My First Month in USA at Missouri S&T, Rolla
Thanks to Srinivas for sending this blog post. He talks about his experience and life in US during his first month away from India and life as an International student. Previously he shared his F1 Visa Interview Experience at Chennai Consulate.
I would appreciate if new Fall 2010 students can send similar experiences and share with other fellow HSB Fans.
Life in Missouri@Rolla
I thought I would share something with you. This is not to humiliate either the Indian way of living or the American’s way. I have just shared what I have seen and felt after coming here.
To start with, I had to learn the following equivalent words in USA vs India
- Program – Degree
- Course – Subjects
- Period – Full stop/Dot
- Gas/Gasoline – Petrol
- Basement – Ground Floor
- Ground Floor – First Floor and so on.
- Pavement – Footpath
- Soda – Soft drinks
- Readymade Chappati – Tortillas
- Bogie – Coach
- Coriander leaves – Cilantro (I’m trying to get all the diff names for our cooking items; maybe in the next post)
They dont use talcum powder. They dont use hair oil, they use hair cream. They dont use cloth towels, they use towel napkins.
Even their way of reading a mathematical eqn is different
(For eg: My Prof says thaa say dable you, which means theta suffix w; Another Prof says, negative two times four over L, which means minus two into four divided by L)
They always go by their last name where we would go for our first name back in India. For record purposes, the first thing they ask you is your “Mother’s Name” not as in India where we are asked for our “Father’s name”. [ Surname Mismatch: Passport vs Marksheets, Certificates]
Most Americans just know, if you do this, you’ll get the results. And if something pops up apart from their job description, the first thing they say is I don’t know! I have no idea what it is or what to do! But seriously, I’m not offending them, I’m just telling you what I have seen and felt so far.
Cars: The cars here have just P,R,N,D. Parking gear, Reverse gear, Neutral gear and Driving gear. No gear system as in India. They are more concerned with power not mileage. All the engines have 6 to 8 cylinders not 4 as India. Man! I can feel G-Force even inside a car. That car was a BMW X5 – an SUV model. And you know what, we can have anything in the number plate of our car. I saw a number plate reading only “Muruga” and no numbers, here in Rolla 🙂
Here, we find cars and flights in abundance for public transportation. In India, we have two wheelers in abundance.
Traffic Rules: They follow road rules genuinely. They prefer pedestrians to their driving. They smile and wish when we come in face with theirs. Days are longer and I guess, thats what make them work longer and harder. And in turn, they celebrate each weekend. When you meet someone during Thursday / Friday they say Have a great weekend!
Here, consumer’s enjoy a decent quality of products even at a normal price. But in India, for a good quality product we have to pay more. The same goes for the customer service too.
To be Continued [ difficult situations faced, about apartments, roommates, …)
u know its so great reading ur experiences at USA in this blog post…. i ENJOY so much reading it…. great job Srinivas! and i wish u continue sharing all ur experiences via this blog… best of luck! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
with regards,
Sujith R.
hiii nice job helping fellow indians its informative. thanqq
hii srinivaas…ur post is really interesting, i enjoyed a lot. for a mintue i felt i was in US. waiting 4 ur nxt post.
hi.. Srinivas
I m planning to go USA…till now i m not sure where i will get admission..but u r information is very useful for me..
Thank u
Best luck for your job
komal chuahan
give some more of ur exp in usa……..
hii srinivaas…ur post is really interesting to read…n its really useful to students like me who r planning thier master programs in th U.S…..am appearing foe TOEFL nxt month…n then i'll go for GRE…preparations r going on…thnx 4 sharing ur experience..am eagerly waitng for ur nxt post
hi srinivaas…really ur such posts are useful for students like me who are planning for their higher studies in the U.S.Am appearing for toefl next month..preparations r going on…any suggestons related to wat thngs i shall keep in mind the most while preparing??thnx a lot for this post…n am eagerly waiting for ur ur next post..and have a great time over there
Very informative buddy.. keep posting.. All the best for your program..
Awesome man!! Waiting for part 2.. Was really longing to read something like this.
HI srinivas,
sorry i forgot to mention,I applied for spring 2011.
Hi srinivas,
Thanks for sharing your experience.It was really very helpful.I have a Question for you.Actually I applied for Information Science & Technology dept in Missouri,Rolla and i heard that the dept has recently established in 2002.So I wanted to know more abt the dept. like howz it reputation,funding oppurtunities,jobs etc..I would like to have ur e-mail address so that i can expain myself to you more clearly..
Thanks in Advance
Guys,
I would like to mention one thing here. Why do you people want to move the discussion over more privately like through e-mail or through FB? Here is the forum. Ask your qns here.
But I'm sorry that I said that you can find me on FB. I regret why I posted that comment here. Its not a good thing, guys. Not at all.
The purpose of this blog is to educate, help students with information who are planning to pursue their higher education in the US. And that's the whole point of it, guys. Do you get it?
You know, when you start discussing stuff some place else, how will the the other blog readers get to know abt the stuff that were discussed privately. Think abt it.
Srinivas.
nice one.. btw the cars there is no such thing as indian or american… its called automatic and manual transmission. Even USA has manual but its rare.. moreover they do have light vehicles with V4
Hi srinivas
Please tell me how much time is required for GRE prepararion normally??I am in my final year and i want to give GRE next year in April.It has revealed to me that its a do or die scene for me to crack GRE.Because i dont have very impressive study backgrounds so my mind always is in a dilemma whether i will get into a satisfactory university or not.Please help me to take me to take me out of this dilemma………….
Pankaj
hai ! srinivaas! ur blog s very interesting!!!!xpectg 4 d next one!!!!!!!!!
and too i need 1 help pls suggest me!!!!
actually , i m INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY student and i ve started my gre coaching last week!but i m really scared about the score n all….. how efficiently can i spend my time to get more score ?pls brother xplain me……………and if possible cn i get ur gmail di pls…………..to rectify my doubts..pls bayaa………..
hey Srinivas..thanx for sharing ur experience…i am eagerly waiting for ur next blog post…does ur univ hav electrical dptmnt? i m EC final yr studnt….may be u can help a bit…my id is [email protected]……plz reply if its okay..
thanx in advance..
hi all
please help me regarding some questions.we got i-20s (for my wife,me and may baby)from Concordia university Wisconsin for master's.my wife will be on f1 and me and my baby will be dependents.i was working from last five year in kuwait in telecom company unfortunately my visa canceled from there .from last 9 months i am in India.my question is that if visa officer will ask me why you are going with your wife,why you left kuwait etc. what should answer these questions.will it effect my chances to get visa?2nd my mother is sponsering us we shown 15lacs in FD.my wife graduate and post graduate above 70% mark without backlogs,but she havn't take scores like toffel,sat,gre will deposit visa fees and sevis fees with in few days
according to you what are the chance to get visa?if you are visa officer will you issue visa or not?please give me suggestions,i will be so thankfull to you and may god bless you all..i am in stress.
Thanks a lot @Srinivas for sharing ur experience as a international student,,pls carry on and guide HSP followers.
Again tnx
Hi guys,
Sure! I'll definitely share some more experiences of mine in later posts.
Thank you.
With Regards,
Srinivas.
Sir i need help.plz tell me how to start prepration for gre.
Sir i need help.plz tell me how to start prep. For gre.
This information is very useful.waiting for next post.
thanks for sharing the information.
Nice one..looking forward to the next post..One question to you man if you please:-which dept are you from?And how good is the electrical engineering dept of this univ?Actually am interested to join it the next fall.
Thanks…and if you can share your email id with me..mine is [email protected]
Hi Arnab,
I'm from Mechanical Engg dept. The best departments here in our univ are :
1. Mining Engg
2. Electrical Engg and
3. Mechanical Engg
Out of 80 Indian students this Fall 2010, the majority are people who have come for MS in EE. Dont apply just because I told Electrical is one of the best department here. See if the univ suits you well in all ways. Browse the dept website thoroughly. And then decide whether or not to apply here. Ok 🙂 🙂
All the best for your endeavors!
With Regards,
Srinivas.
Thanx a lot for replying.Actually I have shortlisted it and registered it as one of the four univ recipients,I was wondering will a score of 1250 in GRE is sufficient to get here in EE with aid?
It still would have been better if I could have your email id with me.I know it is bit outlandish for me to ask for it in such a manner,but you know it may come handy,if I need any further assistance.
Thanks anyway..though..