Ah, it is summer again! The golden time for travel! Dear international students, are you familiar with traveling in America? As an international student myself, I can still remember my first travel in America. I learned a lot about how transportation works in the U.S., and I’m glad to share with you some tips I learned from my own experience.

Train is the primary means of long distance transportation for people in my home country China, while the most popular way in America is to take a plane. But there are lots of other methods of traveling far distances in America as well, that an international student may not know about or think about.

Since almost every form of travel here requires a reservation, you should think about how you want to travel well in advance of your trip.

Airplane

Flight is the most popular means of travel in America, since it is fast and comfortable.  During my last spring break, I took a plane to Los Angeles in order to save time. Spring break only lasts for one week, and I wanted to make sure I had as much time as possible for entertainment.
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We’re searching the web to find webinars and other online events of interest to prospective international students. Check here each Friday to find out what’s coming up in the next week.

As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And also please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up next week:

May 21

EducationUSA: Adjusting to American Culture
9 am US eastern time
More details: http://www.educationusa.info/edusa_connects/
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When you hear the word “arts,” you probably think of things like painting or singing. So why can you get a liberal arts degree in biology?  And why does a School of Arts and Science offer courses in history?  It’s pretty confusing, which makes it a great submission for the Glossary of Confusing Words!

(Thanks to the anonymous person who suggested it. I hope you know who you are)

As a description of university programs, “arts” can cover a pretty broad range of courses.  So, from most to least obvious, here are the university courses described by the word “arts.”

Fine Arts/Performing Arts

Some universities have programs in “Fine Arts” or “Performing Arts.”  In either case, “arts” has a meaning closest to what you’re probably used to – the practice of creative expression.  Fine Arts can include only the visual arts (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.), or both the visual arts and performing arts (music, dance, theatre).

Arts and Sciences

At many universities, the general education program is housed in the “School of Arts and Sciences,” in which case “arts” also cover studies of human thought and culture, called “humanities.”  This would include things like languages, philosophy, and religion.
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Why, thank you for noticing.  We DID change our layout today.

Our parent site, voanews.com, went through a major overhaul.  If you are a VOA reader and haven’t checked out the new site design yet, pop over and take a look.  It’s cleaner, more visual and hopefully easier to navigate.

It’s also a lot wider, and we’ve changed our look to match.  So you’ll see a wider layout on our blog posts and sidebar.  We’ve also added a section at the bottom of each post for related items, so you can hopefully find more things that you’re interested in.  And you’ll see more options for sharing to social media (Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus).

No, it’s not perfect, and we’ll be continuing to tweak it as we get settled into the new look.  But think of it like a new haircut – let it grow in for a few days before you judge!  And as always, questions, comments and feedback are encouraged.

The Department of Homeland Security announced it is expanding the list of science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs that qualify international students for an OPT extension.

The OPT program allows international students to stay in the U.S. for up to 12 months after their graduation in order to work and gain experience in their field.  Students who studied in certain categories of “STEM” programs are eligible to stay an additional 17 months on an “OPT STEM extension.”

According to the DHS press release:

By expanding the list of designated STEM degree programs to include such fields as pharmaceutical sciences, econometrics and quantitative economics, the Department is helping bring the best, most qualified international students to the United States.

Here’s the full list of programs that are eligible for the extension (PDF).

We’re searching the web to find webinars and other online events of interest to prospective international students. Check here each Friday to find out what’s coming up in the next week.

As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And also please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up next week:

May 15

CollegeWeekLive: New England Colleges Day
1 pm US eastern time
More details: http://collegeweeklive.com/en_CA/Guest/NEW_ENGLAND_DAY
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I had the pleasure of talking this week with VOA Special English, who wanted to know about the types of questions international students ask when applying to study in the U.S.  You can listen to the report they put together from our conversation here:

After the interview, they also asked me to share some of my favorite websites for international students. I figured you all might want to see as well, so I thought I’d post the list here, exactly how I sent it to them in my email (well, I corrected one typo…).

A lot of these are also in our Resources section or under our “useful websites” tag (check out both of those links for more sites to look at).  Let me know in the comments what other websites you like!

The only must-know site for all international students:

EducationUSA

If you only know one additional site:

Study in the States (Department of Homeland Security)

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USC President C. L. Max Nikias bows before images of victims Ying Wu and Ming Qu at a memorial service (Photo: AP)

After waking up in the morning of April 11, 2012, I turned on my laptop, and suddenly I was shocked by some breaking news – two Chinese students had been shot to death that morning near the campus of the University of Southern California (USC).

[Our coverage]

Like me, many Chinese students in the United States were saddened and upset after this unfortunate incident. However, what soon became more upsetting was the media’s focus on the supposed wealth of graduate students Ying Wu and Ming Qu, and how that played into their tragic deaths.
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The State Department has announced some much-awaited changes to the Summer Work Travel Program, made after a review process stemming from revelations that some international students had been exploited during their participation.

“In recent years, the work component of the Summer Work Travel Program has too often overshadowed the core cultural component,” said the State Department’s announcement of the new rules.  ”In addition, there have been complaints regarding job placements, work conditions, and participant accommodations.”
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With so little time left before the dreaded season of finals gets here, we take a scientific look at the radical changes observed in student behavior during this time of the year.

As final exams approach, the usage of time goes through dramatic changes and re-distributions.  Most obviously, the amount of time spent doing regular activities decreases significantly as finals get closer. The impacted activities can include, but are not limited to, actually going to class, exercise, watching movies or TV, spending time with friends and, in some extreme cases, eating.

When finals still seem blissfully far away, the student splits their time largely between sleeping and performing regular activities (including going to class). But as exams get closer, you can see that both of those activities drop off dramatically, replaced by an increase in time studying or thinking about doing so.
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As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And also please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up next week:

May 8

CollegeWeekLive: New York Colleges Day
1pm US eastern time
More details: http://www.collegeweeklive.com/en_CA/Guest/NEW_YORK_DAY

Beat the GMAT: How Liz Got Into Wharton
6:45pm US eastern time
More details: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/events
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How do you get a taste of American education without actually becoming a student in the U.S.?  We’ve shared one way, but here’s another: take advantage of the ever-growing number of online courses available.

Here’s a list of some websites where top American universities give away course materials, or even teach real courses, for free:
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Roz took part in the Undergraduate Intensive English Language Study Program, and wrote in to tell us about the experience.

I took a crash course at USU [Utah State University] last summer. Great, unforgettable and amazing time I had there, and I wish I could return there again, even though Utah is far from my country

The program I applied [to was] called “Undergraduate Intensive English Language Study Program,” sponsored by the U.S. Government. I was one of the first participants of the program, among 4 other students from Uzbekistan. It was kind of a gift for me because I would have never know about this program if I hadn’t been known with one of the [EducationUSA] program coordinators. That person helped me a lot in realizing my dream about studying in the States.

He recommended me to take part in that program whereas I had already applied for another program, UGRAD. I applied to UIELSP just [out of] respect to that person because back then I concentrated on only UGRAD program. Turned out, I failed from UGRAD but passed successfully from UIELSP
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An international student advisor at Michigan State University has made it a personal project to address and redress some of the myths she’s heard from students about the rules for doing your OPT.

In a series of blog posts, Brooke Stodyk examines the regulations around OPT and goes through some common misconceptions about what you can and cannot do. Read more about her responses to the following 8 myths:

1. I must have a job offer to apply for OPT.
2. If I have a job offer, I can get my OPT faster.
3. It’s better to apply for OPT later so that I can have more time to find a job.
4. If I don’t have a full-time salaried job within three months of graduation, I will get kicked out of the US.
5. OPT will start the day after I graduate.
6. During OPT, all jobs must be paid.
7. I can’t travel during OPT.
8. And a special one for PhD students: I can get CPT until I submit my dissertation to the Graduate School, so I’ll delay my dissertation submission to maximize my CPT and OPT possibilities.

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