Student Evaluation Form. Please provide an estimate on how much you spent on your exchange (in your host country s currency).

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1 Vic OE Student Evaluation Form A. Student Information Degree(s) enrolled in at VUW BA Major(s) POLSCI Exchange Institution UCLA VUW Trimester(s) and Year of Exchange FALL 2011 SPRING 2012 B. Finances Please provide an estimate on how much you spent on your exchange (in your host country s currency). Food & personal spending Accommodation Return Airfare Local Travel Books, misc. levies (e.g. student association) Visa Insurance 15000NZD for personal spending including domestic travel 10200USD including 14p meal plan 1200NZD 500USD (I didn t buy most of my textbooks, but I was a member of the UCLA boxing team) 400NZD 1260USD UCLA and 800NZD SCTI Total = 31,300NZD (using 0.78 FOREX rate) How did your financial expenses compare to what you originally expected to spend? I saved up about 30,000NZD in total and spent pretty much all of it on insurance, flights, accommodation, food and other administrative items. Accommodation was the largest cost. You are required to buy UCLA health insurance they do provide some exemptions to this rule, but they will not accept travel insurance as an alternative. This meant I had to buy both travel insurance and health insurance. I didn t do a lot of shopping, nor did I frequently eat out. I spent a lot of money on travelling around the US. With the money I saved, I was able to go to New York twice, New Orleans, Texas, San Diego, San Francisco, Mexico, camping in Utah, and Vegas twice. By what means did you maintain your finances? (Credit card, foreign bank account, travelers checks, etc)? I worked at BNZ before I left for UCLA, so I did lots of research on the most cost effective means for accessing money. If you are there for a year, its worthwhile getting an American account. I got a free account at Chase Bank upon arrival. The bank was really close to the university and there were ATMS on campus. It was also located all over the US so that s handy if you intend on doing domestic travel. The account has free ATM withdrawals and unlimited transactions. BNZ accounts allow you to do international transfers online by sending an request (National bank does not). Transfers cost about $40 in total so it s better to do a lump sum transfer. I also had a USD National Bank travel card for online purchases, but I really just used that as a back up to my Chase Account.

2 UCLA only accepts MasterCard and AMEX and you usually incur a 5% fee for online transactions (which can add up to a lot when you are paying for accommodation/food plans etc). A Visa card will not work. What financial advice would you give students attending the same university as you? Be careful when transferring money from NZD to USD. You can lose a lot of money on the fluctuating exchange rates. I had a FOREX table as my homepage so I could take advantage of the good rates. Were there any extra or unexpected costs which future students should be aware of? I kept a budget throughout the year, so there weren t any major unexpected costs. Just be aware that campus closes over the winter, so you have to allow for financing 1 month off campus. And textbooks can be very expensive. You can rent them online from various websites for much cheaper but you have to allow time to receive the books. What was the average cost of a can of coke or coffee in your host country? Can of coke is $1 and coffee is $3. Other than accommodation, living costs are much less in the US than in New Zealand. C. Visas & Insurance Do you have any advice for future students when applying for visas to your host country? I had no problems. Just allow for the travel costs to Auckland. What insurance company did you use and would you recommend it to future students? SCTI gives a 15% discount for purchases done online, and it was by far the cheapest option that I found. C. Academics Which courses did you take while on exchange? Please rate the difficulty of each course (1-5, 1 = Very Easy & 5 = Extremely Difficult) and leave any comments you may have. Course Title Language VUW course VUW Rating (1-5) Comments of equivalent points/credits Instruction (if applicable) value Arabic 1 Arabic 2 Arabic and English 4 Requires large time commitment but very good professors and small classes

3 Afghanistan English 3 One of my favorite classes. Good professor gets deep in to the topic. Human rights and international relations 2 Wouldn t recommend. organized. Badly Politics of the Middle East Terrorism and Insurgency 3 Doesn t address contemporary issues. Involves a lot of history about the Ottoman Empire etc. 3 Mahony is a great lecturer - I would recommend any class by him. Islam Politics War Peace and and 3 Interesting class. Large historical focus. 5 Interesting class. I would recommend it, but it was the hardest class I took. How did you find the teachers at your exchange university? Good professors. All have drop-in hours where you can go and chat with them about any concerns. Most lecturers encourage in-class discussion, and often provide points for class participation. Most lectures are 2 hours and do not have tutorials. How did your academic experience differ from your time spend at Victoria? Without tutorials, the classes were much less personable. Need a 95% to get an A, 85% is B. How did your academic experiences differ from what you expected? Much easier than I thought it would be. My grade average at UCLA increased from VUW. Quarter system moves much quicker than semester. Do you have any advice for future students when choosing and applying for courses? Make sure you know what you want to register for before your registration appointment. Be online as soon as registration begins because the classes get full very quickly. If you develop a personal relationship with your professors, they will be able to get you access to their classes for future quarters. Go to RateMyProfessor.com and BruinWalk.com to get reviews on classes and lecturers.

4 D. Accommodation What form of accommodation did you stay in? On-campus plaza. I shared a room with 2 other girls, and we shared a bathroom with 3 others. What were the pros and cons of this form of accommodation? Loved the accommodation. I had never shared a room before, but the girls I was sharing with became my closest friends. Other room-mates in the plaza were juniors and seniors (21-22). They were mostly native Californians. Dorms (shared rooms and bathrooms) were for freshmen (18 year olds). What accommodation would you recommend to future students? On campus if you can afford it. I heard the co-op was cool as well, but it was mainly other international students. Do you have any tips of advice for future students when applying for accommodation? My friend filled out the roommate request form by saying that she wanted clean room mates who didn t have overnight guests. This meant she was put with a girl who was very quiet and was not interested in going out to parties or anything. They remained very distant from one another. On my form I said I didn t mind a bit of mess, and that overnight guests were OK so long as my roommates asked permission. This meant I was put with relaxed girls who wanted to party and make friends, but wouldn t be disrespectful. So be careful when filling out the forms because they pay attention to what you write. F. Culture What were some of the hardest cultural differences you faced while abroad? Americans love NZers so it was easy to make friends. How would you recommend students to prepare for these differences? Did you face any issues regarding discrimination in your host country? What were they, and what advice would you give to future students? G. Other opportunities Did you take part in an internship or any volunteer activities while on exchange? If so, please

5 explain. If you complete 1 year exchange at UCLA you can apply for 3 months of academic training. If approved, the UCLA exchange office will extend your visa. I worked at a summer camp in San Francisco (so obviously they aren t too strict with what they categorize as academic training ). On a student Visa you cannot get work off campus, however, there are lots of jobs available on campus. E.g. parking, retail, hospitality, library etc Are there are great clubs or associations etc. you recommend other students get involved with while on exchange at you host uni? Join a sports team, it s the best way to meet people. What are your Top 5 Things To Do at your host university or city/country? Go see a basketball/football game; play beer pong at a frat party; have a spontaneous road trip to Vegas; study by the UCLA pool; take advantage of free activities at school (free movie previews, concerts, book signings etc) H. Personal Response Please write one paragraph about your exchange experience. Plus, don t forget to submit some photos to the exchange office!! I finished up at UCLA with an abundance of adventures completed and skills attained. Such newly acquired abilities include how to back flip in to a pool; do an excellent imitation of an American accent; write a policy paper; drive a boat; play beer pong; build a bunk-bed fort and successfully ghost ride the whip. I made lasting friendships, and was challenged academically. Before moving to America, I was never particularly interested in travelling to the US. I have since found out that it is a seriously underrated country. There is so much diversity in California alone. As an avid traveler I found many opportunities to explore the US on a nice budget. But with the palm trees, snoop dogg and beaches of Los Angeles, what else would one need? Make sure you hire a bike from the UCLA adventure center! It only costs $45 for the entire quarter and means you can do some serious exploring! Santa Monica beach is only a 20 minute bike ride away. The campus is really big, so a bike is the perfect way to get between classes. The 14P is the best meal plan if you are living on campus. It allows for 2 meals a day, and if you don t use the meals then they will accumulate. Use the UCLA pools, gym, climbing wall, sauna and anything else that you can get free! You can use the observatory on Wednesday nights for free. the area. Subscribe to Ticketmaster Los Angeles so you know when any cool events area happening in Don t just stick around campus and Westwood. Los Angeles is huge so try to explore all the

6 different neighborhoods. People generally only go clubbing in Hollywood, but the coolest clubs are in Downtown LA. If you are a coffee snob, then you are about to be seriously deprived of good coffee. But intelligentsia coffee is good so check that out in Venice and Silver Lake. Gotta be 21 to drink. A Driver s license is usually not accepted as a form of ID. Apply for a California ID or use your passport. Do the undie run and the midnight scream. Find out from a fellow Bruin if you can go tunneling (it s a UCLA secret). Fox does their red carpet premieres in Westwood (UCLA village) so watch out for stars in the neighborhood. Go to the orientation concert, they usually have famous acts.

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