How's the life of studying abroad in San Diego?

Hello everyone, today I want to share with you all my experience studying abroad in San Diego, the United States!

I want to break this into several different topics to talk about:

1. How is life different from Taipei in San Diego?

2. How is the school different from NCCU?

3. How is the culture different from Taiwan?

Let's get started!

1. How is life different from Taipei in San Diego?

First of all, the biggest difference is the weather. San Diego, one of the biggest cities in California, is almost sunny every day (but not hot), with very low humidity, and the temperature is always very comfortable.

Taipei experiences high humidity throughout the year, with frequent rainfall. Summers are extremely hot, while winters feel colder than expected because of the high humidity. So the weather is no doubt the best thing I like in San Diego, waking up every day with the sunshine just makes life way better!

Sunny campus every day ☀️

Second, the way of commuting is very different too. In Taipei, we have a very well-structured, clean, and safe public transportation system, you could basically go everywhere with public transport, it's easy and very affordable at the same time!

In San Diego, though there is a public transportation system, I'll say it's not very safe to be on it, and the cost is also higher than public transportation in Taipei.

The ideal way of getting around San Diego is to have a car, but since I'm just here for a semester, it's impossible to own one. In that case, I usually take Uber or Lyft to get to places. The pro is it's fast and safe, but the con is it's very expensive.

2. How is the school different from NCCU?

The school that I'm currently going to here is the University of San Diego, it is a relatively small private school. Class sizes here are much smaller than in my school back home, ranging from 15-35 students a class. Back in my school, it is very common to have more than 100 students in a single class. After coming here, I realized I prefer smaller classes more; smaller class size allows the interaction between students and professors to flow around the classroom, which somehow increases the quality of education, too.

The educational approach is also quite distinct, with a significant emphasis on group work and projects in the US, which contribute heavily to your final grade. In Taiwan, our score mainly comes from individual work and exams.

3. How is the culture different from Taiwan?

The primary difference that I'm most not used to is the food culture. People here eat a lot of fried foods and carbohydrates, but there aren't enough vegetables and healthy protein options. Thus, fast food here is very affordable, whereas healthy food is quite costly.

IN N OUT burgers 🍔

To wrap up

Though there are some things that I'm not used to in San Diego, on the whole, this remains a truly unique and valuable experience. I’m very lucky to get the chance to study here and see how the different cultures interact with different people.