Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

* Get a credit card. Discover is easy for students. Pay the bill every month. Do not (even once) hold a balance. Do not do balance transfers. Do not churn. Too easy for a newbie to get wrong.

* Get a local bank account. Turn off the thing called 'overdraft protection'. It's a loan mechanism.

* Find the other foreign students in your class. They'll know where to pirate all the textbooks. Never pay for a US textbook. Extortionary and when you get your degree no one knows you used pirate texts.

* Choose a smart major. In the US, people will tell you to learn history and shit like that. Waste of money. In fact, in the US, beware of people who try to sell you a "mission" rather than pursuit of a good life. The US allows rapid individual growth. Mission easy to pursue afterwards.

* Do not work. Your F-1 will permit you to under some circumstances. If possible, the only work you should do should be TA/RA stuff or related to your major. Do not work otherwise. It will take away from studying.

* Get a cheap bicycle / skateboard. Cheapest form of transport. US transit is very bad. Even in most unis. Do not buy expensive bike + expensive lock. Get cheap used bike and cheap lock. Skateboard is better since you can carry it with you.

* Find all college events that involve recruiting, symposiums, etc. Attend all for food.

* Get cheapest mobile plan possible. Many MVNOs available. Get cheapest phone. Used preferable.

* Get internships if possible. Permissible on your F-1 / J-1. Very good experience. Live experience >>> in-school learning.

* Americans are almost universally wealthy. Beware of imitating them if you are not. It is possible to be social without keeping up with the joneses.

* Do not self-isolate. Social interaction is the biggest advantage of US college apart from the high quality education. Especially interact with Americans. They will likely spend the rest of their lives in America.

The US is a big place, so your experience will vary on exactly where you're going to.

Take an inventory of things that you use in Argentina and how you plan on getting those in America (must-haves).

Avoid discussing religion/politics/race unless you are familiar with what would be offensive to certain people. Mask-wearing could also get political although I think most people would be fine if you choose to mask.

Otherwise, you should be fine. Good luck!

A few items:

- The US system of credit cards is really weird. If you do not happen to have an American Express (which does cross-border), you should try to open up a credit card as soon as possible. Most likely with the bank that you use for checking accounts. Do not pay off the balance before it is due. Wait until the bill is finalized, then pay it within a day or two. Look up “credit score” and “how to build credit”

- Rental agreements are on a 12 months basis (at least in NYC). You might need a guarantor to get an apartment or proof you have enough money to pay the bill for the 6 months or so since you don’t have a credit score

- health insurance is really funky. They are employment based (employers decide your plan provider). Nobody understands their health plans. There is health, vision and dental insurance as the main ones. Expect to pay a lot of money out of pocket and to never know what you will pay in advance

- as you said tipping is mandatory. 18% is the lower limit.

- drinking in public places is usually prohibited

- if you get caught drinking under 21, it is a misdemeanour and you can get arrested

- I hate to say this but: cops are not your friend. Know your rights

Something to keep in mind is that the culture here is different per state, city and maybe even neighborhood depending on the city. It's a big place, especially out west, usually my foreign friends struggle to realize how far away things are (hours or days of driving). On that note unless you live in a huge city like NYC having a car is almost necessary, it's just the way the infrastructure was built in the 60's and very few places have updated it since then.

Probably the things you will enjoy the most will be the food. Try some ranch dressing, get a cheeseburger, have some regional specialties like BBQ(every state does it different), Cajun or even pizza (NY style is very different from Chicago).

All of that said, my favorite thing about the US is the national parks, especially out west they are incredible. Some of my favorites being: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Arches, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. Even people that live here not many have had the chance to see these places, but they can still get crowded depending on the time of year.

good luck, I hope you have a great time.

People who know Mexican Spanish may not be able to understand your Spanish, especially the ones who didn't learn Spanish as a first language.

Grocery stores often have international sections, you may be able to find some stuff you're familiar with in the Hispanic Foods section. There is dulce de leche, but it's not the same thing. You can find canned yerba mate tea from the Guaiaki brand. Again, it's not the one you drink, but it's at least something.

Every state, city and neighborhood has its own routines and rules for daily life: where to go, where not to go, etc. So take your cues from the school and the people you are closest to.

It is a big country—enjoy as much of it as you can. When you do, you will see what I am suggesting. For example, people from the state of Virginia can be just as out of place in Los Angeles as you might be.

In general, Americans are friendly and helpful when asked, but don’t be surprised to see people moving fast, with heads down, and minding their own business.

Productivity, competitiveness and independence are primary drivers in the US culture. You might see this at school, as well. But generally, college kids are having fun.

As adults, I wouldn’t characterize us as fun-loving people. We are pretty serious about everything, including playtime.

I will be curious to see how others might respond...

Argentinian here.

My biggest piece of advice is to not expect the US to be Arg. “I can’t believe these Americans do X, in Argentina is Y” is a useless thought unless used as a joke or just a comparison. Some people come to the US and never care to teach themselves to be a US resident/citizen, and they stay in their bubbles denying that THEY moved to a new country on their own.

People in the streets will think you speak Portuguese. Actually, those who are somewhat educated will know you’re near Brazil but for some reason won’t be able to figure out you are NOT Brazil.

Those less educated won’t even know where Argentina is.

I find it endearing, don’t get discouraged and use it as a conversation piece. I like to say “do you know where that is? Or just “let me show you on the map” after I say I’m from Argentina.

I know how this sounds, but I’ve travelled most of the country by car and I’ve been in very small towns of the Midwest and if you’re on the whiter side of Argentinian skin tone then you’ll be better received. Sad but true.

Learn to pronounce the letter “I”, and the Th. They are not found in Spanish so it’s weird. Scissors is not “seesors”, lift is not leeft. And Three is not tree, Thick is not tick. Etc

For the most part be yourself, our culture is not that far removed from the US.

Edit: not sure what your upbringing was like, but try not to fall into the consumerism that will make you take a loan or a credit for everything. You’ll see peers driving a $40k car in school and you’ll think that you can do it too, you can, but paying $600 a month in a car is NOT the way to do it. Argentinians are somewhat frugal, stay that way and you’ll find yourself not worrying about money very soon.

Money issues:

I agree get a Credit card. There are 4 primary choices:

1) American Express - charges an annual fee, but provides benefits, which are typically of value to travels. Accepted at most places.

2&3) Visa / MasterCard. Pretty much the same as each other. These are sponsored by various financial institutions. Benefits and cost vary radically, shop around. I typically use Visa as it seems everyone accepts it.

4) Discover - easiest of the 4 to get, but not as universally accepted.

Bank: There are 3 types of banks: Your standard traditional bank, insured by either the FDIC or a state agency (up 250K per account). These are for profit operations.

Credit unions - usually non profit. They are usually regional or concept regional (people who work for company XYZZY). You can often join the concept ones if you donate a trivial amount of money to 'Friends of XYZZY'. These are also insured (up 250K per account) by a variety of either US government or state agencies. Since they are non profit they often have your best interest at heart. Less services than a bank. Most schools have a credit union. If you can join it before you travel to the US all the better.

Non insured bank or credit union - just avoid. They offer the world and then go belly up.

Money xfer - I assume you need to move money. I use transferwise as it only costs me 1% to change money. Most US banks are expensive to change money.

For tipping I recommend you get a book. The opinions on it are all over the place.

Side note: I think you might want to temper some of the advice from local Americans here with finding a group of folks from a similar background at your school ... and getting advice from them.

As a local I think our understanding of what you might find strange or confusing, is probably a bit off.

Other folks who have made that move might better understand where you're coming from.

US taxes their citizens or residents on their worldwide income.

If you spend enough time in USA, build business and then decide to move to less tax abusive and freedom restricting environment - you still will be owing a big chunk of your income to US government, every year, forever. There are some miniscule deductions but they won't really work for 7 figure entrepreneurs.

And with the current administration mentality this situation is not going to get better.

Something to consider.

Before you sign a lease on an apartment make sure you understand exactly what the lease says and what you are responsible for, particularly in shared living situations - you don't want to be on the hook for 3k for a summer that you don't intend to live there. Plenty of shady landlords in college towns. If you're living in campus housing it shouldn't be a problem

Your overall experience will be impacted by where in the US you are. There are broad categories that track the culture (east coast, west coast, midwest, south), however even that is a bit too broad. Like in a lot of other countries, the size of the city/town/university also plays a large role in the experience/culture.

My advice is to look more into the city/state experience and culture.

Of immediate importance given the current state of the world: make sure you get your covid test within 3 days before boarding your flight (this is a CDC requirement for every inbound flight to the US and it may or may not have been brought up by your airline)

Other misc stuff:

- Look for international student groups/clubs in your campus; it's a great way to make friends, especially once things start opening up with the vaccination rollouts.

- Bring a stash of alfajors and other local goodies, you'll miss them soon enough.

- Be prepared to learn about the differences in spanish dialects from every country in south america :)

You can sometimes find yerba in Hispanic supermarkets, but the best place to get it is usually on Amazon. It costs about $10 (US) per kilo here. Relatively speaking, wine is very expensive, too.

People's notion of promptness as it pertains to social functions may be different than what you're used to. If you're going to a party, show up an hour or so after the indicated starting time, but if you're meeting with a few friends to hang out or for a drink, arrive more or less at the agreed time.

Public display of affection like that which Argentines are accustomed to is frowned upon here. Bienvenido a yanquilandia!

Get laid as much as possible lol. Have fun.

Better study in EU for free and then come to the US (or not).