International Exchange Report University of California, Irvine (USA) 2015 Winter & 2015 Spring University of California is a large university system with 10 campuses in the U.S. state of California, and all of them have a very good ranking around the world. The Cirst campus, Berkeley, was founded in 1868 while the newest campus, Merced, opened in autumn 2005. I was honoured to be taken by University of California, Irvine, which is one of those excellent campuses with 50 years history just like our university. Applying Exchange Since University of California has 10 campuses, exchange students are not allowed to choose their desired campus. Instead, you are allowed to choose 3 out of 10 campuses, and the UC system will decide which one you go. Preparation There are numerous apartments within the campus, and you can Cind their website through UCEAP website. The period of leasing contract is one year, and $400 (U.S. Dollar) cancellation fee is applied when you move out before the end of the contract, even you complete your exchange. In order to avoid this, you can either Cind a student to replace your contract or live off campus. The accommodation fee is quite expensive comparing to here in Hamilton, a room usually costs $600 -­‐ $1000 monthly. In addition, the pins on the plug are totally different from here, therefore, you do want to bring an adapter with you (and extension leads) if you use electronic devices bought in New Zealand. The weather is pretty good over there. They have warm winter, and less then 15 rains over the year (if you are staying in Los Angeles, San Diago or Irvine). Most of the days are clear, even if it is cloudy in the morning sometimes. The measure system is different too. They use gallons instead of litres, inches and feet instead of metres, pounds instead of kilograms and fahrenheit instead of celsius degree. You’d better be prepared to do the math in your mind. Cars are cheaper than here, both brand new and used. But parking fee is charged if you want to park your car on campus. You do need to give tips in a restaurant but not for fast food. Usually, tips are 15% of your total bill. Enrol Classes http://www.reg.uci.edu/ is used to check the schedule of classes and a lot of information you need during the study period. When you enrol classes in UCI, you want to Cind all classes you want to take, check the prerequisites of the classes. Then, you need to email your faculty to get the access code for enrolment. Since the entry for each class is limited, you want to enrol the classes as soon as you can. Study & Life Quarter system is used in University of California, Irvine and few other campuses. This means that you only have 10 instruction weeks without any break. Enrolling 12 units is the minimum requirement of your visa, so, you have at least 3 classes for each quarter. You can enrol more classes if you want, but the workload can be really heavy, if you don’t manage your time efCiciently. All textbook can be bought in ‘The Hill’ book store. They also have used books available, and you can sell your textbook back to the book store at the end of the quarter. If you are using iPhone, there are two useful apps, Anteater Express and ZOT Finder. Anteater Express have all the information for shuttle buses including real time map. ZOT Finder will lead you to the buildings of your classes, it is really helpful if you are new around there. Food courts can be found everywhere, and the price is reasonable. There are also meal plans that you can buy and limited to use at few food courts (buffet). But I would not recommend them since they are terrible at most time. Crossing the Watson Bridge, there is University Town Centre. There are two restaurant that I strongly recommend you to go, In & Out and Blaze Pizza. In & Out has the cheapest and the tastiest burgers (don’t forget asking for grilled onion). Blaze Pizza is a ‘Subway’ style pizza restaurant, and you can ‘build your own’ pizza with all ingredients they have, and it is only $7.50 (excluding tax). If you want to live on campus, internet access is free, but you do need to buy a router. For mobile phone provider, I recommend AT&T. Basically all providers offer similar price, but T-­‐
Mobile has really bad signal at a lot of places. If you are a body builder, you are coming to the right place. UCI have a perfect gym called ARC, and it is free to all students. Lastly, amazon.com is your friend. Traveling around United States After the exchange program, there is a 30-­‐day grace period. You can travel around United States if you are not urgent to come back. But even if you don't go to other states, there are quite a few places to go around California, Hollywood, Disney Land, Sea World, Hearst Castle, Las Vegas…… And they are not far away from Irvine (5 hours drive at most). If you are going to Hollywood, Disney Land or Sea World, you can buy the ticket at university, and it is much cheaper than the original price (I am not sure actually, I went there directly, and a friend of mine told me this right after I came back). All in all, not matter where you go, the exchange will be a wonderful experience and you will deCinitely like it. Next few pages contain pictures that I took during the exchange period in University of California, Irvine. Hope you have a good time during your exchange. Best Wishes, Ziqi Wang Vista Del Compo Norte (On Compus)
Vista Del Compo Norte (On Compus)
Red Robbin (Irvine)
ARC (UCI)
Gina's Pizza (Irvine)
Eureka (Irvine)
Sea world (San Diago)
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
Las Vegas
TED Talk (UCI)
UCI
Universal Studio (Orlando)
Disney (Orlando)
Universal Studio (Orlando)
Miami
Washington DC
Cheesecake Factory (Los Angeles)