Building the group!

After finishing our Language Camp this Friday at Chicago Harris School, more tan 40 international students went to play soccer and then for a couple of drinks together. Below you will find a few of us enjoying our time together at The Pub (located at Ida Noyes Hall, in the University of Chicago).

Attending to the Language Camp is an essential part of becoming an international graduate student. It will not only help you to improve your language skills or to relax about it. Moreover, it's design to help you in your personal adapting process as an international student. It also helps you to experience the culture of the country to where you are travelling to and to understand the particular dynamics of a graduate student.

This program encourages people to know their future classmates and colleagues in a  very close relationship. I truly appreciate my personal experience at Harris and I've enjoyed sharing with people from all over the world, including Japan, China, South Korea, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Pakistan and Venezuela, just to name a few. Above you will find a few of us joining Hiro's birthday (Japan) at 57th St. Beach in Hyde Park, Chicago.

Cultural Shock

For an international student, getting used to the social, personal and academic life out of your country can be challenging. Understanding the culture, manners, behaviors and attitudes as a foreign is not always easy. If you have never live outside your hometown boundaries, even getting a bus could be an adventurous task. Accustom to the grading system and catching up with the classes dynamics is a task that takes time to fulfill. Even your tratment to teachers and classmates could be different from your country. And do not even mention the measuring system in the US or England! I´m still calculating inches to centimeters, pounds to Kg. and miles to Km! But it will get better, or at least I hope so.

In order to minimize this shocking phase, the University of Chicago (like many others in the US) offer a Language Camp for their incoming international students. Along with getting to know some of your classmates, this experience become very valuable for those (like me) who are studying abroad for their fist time.

During our Language Camp, we watched a video from an israeli student at Columbia University that in a very funny way illustrates this cultural shock issue and give advice for those international students coming to the US. Check the 5 parts of it!

International Student Experience: Part I

International Student Experience: Part II

International Student Experience: Part III

International Student Experience: Part IV

International Student Experience: Part V

What does it mean to study at The University of Chicago?

As an economist, studying at The University of Chicago was one of my biggest professional goals. Chicago´s atmosphere of critical thinking and a broad interdisciplinary exposure has granted this school as one the world´s most reputed intellectual community.

In the field of Economics, Chicago has been recognized for pioneering and reshaping modern economics, as well as for leading the debate for a new analysis of legal issues from an economic perspective. In other disciplines, The University of Chicago has also contributed immensely to scientific knowledge. The carbon 14 dating technique was developed by UChicago scientists, as well as the mathematical foundations of genetic evolution; the discovery of cancer as a genetic disease; the conduction of the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction and the conception black holes and the evolution of the early universe. 

Among other major contributions, these have led the University of Chicago to have more than 80 Nobel Prize laureates in several areas of knowledge (29 in Physics, 25 in Economics, 16 in Chemistry, 11 in Medicine (or Physiology), 3 in Literature and 1 in Peace). Actually, the first American winning a Nobel Prize, named Albert A. Michelson, alumni from the University of Chicago, was recognized for his measurements of the speed of light. If you want to check the detailed list of names and contributions, chek out this link: http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/nobel/

In addition to these distinctive intellectual qualities, styding in The University of Chicago allows you to discover all the magnificent gotic arquitecture of the main buildings founded in 1890 by John D. Rockefeller, combined with the modern design of schools like Booth Business School. 

Located in Hyde Park, to the south of Chicago dowtown, the university offers a warm and friendly suburban campus. However, this quiet and peaceful student life can also be accompanied by an active urban live in Chicago, what actually helps you to get out of the stressful rutine.

Getting around Chicago

After a full trip from Caracas to Chicago, I have been enjoying the last days of summer, before the dreaded winter comes.

Getting around the downtown, namely "The Loop" for Chicagoans, you will find "The Bean" (officially named Cloud Gate). It's located at Millenium Park, next to Michigan Avenue. This amazing public sculpture was created by the British artist Anish Kapoor, and it offers a spectacular mirrowed panoramic view of the city skyline.

The Bean has actually become one the most iconic items of Chicago, and people come to visit it to walk underneath it and specially for a fun view of the city.

 Above, my husband Daniel and I today at The Bean! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Packing Task!

Another big issue to take into account when you are on these final days before traveling is the packing issue. Trying to get all your stuffs into one or luckly two luggages can be hard. In my particular case, the weather in my home city Caracas is very friendly, so we normally don't have to face the agonies of neither the winter or the extreme summer. Now that I'm moving to Chicago (also know as The Windy City, unfurtunately for me), I must consider certain types of cloth I might want to take with me. 

In fact, here are a couple of tips I've had collect from different people:

a. Try to get only the stricly neccesary items (trust me, they won't fit onto one luggage, but you finally do)

b. Leave at home all those old shirts you've got since high school (I know you love them, but they are in unacceptable conditiones now, and you know it!)

c. Be prepared to face different weather conditions, and include at least a piece of cloth for it. If the winter comes and you don't even have a jacket, it will be hard times for you on your journey to the store!

d. Include at least one suit or working cloth. This is in fact one of the ones I valued more from the friend who told me this one (no one usually does, so thanks and credits to her). If you're planning to have any working experience in the country you'll study (either an internship or a permanet job), bring at least one outfit for an interview. If the time comes and you face budgetary restrinctions (as almost every student), buying business outfit can be expensive. So be prepared if you can foresee this is your situation.

e. Be sure to have a weight scale with you when you're packing. Airlines can be very restrictive with your luggage.

f. Don't leave lost space in your luggage! If you can't find the way to fit your things into your luggage, try to use every lost spot as convenient. Your shoes could be a perfect place to storage your socks and scarfs, for example.
g. Did you remember the Tetris game?  Well, play it and do your best! You will need it to succeed!

I hope this information helps you and I'll be posting soon about my first days in Chicago!

Leaving home

Leaving home can often be difficult, especially because you leave behind

you family and friends. But it is also an exciting experience to get into the adventure of what's comming next. I've just moved to Chicago tu pursue my Master's degree in Public Policy, and I can tell you it is very different from my homecountry (Venezuela). However, these first days I talk with my family very often and I'm sharing with them how is my new life going on. So if you're nervous about your moving date, try to let your family and friends be part of your new life. It would help you to cope with anxiety!

Here is my family saying good bye. I'll meet them in December again, when I go back to Venezuela for my wedding and holidays!