Where did I live in Boston

I chose the Boston University dormitory. The pictures on the internet looked convincing. In the end, I found that the accommodation was very dirty, neglected and relatively expensive. There was still no choice for my year and all international students had to stay in Danielsen Hall. That’s why you didn’t meet Americans there. I mostly only used the accommodation as an overnight stay and quickly looked for alternatives for studying and spending my free time. The key benefit of Danielsen Hall, however, was that it was right between downtown Boston and the campus. So everything was within walking distance for me. I rarely had to choose public transport, such as the tram, and this saved costs. Find more review on Boston University on existingcountries.

The catering, summarized in a “Dining Plan”, was expensive but absolutely recommendable. The food corresponded to restaurant quality, was varied and balanced. I chose the 14 meal plan. With it I could eat twice a day. I never reached the limit of my limits because you can eat as much as you want for a meal. I often took my study materials with me to the Dining Hall in order to study there at the same time. I found the two meals a day more than sufficient. The “Unlimited Plan” would have been unnecessary even for me (as a very good eater).

Life in Boston and my tips

As soon as I arrived in Boston, I felt extremely comfortable there. You can quickly find the orientation you need and have the impression that everything is very close together in Boston. I was able to do without the tram very often.

You should definitely take part in the orientation week and the early semester offers. This gave me a lot of contacts. From the first acquaintances, numerous friendships developed in the end. The initial phase was extremely important for my further stay.

Furthermore, the BU offers varied sports courses which, in my opinion, offer a very good opportunity to make contact with Americans. I chose a ballroom dance course because I have already competed in many dance tournaments in Germany. This also gave me access to the BU Ballroom dance team, where I made many new friends, who also invited me into their families and went on many excursions with me. It was through my American dance friends that I got to know English and American culture really fluently. I was only able to gain a lot of customs and information thanks to my American friends. That is why I recommend that you use your free time abroad, socialize with Americans and focus on making new friends. This experience made my semester abroad an unforgettable experience and contributed to the fact that I rate my studies abroad as successful.

Diploma

I would not like to miss my semester abroad in my life due to the numerous experiences. I can recommend every student to spend at least one semester abroad.
The excellent and detailed advice from “MicroEDU.com” strengthened my decision to go to the BU and made the application process much easier.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the DAAD from the bottom of my heart for making my study semester in the USA possible with their generous support.
If you have any questions, I am very happy to help anyone interested in the BU.

I would also like to share my experiences of the semester abroad at the BU with you. All in all, it was an unforgettable semester, but I think that applies to every semester abroad 🙂

That is why I am only going to tell you about a few peculiarities. First and foremost, as an exchange student in the BU global program, you are a student at Metropolitan College. This is the college for extra-occupational studies – lectures are held almost exclusively in the evening. This has a particularly positive effect if you want to discover the country on the weekend. Boston’s location on the east coast is simply excellent and has good infrastructure. There are, for example, cheap flights to Washington and the buses (eg megabus and boltbus) are equipped with internet, super cheap if you book early and you are in 4 hours in New York and in 9 hours in Montreal (greyhound). The city also has a lot to offer historically and culturally, but above all the university.

The disadvantage of the Metropolitan College is definitely that 75% of the courses are international students and you don’t have that much contact with American students just through the lectures. On the other hand, you have a really international semester this way and you learn a lot in dealing with other nationalities, especially when working in groups. So initiative is required if you want to have “real Americans” around you. The many offers for student groups, sports and other events alone make you more stressed than boring. I can only recommend reading the university’s daily newsletter. There you will find all the events of the day. I can especially recommend “Coffee and Conversation with the Dean” on Friday afternoon in the George Sherman Union, one of the central buildings of the BU. In the two-hour discussions, topics from the current daily press are discussed. The Dean of Students, the mouthpiece of the students, who always has an open ear for the students’ concerns, is excellent at provoking controversial discussions and thus gets an insight into American thought patterns in a very simple way.

Now to my living situation. I have decided to look for a place to stay on site myself. This turned out to be more complicated than I expected. You have to know that on 01.09. every year all leases are actually concluded and everyone signs a new 12-month lease. But now we have only been there for about 5 months. As a result, you either have to be very skilled at negotiating, have very low requirements for the room, or turn to a broker. The university also has its own broker – Rental Property Management (can be found on the homepage). Unfortunately, the contacts at BU global are not allowed to advertise this, as the rooms are actually only rented to master’s students. I was lucky and came across a nice single room in an apartment for 7 people in a few detours – since there was a certain amount of vacancy, they also accommodated me with the price. In this case, however, the economic crisis certainly benefited us, so this tip is no guarantee for the following semesters. craigslist and the other free rental portals weren’t particularly helpful in my case. In terms of food, I mostly cooked my own food, although I can only warmly recommend the Dining Hall. For example, there is a plan that calculates around 3 meals a week and if you have used them all, you can still eat there regularly with convenience points. The food itself was also a lot healthier than I expected – an absolute plus.

Before you decide on the lectures, I would recommend that you coordinate the lectures with your home university, to what extent it recognizes different courses. At my university, strict standards were used to measure things up, so that I get very little recognition. However, you can also swap lectures on site, provided there are still free places available. The number of places is usually determined according to the upcoming group work. I can say one thing in retrospect, even if five lectures somehow doesn’t sound like much for German standards, it really doesn’t get boring. I don’t think I’ve ever written so many essays either. But don’t panic, everything is possible.

So, everyone who can live with the fact that he is not a normal full-time student and who is driven by action will certainly experience an adventurous and varied semester in Boston.