Books and textbooks
There is a specific section about books, especially textbooks. You should start looking for textbooks way before the quarter starts. Unfortunately, International students sometimes know what they're taking at the last minute. Remember that a couple of weeks before classes start, you can easily get used books, international editions, good deals on new items. Some days before the first day of classes you can still order on Amazon or some other online stores that ship in a couple of days. When classes start, you can almost only go the bookstore and pay full price. Remember that professor sometimes assign homeworks from the book in week 1, then you need the book soon!
Computer and Software
Apple Notebooks
For those of you who prefer Apple (and there is a large group of Apple lovers in the US), you should give a look to an Apple store and see which are the last offers on notebook. They sometimes offer a free (or discounted) printer when purchasing a computer, it can be useful to have one when on campus (printing homeworks, slides, etc…). You can also find Apple products in you campus Bookstore, but the prices are usually the official ones.
Dell Notebooks
Most of UC campuses (if not all) have a specific agreement with Dell to offer very good deals to their students. To access this offers, you only have to go to your campus bookstore, if there is one, or just go to the Premier Dell website www.dell.com/yourcampus, where yourcampus is your campus :) For example http://www.dell.com/ucsd, http://www.dell.com/ucsb, and so on.
Electronics
When buying electronics, the main thing you have to keep in mind is that in the US the standard voltage is 110V @60Hz, while in other parts of the world it can be different (in Europe, for example, it's 220V @50Hz). Moreover, almost every country has its own plug. While the problem of the plug can be solved with an appropriate adapter, that you can buy in travelers' shop, airports and online (see the banner on the right), the problem of the different voltage is generally harder to be solved.
There are different cases:
- for computer and laptops there are usually no problems: their adapter accept both the voltages (sometimes, but rarely, a switch has to be moved in the correct position). The same thing for all those devices that has a charger or an adapter (cell phones, for example), 99% of them are 110/220V compatible.
- for appliances that require high power, like coffee-makers, cookers of any type, hair driers, etc… they usually do not accept both the voltages. Sometimes they do, but it should be clearly stated.
- printers usually accept both the voltages, but it's not a rule. Check before buying!
To check if a device accept both the voltages or not, you have to look for the data plate or label on the back of the device or on the adapter. Click on the two examples to enlarge them and see an example of single-voltage and of double-voltage device.
In the INPUT section, if it says 110 or 120, then it accepts only that voltage, if it says 110/220 or a range like 100-240, or something similar, then it accepts both the 110 and 220 voltage.
If you have a device working with one voltage and you want to use it in a country with a different voltage, there is no easy solution. For small devices there are some converters available, but for bigger ones, with more power consumption, it is almost impossible to find a safe, cheap solution. If the appliance is very expensive and you cannot buy a new one, the only option would be a transformer but it's definitely not trivial to setup this solution and it can result to be expensive.
Clothing and Shoes
Shoe size conversion
| System | Sizes | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 35 | 35.5 | 36 | 37 | 37.5 | 38 | 38.5 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46.5 | 48.5 | |
| Mexico | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12.5 | ||||||
| Japan | M | 21.5 | 22 | 22.5 | 23 | 23.5 | 24 | 24.5 | 25 | 25.5 | 26 | 26.5 | 27.5 | 28.5 | 29.5 | 30.5 | 31.5 |
| W | 21 | 21.5 | 22 | 22.5 | 23 | 23.5 | 24 | 24.5 | 25 | 25.5 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| UK | M | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13.5 |
| W | 2.5 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.5 | 13 | |
| Australia | M | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13.5 |
| W | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 10.5 | 11.5 | 12.5 | 14 | |
| US & Canada | M | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 10.5 | 11.5 | 12.5 | 14 |
| W | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 7 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 9 | 9.5 | 10 | 10.5 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15.5 | |
| Korea | 228 | 231 | 235 | 238 | 241 | 245 | 248 | 251 | 254 | 257 | 260 | 267 | 273 | 279 | 286 | 292 | |
| Centimeters | 22.8 | 23.1 | 23.5 | 23.8 | 24.1 | 24.5 | 24.8 | 25.1 | 25.4 | 25.7 | 26 | 26.7 | 27.3 | 27.9 | 28.6 | 29.2 | |
| Inches | 9 | 91/8 | 91/4 | 93/8 | 91/2 | 95/8 | 93/4 | 97/8 | 10 | 101/8 | 101/4 | 101/2 | 103/4 | 11 | 111/4 | 111/2 | |
| Mondopoint | 228 | 231 | 235 | 238 | 241 | 245 | 248 | 251 | 254 | 257 | 260 | 267 | 273 | 279 | 286 | 292 | |
Mobiles
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Sport and Travel
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