University of Michigan International Center

Textbooks are expensive in the U.S., and they may cost around $1000 per term. Now I will share some tips to save money on textbooks. Before you buy the textbook, you need to check the ISBN, names, authors and edition. You can find this information from course guide, which lists textbooks/other materials required by the instructor. After you have registered the class, you can also find this information from Wolverine Access>Student Business>Student Center>Backpack/Registration>My Class Schedule>Textbook List View. Then you will see the textbook requirements for all registered classes.   A used book is always cheaper than a new book, and most used books are still in good condition. If you want to save money, you can buy a used book from a bookstore or online. When you buy a used book from a bookstore on campus, you can check the condition of the book, but this is not feasible if you buy a book online. In that case, you need to pay attention to the condit...

While many people might consider winter as their least favorite season in Ann Arbor, I love winter especially if it is snowing. There are a variety of activities you can do to enjoy Michigan in the winter.  For instance, you can either go skiing or snowboarding.  While I enjoying skiing, or at least attempting to ski, it is expensive, and is usually something I do only once a year.  There are several ski resorts in Michigan, but to get to any of them you will require a car.  Also, a lot of the nicer ski resorts are further up north, and thus require renting a hotel for at least one night.   However if you can, I highly recommend going to a ski resort at least once with your family and/or friends.  It is a good break from all the tests and projects. However, there are cheaper snow activities such as snow tubing, sledding, and ice skating. Like skiing, you will need a car to reach sites where you can rent snow tubes, since they are outside of An...

Hey everyone! My name is Yihan Sun. Sorry for starting off with a serious topic, but I am sure many undergraduate students will find it as something they have to think about in the near future.  Unlike universities in China or other Asian countries, undergraduate students in the U.S. have privileges to change majors as many times as they want until they find their perfect fits. Therefore, you may find your incoming classmates as “undecided majors.” Some people treat this privilege as an advantage, while some may find this freedom confusing or even frustrating. I belonged to the latter group. To re-orientate myself, I asked the following questions that helped me make a reasonable decision. What am I interested in? This question helps you reflect on what you enjoy studying and doing. For me, Biology was my favorite class in high school. I find Biology is a fascinating field that is constantly changing and shaping how we see the nature. And I believe Biology can have a big ...

Love looking your best? Here are some popular working out options in AA! UM-Facility: There are 3 major recreation building: CCRB, NCRB, IMSB. From their website you will discover a lot of facilities they provide, from swimming pool, to badminton court; from weight training to climbing wall (IMSB). Running: You will see people running around town all year round, rain or shine. Here are some places to start: Mapmyrun runners upload their trail maps on line. Boarder to Boarder trail is a popular trail among Ann Arbor runners. So is the Gallup Park Trail . The Arboretum is a pretty park located right on central campus where running along Huron River Drive can be the answer to a pleasant afternoon activity. The Runningfit hosts running groups where people at different level meet and run together in various groups depending on your speed. A nice way to combine social and exercise together. There is more information on Rec Sports website. Biking: Ann Arbor is a bike-friend...

There’re four big cellphone carriers, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile. These companies own the masses and have national coverage (you can check the coverage  online ). These companies usually have individual/family plans and prepaid plans. There are also some smaller cellphone carriers, such as Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. These small carriers may cover only parts of several states, but they have hot phones on cheap plans. For big cellphone carriers, each of them has advantages and disadvantages. It’s always good to compare different plans before you sign up a contract. When I first came to the U.S., I chose to use a prepaid plan, which gave me more flexibility over the expenses. However, there is a definite difference in the coverage & quality & service of prepaid vs. contract. In my experience, prepaid is second to contract. Each carrier has several contract plans, including individual & family plans. Contract plans usually last 2 years, and y...

I have to admit that I like shopping. Clothes, food, skincare, cosmetics, digital products, lab equipments (;P) etc. It’s totally fine to just grab and go when you are in a shopping mall/supermarket (my dad and some of my friends definitely do it!), but for me, a female graduate student who live off a stipend and has a tight schedule but still want to have fun clothes, skincare of good quality, advanced digital products-online shopping, especially for clothes, skincare, housewares, is my top choice. There are several huge advantages I value very much about online shopping over mall shopping in Ann Arbor. Here are the top two of them. 1, Convenience: We all have a busy life. Online shopping provides us the opportunity to shop in comfortable pajamas on the couch at home. Especially when you just arrive at the States and you don’t have a car, it’s kind of a very time-consuming way to get to the shopping centers by bus. Besides, the only free time you probably get would be night...

Welcome to the University of Michigan and to an experience unique of its kind. An integral part of your experience at the university is going to be the library and its vast resources. Learning how to get the most out of those available resources is very important and I’m here to try to walk you through simple basic tips that will get you comfortable navigating the MLibrary. Having said that, getting to know everything at this stage is not the expectation of this brief article. Self-exploration and diving is the way to go after this. To begin with, the first thing you will visit the MLibrary website for is searching for books. In the search space on the website, you would need to hit on the word “ Catalog ” first, and then you can choose to search by a keyword, title, subject, call number, …etc. Then, you type in what you are looking for e.g. the subject chemistry. This will get you into a results page where you will have a lot of icons to filter your search results and order them...

Arriving in Michigan for the first time in January, I was fortunate to get a ride from a friend from the Airport. However, after moving into my apartment, I faced the daunting task of moving around campus and the city of Ann Arbor. This I came to realize was one of the simplest things to achieve. The University’s bus system, the Blue Bus enables one to connect virtually from your doorstep to all major locations on campus. Sounds exaggerated but that’s the fact of the matter. With bus stops located at convenient places all over campus, the blue bus affords one the luxury of easily moving from classrooms, halls of residence, students’ unions, research labs and the like. The good thing about them is their punctuality. I have the UMBus application on my phone and thus receive real time locations of every bus and estimated time to every bus stop. Movement out of campus to Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti has been made easy thanks to AATA’s ‘ The Ride ’. Even most residential areas ar...

            One of the first things I wanted to know when I moved to Ann Arbor was what grocery stores were closest to my apartment.  Hopefully this blog entry will help anyone who has similar concerns/questions.  There are several big grocery stores around Ann Arbor and they are organized below based on their location to central campus.  Also included are the bus routes that either stop right next to the store or in their general vicinity.   However, please remember that this is not a comprehensive list of every single grocery store in Ann Arbor; it is a list of several of the main stores. North of Central Campus Kroger Address: 2641 Plymouth Road Probably one of the best places to buy food if you are on a tight budget Transportation: Ann Arbor bus route 1 and 2 Website: www.kroger.com Busch’s Address: 2020 Green Rd, Ann Arbor, MI ‎ Slightly more expensive but their fruit and vegetables are fresher ...