Participant Handbook a helpful guide to living and working in the United States

Transcription

1 Partiipant Handbook a helpful guide to living and working in the United States

2 Who is Cultural Vistas? Before you arrive U.S. arrival Getting settled U.S. ulture Seeing the U.S. After your program Important Customs Finding housing Soial ustoms Ways to get from Making the most of Douments Regulations Communiating Business ustoms here to there your experiene Applying for Curreny exhange Getting around Eating & drinking National parks Pre-departure your visa Managing your Sports & rereation Climate & weather heklist Information on the money Useful pratial Travel United States Health are information Aommodations Pre-departure Staying safe heklist Contating us: Telephone Fasimile Emergeny Business hours Mail Monday Thursday, 9:00am 5:30pm ET Friday, 9:00am 1:00pm ET Cultural Vistas New York Headquarters 440 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor New York, NY

3 Who is Cultural Vistas? Congratulations on being aepted for a training program in the United States! You are about to embark on a ultural and professional adventure of a lifetime. On behalf of our entire organization, welome to the United States of Ameria! We hope that you will see and experiene many of the great things Ameria has to offer. Thank you for hoosing Cultural Vistas as your legal J-1 visa sponsor for your training program. The U.S. Department of State designated Cultural Vistas as a sponsor of the Exhange Visitor Program. Cultural Vistas, not your U.S. host employer, will at as your visa sponsor throughout the duration of your training program. As your J-1 visa sponsor, Cultural Vistas has many roles and responsibilities. Cultural Vistas is required to ensure that all parties involved in the ultural exhange program omply with the U.S. Department of State J-1 visa regulations. These parties inlude exhange visitors, U.S. host employers, immigration attorneys and overseas global partners. If at any time one of the assoiated parties fails to omply with the government regulations, Cultural Vistas may revoke sponsorship of you and your training program. Cultural Vistas understands that it an be diffiult to move to a new ountry. To help you prepare for your journey, we have prepared a partiipant handbook that inludes pratial information uesful for your experiene in the United States. Cultural Vistas will also provide you with ongoing support and guidane throughout the duration of your training program and time in the United States. We are available to help with questions or onerns that may or may not be addressed in this handbook. Cultural Vistas also has a 24-hour emergeny support phone number that you an all at any time. The toll free emergeny number is Before you arrive Important douments Cultural Vistas will issue many important douments that you must keep with you throughout the duration of your training program in the United States. You will be required to present these douments at different times, inluding your visa appointment at the U.S. Consulate and when entering the United States. Make a opy of eah doument and keep it separate from the originals. Be sure to keep both the originals and opies in a seure loation. Certifiate of Eligibility (DS2019) is the legal doument that entitles and authorizes you to partiipate in on-the-job training in the United States, and to reeive wages from the U.S. employer listed on the DS2019. Training/Internship Plaement Plan (DS7002)* is the doument that outlines the training ativities you will partiipate in during your exhange program in the United States. The DS7002 ontains your signature, your supervisor s signature and the signature of an Cultural Vistas staff member. *Not required for Summer Work/Travel programs I-94 Arrival Card will be automatially generated by a United States Customs and Border Protetion agent when you arrive. One this is done, you an obtain a paper version of your I-94 Card at Partiipant Handbook should be kept with you so you an referene it during your training program. The handbook ontains helpful information and many resoures that may be useful during your training program. This handbook does not ontain the offiial regulations governing your exhange program. Be sure to read and understand all U.S. government and Cultural Vistas regulations before traveling to the United States. It is your responsibility to be fully aware of your program limits and your legal status in Ameria. 2

4 Applying for your visa Before you will be permitted to enter the United States for your training program, you must obtain a J-1 visa. Apply for the visa at a U.S. embassy or onsulate, using the DS 2019 form that Cultural Vistas sent to you. Read all douments arefully, so that you know exatly what you are agreeing to when you enter the United States on a J-1 visa. Visa proedures vary slightly from one onsulate or embassy to another. Before you apply for your visa, hek with the onsulate or embassy offie where you plan to apply to determine exatly what douments you need to bring. The following are standard items required for the appliation: 1. A urrent, valid passport 2. DS2019 (Certifiate of Eligibility) 3. DS7002 form (Training/Internship Plaement Plan) 4. I-901 (SEVIS fee reeipt) 5. Evidene of finanial support for the period of time indiated on the DS2019 form 6. Proof that you have a permanent residene outside of the United States 7. One or more passport-size photographs 8. DS156 (Non-immigrant visa appliation) Additional appliation materials may be requested by the visa offier to prove your eligibility for the J-1 visa. Suh materials may inlude: evidene of English profiieny, further proof of strong ties to your home ountry, or verifiation of your ability to support yourself while in the United States. An appliation fee or short interview may also be required. One approved, the onsular offier will put the visa stamp in your passport. Depending upon the loation, you will either reeive your visa stamp the day of your visa interview or your stamped passport will be sent to you via post within days. If you enounter any problems obtaining your visa, please ontat Cultural Vistas. Information on the United States Before leaving for the United States, it is a good idea to do some researh on the ountry. There is a great deal of information available for those who are unfamiliar with some, if not all, aspets of Amerian life and ulture. There are a number of online resoures that an help you learn more about what is going on in Ameria, inluding: The offiial website for the President of the United States ( The U.S. State Department s foreign poliy, life, and ulture site ( Newspapers an give you a good idea of what is happening not only nationally, but loally. You an do a quik searh on the Internet to find newspapers lose to where you will be living, so you an view information on loal events, weather, and news. Major newspapers suh as USA Today ( The New York Times ( and the Washington Post ( an be valuable resoures. Your Pre-Departure Cheklist Before you leave, you may want to have enough Amerian urreny exhanged for any basi expenses when you land. For speifi information on urreny exhange, see further down this page; we suggest you bring USD $ in ash with you. You an also wait to arrive in the United States and use an automati teller mahine (ATM) or exhange money at the airport. To help you better plan for your trip, use this heklist of important douments, helpful reminders, and pratial travel tips as a guideline: Items to bring: Your valid passport along with a photoopy of the photo page Copies of transripts, important medial reords, and presriptions A opy of your birth ertifiate An international driver s liense A arry-on bag with personal artiles to use in ase your luggage is temporarily lost in transit. Also pak valuable items and your douments in this bag Things to do before leaving Book your travel to the United States and notify your employer of your arrival date. Have a omplete medial hek-up at your dotor s offie Learn how to get from your point of entry into the United States to your employer s offie or first night s lodging Confirm aommodation arrangements for your first few nights in the United States with your employer Label your luggage with your name and the address of your employer or residene in the United States (if it has already been determined) Re-onfirm your flight reservations 72 hours before departure Carry ontat information for Cultural Vistas and your employer (phone numbers and addresses) Give your family a ontat number in ase of emergeny 3

5 U.S. Arrival Customs Regulations One you land and step off the plane, the first thing you will need to do is pass through the immigration and ustoms area. You will need to show: Your passport Your visa (whih is stamped inside your passport) The DS2019 form You an get information about regulations from any U.S. Consulate. Curreny Exhange If you don not bring U.S. urreny with you, find an exhange desk to hange over your money to Amerian urreny one you pass through ustoms. Curreny in the United States is based on the dollar (symbol: $), with one dollar ontaining one hundred ents ($1.00 = 100 ents). There are also half dollar ($.50) and silver dollar ($1.00) oins, though they are not widely irulated. Cents are also denoted as part of a dollar: 50 ents is often written as $.50 but may also appear as 50. U.S. money, ommonly referred to as bills, is issued in the following denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. The $2 bill is rarely printed, though you may see one from time to time. When exhanging money, keep in mind that it might be helpful to obtain some bills of lesser value right away instead of just larger ones. Sometimes when paying for simple items like a andy bar or a bottle of water, a store may have a poliy of not aepting $50 bills; or the store might not have a large amount of hange. You will also most likely need smaller bills for tipping, should you be taking a taxi or shuttle from the airport. See page 8 for more information on tipping. When you see pries written, the dollar value of the item will be found on the left hand side of the deimal mark, with ents written to the right. An item marked $23.45 is therefore twenty-three dollars and forty-five ents. Commonly, when asked to pay for something, a ashier will omit the dollars and ents from the total, and would simply say twenty-three forty-five as the total. U.S. stores do not often bargain. Getting Settled You may find your first few days in the United States overwhelming. Not only do you have to adjust to a new ulture, but you need to learn where to buy groeries, get a phone, or how to get around. Remember that for the duration of your stay in the United States, Cultural Vistas will be your legal sponsor. If you are having trouble or have any questions about beginning your life in Ameria, we enourage you to ontat us. Finding Housing If you and your employer have not found a plae for you to live prior to your arrival, finding a plae to live will be your first priority. Most landlords renting apartments or houses require their inoming tenants to sign a lease, whih is the offiial doument of agreement between the two parties. The entire lease should be read arefully before entering an agreement, espeially the paragraphs on: Seurity deposit: The money a tenant must present up front as a form of ollateral for the apartment or house usually one or two month s rent. Maintenane: There are strit rules about how tenants and landlords must deal with these issues, but they vary from state to state, or even ity to ity. If you have questions about a lease, all your ity s Offie of Landlord-Tenant Affairs. Before signing a lease, walk through the apartment or house with the landlord and make a written list of urrent faults or problems. This will help eliminate the question of responsibility for pre-existing damage. A good way to start your apartment searh is by taking a tour around the area with someone who is familiar with it. He or she an point you in the right diretion and make important reommendations about housing in your area. From there, try: The Classified setion of major daily newspapers or ommunity publiations. Online postings; one of the most ommonly used sites is Craig s List ( Here, you an typially find a wide assortment of housing options posted. You an hoose what type of housing you are looking for, and then see them listed by neighborhood. Cultural Vistas annot reommend a ertain living situation for its partiipants. 4

6 Communiating Language Now that you are in the United States, how do you ommuniate with Amerians? First and foremost, good English language skills are helpful. If you disover that you need some additional English language instrution one you are in the United States, there will probably be several hoies offered in your ommunity, inluding: Your host employer Loal hurhes Libraries Community olleges: You an take English as a Seond Language (ESL) lasses for redit (redit ourses ount towards a degree) or without reeiving redit (these ourses do not ount toward a degree and you do not need to be enrolled in the ollege to take them). Publi shools: Some publi shool systems offer ESL lasses. Call your loal high shool or look for information on these ourses at the library. Usually, lasses at publi shools ost less than either ollege or private lasses. Private language shools: Private shools offer a greater number of ourses at more flexible times during the week. Home study: You an also learn from books, tapes, videos, and on-line lasses. Sending and Reeiving Mail Pakages and letters an be mailed at any U.S. Post Offie, while stamped letters an be deposited in a mailbox (usually painted blue and bearing the words U.S. Mail ). If you are not sure how muh postage you will need, take it to the post offie. If you want to loate a U.S. Post Offie near you, you an onsult a loal telephone book, or log on to the Postal Servie website ( The proper way to address an envelope in the U.S. is as follows: Name Title or Position (if appliable) Company or Organization (if appliable) Street Address or P.O. Box (Suite or Apartment number, if appliable) City, 2-letter State Abbreviation Zip Code Contat a loal post about postal rates for domesti and international mail and pakages. Understand that the U.S. Postal Servie oasionally raises its postal rates. You an buy stamps from the post offie or from vending mahines loated in publi buildings. Try to avoid using the mahines as they are more expensive. If you need a pakage to deliver quikly, both domestially and overseas, there are private ompanies that speialize in rapid delivery. Two of the largest and most reliable inlude FedEx ( and UPS ( Telephone Servie Eah ity and state has various phone servie providers. Chek with your host employer for a reommendation. U.S. telephone numbers onsist of ten digits. The first three are the area ode. The area ode is always used only when making a long distane all and is preeded by a 1. In many areas (Washington, DC for example) it is neessary to use the area ode even when dialing a loal phone number. All of Canada and parts of Mexio are also linked to the diret dial system of the United States. Calls to these areas are made in the same manner as a all to a point in the United States. To all overseas, dial 011, then the national ode of the ountry you are trying to reah, the area/ity ode (less the 0, if it begins with one) and then the number. A few plaes in the United States do not have diret dial apability for international alls. Suh alls an be made through the international operator (dial 00). For diretory assistane within your area ode, dial 411. There is often a harge of $.25 or more for this all. For diretory assistane outside your area ode dial 1, the area ode of the area in question, then Numbers with the area ode 888, 866, 877, 886 or 800 are toll-free, meaning you will not be harged for the all. 900 numbers are not toll-free and vary in harges from $.50 to over $10. Know the harge before alling; many 900-number servies are moneymaking ventures and should be viewed with aution. In addition to land line telephone usage, most Amerians, as with other ountries, arry ell phones. There are a number of large ell phone ompanies in the United States. Typially, a ell phone ompany will ask you to sign a ontrat for a ertain length of time (normally one or two years) and you will be awarded a ertain amount of minutes per month in exhange for a monthly fee. Usually, long-distane and loal minutes have no distintion with these plans, and you will only be harged extra fees per month if you go over your allotted amount of minutes. International alls usually ost extra. Cell phones are onvenient and are good to have in ase of emergenies, but be areful if you hoose to 5

7 enroll in a plan. Be sure to read your user agreement arefully and have all your questions answered by a representative so you do not get aught paying more than you antiipated. Options for ontrat-free pre-paid phones and plans abound and have beome popular alternatives plans that require one or two-year ontrats. Internet and Internet afes an be found in most metropolitan areas and will typially harge you based on the amount of time you are there. You an also have internet servie installed where you live. Depending on your living situation and servie availability, hanes are there is more than one provider, and you an ompare and ontrast rates and servies between them. Some providers offer servies that will install loal telephone servie, internet, and able television for one ombined sum, paid monthly. If you are interested, do not hesitate to ask your loal internet provider to see if they offer this option. If you have a laptop, you an generally find loal offee houses or libraries that provide free wireless internet aess. Getting Around You will most likely use two types of transportation to get to and from your job: a ar or publi transportation. You will immediately notie the differene between transportation in the United States and the rest of the world, partiularly with the use of the ar. Amerian rail and bus systems are not as extensive as those in many other ountries. New York, Chiago, San Franiso and Washington, D.C. all have good publi transportation systems, but other large ities, suh as Los Angeles, do not. Add in the fat that the United States is suh a large ountry, and you begin to see why Amerians rely on ars so muh. Driving If you plan to drive in the United States, you must be at least 18 years of age and hold a driver s liense from your own ountry or an International Driving Permit (IDP). If you do not have either, you will have to take driving lessons and pass a driving and written test in the state of resideny. A vision test may also be required. To obtain a liense, go to the nearest Department of Motor Vehiles (MVA). It is also important for you to know that a driver s liense is the most ommon form of identifiation used in the United States; you may have to show it when you write a hek or use a redit ard. A U.S. liense is also used for identifiation purposes, as most show your date of birth and your photograph. Driver s lienses are issued by individual state governments but are valid throughout the ountry. Please note that IDPs must be applied for in your home ountry. Those whose lienses are written in a non-roman alphabet language (example: Japanese) should apply for an IDP or have their liense translated to English before departure to the United States. Even with your IDP, you may need to get a state issued driver s liense. Eah state has different rules, but in most states, if you intend to stay in the ountry for some time, you may have to take a test for a U.S. liense. Driving without a valid liense is a serious offense and an result in fines of hundreds of dollars and ould also result in vehile impoundment, et. Driving regulations are fairly standard from one state to another, though they vary somewhat beause they are determined by the individual states and muniipalities. Be aware of the speed limit signs. Other differenes in the law, suh as whether or not a right turn on a red light is permitted, are not as lear. Information on urrent driving regulations an be obtained from the state s DMV. If you are pulled over by an offier: Look for polie ar lights and listen for sirens Pull your ar to the side of the road safely and as soon as possible Roll down your window and stay seated in your ar Follow the offier s instrutions In ertain ountries it is the ustom to pay the polie offier immediately following a violation for whih you are stopped. Do not reah for your wallet; that may be interpreted as a threat to the offier. If you reeive a tiket: Contat us with any questions Follow instrutions on tiket One payment must be paid in full by a hek or money order within a speified period of time. Payment and/or ourt proedures are usually printed on the tiket. All states require ar owners to purhase and maintain ar insurane. If you are in an aident, your ar insurane will over most of the ost of injuries and repairs, whih an be very high. 6

8 Types of ar insurane: Liability This pays for injuries or damages to someone else if your ar hits another person or the property of another person. It does not over injury to yourself or your property. Collision This pays for damages to your ar from an aident. Comprehensive This pays for damage to your ar through theft, fire, storm damage, or other no-fault types of damage suh as hitting an animal. Publi Transportation Rail Systems New York, Washington, Boston, Chiago, and San Franiso have the largest metropolitan rail systems in the United States. Suh systems provide inexpensive and very onvenient transportation. Maps, rates, and time tables for rail servies are readily available throughout most urban enters, and you an typially find them on the Internet as well. Also, when using rail systems: Note the loation of emergeny equipment; usually near the doors or end of the ar Do not stand on the edge of the platform Do not display money, jewelry, or other valuable items Keep your wallet in a side poket; keep your purse losed If someone is bothering you, hange ars, or inform the train operator or seurity guard; avoid onfronting the person diretly Bus Information Most ities have bus systems. For information, all 411, or searh your ity s mass transit system on the Internet. Managing your money Living in the United States, even temporarily, will require you to pay attention to ertain finanial obligations, as well as steps to ensure that you manage your money wisely. Soial Seurity Card U.S. law requires all who reeive payment for work to obtain a Soial Seurity Number. To get a one, you must ontat the Soial Seurity Administration. The Soial Seurity Number is one of the most important forms of identifiation; through this number the government alulates one s taxes, Department of Motor Vehiles issues driver s lienses, banks set up aounts, et. Even if you are partiipating in an unpaid training program in the United States, Cultural Vistas still advises you to obtain a Soial Seurity Number. One you have a number it is valid for life. If you deide to return to the United States for a seond training program, or on another program, you will already have a SSN. Find out where to apply for your Soial Seurity Number at Paying Taxes Everyone in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, is responsible eah year for submitting a omplete and aurate inome-tax statement to the Internal Revenue Servie, an ageny of the U.S. Treasury Department. Amerians all the proess filing a tax return. As an Cultural Vistas partiipant in the United States, you must also file an appropriate return eah year. April 15th is the day most Amerians must pay their federal taxes. Do not miss this deadline; you will be penalized if you are late. In many ountries, the government assesses and ollets the tax from individuals. In the United States, however, it is eah individual s personal responsibility to meet his or her tax obligations. You are responsible for helping your employer estimate how muh of your inome should be withheld (or deduted) from your wages for taxes. Your employer pays those amounts diretly to the U.S. Treasury on your behalf. In your annual tax return, you must reonile your aount with the government to verify that you have paid the orret amount over the ourse of a year. If you paid too muh, you may laim a refund. Tax forms are available on-line at the IRS website ( Banking Shortly after you have arrived in the United States, you will want to open a bank aount at a loal bank or branh. This enables one to ash a payhek, usually without any fee. When you do, bring a photo ID (suh as a passport or your driver s liense), your employer s name and address, your Soial Seurity ard (if you have one) and the funds you wish to deposit. You may wish to ompare the servies and osts of several banks. One bank may be more onveniently loated than the others, another may have more automated teller mahines (ATMs) around town, and a third may allow you to do your banking from home via omputer. A great way to ompare offerings and hek loations is to find your prospetive bank s website, as their site typially maintains information about their aounts, as well as branh loators. Banks are generally open from Monday through Saturday. Some branhes will have weekend hours, depending on their loation. If you utilize internet banking, you an manage your aounts all day, any day. 7

9 Additional Finanial Servies A safety deposit box, whih is available at most banks, is a good plae to store valuable possessions suh as the airline tiket for your flight home, expensive jewelry, foreign urreny, and the photoopies of the important douments you brought with you. A hek ard allows you to withdraw or deposit money in your bank aount using an ATM and to make purhases at stores that aept the ard (inluding most groery stores, gas stations, et). Chek ards are different from redit ards, as they an only be used if you have adequate funds in your aount to over the ost of your purhase. Banks and other finanial institutions, department stores, and even gasoline ompanies all issue redit ards that an be used to buy goods. Sometimes, these ompanies also offer reward points for every dollar you spend for their business, allowing for you to aumulate reward points that you might be able to exhange for a good or servie. Visa, MasterCard, Amerian Express, and Disover are the major redit ard ompanies in the United States. Budgeting To help you manage your money better, here is a hart that gives you an idea of what some ommon items ost: Item Low High apartment (per month) movie tiket 6 11 fast food meal 4 8 large pizza 9 16 man s shirt woman s blouse athleti shoes jeans dvd hardover book newspaper 1 4 Please keep in mind that this hart is just a guideline. The pries of everything will depend highly on where you are living. For example, you may pay $2,000 per month in rent for an apartment in New York City, but only pay $800 for the same apartment in a smaller ity suh as Baltimore, Maryland. The same goes for artiles of lothing pries will differ based on the store where you are shopping. Tipping It is ustomary to give a tip to wait staff, taxi drivers, food delivery drivers, and hairdressers. Tipping is supposed to reognize good servie, though sine most of these workers rely on tips for inome, it is probably more aurate to say that only bad servie will warrant not giving a tip. The ommon rate for tipping in the United States is perent for waiters and waitresses and perent for taxi drivers, food delivery drivers, and hairdressers. Health Care The United States urrently does not have an extensive national system of publi health are and relies on a private pratie sheme with osts overed by an individual and/or individual s medial insurane poliy. All partiipants oming to the United States under Cultural Vistas sponsorship are overed by health and aident insurane. A routine visit to a dotor s offie may ost from $25 to $75, not inluding presription mediines. Full hospital are is extremely expensive; overnight stays in major hospitals an ost over $500 per night. State- and loally-run publi health linis, however, may offer their servies at little or no ost. Note that dental osts are not normally overed by group insurane plans. Additionally, the ost of mediations not presribed by a dotor is not overed by insurane. However, many mediations ome in generi varieties. Make sure to ask your dotor or pharmaist about this. Familiarize yourself with your insurane poliy so you know what servies are and are not available to you. If you have questions, ontat Cultural Vistas or the insurane arrier. Staying Safe Take time to aquaint yourself with your new environment. Familiarize yourself with your neighborhood by walking around during the day and ask olleagues or neighbors about areas you should avoid at night. Take note where street lamps are so you do not have to walk in the dark, and avoid walking alone at night. Loate the polie station that serves your neighborhood and find the nearest fire-alarm box and learn how to report a fire. 8

10 In ase of an emergeny that requires medial attention, loate the hospital emergeny room nearest your home and know what to do in ase of an aident. For any emergeny in the United States, you an dial Additionally, the primary duty of the polie is to serve and protet you, and you should not hesitate to seek their assistane at any time. One of the most ommon rimes is theft of property left unattended or in an unloked apartment or ar. More serious rimes suh as drug dealing, assault and rape also our. Protet yourself by exerising good sense and aution. Keep your apartment loked whenever you are away and never leave a bakpak or purse unattended in publi. Use aution with strangers who are overly friendly and offer you gifts, or who ask you to aompany them somewhere. You will find that sexual harassment is a partiularly Amerian onept and a fairly hot topi in the workplae. Sexual harassment onsists of unwelome sexual advanes, requests for sexual favors, or other physial or verbal behavior of a sexual nature. If you feel you are being sexually harassed in any way, it is important to tell someone. Speak to a friend, your work plae human resoures offie, or an Cultural Vistas staff member who an advise you. Finally, be protetive about your money and personal information. Be areful of lending or giving money to anyone, espeially strangers. If you are unomfortable turning down a request for money, simply say, I m sorry, but I annot help you, and politely lose the door, hang up the phone, or simply keep walking. Never give your redit ard, bank aount or Soial Seurity Number to anyone unless you are involved in a transation to purhase a produt, servie, or benefit. You may be giving valuable personal information to someone who will use it illegally. If you reeive a phone all, and you are not interested in or do not understand the aller s produt, just interrupt him or her with a firm, No, thank you, or Please take me off your list, and hang up the phone. You may also wish to register on the U.S. Do Not Call Registry. Visit to remove your phone number from alling lists. U.S. Culture Ameria s population reflets remarkable ethni diversity. More than twenty perent of the population in two major ities, Los Angeles and New York, was born in another ountry. In some other major ities, suh as San Franiso and Chiago, more than one in every ten residents are foreign-born. Newspapers ommonly use suh terms as Asian-Amerian, Italian-Amerian, and Arab-Amerian to highlight the existene of various ethni heritages within the United States. Ameria s population inludes faiths and religions of all natures, people who have many years of formal eduation and people who have nearly none, rih people as well as the very poor. There are Republians, Demorats, Greens, Soialists, Communists, Libertarians, and independents, as well as people who hold other politial views as well. At the heart of the United States is a belief in equality and freedom. At the same time, Amerians will readily generalize about various subgroups within their own ountry. In a ountry so large, these traits are inevitable. Hopefully the people you will be working with are as exited as you are about spending time with somebody from another ountry and ulture. Take advantage of this opportunity for ultural exhange. You may find that your o-workers are eager to share their ulture with you; invitations to lunh, after-work soializing, dinner at someone s home, and even a baseball game are not unommon. Spend time with Amerians as that is the best way to experiene the lifestyle, share their attitudes, and learn about the ulture. We are onfident that your experiene in the United States will be very rewarding. You will undoubtedly gain ruial knowledge and pratial experiene in your field of work, but we also hope that you ome away from your experiene with a broader outlook and a truer, deeper sense of international ultural understanding. Soial Customs Individualism and Privay One of the most important things to understand about Amerians is their devotion to individualism. Most of them have been trained from an early age to onsider themselves as separate individuals who are responsible for their own destinies. The importane Amerians assign to privay is losely assoiated with the value they plae on individualism. Amerians assume that people need some time to themselves (or some time alone) to think about things or reover their energy. 9

11 Equality Amerians strong belief in the ideal stated in the Delaration of Independene that all men are reated equal, is also unique. With this in mind, Amerians believe they are not defined by family bakground, but by their own individual talent and hard work. Although they sometimes violate this and other ideals in their daily lives, Amerians have faith that in some fundamental way, all people are of equal value, and no one is born superior to anyone else. The expression, One man, one vote, onveys the idea that anyone s opinion is as valid and worthy of attention as anyone else s opinion. This is not to say that Amerians make no distintions among themselves as a result of sex, age, wealth, soial position, et., but these distintions are aknowledged in more subtle ways. Amerians aknowledge status differenes among themselves through their tone of voie, manner of speaking, hoie of words, and seating arrangements Informality Amerians are generally informal in their behavior, dress, and relationships with other people. Idiomati speeh (or slang) is ommonly used on most oasions, while formal speeh is reserved for publi events and fairly formal situations. People from all walks of life an be seen in publi wearing jeans, sandals, and other informal attire. People generally slouh down in hairs or lean on walls or furniture when they talk, rather than standing up straight. However, personal spae is almost always observed. Most Amerians: Do not stand too lose to eah other (less than 3 feet/one meter) Do not talk or make eye ontat with strangers on elevators Do not neessarily kiss heeks to say hello or goodbye. Some friends or family may say hello or farewell with a kiss on the hek or a hug. Religion There is one great differene between religion in the United States and in many other ountries the government supports no one religion. In fat, the U.S. Constitution expliitly forbids a formal relationship between hurh and state. In urban enters, there an be hurhes of literally dozens of denominations. The fat that the government does not endorse a single state religion goes hand-in-hand with Ameria s deep respet for privay and individualism in that eah person is free to worship as he or she wishes without fear of perseution by the government, or anyone else for that matter. Therefore, while religion is a very visible presene in the United States, it ontinues to be an intensely private, personal issue for a great deal of Amerians. Business Customs Work is generally taken very seriously in the United States. Amerians take fewer and shorter holidays than Europeans, and it is ommon to ompromise weekend and family life if a job needs to be done. As always, there are a few generalizations that an be made about how Amerian businesses funtion, but they should be treated with aution: what is relevant in the eastern U.S. may be quite different from what is relevant in the western portion of the ountry. A good olleague is puntual and onsiderate of other people s time. If you arrive five minutes late for a meeting, you should apologize. If you are going to be 15 minutes late, you should all ahead and explain your situation. You should wath and observe your o-workers to get a sense of what the norm is at your workplae, as business ustoms vary aross the United States. Amerians have a strongly defined work ethi that may surprise some people. Typially Amerians admire well-organized people who approah a task onsientiously and persistently, and see it through to a suessful onlusion. Amerians are as renowned for their asual approah as they are for their strong work ethi: First names are the norm Casual Fridays Some major ompanies have deided that if employees are allowed to wear asual lothes (khaki pants, jeans, no tie) on Friday, it inreases produtivity If people do not speak openly about what is on their minds, they will often onvey their reations in non-verbal ways (faial expressions, body positions, and gestures) Words, tone of voie or faial expressions will usually reveal when people are feeling angry, unhappy, onfused, happy, or ontent Most offies and businesses in the United States are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and employees are always expeted to get to work on time Eah individual offie determines what onstitutes proper business attire but, as a general rule, most large ompanies (suh as major orporations or law firms) require a more formal dress ode than smaller organizations. You should ask your host employer what they feel it is appropriate for you to wear. You will find that smoking is forbidden in the offie, as it is in most publi plaes. 10

12 Eating and Drinking Eating Beause the U.S. is a ulture based upon ontributions from many different bakgrounds, its uisine is therefore very diverse. In Ameria it s ommon to eat breakfast in the morning, lunh in the afternoon, and dinner in the evening. The times will vary depending on your individual situation. Companies usually grant an hour for lunh during the work day. Drinking Muh like its food, the United States features a great deal of drink options. The legal age to onsume alohol in Ameria is 21, and restaurants and bars will hek identifiation regularly so if you plan on having a drink, be sure to keep your passport or driver s liense with you for ID. Do not drink during work hours, do not drink alohol and drive, and do not buy alohol for anyone under 21. Given the high volume of driving in Ameria, drunk driving has long been an important soial onern, and most states are strit in the enforement of these laws. Driving under the influene of alohol arries more severe penalties now than in the past. Most drunk driving offenses result in arrest, a fine, and suspension of driving privileges pending a hearing, while severe or repeat offenses may result in imprisonment and/or permanent loss of driving privileges. Although the law varies from state to state, if you have a blood-alohol level of.08 perent or greater, you an be onvited of driving while intoxiated (D.W.I.). If you are suspeted of D.W.I., and are stopped by the polie, you may be asked to take a breathalyzer test an on-the-spot test that measures your blood alohol level. Refusal to take the test is not admission of guilt, but will result in immediate onfisation of your driver s liense by the polie. If this ours, the driver must apply for an appeal to set up a ourt hearing. Sports and Rereation One of the most well known and visible aspets of every day life in the United States is sports. Large numbers of Amerians wath and partiipate in sporting ativities, whih are a deeply ingrained part of Amerian life. The most popular major sports in the United States are baseball, Amerian football, basketball, ie hokey, and soer (football). Loal professional teams are a fun way for you to get involved. You may also wish to join a loal league. Useful Pratial Information Emergenies Be sure to keep the number for emergeny servies in your area posted near your telephone. In most plaes, the polie, fire, and resue servies an be reahed by dialing 911. The operator will then ask whih servie you need. We hope you will not have the need for an emergeny servie number, but it is important to be prepared. Dial 911 for emergenies only. General inquiries should be made on non-emergeny numbers. In some areas 911 is not used, and the emergeny number(s) should be listed on the inside over of the loal telephone book. You will also find diret telephone numbers for suh failities as the loal polie station, hospital, and risis enter on the inside over of the phone book. Eletri Current The standard U.S. urrent is 110 volts. Eletronis running on volts will not work in the United States. Most appliane or hardware stores will arry urrent onversion kits that will work on applianes. Additionally, power outlets in the United States differ from those in most of the rest of the world making adapters neessary for eletroni devies brought into the United States. We strongly enourage you to not drive after drinking, even after only a few drinks this is an issue that is taken quite seriously by law enforement offiials in the United States. 11

13 Standard Conversions Measurements Temperature F to C Subtrat 32, divide by 1.8 ex 80 F (80-32=48, =26.66) 27 C C to F Double, subtrat 10%, add 32 ex 27 C (27x2=54, =48.6, =80.6) 81 F Length 1 inh (1 ) 2.54 entimeters 1 foot (1 ).305 Meters 1 yard.914 meters 1 mile kilometers Distane 1 square ine square entimeters 1 square yard.836 square meters 1 are 4,047 square meters Volume 1 pint.473 liters 1 quart.946 liters 1 gallon liters Weight 1 oune (1 oz) grams 1 pound (1lb) grams 1 ton.907 metri ton Time U.S. Eastern Standard Time GMT -5 U.S. Central Standard Time GMT -6 U.S. Mountain Standard Time GMT -7 U.S. Paifi Standard Time GMT -8 Clothing and shoe sizes Womens lothing Amerian British European Japanese Women s shoes Amerian British European Japanese Men s suits/sweaters Amerian British European Japanese S M M L L LL Men s shoes Amerian British European Japanese Publi Holidays The following are national publi holidays in the United States that most banks and government agenies observe. Ask your employer for a shedule of observed holidays at your ompany or organization. New Year s Day (January 1) Martin Luther King Jr. Day (First Monday after January 15) Presidents Day (Third Monday in February) Memorial Day (Last Monday in May) Independene Day (July 4) Labor Day (First Monday in September) Columbus Day (Seond Monday in Otober) Veterans Day (November 11) Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November) Christmas Day (Deember 25) 12

14 Seeing the United States The United States is a traveler s paradise. Whatever you seek to explore, Ameria s great geographi diversity has something for everyone. There are literally thousands of options in dozens of regions throughout the ountry and we are not able to provide you with a omplete listing of desirable or popular Amerian plaes of interest. They are everywhere, and we enourage you to seek out these opportunities for yourself. Half the fun of seeing the United States is pure exploration! The first fat that most international visitors must ome to grips with is the sheer size of the United States. The ountry is 3,100 miles (5000 km) from oast to oast, (further than Madrid to Mosow) and 1,200 miles (1920 km) from the Mexian to Canadian borders. These figures do not inlude Alaska, the nation s largest state, or Hawaii, the Paifi island state. Thus, pure distane will play a large role in how you plan to see the U.S. For those of you planning to do extensive travel in the United States after your program, we highly reommend a detailed guidebook. Available at virtually any bookstore, these books give information on every aspet of travel down to the minute details, and are onsidered indispensable even by experiened travelers. You have plenty of books to hoose from. All fifty states, and the U.S. apital, Washington DC, have a Travel and Tourism Division or Department whih sends free information about the state to visitors. The marketing materials, whih usually inlude a large state guidebook, map, and alendar of events, are espeially useful if you are unfamiliar with the state you wish to travel in. Call 800-diretory assistane, toll-free, for the number of the Travel & Tourism offie of the state in question. You an also visit any state government website to visit speifi tourism information. Ways to Get From Here to There By Air When booking airfare, shop around for the best deal. Using a travel agent; looking at prospetive fares on any airline website; or heking out Expedia, Traveloity or one of the many other online travel sites, you may find good deals on flights. Flying at an odd time of day or night or being flexible in your departure or return dates an result in onsiderable savings. Traveling by air an be expensive, so be sure to exhaust all your options on different airlines, not to mention different methods of transportation, before making a deision to book your tikets. Fortunately, disount travel opportunities exist for international visitors that are not available to U.S. residents. These usually take the form of unlimited travel for a set period of days, and an mean big savings for anyone wishing to see the ountry in a hurry. Inquire about these tikets before leaving your home ountry, as purhase before entering the United States is often required. There are U.S. tourist offies in several major ities overseas whih an provide information about suh possibilities and other features of travel in the United States. By Train Trains were one the fastest, most reliable, and most finanially reasonable way to see the United States. However, with the invention of the automobile and the ommerial airplane, trains were eventually surpassed as the preferred method of domesti Amerian travel. As you might notie, the rail network in the U.S. is not as heavily utilized as it is in other ountries. The Amerian rail servie is operated by AMTRAK, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. As with the airlines, AMTRAK offers travel pakages that benefit the international visitor. The USA Rail Pass allows unlimited travel on its network for a period of either 15 or 30 days. If you are going to be doing a lot of train travel, it is worth it. But note that the USA Rail Pass is available only from major U.S. ities suh as Chiago, Los Angeles, or New York, or from an international travel agent in your home ountry. There are also regional AMTRAK passes available for travelers onentrating on one part of the ountry. For more information about AMTRAK servies, all them toll-free at , or all an international travel agent before you ome to the United States. You an also hek out fares and shedules online at By Bus Taking a bus aross Ameria reates a lasting image. Bus travel is inexpensive (you an sleep in the bus and save yourself overnight hotel bills), reasonably omfortable (buses are aironditioned, heated, and usually have an on-board bathroom) and offer an intimate view of the ountry. Inter-ity bus servies are dominated by Greyhound and Trailways, but there are numerous smaller regional ompanies that provide diret servie to less-populated areas. Like AMTRAK, Greyhound and Trailways offer unlimited travel plans and oasional speial fares. The rates and duration of these pakages may vary, so all either the bus ompanies or a travel agent. 13

15 By Car The most ommon way to see the ountry is by ar. The United States has a large interstate highway system linking together major ities through even the most remote areas. Those with an adventurous spirit will be happy to know that the weekend ar exursion is a simple and inexpensive way to explore your area or region. The United States is large enough that a new exursion eah weekend an provide a different and exiting experiene. Pik up a loal newspaper s Weekend or Travel setion, or talk with aquaintanes at work about interesting plaes. You will be surprised at the response; most people are eager to reommend the well-known spots as well as their own personal favorites. In some parts of the United States, tolls an be found on ertain highways or bridges. These fees are olleted at booths on the road and are used to pay for the building or the upkeep of the struture or road whih the driver is about to use. The harge per vehile should be learly displayed and an range from $.25 to over $ Adventure Travel If you are hooked on adventure travel, but do not have the time or resoures to plan an outing on your own, an organized trip may be a great option. Companies all over the United States now operate major tours and group adventure trips for all ages and skill levels. Explore your options with different ompanies; some are only pakaged leisure holidays; others are intense, high-energy trips. They an be expensive, so make sure to ompare ompanies to ensure you get the best deal. For more information on adventure travel tours, visit or all a reputable outdoors store suh as R.E.I. ( ), or hek a bookstore or library with an extensive travel setion. There you will find omprehensive diretories suh as the Big Book of Adventure Travel, and adventure magazines suh as Outside, whih onsistently arries many adventure travel artiles, group travel lists, and advertisements. National Parks Many of you will likely spend time in Ameria s beautiful national parks. They are this ountry s treasures and a visit to at least one should be a priority for all visitors. Aess to the different national parks and monuments varies, as some are loated in the heart of major ities, and others are a day s drive from the nearest ity. You may ontat the National Park Servie ( or whih is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, for information on a speifi loation suh as Yellowstone, the ountry s oldest national park. Climate and Weather Before you travel, be sure to hek the weather foreast for your destination espeially if you are traveling a great distane, simply beause limate an vary onsiderably from region to region. In general, the summers are often very hot and winters an be quiet old in all but the southernmost states. One again, plan ahead; do some researh about the region you will be living in so that you know what to expet. Travel Aommodations International visitors who intend to travel in the United States may onsult their travel agent, the Internet or visit their loal bookstore for information on aommodations. Most have a setion on travel whih is omplete with omprehensive aommodation guides to suit all interests and budgets. It is worth investigating your options beforehand and planning ahead if you will be traveling to popular spots during busy vaation seasons. Hotels and Motels Thousands of hotels and motels are loated throughout the United States, and they range in prie and quality from eonomial to deluxe. Many are listed and lassified in the numerous travel and hospitality guidebooks available at loal libraries and bookstores, and most also have websites. Use these resoures to obtain more detailed information. Visitors should realize that inexpensive hotels (espeially in urban areas) may not be situated in the safest neighborhoods; it may be wise to pay a few extra dollars for a more expensive hotel in a entral loation. If you are wary about a partiular establishment, ask to see the room before paying. If the staff is rude or seems unwilling to help, you probably do not want to stay there. Almost no hotels inlude meals in the total ost for the room; however, many hotels do have restaurants attahed to them. Most hotel rates in the United States are also harged by room, rather than by person, so the more people who oupy a room, the lower the ost per person. Note that some hotels impose a limit on the number of people who are allowed to stay in a room. It is a good idea to make a reservation as far in advane as possible, and guests intending to hek in late (after 6:00 p.m.) are advised to give the hotel a redit ard number as a safeguard that the room will not be assigned to another guest. Motels are less luxurious than hotels and aim to provide the traveler with overnight omfort, though several offer extras suh as swimming pools or saunas. For this reason they an be onsiderably more eonomial than hotels and often are more onvenient beause of their proximity to major highways. Large hotel and motel hains often have 14

16 a entral toll-free number that an be found in the Yellow Pages or through the Internet. Visitors an use this number to find out about room rates and make reservations in any of their branhes in the United States, Canada, or Mexio. YMCAs and Youth Hostels The Young Men s Christian Assoiation (YMCA) and the Young Women s Christian Assoiation (YWCA) offer basi, inexpensive aommodation and rereational failities to short-term guests. They are ideal for a young traveler on a tight budget. Despite their names, YMCAs and YWCAs (or Y for short) are not onerned with their guests religious affiliation, and both frequently let out rooms to people regardless of their age or sex. Due to their popularity among Amerians and international visitors, they are frequently booked, and you should all ahead to see if there is room available. The YMCA of Greater New York runs a reservation servie for eighty ities in North Ameria. You an reah them at or see Another aommodation option is youth hostels. There are almost 300 hostels run by Amerian Youth Hostels (AYH), the U.S. affiliate of the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF). Do not let the name deeive you; youth hostels are not just for young people, though it is a onsiderable finanial advantage to be a member of the IYHF. Youth hostels, whose dormitory-style rooms are segregated by sex, run the gamut from large, organized aommodation enters to buildings resembling abins. They are most ommonly found in the Northeast, the Great Lakes region, and on the West Coast. The maximum length of stay at a hostel is usually three nights, and the inonvenient hours of some hostels an be a drawbak. Most are losed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and some have an evening urfew. Call AYH in Washington, D.C. at for more information, or see visit.hiayh.org Camping The glory of Ameria is refleted in the great outdoors, and these natural treasures are preserved mostly in our national and state parks. Outdoor amping is a simple and inexpensive way to enjoy some of the ountry s natural beauty while esaping from the ommotion and pressures of everyday life or onventional tourist shedules. The diffiulty with amping is loating amping equipment. Purhasing new amping gear, suh as a tent, sleeping bag, bakpak, mats, ooking instruments, and other neessities, is very expensive. If you an borrow or share equipment with someone, there are forests, mountains, deserts, lakes, anyons, rivers, and long shorelines to explore. This is not to say that one an just pik up and bakpak down the oast of California or up into New York s Adirondak Mountains. Most areas in the ountry have speified amping rules and regulations, so it is best to have a general destination in mind and investigate the amping options there before ommitting yourself to a long trip. Rand MNally & Company publishes a omprehensive guide to all publi and private ampgrounds in the United States, and it is available in most bookstores. Information about the 104 areas maintained by the National Park Servie is ontained in the National Park Camping Guide. Bed and Breakfasts The Bed-and-Breakfast (B&B), long popular in Europe, is athing on in the United States. B&Bs are a good, eonomial alternative to staying in a hotel or motel, and offer more omfort than a Y or a hostel. B&Bs are rooms in people s homes that are rented on a regular basis to travelers and inlude breakfast (and sometimes an evening meal) as part of the deal. B&Bs an be the most friendly way of passing a night or two in a strange loation. Good soures of information on B&B possibilities in the United States are Bed-and- Breakfast USA, by Betty R. Rundbak and Nany Akerman, and The Bed-and-Breakfast Guide for the U.S. and Canada by Phyllis Featherstone and Barbara Ostler, both of whih are available in bookstores. There are also many websites that ould be good resoures, inluding 15

17 After your training program When it omes time to leave the United States and return home, you might feel as if you have finally figured out the nuanes of Amerian life! However, even during your first days in the U.S., we enourage you to think about what you want to take away from your experiene. Consider why you hose to ome to the United States to work, and what you want to aomplish during your time here. Organizing your thoughts will help you to larify your areer expetations. Most of all, it will allow you to best play your experiene in Ameria forward as a boost to your personal and professional life bak home. Making the Most of Your Experiene Networking All over the world, people find jobs through personal and professional ontats. Building a network now ould pay dividends in the future. To help failitate this proess while here, we suggest you get to know your olleagues and fellow Cultural Vistas partiipants both in and outside of work. Do not be afraid to partiipate in extraurriular ativities like sports or a soial lub. You would be surprised at how many Amerians find jobs or make great ontats this way. Other ways inlude organizing events for an international lub, joining programs that get you involved in the loal ommunity, or dropping in to a loal areer enter. Overall, networking is about meeting people that ompliment eah other s professional interests and keeping in ontat with them one you have parted ways you never know what opportunities may ome of it! Immerse Yourself Go Home Prepared Before you return home, make sure you are familiar with the reruitment shedule in your home ountry. Many ountries do their hiring at the end of the loal aademi year. Contat the loal Amerian hamber of ommere for listings of Amerian ompanies who may be interested in U.S.-trained andidates. Learn the proper format for writing resumes and over letters and start networking immediately. Review the proper dress and protool for interviews. When you graduate (if you have not already), ontat the alumni assoiation at your university and get involved. Reestablish ontats with former lassmates and teahers and let your friends and relatives know you are looking for a job. And please remember to keep in touh with us, we love hearing from our former partiipants! Re-entry Shok Few people antiipate that upon their return home, they will experiene ulture shok as they did when they first ame to the United States. Reverse ulture shok is most pronouned in those who expet everything at home to be the same as it was when they left. Keep in mind that standards of living, the politial limate, and even family relationships may have hanged while you were away. You may feel unomfortable with what were one familiar irumstanes and may be disappointed in your family and friends if they show less interest in your adventures than you had hoped. Be aware of the obstales you will fae when you go bak to your home ountry. The more you antiipate the diffiulties of re-entry, the better you an minimize their impat and severity. You an also use the same skills that helped you adapt to the United States to readapt to life in your home ountry. While you are here, take photographs, keep a journal, and update your address book to maintain memories and ontats when you return home. Although the skills and experiene you aquire working in the United States will be invaluable to your areer, this alone will not guarantee you will be an attrative andidate for a future opportunity. Employers often look for a well-rounded andidate with experiene in many areas. Therefore, while in Ameria, gain an in-depth knowledge of U.S. politis, eonomis and everyday life. Also, do your best to ahieve a strong ommand of written and spoken English, partiipate in as many professional onferenes as possible, volunteer to work on projets in the ommunity, and enrih your experiene by traveling to different parts of the United States. A well-rounded ultural experiene will only make you that muh more of a better job andidate one you return home. 16

18 Pre-departure Cheklist Before you leave the United States, we suggest you: Notify your landlord of your departure in writing at least 30 days before you intend to leave. Determine how you will pay your last month s rent. Can you use your seurity deposit? If not, determine how the landlord will return your seurity deposit. Notify telephone, eletri, gas, and water ompanies about when they should disontinue servie. Make arrangements to have any deposits refunded to you. Close your bank aounts. If you bought a ar, sell it. Leave your forwarding address with your host employer and all ompanies with whih you have redit ards, subsriptions, et. Leave your forwarding address with the post offie and Cultural Vistas. Pay all outstanding bills, inluding redit ards, loans, library fines, et. Donate usable items that you are not taking with you to a loal thrift store, faith-based harity or homeless shelter. You an also hold a yard sale to sell them. Submit your final evaluation. 17