Jennifer Marty

With Victoria, we talked about our student life. Irvine is a beautiful university with many trees and a garden in the center but it’s not so huge. There is one building for each major, and there are 2 swimming pools, a sport complex, tennis and even a cinema (she was surprised to find a cinema in the campus when she arrived!). The campus forms a circle. 

A building of the Science University

She has only four classes which are: economy, statistic, accounting and French. She could choose her subjects (which is not possible in France). Last year she was studying psychology but now she wants to study business and administration, that’s why she chose these subjects. She has three semesters in a year while we have two. I was very surprised and jealous when she said she has only 15 hours of classes per week! But she has to study 15 hours per week too (out of classes) to have a high score. She likes living in USA and the education here, because she can choose her subjects (it is not possible in Shanghai), and she has free time. Actually, she has school on the morning and the evening.  We talk about prices for study in France and Irvine and I was very shocked when I learned that her parents have to pay 42000 dollars for one year! It’s really expensive. She is a foreign student so she has to pay much more than the Americans (around 12000 dollars). In France, there are expensive schools but studies at the university are around 1000 euros. For now, she has a student visa, and with this kind of visa she cannot work out of the campus in USA (she could only work at the library or the cafeteria for example).Personally, I find this law really weird. If she wants to live her all life in USA, she has to obtain a work visa.

Victoria lives in an apartment with two roommates. There are two bedrooms (she shares a room with a roommate) and a living room. The rent is 620 dollars per person.  To finish, we talked about our spare time, and she think Irvin is annoying because there are no night activities, and she has to go to Los Angeles to have parties. Furthermore, I learned she worked 4 months as a model and she send me a photo (she is really beautiful).   It was a great conversation, I learned a lot about studying in USA and it’s a pleasure to speak with her.

My apartment