Indian Student Association @ Auburn

Where is Auburn?

Auburn is a University town located in the East-Central part of the state of Alabama. Auburn is a town, about 110 miles South-West of Atlanta, Georgia.

Where do I live, till I find an apartment for myself ?

ISA will try its best to provide temporary accommodation to all students for brief period of time after they reach Auburn. We recommend that you speak to your prospective roommates beforehand to avoid any kind of delay in finding your own apartment.

So where should I land in US?

The nearest airport to Auburn is Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, Georgia. Auburn is 110 miles south west of Atlanta Airport. It also happens to be a PORT OF ENTRY.

What is Port of Entry, Immigration and Customs Check?

Port of entry is the US city where your incoming international plane lands for the first time inside US. In most cases, It will be Atlanta, Georgia. But it differs in individual cases wherein you reach Atlanta through a connecting flight from any other city in US. For example, if your flying route is Bombay-Frankfurt-Atlanta, the port of entry is Atlanta. But, if your flying route is Bombay-Frankfurt-Washington-Atlanta, your port of entry is Washington. In most cases, a flight attendant will distribute customs declaration forms and immigration forms (I-94) before the plane lands at Atlanta. Fill all the entries on the forms, while on the plane. If you have questions regarding any entries on the form, don’t hesitate to ask the flight attendant. The forms include questions about the contents of your luggage. Penalties for incorrect declaration can be severe, and you would not want to get caught up in a verbal interaction with officers, just after landing. One important note here, please dont scratch or over-write anything, ask for a new one and surrender the old one. Hence be pretty honest and write the details as questioned. So long as pickles and spices are packed and sealed in a proper manner, they can be classified as non-perishable and dehydrated, and you may declare them as such. While coming out go through the "GREEN CHANNEL" not the "RED CHANNEL". Pay attention to signs. Try speaking clearly and slowly but confidently while speaking to the officers and answer the questions as honestly as possible. Recently, the immigration dept has started taking fingerprints of your first fingers and your photograph. This takes some good amount of time, so try to have a minimum of two hours gap between connecting flights if your port of entry is not Atlanta.

How is my Luggage handled and where should I pick it up?

Even if your luggage is booked through to your final destination, it will be off-loaded at your port of entry to US. This means that even if your final destination is Atlanta, if your port of entry is not Atlanta, your luggage will be offloaded at the port of entry for customs clearance. You will need to check in your luggage again. But there are signs and instruction everywhere so don’t worry and keep your eyes open. If Atlanta is the port of entry and your final destination too, you should not face any problems. It is your responsibility to pick up all the luggage off the conveyor belt and take it through the customs area. DO NOT PANIC if the officer asks you to open the luggage, the officers just want to make sure that you do not have any harmful items. To make this process easy, pack your luggage with own hands in India, so that when you un-pack it at the airport (if at all!!), there should not be a condition that the stuff in an unpacked condition is twice as much as the one initially packed in!!!

What if the luggage is Lost or Delayed?

If your luggage does not seem to pop up on the conveyor system, look for it for a certain finite amount of time until the display will give indication for the last baggage. Contact the office of your Airline at the airport and fill up a DELAYED / LOST LUGGAGE form. Give them the destination address and phone number (you can give the same address that you are told to come or the address of the ISA President) so that they can ship it there, after it arrives. There is a fair chance that the luggage might have got shipped to another destination or would not have been uploaded on your plane at your connecting airport (Frankfurt / London etc.). See to it that you fill up the form before leaving the premises. Do not be rude but be firm while dealing with the airline representatives, the phrases Please and Thank you will not hurt. And do not panic, It'll come home safe.

How to come out of Atlanta Airport?

Once your plane lands you will exit onto a CONCOURSE. After you check out your luggage through the customs, there will be a point where you have to re-load your luggage so that it comes out right at the MAIN EXIT of the airport. And please re-load the luggage only at the counter of the Airline you traveled. There is an internal electric TRAIN service that transports people to-&-from various concourses to the baggage claim area. Please do not try to walk through the concourses, they are pretty big. Just read for the signs. After you re-load your luggage onto that belt, you can follow signs TOWARDS GROUND TRANSPORTATION / LUGGAGE CLAIM Area. That is the place where your luggage is being transported through their internal system. It is the last stop of the train. After you reach this last point, alight the train and go to the belt that displays the name of your airline and flight number. Now at this point, just take your luggage off the belt and EXIT onto the NORTH TERMINAL EXIT. Look for GROUND TRANSPORTATIONS on the signboards. Additional information about the Hartsfield International Airport

How to reach Auburn from Atlanta?

Auburn is 110 miles south of Atlanta airport. Vehicles travel at a speed of 70 miles / hr. on most interstate highways. So you should expect to reach Auburn in about 1.5 hours after leaving Atlanta (at the maximum). EXPRESS 85 SHUTTLE SERVICE is available that drop you off right at the University.

How do I reach Express 85 pick up location?

There are two baggage claim areas in Atlanta airport: North Terminal Baggage claim and South Terminal Baggage claim. Your bags will go to one of these claim areas depending on the airlines your are with. If your baggage claim is in South Terminal, collect your bags and walk towards North Terminal. In the North Terminal baggage claim look for airport signs that read 'Greyhound Flight Link' or 'Parking Level 1&2'. Get down the escalator/elevator and walk through the glass double doors. To your right you would find, Greyhound's office. Wait right outside the office. This is Express 85 pick up location

The vans don’t arrive till 10-15 minutes before their departure time. So be at the parking space a minimum of 20-25 mins before the departure time. There are about 3 to 4 times during the day when these vans leave for Auburn, so you might have to wait till you see one. The transportation fare is 45 dollars in addition to a tip ( $2 to $5). So keep around 50 dollars cash (including a number of one dollar bills) for this purpose. The tip should be given at the end of your journey when you reach the destination. If you don’t reserve a seat, there is a fair chance that the vans are full and you might be left stranded.. So, Please give us your travel plans at least two days earlier so that we can make reservations for you.

Greyhound (This is an alternative service which drops you off at exit 51 which is about 5 miles from campus. WE DONOT RECOMMEND THIS)

This is an option if you are reaching Atlanta, when there are no shuttles of EXPRESS 85 , for example when you reach after 8:00 pm on weekdays and 6:00 pm on weekends. These are big luxury buses and have greyhound written over them. You will locate them near NORTH TERMINAL Ground transportation zone. This one might take a circuitous route. You can directly talk to the driver about where he can leave you. Normally they leave you at exit 51. Once you take the exit, there is a gas station, from where you can call any ISA Member in the contact list, and they will take care of your further tracel arrangements. The fare for the greyhound trip varies according the route you are taken through. Also, if possible dont plan your travel such that you reach Atlanta after 4:00 pm on weekends and 7:00 pm on weekdays. If you have already booked your flight at these times, please make sure that you tell us.

Where does Express 85 shuttle drop me off at Auburn?

It drops you off at Dixon Conference center and not at your temporary accommodation location.

Where to go, whom to contact after reaching Auburn?

YOU SHOULD PROVIDE YOUR TRAVEL PLANS WELL IN ADVANCE. If, by chance, by the time you leave India, you could not contact any of the ISA committee members at Auburn, or any of your friends in Auburn and you do not mention about the final address, the van service will drop you off at the AUBURN UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE CENTER. You will have to use phones to contact the friends, and we can make arrangements to pick you up from the conference center, but it would be advisable to reach the final address, in order to avoid the luggage handling.

How do you know I am coming?

We have started a guestbook for the prospecive students of Auburn University. The advantages of this guestbook are two-fold. • It helps the incoming students to contact each other before coming to USA. You could decide on your apartment partners and also coordinate your travel plans. • It helps us to contact you and gives us an idea about when to expect you. Accordingly, we could make travel arrangements for you from Atlanta Airport. Note : It might take a day or two for us to update the incoming students list. So, please do NOT resend the information. Please write your tentative travel plans (when you would be coming to USA, your flight information etc.). You are free to write your telephone number(s).

I want to know more about my Department, whom to contact?

It is best to contact students of your own department to get any specific information. There is a list of students who are enrolled at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama - Click Here

What is the best time to come to Auburn?

Coming to Auburn depends on financial aid and your own convenience. If you do not have financial aid then, coming 10-15 days before the orientation session (for that semester) is ideal. That will help you look for an on-campus job (or assistantship) and also adjust yourself to the place. Those with assistantship can arrive anywhere between one week to two days before the orientation session.

So, where do I live after coming to Auburn?

Following are the kind of apartments that you can get at Auburn, Alabama
Efficiency (living + kitchen) - 1-2 people can stay - $225 - $275.
One bedroom apartment - 2 people can stay - $350 - $450.
Two bedroom apartment – 3-5 people can stay - $450 - $650.
The committee cannot fix an apartment for you in your absence. Students already settled here will help you look out for an apartment once you are here. You will be given a temporary accommodation at any of the committee members residence for two days. Within that period, he/she will help you rent an apartment.

What is the situation of Financial Aid or jobs on-campus?

As specified earlier, those without financial aid must come 10 to 15 days before the first day of classes, so as to try for an assistantship in their department or an on-campus job. For information on financial aid, please contact students from your department. It is a good idea to write to the professors in your department and enquire about your chances of getting an assistantship. It is NOT possible for the students here to look out for an on-campus job or assistantship for you.

How is life at Auburn?

Auburn is a beautiful university town, 110 miles away from Atlanta. The weather is almost like that of in India, excepting for the cold winters. Auburn being a small town, is less expensive compared to a bigger city. Most of students live at walking distance to the university campus. That means all kinds of re-creation (including sports and movies) is close by. There is also "a" DESI store near-by. The nearest desi restaurants are in Atlanta. Basically, all of you will be good cooks by the time you finish your MS and not to worry. For more information on Auburn go to http://www.auburn-opelika.com/




		Frequently Asked Questions Where is Auburn? Auburn is a University town located in the East-Central part of the state of Alabama. Auburn is a town, about 110 miles South-West of Atlanta, Georgia. Where do I live, till I find an apartment for myself ? ISA will try its best to provide temporary accommodation to all students for brief period of time after they reach Auburn. We recommend that you speak to your prospective roommates beforehand to avoid any kind of delay in finding your own apartment. So where should I land in US? The nearest airport to Auburn is Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, Georgia. Auburn is 110 miles south west of Atlanta Airport. It also happens to be a PORT OF ENTRY. What is Port of Entry, Immigration and Customs Check? Port of entry is the US city where your incoming international plane lands for the first time inside US. In most cases, It will be Atlanta, Georgia. But it differs in individual cases wherein you reach Atlanta through a connecting flight from any other city in US. For example, if your flying route is Bombay-Frankfurt-Atlanta, the port of entry is Atlanta. But, if your flying route is Bombay-Frankfurt-Washington-Atlanta, your port of entry is Washington. In most cases, a flight attendant will distribute customs declaration forms and immigration forms (I-94) before the plane lands at Atlanta. Fill all the entries on the forms, while on the plane. If you have questions regarding any entries on the form, don’t hesitate to ask the flight attendant. The forms include questions about the contents of your luggage. Penalties for incorrect declaration can be severe, and you would not want to get caught up in a verbal interaction with officers, just after landing. One important note here, please dont scratch or over-write anything, ask for a new one and surrender the old one. Hence be pretty honest and write the details as questioned. So long as pickles and spices are packed and sealed in a proper manner, they can be classified as non-perishable and dehydrated, and you may declare them as such. While coming out go through the "GREEN CHANNEL" not the "RED CHANNEL". Pay attention to signs. Try speaking clearly and slowly but confidently while speaking to the officers and answer the questions as honestly as possible. Recently, the immigration dept has started taking fingerprints of your first fingers and your photograph. This takes some good amount of time, so try to have a minimum of two hours gap between connecting flights if your port of entry is not Atlanta. How is my Luggage handled and where should I pick it up? Even if your luggage is booked through to your final destination, it will be off-loaded at your port of entry to US. This means that even if your final destination is Atlanta, if your port of entry is not Atlanta, your luggage will be offloaded at the port of entry for customs clearance. You will need to check in your luggage again. But there are signs and instruction everywhere so don’t worry and keep your eyes open. If Atlanta is the port of entry and your final destination too, you should not face any problems. It is your responsibility to pick up all the luggage off the conveyor belt and take it through the customs area. DO NOT PANIC if the officer asks you to open the luggage, the officers just want to make sure that you do not have any harmful items. To make this process easy, pack your luggage with own hands in India, so that when you un-pack it at the airport (if at all!!), there should not be a condition that the stuff in an unpacked condition is twice as much as the one initially packed in!!! What if the luggage is Lost or Delayed? If your luggage does not seem to pop up on the conveyor system, look for it for a certain finite amount of time until the display will give indication for the last baggage. Contact the office of your Airline at the airport and fill up a DELAYED / LOST LUGGAGE form. Give them the destination address and phone number (you can give the same address that you are told to come or the address of the ISA President) so that they can ship it there, after it arrives. There is a fair chance that the luggage might have got shipped to another destination or would not have been uploaded on your plane at your connecting airport (Frankfurt / London etc.). See to it that you fill up the form before leaving the premises. Do not be rude but be firm while dealing with the airline representatives, the phrases Please and Thank you will not hurt. And do not panic, It'll come home safe. How to come out of Atlanta Airport? Once your plane lands you will exit onto a CONCOURSE. After you check out your luggage through the customs, there will be a point where you have to re-load your luggage so that it comes out right at the MAIN EXIT of the airport. And please re-load the luggage only at the counter of the Airline you traveled. There is an internal electric TRAIN service that transports people to-&-from various concourses to the baggage claim area. Please do not try to walk through the concourses, they are pretty big. Just read for the signs. After you re-load your luggage onto that belt, you can follow signs TOWARDS GROUND TRANSPORTATION / LUGGAGE CLAIM Area. That is the place where your luggage is being transported through their internal system. It is the last stop of the train. After you reach this last point, alight the train and go to the belt that displays the name of your airline and flight number. Now at this point, just take your luggage off the belt and EXIT onto the NORTH TERMINAL EXIT. Look for GROUND TRANSPORTATIONS on the signboards. Additional information about the Hartsfield International Airport How to reach Auburn from Atlanta? Auburn is 110 miles south of Atlanta airport. Vehicles travel at a speed of 70 miles / hr. on most interstate highways. So you should expect to reach Auburn in about 1.5 hours after leaving Atlanta (at the maximum). EXPRESS 85 SHUTTLE SERVICE is available that drop you off right at the University. How do I reach Express 85 pick up location? There are two baggage claim areas in Atlanta airport: North Terminal Baggage claim and South Terminal Baggage claim. Your bags will go to one of these claim areas depending on the airlines your are with. If your baggage claim is in South Terminal, collect your bags and walk towards North Terminal. In the North Terminal baggage claim look for airport signs that read 'Greyhound Flight Link' or 'Parking Level 1&2'. Get down the escalator/elevator and walk through the glass double doors. To your right you would find, Greyhound's office. Wait right outside the office. This is Express 85 pick up location The vans don’t arrive till 10-15 minutes before their departure time. So be at the parking space a minimum of 20-25 mins before the departure time. There are about 3 to 4 times during the day when these vans leave for Auburn, so you might have to wait till you see one. The transportation fare is 45 dollars in addition to a tip ( $2 to $5). So keep around 50 dollars cash (including a number of one dollar bills) for this purpose. The tip should be given at the end of your journey when you reach the destination. If you don’t reserve a seat, there is a fair chance that the vans are full and you might be left stranded.. So, Please give us your travel plans at least two days earlier so that we can make reservations for you. Greyhound (This is an alternative service which drops you off at exit 51 which is about 5 miles from campus. WE DONOT RECOMMEND THIS) This is an option if you are reaching Atlanta, when there are no shuttles of EXPRESS 85 , for example when you reach after 8:00 pm on weekdays and 6:00 pm on weekends. These are big luxury buses and have greyhound written over them. You will locate them near NORTH TERMINAL Ground transportation zone. This one might take a circuitous route. You can directly talk to the driver about where he can leave you. Normally they leave you at exit 51. Once you take the exit, there is a gas station, from where you can call any ISA Member in the contact list, and they will take care of your further tracel arrangements. The fare for the greyhound trip varies according the route you are taken through. Also, if possible dont plan your travel such that you reach Atlanta after 4:00 pm on weekends and 7:00 pm on weekdays. If you have already booked your flight at these times, please make sure that you tell us. Where does Express 85 shuttle drop me off at Auburn? It drops you off at Dixon Conference center and not at your temporary accommodation location. Where to go, whom to contact after reaching Auburn? YOU SHOULD PROVIDE YOUR TRAVEL PLANS WELL IN ADVANCE. If, by chance, by the time you leave India, you could not contact any of the ISA committee members at Auburn, or any of your friends in Auburn and you do not mention about the final address, the van service will drop you off at the AUBURN UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE CENTER. You will have to use phones to contact the friends, and we can make arrangements to pick you up from the conference center, but it would be advisable to reach the final address, in order to avoid the luggage handling. How do you know I am coming? We have started a guestbook for the prospecive students of Auburn University. The advantages of this guestbook are two-fold. • It helps the incoming students to contact each other before coming to USA. You could decide on your apartment partners and also coordinate your travel plans. • It helps us to contact you and gives us an idea about when to expect you. Accordingly, we could make travel arrangements for you from Atlanta Airport. Note : It might take a day or two for us to update the incoming students list. So, please do NOT resend the information. Please write your tentative travel plans (when you would be coming to USA, your flight information etc.). You are free to write your telephone number(s). I want to know more about my Department, whom to contact? It is best to contact students of your own department to get any specific information. There is a list of students who are enrolled at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama - Click Here What is the best time to come to Auburn? Coming to Auburn depends on financial aid and your own convenience. If you do not have financial aid then, coming 10-15 days before the orientation session (for that semester) is ideal. That will help you look for an on-campus job (or assistantship) and also adjust yourself to the place. Those with assistantship can arrive anywhere between one week to two days before the orientation session. So, where do I live after coming to Auburn? Following are the kind of apartments that you can get at Auburn, Alabama Efficiency (living + kitchen) - 1-2 people can stay - $225 - $275. One bedroom apartment - 2 people can stay - $350 - $450. Two bedroom apartment – 3-5 people can stay - $450 - $650. The committee cannot fix an apartment for you in your absence. Students already settled here will help you look out for an apartment once you are here. You will be given a temporary accommodation at any of the committee members residence for two days. Within that period, he/she will help you rent an apartment. What is the situation of Financial Aid or jobs on-campus? As specified earlier, those without financial aid must come 10 to 15 days before the first day of classes, so as to try for an assistantship in their department or an on-campus job. For information on financial aid, please contact students from your department. It is a good idea to write to the professors in your department and enquire about your chances of getting an assistantship. It is NOT possible for the students here to look out for an on-campus job or assistantship for you. How is life at Auburn? Auburn is a beautiful university town, 110 miles away from Atlanta. The weather is almost like that of in India, excepting for the cold winters. Auburn being a small town, is less expensive compared to a bigger city. Most of students live at walking distance to the university campus. That means all kinds of re-creation (including sports and movies) is close by. There is also "a" DESI store near-by. The nearest desi restaurants are in Atlanta. Basically, all of you will be good cooks by the time you finish your MS and not to worry. For more information on Auburn go to http://www.auburn-opelika.com/
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