Tips for Incoming Partners

Congratulations all incoming partners!!!
This must be an exciting period for you all. It was quite an exciting period for me last year. And I remember, I’d lots of questions in my mind during this time. Every second day I used to shoot mail to a senior with tons of questions. I’m so thankful to her for replying to all my queries so patiently and helping me out in every possible way. Now it’s payback time.
I would like to share answers of some of the questions that I’d in my mind before coming here. I hope you find them useful.
• Medical Insurance- Many of you (mostly internationals) may find the university insurance to be expensive and you must be looking for cheaper insurance. I’d done the same thing last year, but it didn’t work out. You might get something cheaper but the catch is, university has some set guidelines for insurance and if you decide to take anything other than one provided by University, that insurance should comply with those guidelines. So, if at all you find anything better, do not take it without getting it checked by the Insurance experts in the International Centre.
• Buying winter clothes and snow boots- Many of you might be tempted to get winter clothes from you native place/country. If you already have them, bring them. But do not buy and get it from there. They may not be very effective in the Michigan snow. For Michigan snow, you would need Down jackets. You can get them here at reasonable prices. Where to buy them from ? Well, I got mine from Burlington Coat Factory (http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/) when I visited Chicago during fall break. They have a huge collection of branded coats and jackets. Basically it’s a warehouse of branded coats and jackets and you get them at extremely reasonable prices. But unfortunately you don’t have one in Ann Arbor. The nearest one is some 35-40 miles from here. So, if you have a friend who has a car, you can go with her or rent a car for a day and go in a group. Or if you visit Chicago/ New York or any other such place during or fall break, you can get it there. Other places from where you can buy jackets are TJ Max or Marshalls. Both the stores are there in Ann Arbor and are easily accessible by AATA bus. They won’t have a collection as big as Burlington, but you will get branded stuff at reasonable prices. You may also buy them from stores like JC Penney or Macys. But do not buy them without a deal or offer. Otherwise they will be very expensive. You can wait for Thanksgiving to get good deals.
• Furniture buying- If you want new modern furniture at reasonable prices, then IKEA is the place. Not everything is cheap there but there are lots of things which can be very cheap there and they look great. Again, the problem is we don’t have an IKEA store in Ann Arbor. Nearest IKEA store is in Canton which is again around 30-35 miles from Ann Arbor. Getting the furniture from there is also a problem unless you have a big car. They do deliver it at home but that would cost some 60$-70$ extra. I remember, even International centre organizes a trip to IKEA sometime in late Aug/ early Sep. They take you in a bus and you can get your furniture loaded in the bus. So, once you arrive in Ann Arbor, do check with international centre. You can also check for furniture in Walmart (located in Ypsilanti and accessible by AATA bus No. 6). If you are not particular about having new furniture, you can get second hand furniture either through Craigslist or through classified ads in myimpact ( College website, ask you partner to check that regularly) or in various garage sale/yard sale. Sometimes you can even get good stuff in Salvation Army (you get all second hand stuff there). We’d got most of our furniture from one guy ( I guess he was from Cort furniture- www.cort.com) who had got a truck full of furniture to Woodbury Garden on a Saturday morning( sometime in mid-Aug). He’d got amazing stuff at amazing price. And the furniture looked almost new. (We got our sofa, dining table, TV, TV stand , couple of lamps, a side table – all for around 140 I guess). It was a steal and we were thrilled. So, if you happen to stay in Woodbury do check with leasing office if he is scheduled to come this year as well. Cort normally rents out furniture (I see their pamphlets being kept in Woodbury) . But do ask them if they plan to sell stuff as well. If at all they come this year as well, do reach there a little before the given time because everything gets sold out within 20-30 mins.
• Grocery Shopping- Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti has got most of the international grocery stores. So you don’t have to carry too much stuff from your native country. Of course, it will be slightly expensive here than what you might be getting in your home country but then how much can you bring. So, don’t overload you luggage with food items. Just get some basic stuff which you might need in the initial days. (For Indians- there are 3 Indian stores- Bombay Grocers, Yogi and Taste of India. I’ve been to two of them (Yogi and Bombay Grocer). Both are accessible by bus ( Yogi by No.6 and Bombay Grocers by No. 5). Yogi gives 10% discount to Students.)
• Buying a car- Many of you might want to buy car once you are here. There is an area near Jackson road in Ann Arbor where you have most of the dealers selling used cars. Nearby areas like Detroit, Farmington etc has got more showrooms/dealers having a wider variety at more reasonable prices. Before buying a car, do get it checked by a mechanic. You can also check for cars in Craigslist or myimpact.
• Transportation from Airport- You get taxis right outside the airport which can charge you either a flat rate (normally $50) or through meter reading (which normally comes to around 50$). If you have a lot of luggage (which obviously you have when you first arrive), better to come by taxi. Otherwise you also have Michigan Flyer (Bus) running at specific times of the day. Rates are reasonable if you book it in advance. Check their website for more information.
Some more general tips:
• Try to arrive here a couple of weeks before the school starts so that you have some time to settle down. Once the school starts your partner is going to be extremely busy.
• Try to volunteer for RLI (Ross Leadership Initiative) program. It’s a week long program for your partners which happens in the first week the school starts and you get a chance to volunteer in that program. It’s a great way to meet other partners, classmates of your partner, see the school. Your partner would get a mail regarding same. So, do ask him/her to let you know about it. One more advantage of volunteering is , you get a Mcard if you volunteer. And with the Mcard you can travel in the AATA bus for free (otherwise you have to pay $1.5 every time you board the bus). Normally the Mcard you get would be valid for a month. So, really comes handy. And overall RLI is a fun session. So, I would highly recommend you to be a part of the same.
• Once you have settled down, go check out the Ann Arbor District Library. Membership is free. It takes not more than 5 minutes to get the membership (just carry an address proof and your passport). You have a very good collection of DVDs and books. You can get as many as you like in one go (totally free) and you can keep renewing them online or over the phone. The main library is located in the downtown just opposite Blake Transit Centre( which is the main bus depot. So, you can just get down the bus cross the road and you are there). If you have a car, the one located in Packard Street will be convenient. If you have kid/s, they have separate play area for kids and kids will really enjoy the place. So, do check it out.
• If you join Ross Partners Club, try to attend all the events (we have lots planned for the month of Aug, Sep,Oct). It’s a great way to make friends and meet people from around the world.
• If you chose to stay in Woodbury Garden, do put somebody’s name ( a current resident) as the person who referred you to Woodbury. That ways, the current residents gets around 400$ as referral bonus and most of the time they will share that with you. ( If you don’t know anybody you can put my name as well  )
This much for now. I’ll keep adding as and when I remember anything else. I’ll also request other partners to share their experience which can help incoming partners.
All the Best!!!
If you have any queries you can always reach out to me or any other partner.
Sagarika Prusty

Summer is here!

After one year of meeting new friends, getting used to a new life and helping our partners through a tough year, the summer and time for internships has come!

We are going to miss our friends from 2nd year whose partners are graduating and leaving Ann Arbor for good.

Each of us will be in a different place for the summer, some staying in Ann Arbor, some going to Seattle, some Chicago, some New York, some back to their countries... So now is time to enjoy the summer and enjoy having our partners back without the stress of school!

And for those coming to Ross, we have a very special M-Trek planned for couples, which should be a TON of fun!!

We are going to the Mayan Riviera with a lot of activities including diving (if you're not certified yet, you can take classes and do your certification dive down there), sight-seeing, laying on the beach and partying.

We hope lots of you can join us for the fun, check out our website

Enjoy your summer and I hope to see you soon!!!