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| Welcome, New Students! |
| For airport pickup, please check the application form belowAirport Pickup Application Form |
| Airport Pickup Notice |
| New Student Survival Guide |
| CHINAREN MIRROR: http://rutgers2005.alumni.chinaren.com |
| Dear new students, please use GOOGLE GROUP for faster communication |
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 You can also visit the following web pages: |
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rutgers_newstudents/
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| Here are some tips for new students. |
| About Airport Pickup |
We highly recommend everyone to buy tickets to Newark airport, which is only
30 min driving from Rutgers-New Brunswick campus and only costs $5 on highway(airport parking fee not
included). A trip to JFK airport will be at least 1.5 hours and cost over $15 (airport parking fee not included).
It's a tough drive so no one wants to pick up people at JFK.
Due to the time and resource we have, we can only make limited trips to the airport, so we highly
recommend that new students come in group instead of coming alone.
RCSSA herself doesn't have enough people and special funding for new students pickup at the airport. We usually have to
ask for students who would like to volunteer their time for picking up new students at airport or rent a van for group arrival. In either case,
we have to collect some money from you to cover the expenses for the pickup.The estimated amount will be $10-$20. We hope you all
understand the situation.
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| About Americans |
| America is full of paradox: as you might have heard that Americans are frank
and straight, that's not always the truth, Americans are very, very, very
sophisticated. A lot of them are working hard.
America is a free country but you have to watch what you say carefully, you
don't have to worry that the police will come to you, but you have to care
about your relation with other people. Don't get scared by this, you will
find it yourself and adapt to it accordingly quite soon after you arrive here.
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| About Rutgers |
Rutgers is one of the major research Universities in East America, it's
a big public school and the state University of New Jersey. Rutgers is located
on both sides of the Raritan river. The natural environment around Rutgers is good, with large
areas of grass land and trees, lots of squirrels and Canadian Geese, wild
ducks, even large population of deer, which can be seen roaming on the grass land
in late night. Rutgers also is close to many beach resorts where you can have
a lot of fun. There are theme parks like Six Flags, with safari and amazingly good roller
coaster(well, I personally hate those!), but I think ALL girls like it.
Transportation
Location of Rutgers-New Brunswick is very convenient as it has easy access to several major
Interstate Highways and close to big cities like New York City, Philidalphia
and Newark. And it is even not far from Washington D.C. So it's easy to go to these places via public transportation either
by train (NJTRANSIT) or bus.
Eating
We have a large Chinese community near Rutgers University.There are several Chinese Churches, four major Chinese
grocery stores(They are huge and usually you can find all the Asian food you want!).Chinese restaurants around Rutgers are great, and there are tens
of them! We will soon put a page with all those Chinese restaurants on the web.
Living
Housing in Rutgers could be a big problem. The New Brunswick campus is big, with 5 campuses separated
by Raritan River. They are Cook, Douglas, College Avenue, Busch, Livingston campus. You need to take
free campus bus when you commute between different campus. We recommend you to take the University
Housing for your first year, and I personally think Annual contract is better.
On campus housing is convenient and good, especially when summer, an air conditioned
room is much, much more comfortable than a non air-conditioned room. Most
off campus house is not convenient for commuting, usually you need a car. On campus
will be about $550 per month, while off campus housing is about $100-$200 less. I personally
think it well worth the trouble of commuting.
To select your apartment, you need to consider where you will spend your academic
activity. Which means if your department and your activities will be on Busch
campus, you'd better take a Busch campus dorm, so is for other campus.
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| Weather in Rutgers |
| Weather in Rutgers is just like Beijing, with a little more precipitation.
For those who don't know the weather in Beijing, let me explain, it's going
to be really, really hot during summer, and could be very cold in winter.
So you need clothes for all seasons. The change of weather during seasons is very apparent
and you will like those changes, especially during spring and autumn... I am sure, you will like it. |
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| What clothes to bring to Rutgers |
For guys: My personal opinion is that you don't have to take all your clothes,
clothes in US is better, use your own judgement for this issue, as American's
usually have bigger size, bring more clothes if you think you might have trouble
finding clothes of your own size. As aforementioned, weather here is like
Beijing, so you should bring at least one heavy coat, as I think it's cheaper
in our homeland, you also need some T shirts and Jackets, but you probably
won't need too much, the style and quality are much better here -- if you know
where to shop. You can actually get them cheaper than in China in some big
Malls(there are several near Rutgers). You don't have to bring sweaters, as
the style we have is not as good as in US, and they are not expensive here.
One or two pairs of shoes is required, shoes here are of better quality and
better brand, usually you can get it cheaper than in China. Guys probably
won't need a suit(xi zhuang), most likely you won't find opportunity to wear
it, and lots of guys gain 20-30 pounds the first year they arrive( I mean,
only guys ;-)). So, buy it here, they are usually of much better quality and
style.
For girls: the dress(formal clothes) you think are cool in China probably
won't be considered of good style here, but I suggest you to bring all your
favorite dress anyway, make sure you select them carefully. US clothes are
considered by a lot of girls as too big, there are lot of choices on style
here but finding a dress that fits you well is not easy -- unless you are
a rather big girl in Chinese standard. I know girls as tall as 1.62m have
trouble finding jeans and dresses. So, my final suggestion to girls is to
have at least one dress -- in case you need it and you can't find your size
here. This also applies to other clothes you are going to bring here. In short,
just bring one or two heavy coat and some clothes for immediate use,
one thing you should keep in mind, Americans changes their clothes everyday,
you better change it too, you can just put it there without washing it and
wear it again. You will find doing laundry in US extremely easy compared
with in China. I also suggest you to take shower each day, it's good for your
own appearance, and that's what most Americans do. So, bring enough clothes
for at least one week's wear with no repeat. |
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| Cooking Utensiles |
| Food here is mainly American food if you eat at the dinning hall, which is
not good in most Chinese eyes. If you want to cook (and like to cook), a
Chinese style kitchen knife is necessary, you may bring one bowl and a spoon
for immediate use after you arrive here. Girls can bring some snack you favorite,
you may find it hard to get those foods here. A chop board is recommended.
Bring a pressure pot if you like, make sure you take with you some parts that
needs to be replaced on a regular basis. |
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| Books |
| Well, books here are expensive (usually above $100), if you have some favorite text/reference books,
bring them here. If you have favorite novels, also bring them here. There are a lot of
web sites where you can find good novels, but not the latest. I personally
think some good Dictionary are necessary. |
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| Beddings |
| Bed cover and sheets, a good pillow, and a thin quilt, usually your room will be
very warm in winter, so no heavy quilt is needed. |
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| Your favorites |
| Include your favorite music, books, and games such as Majiang, Chinese Chess or Go chess (Wei Qi). Bring as many music as possible,
you will definitely find it useful here, especially when you feel lonely --
as you definitely will be sometimes. DVDs, VCDs, and all kind of Softwares are
highly recommended. |
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| How much money |
| Well, that depends on how much you can take with you. $1000 should be enough to cover the initial spending.
Don't be panic if you can't bring that much, especially when you have registered for housing. The first
pay check comes at the end of Sep if you are coming at fall. |
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| Miscellaneous |
| You better learn some skills if possible, like how to cook some decent dishes(
especially girls :-)), or hair cutting, car driving. it all depends on you.
If you can cut hair, bring some tools with you, you may find yourself very
popular. |
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