommend to do the Spring Quarter. Fly there earlier so that you can still take the spring break, then it is worth it. There is something called Deltopia. It is known all over the USA. It on for 3 days on which is celebrated night and day. Netflix even wants to film a movie there, similar to project X. There is a party in every house. So, I would say Springbreak and then Spring Quarter and then it is ok to pay more.

Antonia: Ok, good tip. Did you learn anything for yourselves from this semester abroad?

Tizian: I wouldn't say that we learned anything specifically for ourselves, but you simply grew as a person. Of course, you also live alone in Germany during your studies, but you are always in your own protected environment, I would say. During the semester abroad you are exposed to a completely new situation, and I think it is very important for the development of your personality to have such experiences.

Christian: Yes, I agree with you.

Antonia: Sounds good. Final question, on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your semester abroad?

Christian: I would definitely say 9 or 10.

Tizian: I would definitely deduct something because of Corona, but that was nothing the university’s fault.

Christian: Yes, but especially because of Corona we also had advantages. Because everything was online, we were able to travel a lot and I did some of the mid-terms in Starbucks on the way.

Tizian: Yes, we were on the way home from one of our road trips and Christian said we had to be at the Starbucks in Las Vegas at 5 p.m., because he needed the Internet to take the exam.

Antonia: That's a motivated student. That's what we like to see.

Tizian: Yes, I think we can agree on 9 out of 10.

Antonia: Nice! Do the other two guys see it that way, too? Would they agree with everything you've said here today or are there any differences in perception?

Christian: Of course, we have all consulted our semester abroad before doing this episode of the podcast and the guys see it as just as great an experience as we do.

Tizian: Exactly, the stories and experiences that will accompany us for a lifetime.

Antonia: Nice! I would like to give you the chance to tell us for a few minutes what else is on your mind! I can see that you have a lot of good memories and you even made notes for today. Is there any other story you would like to share with us?

Tizian: Not really. But I would like to encourage people, if the UAS offer doesn't appeal to them, to just try being a free mover. I always had the feeling in the first semester: Oh no, you're a free mover and you're totally on your own and it's not going to work out. And that's only partly true, especially if you do it together with an organization. I would therefore recommend everyone to inform themselves externally. Even if you choose the offer of the UAS you should be aware that you have many options, even beyond the offer of the UAS. Do you have another funny story you would like to tell?

Christian: Yes. We were in Las Vegas and were all together in the club first but then we all lost each other. So, all 4 of us were scattered around Las Vegas, sometimes several kilometers away.

Tizian: I knew that Christian and Fabi left the club to go to the casino. I think on the trip a small gambling addiction developed with the two.

Christian: Yes, we were in the mood for roulette that night and had already said from the beginning that we didn't want to stay too long in the club to then go to Ceasars Palace.

Tizian: Yes, and you have to remember that the entrance fee is 100 dollars. In any case, the two were then gone and David was also at some point just gone. It was 4 o'clock in the morning and I was alone in the club in Las Vegas and then Fabi wrote me that I should call David. Or did you call him?

Christian: I don't remember. But Fabi and I were definitely still playing roulette.

Tizian: Then Christian called David and he just said: Christian, in which casino am I?

Christian: Exactly, and then we were really in 3 different casinos.

Tizian: Fabi and Christian were at Ceasars Palace, I think I was at MGM and David was at the Paris.

Christian: Then it was already 5 o'clock and I offered to get the car and pick up everyone. Then we went to McDonalds and then home.

Tizian: That was a nice reunion, kind of like in the movie Hangover.

Christian: And then we arrived at the hotel sometime between 6 and 7 in the morning.

Antonia: There must be such nights too!

Christian: Yes definitely. It was actually just planned to go to the club and then it just escalated a bit.

Antonia: But it's also cool when you're in a place where you have the chance to deviate from your plan, when you see something and can say hey I'm up for that too.

Tizian: Definitely, it's just expensive.

Christian: It just doesn't work if one person thinks you have to do everything together, everyone should have the chance to do what they want, like Fabi and I, we wanted to go to the casino and we went to the casino.

Antonia: Yes, it is also important that you determine in advance how you stand to each other and how you approach the things, not that in the end one feels neglected or you approach the thing with other expectations.

Christian: We sat down together beforehand in Germany and discussed where we were going to go on our road trip and what everyone wanted to do and how we could put it all together. And then we also had the chance to do everything that everybody wanted to do. So, a lot of organizing in advance.

Antonia: That sounds good! I'm done with my questions so far, if you have nothing more to tell we would be done for today.

Christian + Tizian: Thank you very much for the invitation.

Antonia: I was glad that you were here. It was very funny and informative. For all of you who listened, a big tip is to inform yourselves about Free Moving. Thanks for listening and see you next time. Bye bye.

 

Christian + Tizian: Ciao.