List of all things to be taken care of: Health matters Immunization This is very important.

Each university has its own list of mandatory vaccinations, so check that out and start early. Because some of them might require multiple doses over a period of time, and you wouldn't want to risk taking any injections as you get nearer to the departure date. Dental checkup Again very important, as dental care in US is very expensive, and even more so because most insurance companies don't cover pre-existing dental problems. And you would need to fix an appointment 2-3 weeks earlier with the dentist. In short, get all those caps filled and root-canal treatments done. It is so expensive here, that you can go back to India, get it done and come back, and even that will be much cheaper! Eye checkup Get your eyes checked at a good eye hospital, and get the prescription. Get an extra pair of spectacles. This is very expensive in the US. Health insurance It is always a question whether Indian insurance policies like ICICI Lombard, TATA AIG, etc which provide overseas health insurance for students is acceptable. Even though it might end up cheaper than the university insurance, the coverage and the claims process is much simpler if you take the insurance from the university. So if you ask me, get the insurance from the university. But take a travel insurance (it won't cost more than Rs.2000) from ICICI if possible for the first few days from the departure date till the classes start. Shopping in India Flight ticketsSo, you must have got your i20, and booked your date for the VI. What is better, you might even have finished your VI successfully already! What are you waiting for? Go ahead and book your ticket! There are two ways you can book your tickets for cheap:Quote:1. A good reputed travel agent2. Online booking through websites1 is a slightly better option in case many people are going to go together (like 8-10 people), then the agent might give you a discount. Also, many times, the agent might give you cheaper tickets than those offered by websites. The best way to go about, is to inquire with multiple agents and compare the deals you get. Also look at the time when it will depart and arrive in the US, and see if it will be convenient for you. Some of your friends might have parents who are businessmen who travel a lot, and they would have their own trusted travel agent. They might give you cheaper tickets. Tickets get expensive as you wait longer, so book them at least 1-1.5 months in advance. To get the contact information of a good travel agent in your city, just search in the pre-departure forum for "travel agent + the city name". Most cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad have been covered. If you plan to buy through websites, you may try the following: http://www.makemytrip.com http://www.yatra.com http://www.kayak.com http://www.expedia.com

http://www.cleartrip.com In any case, even if you are planning to buy from a travel agent, check the fares online and see if you get a better deal. If you are, then talk to the agent and try bargaining with him. If the deal online is still better, then go ahead and book online. But be wary of any hidden fees that the website may charge you during check-out. Almost all airlines start giving out student deals sometime in June or even earlier, so keep a watch out for that. See if there is extra-baggage allowance, which will come in very handy for your first trip since you will be carrying a lot of stuff. Many airlines might also give you some discount coupons which may come of use during shopping. Once you book the ticket either through online or agent, be sure to call up the airline and confirm whether the ticket has been booked. Just to be safe. Some of you will feel they would wait till they get the VI cleared to book the tickets. In my opinion, as soon as you get your i20 and booked your VI, block the ticket with a travel agent by paying some initial amount. At worst, if you want to postpone or cancel your ticket, the agent may charge you a small fee. But that is very less probable, as almost all of you will pass the VI with flying colours! Some tips on flight bookings:Quote:1. Try to get a single direct flight to your destination. If that is not possible/coming out to be too expensive, make sure the change of flights is within the same airline or code-shared airline. ( For information on code-sharing -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeshare_agreement )2. Get a single ticket for the entire journey.3. If you are changing flights, make sure you leave at least 3-5 hours gap between the arrival of the first flight and the departure of the next.4. Baggage is safe with one airline (though in the case of British Airways it is not true, BA is notorious for baggage loss) so look into that.LuggageFirst things first, you will need some suitcases to carry all your stuff. You will most likely have a student offer by which you will be able to carry 3 * 23 kgs plus cabin luggage. The most preferred brands by students are :Quote:1. American Tourister2. VIP3. SamsoniteAT has some very good discounts at their factory outlets (for Chennai people, there in one in T.Nagar) (for Bangalore people , Marathalli is one stop for all your needs) so it will probably end up the cheapest of the lot. Samsonite is quite expensive. VIP is good too, but again might end up a little more expensive than AT. My personal opinion - Go with American Tourister. There may be other local places where you get unbranded pieces for dirt-cheap prices. Don't go with those. If your luggage breaks during handling at the airports, imagine the plight of all those stuff you would have kept inside!! You will find that there are two types - hard and soft cases. You might be tempted to go for 2 soft and 1 hard suitcases (which I did) but there is no inherent advantage of a hard case over a soft one. In fact, the hard gets scratched easily during handling. Stick to 3 soft cases. Now for the cabin luggage, get a nice huge backpack. You need to stuff as much as possible into the cabin bag, since the airlines hardly ever weigh the cabin luggage. If you are bringing your laptop from India, then you need to have a provision for laptop inside the bag. Plan accordingly and get a nicely padded and ample backpack. For Chennai people, Roshan Bag Mall near T.Nagar Bus Stand has a nice collection. For Bangalore people, Marathalli is a good place and if you are looking at branded prefer MG Road and Brigade Road. But

my advice is don't look at brands, just go with utility. Edit: Don't forget the TSA locks. Get it from Samsonite. Clothes and apparelFrom my personal experience, don't get too many t-shirts from India. Again, don't get too few either. You won't be washing your clothes for the first two weeks at least, so you need your clothes to last for at least two weeks. A general guideline for buying clothes:Quote: 1. T-shirts (round neck) - 8 2. T-shirts (collared) - 3-4 3. Jeans (stick to blue/black) - 6-7 4. Formal shirts - 3 5. Formal trousers - 2 6. Undergarments - at least 15 pairs (very important) 7. Formal suit - 1 complete set 8. Ties - 2-3 9. Shorts/three-fourths - 5-6 10. Track pants - 2-3 11. Swimming trunks - 1 (if you plan to swim after coming here) 12. One traditional dress for festivals You will get a lot of t-shirts as freebies in many places in the university. Also you will be tempted to buy university tees (they are quite cheap at Walmart) so you won't need that many tees. You may get the t-shirts and jeans at places like Mega Mart where you typically have 'Buy 2 Get 2 Free' kind of offers, which may end up cheaper. With regard to other stuff, you may need to buy these:Quote: 1. Towels (any kind, but I would prefer Turkish) - 3 2. Hand towels - 3-4 3. Leather belts - 1-2 4. Belt for jeans - 1 5. Formal leather shoes - 1 pair 6. Woodland all-weather shoes - 1 pair (very important) 7. Sneakers (optional) - 1 pair 8. Sports shoes (optional) - They are very cheap in the US. You will most probably have a pair already. Wear it and come. Wait till the black friday sales where you will get awesome pairs of shoes for cheap. 9. Sunglasses - 1 pair (any good brand is okay) 10. Socks - 6-7 pairs 11. Sweater - 1-2 good warm ones 12. A light jacket (you can get a thicker one once you land in the US) 13. A good umbrella (don't get the cheapo ones, they can't stand the wind) 14. Handkerchiefs - 12 nos. 15. Hawai slippers - 1 pair (for wearing inside the apartment) 16. Flip-flops - 1 pair (for summer and spring) 17. Bedsheets - 2 18. Blanket - 1 (optional) 19. Pillow covers - 3

20. A good wallet (leather) - 1 21. A wallet for passport 22. Shoe polish - 1 (don't get liquid, might spill during travel) 23. Shoe polishing brush - 1 24. Monkey cap - 1This is all the clothes and accessories you might need from India. Electronics Though most electronics are cheaper in the US, there are some stuff you may buy from India and come.Quote:1. External HDD (get the portable one) - You might need this for bringing all those movies, music and files from back home. Minimum of 320-500GB. Any brand is fine. 2. USB keyboard and mouse (optional) - gamers might need this. Even otherwise, it is a good thing to have. Get Logitech/Microsoft/Samsung/Zebronics. 3. This is strictly optional. Most probably you will already have a quad-band phone. Get a lifetime prepaid sim card from Airtel, register that number in one of the free SMS websites (like way2sms). Once you land in the US, there is no charge for incoming SMS to that number. So in case any of your friends/family want to message you/give missed call to you, they can do that for free in that number. You can reply for free using the free sms service on the website you registered with previously. 4. If you already have a laptop, you may bring that. Even if it is quite old, preserve it till black friday. You will get super deals, both online and in-store. 5. IPod/mp3 player (optional) - You might need this if you have to wait for long times at airports. Else, get it in the US. 6. Digital Camera- Get it from India. It might be a little more expensive, but you will need it to record all those initial snaps in the US. Preferred brands are Canon, Sony and Nikon. Don't buy cameras that require AA batteries. Buy models with Li-ion batteries. 7. A good pair of headphones with mic. 8. A branded spike-buster. 9. Indian pin to US pin converters - 2-3. (very important) 10. A small table clock with alarm functionality 11. A scientific calculator (very important) Casio fx991MS or fx991ES - This is damn expensive in the US. 12. A good branded, decent wrist watch. 13. An extra battery for your wrist watch.

14. Blank DVDs - 4-5.This may be all the electronic stuff you might need from India. Personal hygiene products Most of the brands available in India are available in the US too. However, you might need to bring the following items for your first few days of use.Quote: 1. Tooth paste - one large tube. Brands also available in the US - Colgate, Close-Up, Pepsodent, Aquafresh (Note: The Pepsodent here is not the same as the Pepsodent in India, it is owned by a different company, not by Unilever) 2. Tooth brushes - 3-4 3. Soap - 1-2 bars. Brands also available in the US - Dove, Palmolive and Pears. If you don't use any of these brands, then better get used to them. No use bringing lots of soap bars from India. 4. Shampoo - 1 bottle. Brands also available in the US - Head and Shoulders, Sunsilk, Dove, Pantene, Nizoral. Again, get used to any one of these brands. 5. Shaving razor - A couple of disposable ones. 6. Shaving foam (don't buy cream) - 1 small can 7. Cold cream - 1 bottle 8. Vaseline - 1 bottle 9. Good clean combs - 2-3 10. Comb cleaner/old toothbrush for cleaning the combs. 11. Soap cases - 2 12. Hair oil - 2 bottles 13. Deodorant - 1 can 14. Nail cutter - 2 15. Earbuds - 1 small pack 16. Sunscreen - 1 bottle 17. Lip balm - 2 tubesThis is all the personal hygiene products I guess. Utensils and Food items These are the most important things you need to carry from India. If you have already decided your roommates in India, then you will have the luxury of sharing/dividing items equally. All vessels should be flat bottomed, since in the US, most apartments use electric stoves. These may be the utensils you may want to carry with you:Quote: 1. Pressure cooker - 1 2. Pressure pan - 1. As far as possible, get both the cooker and the pan from the same brand so that you can interchange the gaskets and the weights. 3. Medium size kadai for cooking vegetables - 1 4. Serving spoons (of various sizes) - 3-4 5. SS Plate - 1 6. Kadai for boiling milk/water - 1 7. Knives - 3-4 8. Vegetable chopping board - 1 9. SS glasses/tumblers - 3 10. SS spoons - 3-4 List 11. Extra weights and gaskets for the cookers - 3 12. Chapati roller - 1

13. Butter knives - 2 14. SS forks - 2 15. Kadai for making sambar/dal - 1 16. Tea strainer - 1 17. Water bottle (preferably Tupperware) - 1 Now to the Food itemsQuote: 1. Ready-to-eat paste - 5-6 bottles minimum. 2. Rice - 3-4 kg for initial use 3. Maggi - 10-12 (minimum). You won't get Maggi in the US except in Indian stores. So carry as much as you can. 4. Some home-made sweets for yourself as well as for seniors you need favors from. 5. Pickles - 3-4 bottles 6. Some snacks - how much ever you want, for the initial days 7. All powders - chilli, garam masala, rasam, sambar, asafoetida, other powders you use - 0.5 to 1 kg each 8. All dals that you use in cooking - 2 kg each 9. Salt and sugar - 0.5 kg each 10. Papads - 2-3 packs 11. Tamarind - 1 kg 12. Ginger-garlic paste - 2 bottles Stationery items You will get a lot of stationery items free at various places in the university (career fairs, orientation, etc) so don't bring too many stuff.Quote: 1. Pens - 3-4 2. Notebooks - 2-3 3. Pencils - 3-4 4. Erasers - 3 5. Sharpeners - 3 6. Key chains - 2 7. Staple machine - 1 8. Pins - 2 boxes 9. Glue sticks - 2 10. Markers - 2 11. Highlighters - 1 12. A4 sheets - 1 quire 13. Small ruler - 1 14. Phone book - 1. Keep all your friends' and relatives' phone numbers written inside before you leave. 15. Cellophane tape - 1 roll MedicinesThese are very important since for getting any specialized medicine in the US, you need a prescription. Quote:1. Cold, Fever - Crocin2. Body Pain - Crocin, Combiflam3. Indigestion, Gastric Problems - Gelucil, Zinetac4. Throat Infection - Erythromycin5. Allergies - Avil .256. Vomiting - Avomine7. Tooth Ache - Combiflam8. Cold, Head Ache - Amurtanjan9. Stomach Pain - Cyclopam10. Diarrhea - Lopomide11.

Dizziness - Diziron12. Sprain - Esgypyrin13. Common Cold - Coldact, Vicks Vaporub Books Textbooks are very expensive in the US, so you might as well talk to your seniors in the university, and get the important textbooks from India. Only get those books you won't be able to live without, since they might take much of your luggage allowance. Also, get those fundamental books for revision of concepts.

Other things before you leave Packing Don't procrastinate packing till the last moment as you won't find time later, and in the tension you may miss out on some important things. Start packing early. Make sure you make a list of all stuff you are carrying. Label all the suitcases both inside and outside with both your home address in India and your university address. Include the phone numbers also. Make sure you are within the luggage allowance (you can do this by carrying the suitcase to the nearest scrap metal shop/rice mundi), though it can exceed upto 1-2 kgs. Document list Here is the list of documents to be carried. It is advisable to keep one of each in one piece of luggage.Quote:(1) Passport Xerox(5 copies)(2) VISA Xerox (5 copies)(3) IDP Xerox (5 copies)(4) I-20(5 copies)(5) Air Ticket(2 copies)(6) Original marksheets + Degree Certificate(7) Attested marksheets + Degree Certificate (3 copies)(8 Original transcripts + Degree Certificate (3 copies)(9) Immunization form(specific to university)(10) University specific letters like admit, aid, forms.(11) SEVIS fee reciept(3 copies)(12) GRE Original + Xerox copies(5 copies)(13) TOEFL Original + Xerox copies(5 copies)(14) Final Year Project Report(15) Syllabus Copies(16) Reco Letters.Keep your original documents with you in the hand luggage and not in the check-in. Keep everything neatly organized so that you won't have to search for anything in case you need something during travel. Keep your passport always within reach of your hand (but not others' hands ). Get a wallet for your passport (you can get it from Witco) IDP (International Driving Permit) It is entirely upto you to get the IDP or not. It doesn't cost much, and may be useful for renting cars. So no harm in getting it done. May also serve as an ID. Carrying currencyThis is a very important issue, and many people have doubts regarding this. About $ 1000-1500 in cash and rest in travelers' checks around $ 1000, which you could cash at a local bank. Exactly how much money you would need totally depends on where you are going. If you are going to a small town then anything from $ 500 to 1000 should be enough. But if you will live in a city close to the downtown then the cost would be $ 1,500 to $ 2,000. Research on the college website for costs should give you a good indication. You may also choose to carry cash in the form of travel cards, like ICICI or SBI vishwa yatra card. Get a lot of quarters (at least for $ 20) from a local money changer/bank in India. This is useful for anything from Coke to washing clothes to getting carts at airports. Take some $5 and $10 bills too. For tuition fee, you can either carry a DD, or ask your parents to wire the money directly to the university. These are the two safest options. Make sure you get the DD in the university's name and not your name. Don't carry

checks with you. Keep all your currency in your wallet inside the hand luggage, and not in the check-in luggage. Calling card The cheapest and best calling option I have used so far is ActionVoip. It costs 1 euro cent per minute to call India, which is way cheaper than Airtel/Reliance. You can install the software on your laptop and call through that. Go tohttp://www.actionvoip.com for more details. And of course, there is always Skype and it is free as well. Personal matters Never forget these!!Quote:1. Make sure you visit all your relatives in you city before you leave, especially your old grandma/grandpa. Don't miss out anyone. Seek everyone's blessings.2. Call those relatives who are not in your city and seek their blessings as well.3. Make a trip along with your family to your favorite temple/church/mosque. Seek the Lord's blessings.4. Visit all your good friends and if possible, have a get-together. Visit your loved one as well, spend a long romantic evening with him/her.5. If you aren't able to visit all your friends, make sure you call them at least.6. Keep in touch with a couple of seniors in your university through edulix/skype/orkut/facebook. Make sure there is someone to pick you up at the airport, or at least some place to stay till you get an apartment. Get their phone numbers as well.7. Last but not the least, relax.Update (02/21/10) The Apartment Hunt Ok, so you have got your admits. You are about to attend your VI/have already got your visa. How do you search for apartments? Here is a short guide on apartment hunting. Deciding roommates: Deciding who you want to live with for at least an year can be a headache, since you won't have any idea of how the others are (unless you found them on Edulix ) Mostly the roommates are decided through social networking sites like orkut and facebook. And regionalism reigns supreme. (For example, in IUB, I myself live with other guys from TN, all gujjus stay with other gujjus, all maharashtrians live with the other maharashtrians, all telugu people stay with telugus, and so on ) It makes sense, since you would want to stay with someone closer to your home and speak using your mother tongue. Don't have too many expectations from roommates, learn to adjust with anyone. If you have previously lived with roommates, it helps a lot. Sometimes, you may end up living with seniors, which is actually good, because you get to network with your seniors pretty fast. Once you decide on your roommates, start searching for a room. The best ways to search for apartments are:

Quote:1. Google 2. Asking seniors. Seniors are the best source of information regarding apartments, so dropping a mail to a couple of them seeking their opinion always helps. Deciding the apartment: The things you need to look for in an apartment are:Quote:1. The rent : Find out how much the rent is from the apartment owners (a simple mail should do, you can also enquire about this from the seniors) and find out what all are included in the rent. Sometimes all the utilities like water, electricity, gas, internet, cable,

sewer, trash removal are included, but mostly it might include just some of them. Also ask if you need to pay any deposit first-up. Make sure you don't forget this. 2. The number of bedrooms : depends on the number of people you want to stay with. Some people might want to have their own room, some might be open to sharing rooms. So it is up to you. The apartment owners might have a ceiling on the number of persons staying in an apartment, like not more than 6 persons in a 3 BDR. 3. The number of bathrooms: very important. If you intend to stay with more than 3 people, it is advisable to have 2 bathrooms. 4. The location : Places very close to the campus are usually very expensive, and those distant don't have much transportation facilities. Here is where seniors can help. Find out about the transportation facilities from various apartments. Ideally, it shouldn't be more than 10-15 mins from the campus. Also get to know about the location of supermarkets nearby. Google maps do help a lot. 5. Furnishings: Some apartments may come fully furnished, some may just include the basic stuff (a refrigerator, a stove, dishwasher, central airconditioning and heat, and a common washer/dryer). You can always get some furniture free in dumpsters/giveaways. 6. Other stuff: Most apartments have a swimming pool and a fitness center. They let you use it for free. Many apartments also have a recreation center where you can play table-tennis, pool, etc.Ideally, you should be able to visit the apartment before you decide on where you want to stay. But many times, you may not have time for that, since apartments get booked pretty quickly. What you can do is, ask the seniors' opinions on how good/bad a particular apartment is. Make sure you ask at least a couple of people, since some may be prejudiced against/for a particular apartment.

Once you have decided on your apartment, you can choose to book the apartment and sign the lease once you reach there, or ask someone you know to pay the deposit first-up before you land (less-likely). Apartment owners are usually pretty lenient with students, so you can book the apartment before you reach there and then sign the lease.