Inbound Testimonials

Every semester we get a handful of new exchange students coming to SCSU from all over the world. We would like to introduce some of them to you. There are videos, southern news articles or just students writing about their experiences at southern from the past few years.

Find out what 'the world' thinks about SCSU!

Exchange students in the southern media

From time to time there are media studies majors coming to southern on exchange. A collection of their articles written for 'southern news' can be found on http://thesouthernnews.org.

Christopher McBriarty (Fall 2011 - Spring 2012) is one of those students and wrote articles like "American vs. British media". A collection of his articles for 'southern news' can be found here.

Carolina Torres (Fall 2012) a student from Germany wrote articles for southern news, too. "People to People: Club puts a cultural twist on jeopardy" is one of them. It deals with the SCSU club for international students and everybody who wants to get to know them. All her articles can be found here.

Fall 2012

Name: Timo
Home University: University Freiburg (Germany)
Age: 22
Major: Computer Science
Duration of Stay: 2 Semesters
Hobby: Food

Hi, I'm Timo Bierbrauer and I'm an exchange student from Germany at SCSU. Usually I'm not a very active or outgoing person, but I really wanted to take the chance of making a great experience in the country I heard so much about. I'm here for 6 Weeks now and so far I have to say, that it's been the right decision. You get to know a lot of people over here just by attending a few of the clubs at university. The clubs are one of the largest differences compared to my home university. They build a strong "school spirit" and a feeling of togetherness, which I so far have not experienced in Germany. Another big difference is the way classes are taught. At home we're usually supposed to write one final exam that accounts for 100% of the final grade. Chopping grade into smaller pieces, i.e. writing graded test and doing graded homework sometimes is more work, but definitely worth saving a lot of stress. As people ask me which country/university I like better I tend to say that it's neither better or worse over here, it's just different. So everybody should definitely give it a shot!

Name: Anastasia
Home University: Leibniz University Hannover (Germany)
Age: really??
Major: Finance & Economics
Duration of Stay: just 1 semester =(
Hobby: Movies

Hey, my name is Anastasia and that's my 5th semester of studying. They main reasons I wanted to study abroad was to improve my English, to visit as many places as I can in the U.S. and to meet new people and just have an amazing time. First of all, as every other German would tell you too, studying in the U.S. is soooo different to the German way. We don't have something like homework, class participation or midterms. However, it is a good way to study continuously and to remember what the professor taught last week. Not only studying is different, I can tell you, the whole everyday life is at least a little bit different to the German. For example, the toilet flush, the traffic lamps, the weather,... But that's the reason I came for: to make new experiences every single day and to overcome my bounds. So, give it a try, you won't regret it ;-)

Name: Nadine
Home University: Universitaet Hohenheim (Germany)
Age: 21
Major: Business & Economics
Duration of Stay: 1 semester
Hobby: Travelling

Hey I'm Nadine Jalboush and I'm from Germany. Unfortunately I will only stay in the U.S. for one semester, which is a pity! The new things you experience almost everyday and the new people you get to know are memorable! A main difference to Germany which I noticed is the kindness of (most) Americans. They are more open-minded than Germans and if you have any questions or problems, they'll help instantly. That made my first couple weeks as foreigner in the U.S. really easy! I decided to do the semester abroad to improve my English skills and to see the way of studying at American universities and it is really different. But these differences make your stay in another country special. I learned so much about everyday life, school, people, the way of speaking and more. I would strongly recommend a semester or a year abroad!! It will be an advantage for your life ;-)

Name: Bea
Home University: Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
Age: 21
Major: Professional Experience Production
Duration of Stay: 1 semester
Hobby: Music and travelling

Hello, I'm Beatrice Granstroem from Sweden and I have been in the US for 3 months now, and I have to say I really like it. First I hadn't thought of studying abroad until my friends applied for it, so I did it too just for fun some days before the deadline. I was curious, is it really like the American Pie movies over there or not?? One month later I was among the 6 people from my institution that got the chance to go, so I took it! What I want from my stay here is to improve my English, meet new people, travel and take part of the American culture as much as I can. It's similar to the Swedish lifestyle but with some differences of course. Regarding school, in Sweden we don't have sports teams+cheerleaders, and not these chairs with a built in desk haha.. I'm so glad I got the crazy idea of studying abroad. That has given me such a fun time with many new wonderful friends from around the world who I can visit in the future. So I really recommend you to do like me, take the opportunity while you can and explore the world! It's something you will remember for the rest of your life.