Upon Arrival
General Aspects
Arrival to US is virtually the beginning of a new life for you.
There are so many new things for you to learn. These include such
everyday activities as shopping, opening bank account, etc as well
as more difficult and requiring time to adjust aspects as making
friends with Americans, understanding different types of
relationships in America, sexual harassment and other unusual things
which are attributed to cultural differences.
Some interesting aspects are discussed here
Here are the links to some interesting and informative handbooks for
international students prepared by American universities (check your
university International Students Center web-site for similar
guides):
http://www.northwood.edu/international/handbook/
http://www.fsu.edu/~fsu-isc/handbook/2001/
http://www.umsl.edu/~intelstu/Handbook/handbook.html
http://www.northwestern.edu/international/handbook/
Standard American Diet (SAD)
Please Do Not skip this section. You are now probably thinking that
you have never cared about your diet and why should you now. The
point is if you are moving to US from European or Eastern countries
and have never cared about your diet you are very likely to gain
weight. Remember, even though American food might often look and
taste like food in your native countries - it's often not the same,
it often has a lot of unnecessary preservatives, sugars, and taste
enhancing agents. Have you ever seen butter, sour cream or yogurt
having 15 ingredients in your native country? Well, you will in US.
All of you are smart people so please also be smart in the aspect of
food choices do not go for the cheapest food, read labels, don't
turn your diet into SAD (Standard American Diet, an article about
SAD).
List of common "bad ingredients" to be beware of
My favorite food stores
Organic vs. conventional food
Food labeling
Shopping, Internet Deals
All the information about local shopping you are going to find out
from you new university friends.
Here I would like share my experience of internet shopping and good
deals you can find.
First of all - books. Unless you really need the book right now do
not buy it at the university bookstore, their prices are very high.
Go to www.bestbookbuys.com and choose the best deal (this site
compares prices at many different sites which sell books). The best
book reviews you will find at www.amazon.com
Also when you won't need your books any longer you can easily sell
them at www.half.com or www.amazon.com
For good deals on computers and other electronics check www.ubid.com
My favorite website for finding different internet coupons is
www.savings-center.com
Community Events, Libraries, etc.
I would like to draw your attention to public libraries. If you are
coming with a spouse who won't have excess to your university
library they are sure to like local public libraries. This libraries
are absolutely free, you need just a proof of your address to
register (at least where I live) and they have so many good things:
magazines, video tapes, music, preparation guides for TOEFL and GRE,
different study aids for learning English, free internet and much
more. |
