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Aw and I came here from there!

Fullterton is not all that bad. I came from LA. Albany is a walk in the park compared to LA.

Learn to like rain and fires and EARTHQUAKES. If you've never felt an Earthquake it will invoke the Fear of God in you.

California more expensive. The gas is a good 50 cent to $1 more.

Oranges are cheaper by far.

You will have to pay NON RESIDENT rates for school there.

Cal State is not quite as prestigious as SUNY (The UC system is different from the CSU system -- Univ of Calif v Cal Sat Univ system).

YOu sure they have a good German program?

That is one reason to change.

Fullerton is close to Albany in lifestyle, but the weather is warmer.

You WILL need a vehicle in California. Public trans sucks

Or you must live close to things.

Expect rents to be very high.

One of the reasons I left.

Houses cost $300K everywhere

Rents start at $750 a month everywhere.

Do realize that evey though it is near Disneyland it is on the border of LA County and you are in a METROPOLIS area that is WALL to WALL people, industry and buiness for 40 miiles below and 60 miles above and 20 miles left or right.

Albany is a "small town" comapred to LA/Anaheim.

The population of the 150 square mile metropolis is about 7 million people compared to barely 1 million for the Albany area.

There's lot to see and lots to do out there.

There are also gangs and serious gang violence. Do not travel great distances alone unil you learn the area and learn what clthoing not to wear.

Fulleton and Amaehime are pretty tame, but above you is El Monte La Habra.

You are on the start of the good area going south.

The expensive area, too. $400k and up for homes!

Goiong up to LA gets real bad.

But you are around some decent areas.

Don't know where you are from originally.

The area is better than most of Albany near Suny

But it's different. You'll quickly see.

You will probably become trilingual as Spanish is heavily spoken in the whole area.

I don't wnat to scare you off though. For me it's tame and for me Albany is a walk in the park.

I walked downtown LA and Hollywood at 3 am.

But people out here are afraid of downtown Troy.

LOs Angeles is a bit like Schenectady

Only worse

Anaheim is more like Clifton Park or Saratoga but with a lot more people

Your stuff should transfer easily.

Cal State Fullerton is more like Siena College. Even looks a tad like it.

On the good side, Disney land is 15 minutes away!

Some very good beachs (the southern ones, Newport, Laguana) are more than an hour away by car).

The Desert is close, 45 minutes away.

Like I said you are going into the better, southern/centrral and southern/beach area, but are right on the border line to LA which is like a baby NYC.

I came here to get away from the high cost of living, the gangs, the crime rate (1-2 people a day are killed in la by gunfire) and the Type A stress.

Get used to one story houses, no basements, no siding, flooded streets for weeks at a time and blistering heat in summer.

Apartments are all square box, white wall, beige carpet two and three floor multi units.

If you drive, get used to actually getting a ticket for going 40 in a 35 zone!

AND, Jaywalking is NOT a way of life. IT's a $100 ticket if you get seen by a cop.

ALso WALK and DOn"T WALK signs and TRAFFIC LIGHTS apply to Pedestrians as well as cars!

You walk against a DOn'T WALK light it's a $100 fine.

The best ways to start are: (1) get the application from the UC website and send it in. (2) Contact someone in the German department at Fullerton, and discuss your situation with them. If you have an advocate on the inside it can make a transfer easier. As far as the weather is concerned, California is OK if you like year-round warm weather (it does rain in the winter, though).

You and me both. The time to apply is NOW! (You're actually already behind). Fill out the FAFSA, get a transcript sent to them, as well as SATs/ACTs. Those things take time to process, so do them immediately. The good thing about applying to UC is that you only fill out one application for the whole lot of them.

It is harder for transfer students to get all their courses transfered, but I don't think it's harder for them to be accepted to the school. You may have to repeat or test out of a few classes though. Call up Fullerton's admissions department, and talk to them. Ask for a checklist of things to do.

Good luck.

If you can get into one of the University of California schools, do that. They are excellent. The Cal State schools are not nearly as good as the UC schools -- nor are they as good as the SUNY schools.

I understand that you hate your school -- but don't trade down.

haha.. why dont you transfer to germany?