For students studying in the United States, language barriers and cultural differences may be the most difficult problems to overcome, but for parents worried about children traveling thousands of miles away, health and safety is the top priority. The reasons why foreign students encounter safety accidents overseas are nothing more than: lack of safety awareness, lack of understanding of foreign cultures, careless friends, etc. In the past two years, there have been more public security issues such as epidemic situation and monkeypox, and we should always do a good job of protection. In order to help newcomers to the United States avoid unnecessary losses and injuries, Xuebajun has sorted out some safety suggestions, hoping to help everyone.
From Stoooges
WeChat: StooogesEducation
#Housing
In the life of studying abroad, the safety of "living" ranks first, because your personal safety is largely related to the area where you live. In the United States, there is a cruel fact that security can be bought with money. Rich residential areas often have better police force and security conditions. Therefore, nothing should be saved to save money on housing.
Freshmen better live in school
American universities require freshmen to live on campus. In this way, you can not only save travel expenses and time, but also quickly get familiar with college life and integrate into the student community. The only disadvantage is that Meal Plan will be more expensive, and the meals in the canteen may not satisfy your appetite, but living in school is at least safe. Most foreign students cannot see the house on the spot before they enter American universities. It is easy to trample on the ground because they are not familiar with the place. Therefore, it is a safe choice to rent a house together when they are familiar with the surrounding environment and friends in their first year of residence.
Off campus rental, the most important geographical location
The next year, students will find friends to rent houses outside the school. Junjun knows that everyone wants to save more on living expenses, but unfortunately, in the United States, especially in large cities, the housing rent level in a region largely reflects the public security situation, residents' quality, police force and police speed in this area. Take New York City as an example. Even if it is only one block away, the crime rate may vary greatly. Therefore, the first thing to rent a house is the geographical location. A public security area will isolate many hidden dangers and bring you a great sense of security. When studying abroad, the most important thing is personal safety. Save nothing but rent.
On site inspection before renting
Before signing the rental contract, make an appointment with Leasing Office to see the house in person. Don't be afraid of trouble. It's a big trouble to muddle into a house with potential safety hazards. The purpose of house inspection is to confirm whether the real object is consistent with the picture, and also to take this opportunity to inspect the environment around the house and the community. How to quickly understand the security situation of a community? It's very simple. In addition to searching the crime rate data on the Internet, the place looks very messy at a glance, and there are strange people around. Don't live there. On the contrary, if the houses in this place are clean and well arranged, and the lawn is well built, then the security here is not much worse.
Go out less at night and avoid downtown
On the contrary, the downtown in foreign countries is the most unsafe place, with restaurants and bars and more mixed staff. Do not loiter outside when it is dark. After 22:00, robbery is a high incidence period. If you must go out, you'd better find someone to accompany you, or report your whereabouts to your roommate in time.
Even if you are in the university town of Jiaocun Village, you don't need to live in the busiest area for convenience. At night, the noisy environment and the laughter of people on the street will disturb your sleep. Anyone who wants to have a quiet environment to study hard must avoid downtown areas or fraternity areas.
#Travel
Different from China, private cars are quite popular in the United States, and the public transportation system in the United States is not as developed as that in China. Therefore, students need to adapt to new travel modes and pay special attention to safety.
Take a driving test and buy a car!
It's no exaggeration to say that in the United States, you can't get out without a car. Of course, if you study in a large city in the United States, it is not a problem to rely on public transportation. But if you study in a remote small town, you will lose mobility without a car. Usually you can take the bus operated by the school to go to and from school. On weekends, you can go to the supermarket to buy vegetables. You can barely rub a friend's car when you eat out food. Once you have something to do temporarily or want to travel on holiday but do not have a car, the scope of activities will be greatly limited.
When studying in the United States, it is necessary to have a car. Even if you are in a disorderly area, as long as you can ensure that cars come and go between two points, the safety index can be improved by a large margin.
Don't let strangers get on the bus
Never take a ride with a stranger, even if the person smiles and says, "I can give you a lift.". The residents of small towns in the United States are indeed very friendly, but when you go out, you must guard against others. Once the door is closed, no one will know anything that happens.
In addition, when playing Uber or Lyft, you must confirm the license plate and model before getting on the vehicle. If you own a car, don't let strangers get on the car. Jun had seen a foreign student's share before. After he came out of the supermarket, a strange man asked to take his car. Later, he thought it was suspicious, so he asked the man to go down to help push the car on the pretext that the car wouldn't start. As soon as the man got off the car, he drove away. When he got home, he found an axe in the car. He was very frightened after thinking.
Take public transport carefully
Public transportation in the United States is totally different from that in China. In addition to the clean and safe bus lines operated by some universities themselves, the public transportation system in the United States can be said to be dilapidated. The frequency of bus trips every hour will not be mentioned (buses in large cities may have a shorter interval). People taking public transportation are mixed, except the poor who can't afford to buy a car, Most of them are drunk or have their driving licenses revoked.
In the United States, where people have cars per capita, most people do not regard public transportation as a way of travel at all. Therefore, it is not recommended that students rely too much on public transportation when traveling, especially in some sparsely populated bus stops. You should pay attention to your own safety and try not to stay in places that look suspicious.
#Campus
Follow the school's Crisis Alert
Generally speaking, the CRIME ALERT of American universities will be automatically pushed to your mailbox, but there are also some schools that do not default to CRIME ALERT and need to register themselves. After registration, if there is any criminal event (such as robbery, sexual harassment, etc.) inside and around the campus, the school will give an early warning.
Make good use of the escort service provided by the school
The security department of American universities generally provides security walk services. If you study late at night in the library or the party/activity ends late and dare not walk alone at night, you can call the police uncle to send you back to the dormitory. Comprehensive universities with a large number of students, such as New York University and Penn University, have their own campus police teams, which are stationed on the campus and patrol. The school police will walk or drive you, and your sense of security will explode.
#Others
epidemic prevention
Remember to prepare the vaccination certificate and nucleic acid negative report before departure, or you will not be able to board the plane. You can take some medical masks and medicines with you, but some medicines can't be taken on the plane. Please confirm in advance. When you arrive at the school, you should pay more attention to the school's epidemic prevention policy, do a good job of epidemic prevention according to the requirements of the school, and protect your own and others' health.
Many schools have developed their own epidemic prevention apps. You can report your health status in the app, and the school will also inform the latest diagnosis data and other developments in the region through the app.
Tips for alarm that ordinary people don't know
If your situation is not convenient for you to call the police, you can call 911 and then ring twice to hang up. Call several more times, and the nearby police will go to the scene to check according to the location.
How to view the crime rate in a region
The crime rate data of large and medium-sized cities in the United States are open and can be directly searched online. Taking New York City as an example, a website called "NYC Crime Map" can see the crime rate data of all areas of New York (accurate to the street), which is very clear.
If you want to browse the crime situation in all cities, we recommend the following two websites:
spotcrime.com
crimemapping.com
In addition, when a crime occurs on campus, the school will also send a critical alert to students in time, so students must check it in time to avoid high-risk areas.
I hope all students can go and return safely. What suggestions do you have for new students studying in the United States? Welcome to share with us in the comment area!
This article is published under authorization. From Stoooges, Sanshidu, WeChat: StooogesEducation. Welcome to share in the circle of friends, and cannot be reproduced without permission ， Sincerely recommended by North America Xuebajun
