During the Summer Session II 2018 I have at the UCI the course “Computer System Architecture” and the ESL course “Reading and Academic Vocabulary” occupied. According to abbreviationfinder, UCI stands for University of California Irvine.
Arrivals
After landing in Los Angeles almost two hours late at 7 p. m. , I was very happy that the Summer Session staff was still waiting for me at the airport, even though the pick-up time was only valid until 6 p. m. Then we were driven to the Arroyo Vista Community Center, where we received the key cards and keys for the respective accommodation. The next day we had an information event at which the most important things were explained to us and the most important things were shown on campus.
Accommodation and catering
Arroyo Vista is a neighborhood in which all On Campus Summer Session participants are accommodated. It’s really nice there and right next to it is the ARC (Anteater Recreation Center) with a pool, gym and various sports fields that you can use for free as a University of California Irvine student.
The rooms are very spartan with just one bed, table, chair and one cupboard per student. It was positive that there was free WiFi in the room and almost everywhere on campus. In summer Irvine gets very warm and unfortunately there was no air conditioning, so I bought a small fan for just under $ 20.
Unfortunately the kitchen wasn’t kept clean and if you needed dishes you had to wash them first because most of the other roommates (mostly Asians) didn’t wash their dishes after using them. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated case, but was the case in practically every accommodation. However, there are more than enough places to eat around the campus. And near Arroyo Vista (10 minutes on foot) is the Campus Plaza with various restaurants and a supermarket. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the actual campus, of course there is also a campus-owned bus line, but there is a charge to use it. Many bought a skateboard at the beginning of the summer session because the campus is huge and is basically a small town in itself.
Courses
The ESL “Reading and Academic Vocabulary” course was very easy, if not too easy, and is actually intended for the many mostly Asian-born UCI students who start their studies the following fall. However, this made it possible to concentrate on the other, more demanding course. And since I had to take at least 6 units for my student visa and most courses are 4 units, I chose this 2 unit ESL course. For the course it was necessary to buy or borrow a book. Borrowing cost me about $ 30 for a session. Proof of performance was provided through various smaller homework, a midterm, a final and a short presentation.
The Computer Science course, Computer System Architecture, was quite demanding at the same time but also interesting and is also recommended for electrical engineering students. The proof of achievement was provided with four rather complex graded homework and two midterms. However, there was no final exam which meant I could still enjoy the last few days in California. Others still had exams on the penultimate day of the session and had to fly home the next day. There were no additional costs for books for this course, as the professor provided the most important documents digitally.
Leisure
The International Office offers many great excursions throughout the session, led by professional tour guides. The two larger trips to San Francisco / Yosemite and Las Vegas / Grand Canyon are particularly recommended. Unfortunately we were unable to visit Yosemite National Park due to the forest fires. If you want to organize excursions yourself, I recommend using Uber or Lyft, so you can get from A to B very cheaply and quickly. If you can fill up a car, you can get from Irvine to Anaheim for around $ 10 per person without any problems, where various amusement parks such as Disneyland or the LA Angels baseball stadium are located.
Conclusion
I’m glad I decided to do a summer session at University of California Irvine. And thanks to the support of MicroEDU , it was no problem to register for the summer session and you could always rely on the support of MicroEDU.
I learned a lot and was able to study abroad and experience the college atmosphere without having to forego courses at my home university. Although the school was quite intense due to the tight time frame, afterwards you mainly remember the great time you had with friends from all over the world.
