Type of housing:
Apartment/House

Arranged by:
Independently - My choice

If returning, I would choose:
Apartment/House
Why? I chose to live off-campus instead of on- campus as I wanted to experience the city life more and the travel to the uni. The housing market in San Francisco is one of the most expensive ones in the USA. Living Downtown or at Northbeach will be more of a financial burden compared to living in the Richmond or Sunset district (where I was situated). Housing can be found through www.craigslist.org

Describe host city:
Students equally interact with the local and student community

Travel, Nightlife take/s place mostly outside the university/student environment

Activities take/s place both within and outside of the university/student environment

Course recommendations:
There are many courses to chose from. It's also worthwile to attend courses that are not applicable to your study but can be seen as interesting to follow on the side. Some courses were to easy for me. Overall the teachers are very helpful and kind. Also the American students like to talk to Europeans, at least from my experience. Then again, I am also a social person that walked up to Americans myself, as most of the time they walk out of classes in a rush.

The language of instruction was:
English

My proficiency in the language of instruction:
before: At ease in most situations
after: No problems in any areas (including slang)

Learning the language of instruction was not a factor in choosing my host country

Main source of funding:
Personal savings

Other sources of funding:
Family
Government assistance

Work opportunities
I didn't explore any work options.

Personal spending habits:
Consumer goods are not more expensive than if you'd buy them in the Netherlands. What was expensive was the rent and also mobile telephone costs, as one also pays for incoming phonecalls.

I wish I had known ...
SFSU is not seen as a top notch university. It is not ranked that high at all supposably. The quality of the subject-matters could have been deeper explained. Sometimes I felt as if I wasn't learning THAT much but perhaps I chose some wrong classes.

In my opinion:
Everybody loved it, you will too!