<p>hi everyone,
packing is always very stressful, especially for internationals students since they can't really take everything they want from home because of baggage limits. so i'm trying to create a list of things that international students should DEFINITELY bring from home. was there anything your kids forgot/didn't think of when packing and later regret not taking it? i doubt there are a lot of international parents here, but anyway, please share your experience.
so far, i came up with:</p>
<p>travel pillow
adapter plug
movies from home</p>
<p>I am a US citizen and a mom…and we have lived overseas–
can I suggest</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a favorite paperback book or 2 or 3 etc etcetc in your native language–for when you just want to “escape” into something relaxing–English all of the time and the culture shock/changes etc can be alot to take–Add College challenges–Its alot</p></li>
<li><p>a couple of favorite recipes that YOU can cook and share with new friends</p></li>
</ul>
<p>-a book of pictures or a digital file you can download into a digital frame ($40 at Target) in which you can watch the slide show of family, friends etc that are special to you</p>
<p>-some favorite CDs of your favorite musicians/bands in your native language</p>
<p>My Dd is abroad and the care package items she asks for the most are clothing items she had not thought she would need and favourite food items with the flavour of home.</p>
<p>One of my grad school roommates arrived with several months worth of laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, tea, cooking spices, and more. At the time, we were amazed at the choices - did her mom really think she couldn’t get laundry detergent in the US? But it did mean that she didn’t have to go shopping for all of that stuff the day she arrived, and by the time she’d used up the detergent, toothpaste, etc. she had found out where to find equivalent products in the city where we were studying. So maybe her mom did know best!</p>
<p>Other friends arrived with all of the ingredients and cooking equipment for making one or two special dishes, coffee or tea sets that were necessary for the kind of entertaining that would make them feel at home, and even favorite pens and paper for taking notes in class.</p>
<p>If you contact the international student office at the college/university you will be attending, they may be able to put you in touch with people from your part of the world who can give you specific advice. </p>
<p>I think a favorite t shirt, sweater, hat, etc. something that is familiar and puts you at ease.
the other suggestions were really good. and any things like cough tablets, or cold tablets that work is a good idea to bring.</p>
<p>I lived for five years in Germany. The only thing I really missed were a few very specific food items - oreo cookies, chocolate chips, pecans, sweet potatoes. I like both American and European chocolate, both good but different. You can get lots of European chocolate here (at least in the NY area.) Things I miss from Germany: chocolate truffle easter eggs, quark, fromage blanc (from France), wide shoes. If I were German, I might miss German medicine, but even after five years I never got used to the idea to drink teas for coughs! Outfits from other countries are surprisingly useful.</p>
<p>It really depends on where you are from and to where your child is going. For example my S has been educated in Britain, but there are a couple of good british stores around Boston so he can have just about anything (but Cadbury-- America Cadbury is horrible) here. I would check also to see if your child’s university has a club for your nationality (There is a Harvard British Club, for example) and they can band together to have “care packages” sent over. We found posters of local sports teams and bands for his room to be helpful too.</p>
<p>I don’t know but am just imagining: if I were coming to US college from another country, preparing to eat dormitory/cafeteria food, I might want to put together 2 or 3 blended bottles of spices to sprinkle on eggs, chicken or things to make food taste more like home sometimes. Spices from around the world can be found here, but are sometimes expensive compared to what you know; example, from the MidEast: Saffron costs a fortune in the U.S. !</p>
<p>It is possible that you will be invited to the home of an American student’s family for a dinner or a holiday. You might want to bring a SMALL, easy to pack gift from your country to present to the hosts (spices, perhaps, or a music CD, or a small trinket of some sort) in case this happens. Then, make some good friends and drop a hint that you would love to visit an American family at home!</p>
<p>But you’re from Russia or the former Soviet Union? I’m fairly familiar with the culture. </p>
<p>I would highly encourage you bring your Russian language materials as they are rare these days as Russian isn’t so <em>hot</em> as it was during the Cold War. You can still find wonderful little Russian markets in large cities and “European” markets in smaller cities. And you MUST bring chocolate as your American hosts will love them. It was a joke among Russian majors at one of my schools that we majored in Russian only to get chocolates from our native Russian professors! I would definitely learn how to make some of your Russian dishes as there isn’t really a lot of Russian food in markets to satisfy a craving (we do have blintzes/piroskis but the frozen variety isn’t that great).</p>
<p>We do have certain brands of vodka here but since you’ll be coming here as underaged… I’d just wait until you’re 21 or have your family bring bottles when they visit. Vodka was really the only thing that my friends who traveled/studied/stayed in Russia for extensive periods of time missed (aside from the chocolates). You will definitely find, compared to Soviet standards, America to be quite plentiful.</p>
<p>Ticklemepink, I am from Russia indeed, how did you know that?
And by the way, American chocolate I’ve tried so far isn’t bad at all! I’m absolutely in love with Hershey milk chocolate:) And I heard from some Americans I know that Russian vodka is considered the worst of all vodkas in the States…</p>
<p>In this day of mp3 and other formats, I’m sure I don’t need to add: music.</p>
<p>Are you a tea drinker? You will find many varieties of tea here, but the one that tastes like home to you may not be readily available. It’s easy to pack a tin of tea.</p>
<p>It might be fun to go to your post office, buy the smallest denomination of postage stamp, get a few pages of very inexpensive stamps from your country.</p>
<p>Then when you want to send someone a message on paper in the U.S. (not a real letter, but just as a signature icon) you have something interesting from your home country to put on the page. It will be uniquely YOU.</p>