Monday, September 26, 2016

1st day. D-Day.



1st day. D-Day.

When you are an International or Exchange Student you are supposed to check in at St. Edward’s one week before the actual semester begins. Same rules for Spring and Fall Semester. For me as an International Student in the Fall Semester the date of check-in was Sunday the 21th of August.
“Regular” students arrive on the following weekend.

I decided to arrive in Austin on Saturday 20th, to get along with the time difference. 
After my 15 hour flight which started at 7.25am in Frankfurt, Germany, I arrived in Austin at 4.30pm and took the next taxi to the “Best Western Plus Austin Airport Inn & Suites”, which I can recommend if you want to do the same. My first night in the United States was great and after I had breakfast I took a taxi to St. Edward’s, where I arrived at 10am.
 
First things first! You have free Wi-Fi on campus! So for everyone without an US sim card, you will have access to the internet through the guest Wi-Fi.
After that you have to check-in for housing at your residence hall. Make sure that you check the map on google maps or the map that is provided in the mails of the University before you arrive
I am living at Casa (green circle), so I had to check-in at the Basil-Mareau Hall (red circle), which is located here:
There are some exceptions depending on where you live on campus, but the exact hall where you have to check-in will be stated in the email you’ll receive before the semester. 

Also all International Students will most likely NOT have their student ID’s by their day of arrival.
Without them you are not able to enter the halls and you have to wait until somebody from inside the building opens the door for you. 
But don’t worry, you will receive your ID the next day.

So at the check-in I received my keys for my room, for my mailbox and someone showed me where I will find my room.

IMPORTANT message for all international students! Make sure you have your beddings with you (covers, blanket, sheets, pillow) or that you have reserved your bedding in time at this website
For the ones who still don’t have/forgot bedding (like me) your able to buy it at the Walmart center which is easy to arrive by cab, or a 15-20 minute foot march.
More shopping possibilities will be discussed in upcoming blog posts.

After I made myself comfortable in my room and set the furniture up the way I wanted, I was hungry.
There are many spots around campus where you can eat something, but on the first day you may want to eat on campus. 
In general there are three dining halls on campus but the only dining hall which is open one week before the semester is Ragsdale, which is located here:



At the dining hall you are able to pay with your ID card, in cash or with a debit card. I was not having my ID card so on the first day I had to pay with debit card. 

The rest of the day I spent with meeting new people, getting my bedding and another very important thing, getting some rest.
But the day is up to you! Make yourself comfortable!

 




1 comment:

  1. The pertains to my blog topic in a big way. Tobi going be talking about our university, and surviving as well as not getting lost, I will be talking about the buildings that will draw in internationals.

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