CSSA

Dear incoming AUCSSA members:

Congratulations on your AU offer and a warm welcome to our community! One of AUCSSA's missions is to help incoming Chinese students and scholars settle into the AU environment. To start with, we have compiled some information on housing and airport pick-ups.

Off-campus Housing:

--For long-term (lease) housing:
* AU Off-campus Housing List: It is run and maintained by AU Housing office, and you need your student ID number to register and view the list.
* Craigslist for Washington, DC: is a more commonly used website for housing. It is like BBS forums in China in that the site update itself all the time as new post comes in. Housing section is at the top of middle column. For long-term housing, you might check " apt/housing for rent", and " rooms/shared". The great thing about craigslist is that you can narrow down the search by specifying your budget and location preferences.

--For short-term/temporary housing:
* Again, Craigslist for Washington, DC has a " sublets/temporary" section.
* You might already know that AU offers temporary housing starting from Aug 17, 2007 for Fall semester 2007
* If you are looking for temporary housing from current Chinese students, please send an email to AUCSSA@googlegroups.com and ask kindly. If you are willing to pay for your temporary stay, specify your budget.
* An alternative option is to book a hostel. StudentUniverse has a great hostel section (btw, this website sometimes offers amazing last-minute student discount on airplane tickets - you do need a school email domain to register though). For example, Hostelling International is famous among young, international travellers.
On a personal note: while it might be a bit difficult to find someone hosting YOU for several days (most of us are just renting a room or studio), it might be easier to find a safe place to host YOUR LUGGAGE when you are staying in a hostel and exploring D.C.

Airport Pick-ups:

* If you have a manageable amount of luggage, check out www.dc495.com. It has very detailed instructions and price quotes for public transportation options around the three major airport: DCA, IAD, and BWI.
* If you do need an extra hand, we recommend Supershuttle, esp. when you are coming from Baltimore BWI airport. It is very affordable ($10-$20) and convenient. You can book your door-to-door service online or over the phone. They will wait for you on the ground level of the airport, after you get the luggage, and drive you to your residential address. If we are not able to arrange your airport pick-up on your arrival day, we can help you with the reservation of Supershuttle.

Traffic

Directions to AU:
http://www.american.edu/maps

AU Shuttle Schedule
http://www.american.edu/finance/ts/shuttle.html

DC Metro System and Trip Planner
http://www.wmata.com

Driving Direction
http://www.mapquest.com
http://maps.yahoo.com

Shopping

Safeway
http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/default.asp?brandid=1&page=corphome

Giant Food
http://www.giantfood.com/locator/store_dsp_detail?storenumber=0379

Whole Foods Market
http://www.wholefoods.com
Right newt to Tenleytown Metro Station

Ethnic Grocery Stores in Maryland
Kam Sam Supermarket

300 N. Washington Street, Rockville, MD

Daruma Japanese Market