2 months in LA/Santa Monica for language school (Los Angeles, San Diego: coupons, sublets)

[momo_r94]

Hey folks,

I'm a german student, 18 y/o and I'm planning to go to Los Angeles for two months probably around August and September to visit a language school in Santa Monica, before going to university in Germany.
I already did a lot of research but I still have some questions and I hope you can help me.

My plan is to stay at a host family for the time in LA because I want to get to know the country and the people, not to mention that this seems to be the only affordable way to live there as student.
This brings me to my first question: Do you have any suggestions where I can find a host? I already found some websites like homestaybooking.com or losangeleshomestay.org, but there aren't that many hosts available in or close to Santa Monica (the host should be somewhere north of Marina del Rey and west of San Diego Fwy). If you have any ideas where I can find more hosts I'd be thankful if you share them with me
The next thing is that I don't have any idea about how much money I will have to spend for food, public transportation, and so on. I don't want to eat in expensive restaurants but it shouldn't be junk food neither. Could you please give me an estimated amount of money I will have to spend per week for the things I mentioned and for those that come to your mind? I really have to look after my budget as I'm not allowed to work and earn money because I don't qualify for a J-1 visa yet
In addition, I'm going to visit the language school only for four to five weeks. After this time, I'd like to do some voluntary work. To be honest, I don't want to walk around in the dangerous districts of LA, risking to get robbed or stabbed for walking along the wrong street (if it is really as bad as you hear) to do so. But if you know something else I could do, preferably around Santa Monica, I'm open for your ideas.
If I'm right, I'm allowed to do voluntary work without a special visa, but if you know anything more about the legal situation, please let me know!
The last thing I'd like to have help with is how to use my free time. Of course I won't be only in language school and doing voluntary work all day, so I thought I could do some sports. More precisely I'm thinking about Caporeia, Muay Thai (already got a bit of experience here) or Parkour. If you know any places, groups or people with same interests, please let me know

Thanks for reading this long text and for all answers!
(Btw: Of course I'm interested in any feedback from native English speakers considering my English skills )

Greetings, Maurice

[1200RT]

Originally Posted by momo_r94

(Btw: Of course I'm interested in any feedback from native English speakers considering my English skills )

Your English is better than many 'local' CA residents, from what I can tell.

[HarryKerryJr]

Originally Posted by 1200rt

your english is better than many 'local' ca residents, from what i can tell.

+1

[momo_r94]

Thanks a lot for the positive response, that's kind of a reward for learning English for such a long time and motivates me to keep on doing so
I hope for more feedback and help

[saybanana]

Money:

I would say a minimum for food is about $10/day or $300 a month maybe less. That is if you have use of a kitchen/stove/fridge/microwave. You can get coupons off the Sunday LA Times newspaper for discounts on some products.
Here are some main grocery store chains which have weekly ads online so you can check prices. Ralphs and Vons and Albertsons. McDonalds/Burger King combo meals are $6-$8 if you like fast food

Public Transport: EZ pass monthly is $84 (can use on LA Metro bus/rail, Santa Monica BBBus, Culver City bus, almost any bus in LA county that is not express). LA Metro is $75 a month, $20/week, $5/day bus only for Metro bus/rail. I would get the EZ pass because Santa Monica has a good system within the Santa Monica city borders, but outside, you really rely on Metro.

I dont know anything about homestays but you can google : Santa Monica College Homestay, UCLA Homestay, West Los Angeles College Homestay to see if these colleges have any information about housing. You can also look into doing a short term rental in a shared apartment with students in places like Westwood or Palms because many students are away for the summer but sublet/rent out their rooms for a few months until they school term starts. There is a hostel in Santa Monica, too but I dont think they they allow longer than a couple of weeks.

I wouldn't limit myself to finding a place just west of THE 405 four-oh-five (San Diego Freeway). There are good areas east of the 405 near Santa Monica like Westwood, Culver City, Rancho Park, Century city, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Park LaBrea, that have great bus connections into Santa Monica and are very safe areas. There are very few unsafe areas in the Westside of Los Angeles.

[Cloudwalker]

Try looking on Air BNB, cheapish temporary roommate situations come up on there a lot. Agree also about looking at West LA, Mar Vista, Venice, etc.

There are a couple of Capoeira and Brazilian Jiujitsu places in Ocean Park - Capoeira Besouro at Ocean Park and 29th, and there's a jiujitsu place right around the corner.

[jaypee]

Your English is great!

I don't know anything about homestays -- whether you have to pay your host family -- but you should look into sublets:
westside-southbay-310 sublets & temporary classifieds - craigslist
Anything on the Westside should be fine.

For your Capoeira, BJJ, and parkour interests, look for a local meet-up at meetup.com.

For volunteer work, I'm sure there are lots of shelters (animal and people) who can use your help. Google them.

[momo_r94]

That are some really good suggestions you've got there for me!

@jaypee&Cloudwalker: I had a look on the websites you proposed to me and googled some keywords and gathered many useful information. Craigslist.com, meetup.com and airbnb.com are great for my purpose. Although they're a bit more expensive than those offers from the websites I mentioned in my first post, there are much more and also more attractive offers on the websites you suggested, so thanks for that! I think with your information I will now be able to find an accommodation and some activities I can do in my free time

@saybanana: 84$/month compared to the almost 150$/month which I pay (I'm living pretty far away from the town where I go to school...) for public transportation is pretty cheap, so I'll definitely get this pass!
I don't know the exact address of my language school yet (haven't booked anything until now), but the website says it's about 900 feet away from the beach and close to Wilshire Blvd and 3rd Street Promenade, and because Google Maps says a bus ride from where San Diego Fwy is to this area would take already 30-35 minutes, it shouldn't be (far) beyond this point.

And there is another thing that just came to my mind: I need an American nano-SIM card to avoid high costs for data roaming. I found a nano-SIM card for 120$ with a 2GB 3G connection and unlimited phone calls for one month and 300 minutes to the EU included (AT&T network). The second month would be 80$ and it's prepaid and therefore perfectly suited for two months in the USA.
Do you think I can get something comparable for less money? I already tried to find something at att.com, but wasn't successfully. It should be prepaid and include at least 1GB data traffic and some free calls.

I also made a little overview of costs, if I forgot something then please tell me

Flight: 900$
School fees: 1200$
Accommodation: 1000$/month (shouldn't be (much) more)
Food: 300$/month (I will have access to a kitchen to prepare food)
Bus & Metro: 84$/month
Phone: 200$
Free time activities: 50-150$/month

So I should be fine with about 5500$ for two months, or not?

Thanks for your advise!

[Easter2013]

Food and Fun are more expensive than your budget. Santa Monica and West Los Angeles can be very expensive compared to most places.

[George-hair]

I'm going to Santa monica to study how much will I need to live without accommodation and study fees for 2 months