University: Hawaii Pacific University

City: Honolulu

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: business administration

Study type: semester abroad

If you’re still debating whether or not to go to Hawaii, do it!! It was a great time for all of us and I would definitely do it again. But you have to be aware that academically you learn almost nothing at the HPU. The level is so low and most of the professors are so bad and unmotivated. In Germany it’s more the case that you are exposed to sound for five months and then you write your exam. Here you have to make and hold papers or presentations almost every week. But absolutely low level. But the surrounding area is just world class. Check anycountyprivateschools.com to see University of California Davis study abroad opportunities.

Be it nature or the diverse sports facilities. Here everyone gets their money’s worth.

Here are a few tips from practice, for practice: Take advantage of the offer to choose your courses online in advance and do so early on. The best courses with the best professors fill up quickly. To do this, I looked in the catalog of courses beforehand to see what would be possible for me and then went to ratemyprofessor.com with the eight to ten potential courses and looked at which courses the professors are also cool with. It worked great for me and I wasn’t disappointed.

The tiresome topic of looking for an apartment: Well, I’ve already looked for an apartment from Germany (even if many places warn against it). In other words, I was able to fully enjoy the weeks before university and didn’t have to stress about looking for an apartment. If that’s too risky for you, you have to be there at least three weeks in advance to get a good apartment in Waikiki. Otherwise the housing market will simply have grazed at some point. You are not the only ones;-)
Shopping: I found the Waikele Outlet pretty bad. You can get real bargains better here at Ross. Definitely get a membership at Sam’s Club for groceries. It costs $30 for students and you can pass on a partner card, so the bottom line is only $15. But you save a lot of money when shopping. Even if you don’t have a car, you can go shopping and then take a taxi home with your bulk purchase. It’s still worth it though!

You can have a loss carried forward with all the costs and then deduct the costs from your taxes at some point. Just call the income tax assistance association or ask Daddy’s tax advisor;-)
If you want to start surfing, I can only advise you to buy your own board as soon as possible. Then you can always go whenever you feel like it and sell it again at the end, buying and selling via craigslist. And buy a LONGboard as a beginner. Even if the little things look cooler, you need at least an 8’6” for the first few months. Believe me;-)
Other Islands: Well I’ve been to Big Island, Molokai, Maui and Kauai. By far the best I found was Maui. It really has everything that the other islands have (except real Lave) and even more beautiful. But if you do Maui then only in winter when the whales are there. JYou can really see them from the beach.

But Oahu also has so many great trails and beaches. But you need a car for most of them. I can only recommend buying a scooter to a limited extent. That might be nice for the drive to the university, but you won’t get to the north shore (where the great beaches are) with it because you’re not allowed on the highway. I was lucky that a friend of mine bought his own car which I could use. This is of course the best way, but also a little more complicated. But with a little knowledge of cars and common sense you can do it. The used car prices in Hawaii are pretty cheap anyway because once a car is on the island, it stays there. So just trust and of course the whole thing as early as possible so that it pays off.

Definitely also get a credit card from comdirect etc. You can use them to withdraw money for free or write to them if you have paid a fee and they will refund it. Worked great for me.
I wish you a great time. Enjoy every minute!