CSSF Welcome letter | Contact us
Welcome
Hello, new students and visiting scholars,
Congratulations on your admission to UNR!
You're sincerely invited to join the CSSF at UNR, along with about 100 other
Chinese students, scholars and their families. Click HERE
to find our mailing list is.
By sending this letter out to you, we, the people who have been at UNR for
more than one year, would like not only to express our good wishes and warm greetings,
but also to share with you some of our experiences at UNR, or in the USA for that
matter, which we sincerely hope are helpful and informative.
First of all, be prepared for the hardship both in your academic studies and
in your daily lives. If you still hold the thought that going to the United States
is one of your biggest dreams, it is good to hold to that. We all believe in
our dreams that push us forward in life; however, at the same time, we need
also to be practical because everyday life is nothing like cozy dreams. This is
especially true in the States. The philosophy behind the teaching and the ways
of teaching are very different from those in the Chinese universities. Back in China, we
believe in feeding the students with "knowledge" by the teachers, who
often times appear to be exhausted from talking too much. Here in the States,
things seem to be just the opposite. You rarely find any teachers talking for
more than half of the class time. At UNR anyway, teachers are only functioning
as facilitators; the students are responsible for their own learning.
Therefore, active participation in the classroom activities is essential for
your academic success.
Western style food, though seemingly easier to cook than Chinese food, is
not always what our stomach demands. Eating McDonalds once or twice is OK; but
having it everyday? Well, give me something different, like rice. It is,
therefore, only natural that you learn a few tricks with Chinese cooking so you
wouldn't miss your mom's or your wife's cooking too much.
Be prepared to fight back the loneliness you may feel for the first few
months. America
may be the land of dreams for many; yet, it is quite likely that you find it
far different from what you have imagined. Keep in mind of the reasons you have
come here for, which will reduce some of the frustration when you experience
problems on the first few days or months. After all, you are in a new country;
encountering the unexpected might be part of your expectations.
Before your departing from China,
here are a few things you need to do:
- Applying for a free email
address from hotmail or yahoo so you can contact your family, thus
avoiding spending your hard earned money on long distance phone calls;
- Read carefully all the
documents sent to you from the University, Graduate school, OISS, and your
department. Pay special attention to those materials that you should bring
with you, such as your immunization certificate.
- Browse the homepages of UNR,
your department, OISS, and graduate school so that you have a clear idea
of what your coming life at UNR would be like.
- Buy New English-Chinese
Dictionary and/or a Xinhua Dictionary with
English Translation. Having one of those electronic English-Chinese
Dictionaries would be a good idea too, as taking a thick dictionary in
your backpack could only add extra burden to your tired back. If you want
to get one, be sure to buy one with a large vocabulary, say at least 100
thousand words. Besides, having a pocket English-Chinese dictionary is a great
help too at times. Again it should carry a large number of words (over 6
thousand at least).
- Bring some textbooks (either
in English or Chinese) for the courses you will take,
and some computer books if you have interests in computer studies or
applications. Tsinghua University Publisher
often publishes (in copy-print) English textbooks. Books in China are
so much cheaper! If a book sold for 50 yuan in China, be
prepared to spend the same amount of US dollars in the States.
- Now clothing. Although Reno has seasonal
climate, you don't really need to wear too much in winter. A woolen
sweater and a thick jacket are probably all you need to wear. Jeans can be
worn year round. Bring as much underwear as possible. You will RARELY need
to wear a suit. All the clothes should be allowed enough shrinkage because
of USA-machine washing and drying. And who knows you may put on a few
extra pounds once you have settled down comfortably. So buy the clothes
one or two sizes larger than you normally wear. Bedding and a thin quilt
and a blanket may be on your list.
- Contact OISS (Office of
International Students and Scholars) to ask them to have someone pick you
up at the airport. Your need to
contact them two weeks ahead of your arrival. Inform them the exact
time and date of your arrival. Click HERE
to send an email to OISS, or you can call them by 1-775-784-6874. The
office hour is Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
- If you wish to find a member
of CSSF to pick you up at Reno
airport, we suggest that you FIRST try to contact those senior fellows who
are in the same department as you, THEN those who come from the same home
place as you, FINALLY the CSSF committee. Because as you will see, nearly
every Chinese student here is fully occupied in his/her daily schedule and
we don't want to see some one is overloaded.
- Please note that there is a
several dollars fee charged for parking a car at the airport.
When you arrive at UNR, the first thing you have to do is to find a living
place. We are trying to collect some housing information and then send it to
every member of CSSF so that you can get it from any Chinese student here. But
if you are offered a temporary place, or even the living room to live in, you'd
better inquire in advance how much it costs to share the living place. For the
first day or two, you could stay at the University Inn, which may cost you
around $20-50 a night. Calling home as soon as you are here is probably the
first thing you want to do. The best way to do this is to buy a phone card via
the Internet. A good place to go to is a web site selling low rated phone
cards: http://www.1stphonecard.com/ Read the lines very carefully before making
your purchase. A normal rate to call China now is around 11-15 cents/per
minute. You need to a credit card to do such purchase. In case you don't have
one yet, you may pay about $20, the normal cost of a card,
to someone you know who has a credit card. Students go shopping once a week. So
it is a good idea to prepare a shopping list when going on such a trip. Find
someone who has a car for help. If you don't know anyone at UNR now, as may be
the case, we are happy to arrange a person for you. We recommend that your
shopping time matches that of the person who takes you shopping and that you'd
better calculate your time for choosing and buying your groceries so that you
can finish shopping within the agreed time. As a Chinese saying goes:
"When entering a foreign land, please abide by its customs and habits'',
try to adjust yourself to the American ways of studying and living. Most of the
Americans appear to be open-minded, optimistic, friendly, straightforward, and
punctual. We understand that our friendship, either among ourselves or between
Chinese and Americans and people from other countries, is developed on the
basis of understanding of, being tolerant for each other, and being punctual
and cooperative. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us.
May all of you enjoy your stay here at UNR. CSSF
President: Peng Yu
E-mail: yup1980@gmail.com
Cell: (775) 636-0969
University of Nevada, Reno
Last updated 12/12/2007. If you have any comments, you may contact the web master or the assistant web master.