January 2017: Arrival and Start of School

I arrived around early January, and stayed at my friend’s apartment at The Northpoint Crossing till the hall check-ins opened on January 9th. I did not want to miss the orientations scheduled on January 11th and so arrived earlier. I utilised this time by getting used to the campus and setting up important items such as the phone plan, bank account, completing the online orientation and getting the Student ID card. The Gig’em week was around that time and I got to explore the different clubs and organisations on campus and join some. They had the MSC open-house, where all the clubs on campus gather to promote. I landed in Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport and spent two days there before coming to College Station. I would recommend flying into Austin or Houston, since these places have more frequent rides to College Station than Dallas. I used Greyhound to come from Dallas to College Station. The overall trip cost me an extra USD 60, since I had to pay for my two luggage too. You can use Zimride or Ground Shuttle service from the Austin and Houston airports. School was supposed to start from the 15th of January, but it got cancelled on the first day due to wintry weather. You can find all the details about the classes on the online ecampus system. The add-drop period is only one week, so do keep that in mind.

February 2018: Travelling, School Organisations and Midterms

February was the month of the first set of midterms. For me, they were in the middle of the month. But before that, I made sure to travel around and relax. The Southside Commons is a very relaxing place, where my friends and I hung out a lot. We visited Houston, which is a far more metropolitan and urban city compared to College Station. Some very popular locations on our list were the Downtown Aquarium, the Town Centre and the string of famous restaurants. After my midterms were over, I visited Austin, which was a far livelier and interesting city. We visited the Graffiti Wall, the Texas Capitol, Pennybacker Bridge, Zilker Park Lake, 6th Street and the Austin downtown area. Austin is a must-visit place due to its diverse options of outdoor and indoor activities. I also attended the sessions of the Chinese Club gathering at TAMU, AIChE general meetings and the ISMA meetings.

March 2018: More Midterms, Travel Diaries and Spring break

There is a tradition of a gathering every first Friday of the month at downtown Bryan. Hence, I did not want to miss it and enjoyed the country music ambience on the first Friday in March. ISMA was really helpful with regular grocery runs and helping us out with rides. Also, it was time for the first trip with ISMA and we visited the NASA Space Center in downtown Houston. It was very economical and cost us $20 for the whole trip, including the ticket to the Space Centre. We got the chance to see the Mars New Mission Control and many other things. So, I would recommend this place also.

Then, for the most interesting part, it was spring break. Four of my friends and I planned a spring break road trip all the way from College Station to Amarillo to the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas to El Paso and back. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It took us 9 days and we crossed around 4000 miles and 5 states. Just after we came from spring break, I had my second set of midterms. So, plan accordingly to get the most out of the spring break. Towards the end of March, the Big Event took place which is a school-wide voluntary service. I had fun going to the local Bryan community and spending a day doing community service.

April 2018: Wrapping up classes, Project Presentations and Endless events

April was mostly about taking part in many more events and regular classes. I took part in multiple hackathons and entrepreneurial events on and off campus. The third week was mostly the third set of midterms and project preparations. There are some social events like the Arabic Student Night and Easter Social which balances the school life. The project presentations were near the end of the month and two of my courses finished by this month.

May 2018: Finals and More Travels

This month was very short, considering most of the exams ended by the first week and all the grades were released within a week. Several clubs were having the wrap up party and Northgate was packed with students. For example, the ISMA organisation had an end of semester gala. Since I had pre-planned travel plans, I could not join all the events. As the exams ended, I travelled to New Jersey and New York City with my friends.

General Exchange Information

Pre-departure Notes:

Once the exchange is confirmed from HKUST, you will be prompted to create an account with the online Howdy portal, which is similar to our my.ust.hk website. There, you will create something called a NetID and password, which is similar to the CAS credentials we have at HKUST. You will receive a unique User Identification Number, which will be your Student ID number at the host institution. For my case, I received the UIN in late October. You will be needing this number very frequently during your stay at TAMU, so it is better to memorise the number. You will need the UIN to open the account. Then, after the account has been created, you will be asked to complete the Study Abroad application in the Study Abroad TAMU (abbreviation for Texas A&M University) portal, which is very similar to the online application we had to process with Study Abroad Portal at HKUST. Complete the checklist in the Study Abroad TAMU application portal. Once the application checklist is completed, it will send the application to the host institution to review it.

1) Visa:

The whole visa application procedures were quite simple. Since Texas A&M will send you the J1 Documents to the School of Engineering office, you just have to pick it up when notified. After receiving the J1 Documents, you will have to register online for paying the SEVIS fee and booking for the interview with the US Embassy. After registering for the interview appointment, you will need to pay the fee at any 7-11 store or online through credit card. Remember to keep both SEVIS fee and J1 DS- Form Receipt properly and bring both of them to the interview. The interview with the US Embassy is quite easy and it takes around 1-2 week to process the visa. However, it is advisable to apply for the visa interview as soon as possible in case there are any unexpected processing delays. The I-94 can be obtained and printed online after arrival in case there is any identity check.

2) Orientation Activities:

Texas A&M University will have a lot of orientation activities to welcome its exchange students. Before the beginning of the semester, they will have a New International Student Orientation, where you will be briefed about the host institution traditions, famous cultures and way of life around the university. They will also have guest lecturers and the police department briefing you of any possible scams and how to stay safe from them. It was a nice event where you can also mingle with your other fellow exchange students and get to know more about them too. For the Spring semester, the New International Student Orientation was held on January 11, 4 days before the start of the semester. It was also a valuable opportunity to know more about different organisations of the school, such as the career centre, library and the sports facilities. There was also a briefing from the study abroad program office for guidelines about removing the registration blocks, maintaining the J-1 status, obtaining student ID cards, and other miscellaneous items.

3) International Services and Activities:

The International Student Services(ISS), Study Abroad Programs office, which are both located at the Pavillion (besides the Annex Library) and the Engineering Global Programs, which is located at EABA will be there to help international exchange students throughout their stay at TAMU. They are very friendly and you can show up at the desk or call them and sort out your query. The international students can meet advisors with questions regarding their US stay, contact details and removing class registration blocks.

4) Accommodations:

After indicating the choice for choosing on-campus accommodation at the online application stage by the deadline of Mid-November, I received an email of on-campus housing registration in early December regarding the dorm choosing guideline. You will again use the NetID and Password and then can choose from a huge range of hall choices with different facilities and locations. It might be better to choose the ones near the north side of the campus, since that is where all the Engineering Buildings are located. After paying the deposit fee, I was allocated the Spence Hall, which was around 10 minute walk on the south side from the Department of Chemical Engineering. Most of the exchange students who indicated that they preferred on-campus housing got one, but there are lots of off-campus housing options along the shuttle bus route in the community with larger space or more facilities. Popular ones included The Traditions, Northpoint Crossing, The Stack and Park West apartments. One downside for the on-campus housing was that the mailing service for the hall address is not available and a physical mailing address should be registered from the post office, and any package should be received or sent from there. It might cost an additional $30 for that service. The off-campus housing did not have that problem, and actually had more facilities and space available for the same price as the on-campus apartments. Since the apartments are so near the campus and occupied by other fellow Aggies, it does feel the same and you will not be missing too much of campus life.

5) Courses Registration:

You will have to submit the course selection form during the online application stage towards the end of September, about the same time as when I submitted the credit transfer assessment form (Form-GR22). After receiving the feedback from ARRO and my advisor at HKUST and modifying my course plan for the semester, I was sure that I would be able to map the credits to the HKUST courses. For my case, I had to process the course registration after attending the Engineering Exchange Orientation. I had to set-up an appointment with my course advisor and she helped me register for the required courses on time. It was also fairly easy to arrange the classes on the Howdy portal during the add-drop period, which is roughly about a week’s time after the semester starts. 18 credits would be the highest number of credits that exchange students are allowed to take and 9 being the lowest.

6) Teaching and Assessment Methods:

The classes at TAMU were mainly lecture-based with regular quizzes, assignments and several midterms. Most of them have a final exam and some of them have a mandatory project. The exams were of multiple-choice and long-questions format. Usually, each course has 2-3 lessons per week, and requires studying the online lecture materials which are uploaded in the Howdy portal. The projects vary according to the class. For example, I had to do two research-based group projects, with a project paper submission and a presentation in the end. All the assessment methods of the course could be found clearly on the syllabus. TAMU definitely has a lot of quizzes and assignments, which is very helpful to keep in check. The professors are very nice to talk to, with regular office hours and time to approach at the end of the class. So, definitely do talk to them and get their help. Textbooks were very expensive at TAMU, so do look-out for book-renting, online e-books or borrowing available versions from the library. Some alternative sources were buy-and-sell groups in Facebook or Amazon, which gave much better deals at the same books. The bookstore on campus had some second-hand books, which were relatively economical also.

7) Finance and Banking:

There are several banks and their ATMs all around the campus. Some of the more popular ones included Wells Fargo and Chase. I chose to open my checking account at Wells Fargo, since it had a bank office right across the street. Also, TAMU students enjoy the no-USD10 maintenance fee monthly charge. It took around half an hour for the process with a bank manager, requiring my passport, student ID, mailing address and my DS-2019. Opening a local bank is required by the school for refund and fee payment. Moreover, carrying the debit card was more convenient for purchase.

The estimated living expenses from the institution is USD 7,655, which is around HKD 60K, and you will be required to provide the financial proof during the online application process before DS-2019 is issued. This was roughly the amount needed, including a mandatory USD 1000 health insurance that you need to purchase at TAMU. US regulations do not accept the Zurich insurance that is provided by HKUST to all students, so definitely plan accordingly. The USD 7655 does cover the deposit amount for on-campus housing, residence fees, the 45-block meal plan and other general expenses that I incurred during my stay at A&M. It is always a good idea to carry some hard cash while travelling to the country and then, upon arrival, you can wire in the money to your account. Some people also carry a traveller’s check, which is also a good alternative.

8) Climate:

The weather in Texas is quite colder than in Hong Kong during Spring. It was around -6 degree Celsius when I first arrived in January. Also, it snowed for the first time at TAMU just a month before my arrival, so definitely keep that in your travel plans. It does get very hot and dry during the summer, with temperatures reaching 35-40 degree Celsius. During my stay, the weather was chilly till around mid-March. The west coast generally has warmer weather while the eastern part is cooler. Most of the time, it is very sunny in College Station, with some rainy days in between. So, it is always a good option to carry clothes to suit all weather.

9) Health and Safety:

A mandatory US $1000 insurance from BlueCross BlueShield is required for all international exchange students. At the stage of online application, you will be required to submit a Bacterial Meningitis vaccination and Tuberculosis testing proof. I did my Bacterial Meningitis test at HKUST Clinic and opted to do the TB screening at TAMU for free. Upon arrival, I had to undergo tuberculosis screening at the Beutel Health Centre, which is the student health services facility on campus. In addition, for safety measures, there are “Car Pool” and “Corps Escort” service at midnight offered by the university for free so that you don’t have walk back home alone or you can get dropped back to your accommodation if you are stuck somewhere. Although the university allows people to bring guns, it is generally safe, but it is still advisable not to walk outside the campus alone at night.

10) Food:

Texas A&M has dining plans available, but the on-campus dining choice is limited to fast-food restaurants and buffet eateries. Most exchange students cannot finish the meal plan and so it is not advised to take the meal plans. In my case, they enrolled me into the dining plan since I was living in a Corps Dorm, but I downgraded to the lowest block. There are several eateries near the North Gate area and towards Texas Avenue road. Most are priced around US$8-10 per meal. Some halls have community kitchens, but Spence did not have any. Regardless, sometimes I cooked meals with my friends at their apartment kitchens. You can buy groceries from CVS stores or the HEB supermarket which is on bus route 27. They also have Walmart, but that is a bit far and would require a drive.

11) Transportation:

Shuttle buses would be the main means of transportation on the campus. There is virtually no public transport in the city and off-campus travelling choices could be Uber or Lyft. Biking around campus is a very good option, since the campus is humungous in comparison to HKUST. They do have a service called Zimride, which is the school-community car sharing platform. That would be a convenient and economical way to find rides to other parts of Texas, such as Austin and Houston. Zimride is highly recommended due to its safety and convenience. Flights to IAH or Austin airport at Houston are more economical than directly to College Station. Groundshuttle buses can provide rides from the IAH airport and/or Austin to College Station directly. For inter-state travel, you can use Skiplagged, Priceline and other online flight booking websites for air tickets. For my Spring break road trip, me and my friends booked a rental car from Enterprise. It is also fairly easy but the driver needs to have a valid driver’s licence and insurance before renting the car.

12) Communication:

I used AT&T USD 45 monthly phone plan during my stay in the US. It offered unlimited text and calls throughout the US and 6 GB internet. You can set up autopay with your bank account. There are several phone companies around, such as Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Another popular option among exchange students is signing up for a family plan, which comes around USD 20 per month. For in-class group communication, students here used GroupMe platform and depended on direct messages instead of Whatsapp or Facebook groups.

13) Sports and Recreational facilities:

The Recreation Centre is the on-campus sports facility housing several multipurpose courts, running track, swimming pools, gym, rock-climbing wall and practically any sport imaginable. Apart from this, all of the American Football home games would be held at Kyle Field, which has a capacity of over 100,000. Definitely try to watch a game at Kyle field and participate in the Midnight Yell. These are the excellent shows of the true Aggie spirit with great atmosphere, food, songs and commitment to Texas A&M. There were not many football games held during the Spring semester, but I was lucky enough to experience the football atmosphere during the only game of the Spring semester. Besides, on the west side of the campus, they have several soccer pitches open to the students and are called the Penberthy Fields.

14) Social Clubs and Networking Opportunities:

Texas A&M has over a 1000 clubs and associations that promote their activities at the Memorial Student Center during the Gig’em week, which is similar to our O’week. Some of the popular ones that I joined were International Student Mentorship Association(ISMA), International Business Association, American Institute for Chemical Engineers at Texas A&M, the Middle Eastern Student Society at TAMU and the Bangladeshi Student Society at TAMU. There are tons of activities hosted by these clubs and societies, such as movie nights, grocery runs, dinner galas, trips to different parts of Texas, hiking trips and many cultural celebrations. Also, most clubs held regular gathering events, such as ISMA and the AIChE at TAMU. They had free food and various outreaching activities. Not only do you get to meet people from all around the world in these clubs, you also educate them about Hong Kong. This exchange of ideas was the best part of the clubs and associations. In addition, the school hosted some career networking events and career fairs which might be interesting if you are actively searching for a job or internship there.

Moreover, from time to time, there would be cultural exploration trips held by the Department of Multicultural Services outside College Station in Texas, such as San Antonio around March, at an economical price.

15) Cautionary Measures:

During my stay at Texas A&M, the first day of classes got cancelled due to a thunderstorm warning. Hence, it is very important to pay attention to the weather forecast and safety measures that are issued by the school. Texas A&M uses the Code Maroon signal, which conveys any safety alert and updated school arrangement. There were some reported shootings that happened in the country during my stay, but College Station being a school town did not face any such problem. Still it is recommended to take precautionary measures and be especially alert when with strangers at night. During our orientation at the New International Student Conference, the police department warned us against walking alone in the Northgate area at night, since that area saw a rise in the number of attacks in the preceding months.

16) Other Notes:

Items to bring: Clothing for summer and winter Business casual/ formal dressing (for class presentation or interview) Passport, DS-2019 and I-94 form(can print it online) Photocopy of all the important documents from HKUST Some cash, and debit/credit card/traveller’s check Personal laptop Electrical converter and/or the laptop/phone adapter with the US plug Portable charger Medicines