Susanne's Blog

I’m in the middle of exam week, but I’m luckily already more than halfway through. I finished one of my online classes last weekend, and two of my other classes yesterday. One more exam tomorrow, and then I need to take the exam for my other online class before Friday. And then I’m already done! So far it went really well. =)

As I already told you, on Friday is also the international student orientation at CSUSM. I hope I will be able to tell you how it went. 

I was actually at CSUSM last week, to clarify some things and to hand in my Business Status Application. As you know, I am a business administration major, and even though I have been accepted to CSUSM, I am not in business status there yet. That means that I can’t take any upper division business classes over there. The reason for that is that I didn’t have all of my prerequisite business classes completed when I applied. Once I am done with all my exams this fall semester, I will be able to apply for business status though. To expedite the process a bit I am sending my confirmed grades over there as soon as I get them, so that I will be able to enroll in those classes. 

Anyways, the campus is really nice, very modern (the university is only 22 years old), and compact, meaning that you can easily walk from one end of the campus to the other (try to do that at SDSU!). Everybody I talked to was very helpful, and able to give me all the information I needed.

One of them is: It is pretty much impossible to transfer from CSU to CSU. This might be helpful information for you if, for whatever reason, you want to transfer between CSUs. For example, you have to take all of your upper division general education classes at the CSU you want to graduate from. Business classes are only potentially transferable. For example, I found out that CSU Fullerton won’t accept ANY classes from CSU San Marcos, while CSU San Marcos accepts at least two classes from CSU Fullerton. If you need any more information about this, email me, I will be happy to try and help you. 

Now it’s time to do some studying for my economics exam tomorrow! I can’t believe this semester is already over, and that it will be my last semester at MiraCosta. I really enjoyed my time here, and I can honestly recommend this college to anyone.  

Just a little update about my transfer plans… 

The dates for the international student orientation at CSU San Marcos became finally available. I signed up for December 16, which is next week! I will be meeting many other international students, and we will register for classes. I already picked out a few general education upper division classes that sound interesting to me. I am a little worried because classes fill up quickly, and some of them are already waitlisted. But next week I will know more! I will let you know how everything goes!

Here is a video I made with some of my favorite places to study!

I like to study in the MiraCosta library because they have so many books you can chose from to help you study! Other places at MiraCosta include the area by the fountain, or around the clock tower on a nice day, and the Math lab. If I just have to read a textbook, I sometimes like to do that at the beach. =) And sometimes I just grab all my stuff and go to the coffee shop…

  Enjoy!!

It’s official! I will transfer to California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) next semester to get my bachelor’s degree. I know other bloggers have already written about how to transfer, but I just wanted to share some of my personal experience with you.

Transferring is a really easy process, as long as you make sure you take all the classes that you need. The most important ones are English and math classes. Besides that you need to take various General Education classes, which your counselor will help you figure out. You also need to take certain classes for your major, which are often called major preparation classes and usually depend on the university you want to go to. Again, your counselor will help you determine which classes you need. Once you have all those classes, you will be able to start with upper division classes (3rd and 4th year classes) at your university.

My major is business administration, and after this fall semester I will finally have completed all the classes that CSUSM requires. Since I went to college in Denmark and took some classes there a few years ago, I had already applied to CSUSM for the fall semester of this year, hoping that I could transfer some of the classes I had in Denmark. They accepted me, even though I was missing some major preparation classes. However, I wasn’t able to transfer classes from Denmark, so I would not have been able to take any upper division business classes. I decided to stay at MiraCosta and complete the classes I need here, it’s much cheaper and I am already familiar with MiraCosta. The point I am trying to make is that you can get accepted even if you have not completed all classes, but you might not be able to take upper division classes in you major. You would have to take lower division classes, which you can also take at MiraCosta, so it is often more useful to just complete everything here. I hope that makes sense.

Another really important thing to do is to find out the application periods of the university you want to attend. You probably have to apply even though you still have some classes in process or planned. The application to CSUSM was easy; I filled out an online form, submitted a financial affidavit, and transcripts from all the schools I have attended. Shortly after, I received a letter that told me I have been accepted! 

Now I needed to take the letter to the International Student Office at MiraCosta, to release my I-20 (an important part of the visa) to CSUSM so that my visa is up-to-date and shows the correct school I am going to. Then I needed to contact the international advisor at CSUSM to sign up for orientation, and now I just need to wait. =)

So you see, it’s really not that complicated! I will definitely miss MiraCosta, but I am also super excited! 

• Mexico Viejo! 
  • Definitely my favorite Mexican food place. You get huge burritos for a very reasonable price, and if you go there often enough, you might get lucky and get the frequent burrito discount ;)
• Chipotle
  • Another favorite, but unfortunately a little pricy. Delicious, huge burritos and bowls
• Colima’s
  • In Oceanside downtown, my go-to place when I’m in that area

• Subway
  • You are probably already familiar with Subway, I like it because you get a pretty decent sandwich for a very fair price
• Submarina
  • Indefinitely better than Subway, but of course also more expensive. Get the ATC sandwich; it comes with lots of avocado!
• Gandalfos
  • One of my more recent discoveries, hidden in a business park in Oceanside, of Rancho Del Oro. Great New York sandwiches, and the salads look good too (haven’t had a salad there yet) 

Asian Food

• Panda Express
  • The American version of Asian Food, I like to eat it every now and then, their Orange Chicken is really good!
• Pick up Stix
  • I somewhat prefer it to Panda Express; everything I have tried there so far was yummy, although my favorite is probably the house beef!

We are already seven weeks into the fall semester so life is getting really busy for us students! Midterm exams are coming up, along with projects, and papers. Sounds exhausting, but I actually really enjoy some of these projects. For example, for my Sociology class, we have to make a naturalistic observation, which means that we go to some place, for example a coffee shop, to observe people and their behavior, and then evaluate the results. People watching is often fun! We have to write a paper for my business law class, which didn’t excite me at all first. But then I saw that some of our options included to interview professionals in the legal field (such as lawyers or judges) or to attend a court proceeding. Writing about some practical experience definitely sounds more appealing than just doing some internet and book research!

As far as midterms go, I already had a few exams that went very well, but I have more coming up. Luckily, I feel pretty prepared and can start thinking about what to do for Halloween now! 

Here is my last post in my buying-a-car series; it’s all about buying a car private party, which can save you a lot of money!

• Private party means that you buy the car directly from its owner. You might get really lucky with buying a car from a private party, but you also risk making the worst purchase of your life, depending on how much you know about cars. There are several websites, such as craigslist.org, or autotrader.com, where you can find thousands and thousands of used cars. You have to be willing to do some driving, because the best cars are often not right around the corner. When you find a car that interests you, do some research before you go see it! Check out Kelley Blue Book to price it, look up some reviews to see what other people say about the car, what kind of problems they had, etc. When you set up a time to see the car, have a price in mind that you are willing to pay if the car is in a good condition. Then, when you look at the car, there are several things you should check out:

• • Look under the hood
    • Does everything look clean?
    •  Check the oil – is it clean and is there enough oil in it?
  • Look underneath the car
    • Do you see any oily or liquid blue/greenish spots? If so, it probably leaks oil or engine coolant and you should go home without the car!
  • Check out if the body of the car looks straight
    • Does everything line up? If not, it might have been in an accident
  • Check out of there are any parts that are slightly different in color
    • Differences in color most likely show that parts of the car have been repainted, which also could potentially mean that it has been in an accident (but not necessarily)
  • And of course look for dents and scratches; they are often a good negotiating point!

• Now it’s time to test-drive the car! Make sure the brakes work fine, the car doesn’t pull to the left or right, it doesn’t make any funny noises, and overall drives smoothly. If everything feels good to you and you are comfortable in the car, the car might be a good buy for you! Don’t forget to negotiate; it’s part of buying a car private party!

I hope I could help you a little and make the car buying process a little easier for you. It often takes some time to find a good car, don’t become desperate if you don’t find one right away. Buying a car usually involves a lot of money, so make sure you are comfortable with the purchase! If you have any other questions or need help, feel free to contact me.

Here is another option for you to find the right car that will safely get your around here in California:

• This is what I call “private dealerships”: small, often family-run businesses that only have a few cars at a time, and are overall very “personal.” The advantages here are that they usually don’t charge you the retail price, more like private party or in between those two. Since you buy it from a business, you have legal recourse if the car has been misrepresented to you, so you know that you will get a car that doesn’t have any major problems. You might or might not get some warranty, and the dealership will also take care of all the paperwork for you. One example of such a dealership is “Amtek Auto Group” in Carlsbad, a family-run, small business. If they don’t have the car you want, they will even find it for you. Among all the big brand dealerships with a huge car lot, the small ones are rather hard to find, but they are there. I personally like those small dealerships; it’s a safe and not so pricey way to buy a good car, especially if you don’t know too much about cars. If you want to know more about private dealerships, feel free to send me an email or comment on this post. I would love to help you because I know how difficult it can be to find a decent car, and how troublesome it is if you buy the wrong one.

Now there is a third option, buying a car from private party, which might be a good opportunity for you if you are experienced with cars or know someone who is. More in my next post, stay tuned!

• A number of big dealerships can be found in Carlsbad’s “Car Country”, such as Hoehn Honda, Infiniti, or Audi, North County Hyundai, Bob Baker Mazda, etc. There are also several bigger dealerships along Coast Highway in Oceanside or in Vista. There are dealerships with literally all the car brands you can imagine in this area. You will most likely find the car you want there, but you have to be willing to pay the price. Most of the cars are new or newer, about one to two years old, but sometimes they also have some used cars that are several years old. On the positive side, you probably will get some warranty on your car, you can be fairly sure that you get a decent car, and you won’t have to go to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to get your car registered. I personally wouldn’t buy a car from one of those dealerships, because the salesmen often try really hard to talk you into buying their cars, which I find annoying, and I think they overcharge you. But if you don’t mind paying a little extra, it might be a good option for you.

  

A great thing about California is its huge area. My home country, Germany, easily fits into California. That makes it very diverse, and allows you to travel to the most different places without even leaving the state. Here, in Oceanside, the beach is right in front of you with lots and lots of palm trees, but it doesn’t take more than a 1-2 hour drive east to be in a completely different world – the desert. Endless sand, few or no plants, and heat basically make up the desert. A 2-hour drive northeast from Oceanside however, is very different again as it brings you into the mountains. 

This week, my boyfriend and I drove up into those mountains, to Lake Arrowhead, a private freshwater lake surrounded by thousands of pine trees. The weather was amazing, we didn’t see a single cloud, it was very warm with a little breeze, and luckily the water had a decent temperature too, unlike the usually chilly ocean. We had such a great time up there; I could have easily stayed longer.

Here are some of my favorite moments of our trip to Lake Arrowhead:

• Taking the boat to the other side of the lake to have breakfast
• Going waterskiing, wakeboarding, and air-chairing (a really weird watersport tool that is hard to describe)
• Having lunch in the boat somewhere on the lake
• Watching a dog learning how to climb up a ladder to get out of the water (I wish I had pictures of that!)
• Kayaking around a little
• Relaxing and sunbathing on the dock

My boyfriend on an air-chair!

When you are in California, you should definitely go to Lake Arrowhead, or the a little better-known and public Big Bear Lake, which is just around 45 minutes away from Lake Arrowhead. There are so many things to do, and a freshwater lake is sometimes are nice change to the salty ocean. As much as I love the ocean, I had an amazing time at the lake and can only recommend you to go there!