After Arriving in the U.S.
The following are some of the random thoughts and experiences a typical student will likely encounter and do after arriving at his/her final destination.
- Searching for seniors who have come to pick you up at the airport.
- People will look different.
- You will be asked to wear seat belts while traveling in a car.
- If you have an apartment in India, you will move into an unfurnished, empty apartment here.
- Seniors might accommodate a few more newcomers in your apartment for temporary stay.
- You could be asked to stay in any of your seniors’ apartments until you have found a place of your own.
- After landing in the U.S., you will ask for a way to call India to inform your parents about your safe arrival.
- Some of you will cry (especially girls) when you talk to your parents after arriving.
- Some of you might come without arranging for a pickup at the airport (rare case).
- You would tend to ask lot of questions about everything.
- Seniors might take you to McDonald’s, an Indian restaurant or some other fastfood chains.
- You might get your own apartment and make friends with your neighbors.
- Seniors will request you not to sleep until nighttime if you arrived in the U.S. during daytime.
- You will be amazed to see the sunlight until 9 PM during summer.
- Ask if you can access the Internet to check your email.
- Some of you will feel very happy and relaxed.
- You will be curious to know how to open a bank account.
- Food cooked by seniors will not be as delicious as your mom’s cooking.
- Shopping centers are very huge. They’re not something you are used to see every day.
- If you haven’t found an apartment after you arrived in the U.S., finding a place can be difficult.
- While walking outside, everyone will smile at you and say “Hi”.
- For every item you buy, you will convert to Rupees or local currency.
- That calculation will continue for every item you put into your cart.
- Your shopping experience will be different if you move-in with a senior.
- Many new students will be reluctant to buy necessary items even after seniors insisted that they should be bought.
- It is good to go shopping with seniors during the first few instances.
- Amazed to see so many different types of cars.
- Hard to see 2 cars of the same make, model and color parked next to each other.
- Usually not more than 1 people inside a car.
- When you turn on the TV, everything will look different.
- If you answer any marketing phone call from a 1-800 number, you wouldn’t understand a word they say.
- While driving from the airport to your new house, you will ask seniors about aid and part time jobs.
- Other questions include — What kind of part time job students take?
- How will they get paid?
- Students expect to see a campus to be within huge walls.
- Will it snow here?
- Do you have a part time job/aid?
- Some of you might not even ask any questions.
So, what do you think about this list? Please leave your comments below.
Let’s go get some beer first, dude 😀
Please remove the “especially girls” from point #8 because it is a very gender biased comment and not necessarily true. Thank You!
awsome stuff very helpfull
Awesome work!! Thanks a lot:):)
ur motive to share ur experience with us is really helpful and gives new mock experience for students like us… thanks for ur valuable information
hey dude, I am really curious to ask most of these questions to my seniors…
Are they helpful enough ??
Pleas reply fast as I have to leave very soon ….
It’s giving complete picture of landing there.
nice bro
Will the seniors there be indian ?
Its totally helpful to make that environment compatible…
hello
i hav applied for my masters in university of new haven in connecticut.can u plz tell me the details regarding this univesity i mean university rankings any aids ,parttime jobs etc (mail id and phone numbers of international indian students ).waiting for ur informatic reply.
quite intresting and thanku very much for providing such a huge information which is veryuseful for all the international students esp.for me .
Hello
Thanks for your valuable information but one thing i wanted to know.
I want to pursue my undergraduation in the US is it recommended?
And another thing how are the people of the colleges there. Do they make the shit outta you or are they well behaving(In general!)
I want these thing urgent, and i am writing my SAT so that i can pursue my under graduation course in the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Is this college a good one or just suxxx….
Hey Krish,
Good to see you applying for the states. I too am applying for the same. Lets see if we can get in touch.
Of course Undergrad is recommended but only if funding is not an issue, either from yourself or college side. NJ Inst. of Tech. is a pretty good Institute. And yeah the US students I have met are pretty cool, welcoming and gentle.
Looking forward to connect with you.
Hey Ritesh,
Thanks for your valuable info mate. Why don't you give me your email address so that I can keep in touch with you.
If you want mine it is
[email protected]
keep in touch with me at this mail.
Awaiting Reply
it's a really useful article. its overwhelming to try and select universities without any guidance!
for example, if u get an admit into a very good college but in a state where you know absolutely don't know anybody , how do you plan your arrival?
it's a really useful article.
but i do have a question
for example, if u get an admit from a very good college, but in a state where you ABSOLUTELY don't know anybody , how do you plan your arrival? would it be a good decision to attend there ?
OMG ! I think you was a international student before. How can you know that facts ! everything is all true about international student's lives
lol.
good stuff
Hey HSB
I personally felt whole of this list during my 1 month stay in Boston for a student exchange program… U are very much true !! Thanks alot.. Regards
wow!!!!!!!!!!!! it has been 1 week I am at USA, I did all d things listed abov , I am amazed 2 see dis post nw!!!!!!!!!!
hello my name is saad afzal and i m from pakistan.One day i m hoping to study in USA and your articles are interesting
thank you sir,but actually this list is most helpful for those people who don't know about life style of foreigner's and blank knowledge about time difference,living,food,etc………
omg… i cant believe ths.. ths artical is so true.. lol.. i have been usa several times but ths time i m here for studies and 90% of ths list is true.. man… unbelievable… 😀
thanks brother it was really helpfull to me thanks a lot . m studying in final year and planing to give gre by 2011 your information was really helpfull thanks
ITS AWESOME MAN………Thats a gud post!!!
Oh and please do not depend on the International Office people to help you. Maybe it was just my university, but the International Office people were the most ill behaved people I have ever met. As years passed, I realised that going to the International Office would actually depress me, because I had to deal with the scowling folk over there who treat international students like we are living on their personal charity.
You will get accustomed to the new scenery, the strange birds, the strange sounds (like church bells). Enjoy the process and learn from it. The immigrant experience is something different, something no non immigrant can ever relate to. This is why I would personally recommend that in pursuing any potential love interest, give major preference to fellow immigrants (not necessarily from India)…but immigrants nevertheless. A native born American, no matter even if he/she is ethnically Indian, will never see America the way you do.
This was enough to impress me and evn intimidate a little 🙂
Great post! will read once atleast before i pack my bags and fly away! 🙂
Landing in the US…now that I look back…was a terrifying experience for me actually. In retrospect…I think I should be proud. There was no senior to pick me up…I got my own taxi…I had found an apartment through craigslist. The next morning I woke up and walked to the university, asking random people for directions. Man…that first month…I was scared out of my wits. The first thing I bought in the US was a $1.10 mini bottle of Coca Cola… it was so hot and I was walking back after having found the university…which turned out to be a good 3 miles from my apt…. Yes this meant walking 6 miles a day for the first one month. And I didn't know a single soul in the whole city. American coins dont have their value clearly shown on the face like Indian coins and there was some confusion as I tried to count the $1.10.
I am a stubborn ass 🙂
The experience made me a new person. I didnt call home for a whole month after I reached (only emailed). I was incredibly lonely. But…I managed to become infatuated with the one person I met… a 60+ Indian American lady. It was an unconventional choice but I pursued my first "love interest" ardently. Like most Indian geeks, I had not known love before I came here. In retrospect again, it was sheer madness…
Five years later, things have improved a lot. I got my phd… I have been all over the world now and now I am never scared to find my way in foreign countries… it all comes naturally to me now. I can now chat up people of any nationality and speak a whole bunch of languages…
But man oh man! I was scared shitless the first day. Its embarrassing to admit in retrospect…but walking back the first day in the heat, I saw "made in India" on one of those gutter lids on the pavement and actually began to cry.
Hey,
I doubt anything could be better than this. For some 2 minutes it made me feel as if I am actually in the US. Wow man, I always wanted to go to the US. I am now doing my 2nd year BE CSE in Coimbatore,Tamilnadu. I have 2 more years of under graduate education and I am planning to go to the US right after my BE. I have always pondered around these questions and… I badly want to come to the US…
🙂
Thanks
Rajkamal
ya…dude thats what actually happened wid me….excellent interpretation….no explanation better than this.
no one wud have told this better.. this is what wud be going on in our mind.. very true!!
ya awesome..it just takes me to US for a five mins of time..very practical points which i ll gonna face in future..
awesme! point no. 22 & 36 are killers!
Its simply awesome………..
thats a gud post!!! it matches everyones mentality in a new place!!!
Few things to add to the list:
MAKE SURE THAT THE IMMIGRATION OFFICER AT PORT OF ENTRY WRITES YOUR CORRECT STATUS AND EXPIRY DATE ON YOUR I-94 CARD
1. Get adjusted to toilet habits
2. Clean after you finish eating in fast food restaurants like McDonald
3. Do not tell any one that you are new in the U.S.
4. Do not give your passport to any stranger
5. Make copies of all the pages of the passport and your I-94 card. Because, if you are lost you can be found but, not your passport.
6. Say thank you and please whenever to any American
@Sri Good ones. Thanks for commenting.
Hey this was more useful than the above tips!! thanks man!
hey man it was so nice and very useful to me.
Ofcourse these are very useful than the above tips.
Great post! I'm a British born 'indian' a graduate studying second masters, arrived last summer. So many new and different experiences to adjust to, 'do not be afraid'… stay strong, ask qs, seek advice get familliar with the new 'system' before arrival where possible… There is always someone to guide you through. Most university 'international students office' with brilliant staff who will assist directly or indirectly with many practical matters.
Very very true yaar
hello sir,
It is great thing about you, i really like this post.Not only this every post in your blog.
It is a great feeling to study the things that we r about to experiance.
thanks very much
1 more point….. Please do not trust ANYONE at face value. Be on your guard!!!
illl be going to US next year .
Hi HSB,
Thanks 10^10 for your really esteemed blog. It changed and also will change my life.
I know US citizen are a salad from different nations, but If it will be great that you teach us some good expressions to use them convey our important objectives (you know them better) till 50 thanks.
-Rio
people talk less abt these tings in India. but its nice to talk abt them
very subtle, and very nice to hear this stuff. The inner core feelings, u did a nice thing putting ur experiences, otherwise they wud have been faded away like everybody else's
nice 1. we need SUBTEL websites like these.
nicely put really
Hi,
Awesome post. Very nice one to create curiosity among aspirants to reach US ASAP.
Infact, this is a great website.
Thanks for the every info posted here.
the main thing is that we have found this website, the rest you can see in your screen 🙂
Hi,
Coming and living in the US are really nice experiences. Welcome, everyone!
Jesus bless you,
Andrie Tanusetiawan
[email – Removed]
Hey its really amazing yaar…..i m feeling just like in a U.S…wht a true experience u hav listed….excited to come der…..
Hi HSB,
Hey thanks, that was a sound piece of information.
Regards,
adil.
Woow… I feel like im in US!!!!
thanks sir this website is rely for a wroth……..m preparing to give GRE in jan for fall 2009 and wat inforamtion i have got from this site has rely cleared most of my doubts.our articles on life in U.S and the bank statement helped me alot.
Hi !!!
Very nice information…. and I am willing to face such kind of situation!!!! 😉