First Few days in the US for an Indian Student!!

The feeling Indian students have when they arrive in the US is largely overwhelming for most of the students especially for the ones who are arriving there for the first time. It becomes all the more challenging when the student has arrived in any foreign country for the first time.

In this article, general experience from the different point of views would be shared and accordingly, tips for do’s and dont’s would be given!!

Generally, an Indian Student arrives to the campus a week before the orientation as some crucial decisions are to be made before you are loaded with the college duties. Following is the list of issues for which decisions have to be made:

Cell phone plan

Generally, students choose one cell phone connection after arriving in the US and use it with their existing cell phones. The choice is made for one among the two most popular Mobile network companies in the US.

Do’s:

# Take a cell phone sim card in India itself at a very reasonable rate in rupees thereby saving US dollar.

# Include your roommates & closest classmates into a family plan after they take the same mobile connection as yours or vice versa.

Dont’s:

# Don’t use International roaming on your current Indian plan as it costs very much and that is really unavoidable.

# Take a new cell phone and taking pre-paid mobile connection which will cost all the more as compared to a sim card from India or a post-paid mobile connection in US.

 First week’s Jetlag 

Jetlag is the most common problem for all travellers coming from far east to the US not just International students and first instinct of all Indian students coming off the plane may be to sleep. until unless they can’t keep their eyes open because of jetlag, it’s best if

Do’s:

# Try hard and get into the routine of 8 hour sleep asap

# Schedule all your work in the early half of the day

Dont’s:

# Sleep during the day

# Missing classes from day 1

Financial sourcing

Getting a bank account and a credit card is considered a safe bet in the initial week itself. Although latter is not so recommended.

Do’s:

# Open accounts with banks whose ATM/branches are closest to or on premises of your campus or accommodation.

# Avail the banking service offered by the University itself

Dont’s:

# Using credit cards for normal or non-urgent payments

# Defaulting on the payment of credit card dues which can hamper your financial reputation on future stay.

Health Insurance 

Students do not simply have Health Insurance plans, they choose to have it.

Do’s:

# Do thorough research on US healthcare system before choosing any Health Insurance plans

# Compare University Insurance waiver requirements with external Insurance plans to waive out the University Insurance fee waiver

Dont’s:

# Buy University plan with High costs without checking other accepted plans

# Wait for the last day of the University Insurance fee waiver deadline to decide upon the health Insurance