TRAVEL REPORT. University of Florida, Fall Emma Honkanen

Transcription

1 TRAVEL REPORT University of Florida, Fall 2014 Emma Honkanen

2 Contents 1. Preparing for the exchange... 2 Application process and documentation... 2 Departure to Gainesville Housing Exchange studies... 4 Courses taken Free time and other information... 7 NaviGator Program... 7 Sports... 7 Life expenses... 7 Night Life... 8 Traveling... 8 Gainesville weather Final Comments... 8

3 University of Florida (UF) is the largest and oldest university in the state of Florida. A 50,000 student university is located in Gainesville, the city of 200,000 people. That said Gainesville is a real college town and the place to experience a real American-style college life. Here is my experiences and advice from fall Preparing for the exchange Application process and documentation Preparation for the exchange is good to start well in advance since it includes lots of paper work. After receiving exchange destination results from Aalto University, you still have to separately apply and register to UF exchange program (DL was May 31st). UF s international office contacted me first time couple of weeks after I received the exchange results. All the communication with UF was done via , and I didn t need to send any documents by regular mail. The online registration to UF exchange program requires several different documents like certification of financial responsibility, copy of passport, copy of transcript etc. After registration and once you are accepted, you will also need to submit your immunization and insurance forms. Immunization forms requires you to visit healthcare provider (like YTHS) to get a proof that you have the required vaccinations and conduct a tuberculosis test, which is required by UF. The university also has a list of terms that an incoming student s insurance has to cover, and thus many of Finnish insurances are insufficient. The easiest way is to acquire a US insurance (you can get a list of accepted insurances from international office), since Finnish insurance companies are not very eager to negotiate of extending the terms. Registration for courses was also done beforehand. However, you are not able to register before you have sent all the above mentioned documents and certificates successfully. If you have any questions about the registration process or required documents, or other exchange related issues don t hesitate to contact the international office of UF. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. When travelling to US you need visa. You can start the visa application process after receiving an acceptance letter from UF and your DS-2019 document. To obtain the visa you fill first the online application and then book the time for visa interview in the US embassy in Kaisaniemi. Visa process requires alse payments of SEVIS fee ($180) and MRV fee ($120 in 2014). Remember to have all the necessary documentation with you when visiting the embassy, otherwise you might need to go through the waiting process again. The visa arrives approximately in 2 weeks after the interview. Departure to Gainesville Gainesville has its own small airport, however it is usually more economical to fly to an international airport like Orlando, Fort Lauderdale or Miami, and take a bus from there or alternatively rent a car. I had a flight to Fort Lauderdale (Norwegian, 1 stop, ~300 ) and spend

4 couple of days there before taking a bus ($60) to Gainesville. I took only one-way ticket, because I didn t want to decide yet when and from where I will fly back. In Gainesville my NaviGator (a local student buddy) was waiting for me with her car. She took me right away for a dinner and to buy a phone plan. Later my NaviGator also helped me with moving in to my apartment. After arriving to Gainesville you are supposed to check-in to the International Office at the campus. There you will receive some helpful information and a welcoming package. 2. Housing Search for housing is good to start well in advance too, since the best places are gone first. Especially commercial housing complexes were reluctant to give a short-term lease. Thus, easiest way to get a short-term lease is to be a first one asking since they usually have only a certain number of them. However, in any case it is very common that you have to pay some premium for a short-term lease, which is usually around $100/month. Housing options: 1. Campus housing (Weaver Hall). Many of international students chose this option. However, this was more common choice for undergraduate students and master students usually opted to live somewhere else. The application to on-campus housing is sent together with the application to UF exchange program. The location is good, but the apartments and amenities are not that nice compared to what you would have got with the same money from off-campus. In Weaver Hall most of the rooms were for two people, local and international matched. The bathroom and kitchen were shared with other people too. However, some single rooms were given to oldest students. 2. Commercial student apartments are probably the most common choice, which I selected by myself too. I lived at the Grove, which is a brand new apartment complex close to the campus. I was happy with my choice even though the apartments were still partly under construction during the Fall, and thus caused some inconveniences. When choosing from a wide variety of commercial student housing options and if not intending to own a car during your stay, I would check two things when choosing the apartment: 1. Bus connections and 2. The closest grocery store. Even though the housing complex advertises itself being close to campus it doesn t mean that you would have a short way to school. The graduate business school (Hough Hall), is located close to Midtown, and thus from the other side of the campus the way is about 5km. Other commercial student housing apartments that I would recommend are Courtyards (closest to the business schools, and relatively cheap), Second Ave, The Estates, and Continuum (more expensive). However most of them has only few short term leases to

5 offer, and thus you should start to ask very early to get one in these apartments. I heard also some international students signing full year leases and subleasing them afterwards, but this contains its own risks. Price of apartments varies between $300 - $700 / month. Advantage in commercial student housing is that you can choose the desired level of amenities (own bathroom, gym, pool, club house, tennis court etc.). 3. The third option is private apartments, which I don t know much about and I didn t either hear any of international students having chosen this option. However, for local students this is pretty common way to live. The condition of houses varies a lot but so does the prices. This way you might be able to find very cheap options. However the difficulty is in organizing the lease beforehand, since you should be able to check the apartment and meet the landlord. Thus, commercial/campus housing is easier since you are able to sign the contract by and also the counterparty is more likely to be trustworthy. 3. Exchange studies Graduate business studies are divided into 2 modules per semester. Fall semester and first module started on 25th of August, and mandatory orientations for graduate business students and international students were both on 23rd. The second module started on 27 th of Oct. Graduate business students had also one week fall break in October between these two modules. However, I (and many other students) didn t have any exams during the exam week before the Fall break and thus the holidays basically lasted 2 weeks. Exam week of the second module started 15 th of December and ended on 19 th. In total 12 local credits are needed to correspond 24 credits in Aalto University. This means usually six courses, since most of the courses are worth of 2 credits (couple of 1 credit courses). From my point of view the course offering (for graduate business students) was wide enough to find interesting courses. Some courses have prerequisites but otherwise the courses can be freely selected. The course selection was made beforehand, but the courses could be easily changed during the drop and add -period, which was the first week of each module. In the UF it is expected that you attend all the classes, however it was greatly dependent on the course, if attendance is followed or not. Courses taken Here are short reviews of the courses I completed during the fall (all courses are graduate level): Managerial Accounting (ACG 5075), 2 credits Description: Introduction course to managerial accounting, emphasis on decision making using managerial accounting inputs. Addresses very basics questions of managerial accounting, not much value-added to mandatory Introduction to Accounting course at Aalto University. However, good recap if needed, and the teaching was also clear.

6 Lecturer: Joost Impink Lecture material: Mandatory book, Financial & Managerial Accounting for MBAs. However, you will survive well with the lecture slides only (book was pretty expensive to acquire) Evaluation: In-class questions 5%, team case assignment 25%, midterm exam 35%, final exam 35% Entrepreneurship (ENT 6006), 2 credits Description: The course is about understanding the entrepreneurial process as well as entrepreneurial mindset and culture. It aims to give tools to managing the process. The course encourages to entrepreneurship and thus real life examples, guest lectures as well as idea generation are in the focus of the lectures. The professor of the lectures is very experienced, however it feels that the learning goals of this course are too vague and the course seems to have more a motivational role than a theoretical. Lecturer: William Rossi Lecture material: 3 mandatory books. However, lectures usually differentiate totally from the reading material Evaluation: Five individual papers 50%, group presentation 15%, business planning exam 15%, team rocket pitch 20% Hi-Tech Entrepreneurship - Technology Strategy For Entrepreneurs (ENT 6930), 2 credits Description: The goal of this course is to teach theories, concepts, and frameworks to manage technology start-ups. The focus is on innovation strategies; understanding technological change, coming up with innovations, and benefiting from innovation. Also a technology strategy analysis is part of the course. The lecturer didn t get very good feedback on the course content and teaching methods from the local students. Lecturer: Yongseok Jang Lecture material: Mandatory textbook (Technology Strategy for Managers and Entrepreneurs) Evaluation: Strategy analysis (in teams) 50%, peer feedback 10%, quizzes 30 %, current event discussion in lecture website 10% Entrepreneurial Consulting Project, GatorNest (ENT 6946), 2 credits Description: Consulting project for a real company/organization. The client companies change every year and the characteristic of the project depends largely on the company and its situation. In my case, we had a group of two, and we conducted a project for a local ballet company. The project included 1 meeting per week with the instructor, otherwise the work was very independent. It was interesting to conduct a project for a real client and at the end present the

7 results. The weakness of the course is that the time is very limited to conduct a proper analysis of the company and situation, and thus limits the output of the project. Note: The course has its own enrolment system. Lecturer: Ted Astleford Lecture material: No lecture material Evaluation: Based on the output of the team, and inputs of the every team member Art & Science of Negotiation (MAN 6447), 2 credits Description: The course objective is to help understanding the behavior of individuals, groups and organizations in competitive situations and to improve your effectiveness in a variety of negotiation situations using this knowledge. The lectures include several in-class negotiation and exercises. Also class discussion is a large part of lectures. Even though the course requires you to speak up in every class, the professor managed to create an atmosphere and used motivating exercises that didn t even make a Finnish person to feel awkward in the class. On the contrary I felt this was the best course I took in the UF mainly thanks to highly competent professor with great sense of humor. Lecturer: Professor Robert Thomas Lecture material: 3 mandatory books (you can find some of them online). You also need to buy a licence (~$20) for course materials divided in the lectures Evaluation: No exam. In-class negotiation 18% + reputation points 12%, journals (team and individuals) 38%, team assignment 15%, bargaining points 17% Investment Property Analysis (REE 6395), 2 credits Description: The focus of this course is on the major concepts, principles, data, and analytical tools used to evaluate commercial real estate investment decisions. The course focuses primarily on equity investments in privately-owned and traded commercial real estate. Without finance/real estate background this course might be a bit challenging. However, if interested in real-estate (valuation) very useful course. Prerequisite: Introduction to Real Estate (REE 6045) or alternatively finance studies Lecturer: Professor David Ling Lecture material: All the reading material was provided by the lecturer Evaluation: Homework 14%, quizzes 12%, participation 10%, first exam 20%, final exam 44%

8 4. Free time and other information NaviGator Program Before the exchange semester all the students receive an about Navigator program, which is a local tutoring/student buddy system. All international students applied to program are matched with a local student. The Navigators organization arranges a variety of different events and trips, which is a good way get to know with other international students as well as locals. During the fall they organized events and trips like welcoming party, movie nights, trips to Orlando Universal studios, St. Augustine, Memphis, and Ginnie Springs, also some camping and hiking trips. Navigators also played soccer and beach volleyball every week together and everyone was welcome to attend. Also the Navigators used help the international student with all kinds of staff like organizing housing, giving rides and getting to know with the UF and Gainesville. Sports Football is the big thing during the fall semester. The whole town is going to games on Saturdays or at least tailgating (=watching game/partying outside of the stadium) the whole day. Thus also many of the internationals bought a season pass to all home games at around $100. This might first sound a bit expensive investment, but in the end it comes much more handy and you are also allowed to sell the tickets that you are not going to use (when the team is doing good you can even make some money). For the spring semester there is basketball, which starts in November and continues till late spring. Sport facilities are very good in Gainesville. UF has three sport centres around the campus, including all playing fields and court (tennis, football, beach volley, volleyball, squash, cricket, soccer, hockey, golf etc.). And everything is usually FREE (except golf). You can borrow sport equipment, like rackets and balls with your student ID. Also most of the commercial student apartments have their own gym, basketball court, tennis court, swimming pool etc. UF has also its own lake, where you can again borrow kayaks, pedalling boats etc. with your student ID. Life expenses Basically everything (including food, clothes etc.) are somewhat cheaper in US than in Finland. Also being a student town the life expenses are also very student-friendly in Gainesville. For example, all the buses are free with your student ID, and also the Night time student taxi (SNAP) is free within the campus. As I mentioned before doing sport is also free on campus. On addition there are several other free activities like movie nights. You should also be prepared to eat free pizza everywhere all the time. One thing you might want to consider buying is a bike as some internationals did. It eases significantly for example grocery shopping and other activities requiring moving between places.

9 Night Life You can basically go out every night, usually students do it from Wednesday to Sunday though. There are several ladies nights meaning girls drink free (however the alcohol is not very good quality). Drinking age is 21, however in Midtown you can get inside the clubs and bars even if you are underaged (over 21 get a wristband to by drinks). In Downtown bars and clubs have higher age limits, if you desire to spend a night in slightly more mature company. Mainly due to high age limit, the house parties are very common. Traveling Traveling within Florida is easy with a rental car. Also busses go down but the rental car is likely to become cheaper, especially when the driver is over 25. Miami is the biggest and city in the Florida, and has a nightlife and beaches worth to see. Key West and St. Augustine (the oldest city in the US) are likely to be the places you would like to visit too. If you are an amusement park kind of person, Orlando and Tampa might be interesting. Other places worth of visiting are more like just nice beaches around Florida. Flights within the US are relatively cheap. I made a long weekend trip to New York during the first exam week, and after final exams I travelled California, Las Vegas and national parks for couple of weeks before returning to Finland. Gainesville weather During the summer and in the beginning of fall the weather is very hot and humid. During the fall it also rains basically everyday (however it last only 10-15min) and thunder storms are not unusual. After October the weather starts to get colder and since being in the Northern Florida, the nights can get very cold in winter, even around 0 C. During the day the average temperature was around 15C and the rains were rare in the winter. 5. Final Comments This was my second exchange (I did my first one in Australia), and thus the preparation and exchange itself was easier but on the other hand maybe not that exciting experience. I am pretty sure that the experience is very different for a graduate and undergraduate (younger, first time exchange) student. Since the city of Gainesville is all about the university, and the major free-time activities are partying and sports you better like both of them. Personally I felt that Gainesville was a bit too small for me to keep me excited. However, I think it was good to experience the US-way of life, and simultaneously make couple of new long-lasting international friendships.