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Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

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Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#41

Post by lhorie »

soldehierro wrote: post #38
lhorie wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a lot of time w/ latinos in college. Argentinian spanish does have some peculiarities that make it more difficult to understand than other countries' variants - most notoriously, 'y' sounds like throaty `j` (bordering on `sh`), and some vocabulary In my experience, latinos in school often end up congregating with other latinos and they're usually able to get past the linguistic differences fairly quickly (and…

Rioplatense Spanish has a few different sounds, sure, and Argentine slang can be fairly diffuclt, but it's absolutely ludricrous to think that an Argentine would have difficulties communicating in Spanish with another Spanish speaker, native or not.

Yeah, I wouldn't go as far as say that it impedes communication, but it's more common than one might expect for a random conversation to derail into a conversation about dialect differences.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#42

Post by bogomipz »

P_I_Staker wrote: post #18
zeroego wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as you said tipping is mandatory. 18% is the lower limit. Just out of curiosity, where do you live? I've worked front of house at many different restaurants in an expensive city on the west coast, though this was 6 or 7 years ago. I was under the impression 10% was bare minimum, 15% was the next step up, and 20% was generous.

Less than 20% is a soft slap in the face in many places. More so, if it's less than 15%. Some people use other "systems" though, so they might not even be paying based on the number on the check. If the bill is overpriced that's often a reason people use to skimp on the "percentage".

>"Less than 20% is a soft slap in the face in many places."

Wow, that's a bit sensational. Using LA/NYC as a point of reference, tipping is basically a spectrum. For drinks in a bar the minimum tip is a dollar and two is a good tip. For a taxi driver 15% is acceptable for average service and 20% would be for good service. For dining out 15% is perfectly adequate for just average service and 20% and above for good service. Counter tipping is it's own special thing but generally stuffing a dollar in the tip is jar is acceptable.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#43

Post by bogomipz »

alamortsubite wrote: post #35
bogomipz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not any more or less than you might see in any American city.

I lived in BsAs in addition to a few American cities, and I beg to differ.

Then surely you understand that Porteños and B.A. are not at all representative of the average Argentine person or town in the same way that New York or New Yorkers are not at all representative of the average American or American city.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#44

Post by alamortsubite »

bogomipz wrote: post #43
alamortsubite wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in BsAs in addition to a few American cities, and I beg to differ.

Then surely you understand that Porteños and B.A. are not at all representative of the average Argentine person or town in the same way that New York or New Yorkers are not at all representative of the average American or American city.

That's amazing.

If you have any other questions about what it's like to live in Argentina, direct them to OP. As much as I enjoy chasing goalposts, I am leaving now.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#45

Post by dang »

alamortsubite wrote: post #44
bogomipz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then surely you understand that Porteños and B.A. are not at all representative of the average Argentine person or town in the same way that New York or New Yorkers are not at all representative of the average American or American city.

That's amazing. If you have any other questions about what it's like to live in Argentina, direct them to OP. As much as I enjoy chasing goalposts, I am leaving now.

Please don't post gratuitous swipes, even when someone has distorted what you said or it feels that way. It only makes the thread even worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#46

Post by dang »

soldehierro wrote: post #39
renewiltord wrote: post #21

* Get a credit card. Discover is easy for students. Pay the bill every month. Do not (even once) hold a balance. Do not do balance transfers. Do not churn. Too easy for a newbie to get wrong. * Get a local bank account. Turn off the thing called 'overdraft protection'. It's a loan mechanism. * Find the other foreign students in your class. They'll know where to pirate all the textbooks. Never pay for a US textbook. E…

> Americans are almost universally wealthy. I would beg to differ. Sure, the average standard of living and "lifestyle" in the US is above many countries, but to say that everyone is wealthy is a flat out lie.

"Lie" implies intent to deceive. Since it's hard to accurately read intent on the internet, it's better to find a different word to express disagreement.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#47

Post by sloaken »

ethbr0 wrote: post #9
elmalto wrote: post #8

A few items: - The US system of credit cards is really weird. If you do not happen to have an American Express (which does cross-border), you should try to open up a credit card as soon as possible. Most likely with the bank that you use for checking accounts. Do not pay off the balance before it is due. Wait until the bill is finalized, then pay it within a day or two. Look up “credit score” and “how to build credit…

PS: Unless you have specific needs, probably skip on vision insurance, and just use Walmart or Costco. It's "insurance" in the same way paying someone not to burn down your business is "insurance." Simpler and often cheaper to pay out of pocket. > drinking in public places is usually prohibited Unless you're in New Orleans.

Vision and dental insurance is typically not worth it. If you have a LOT of issues, you might break even.

Often schools will have a health plan / HMO style office to address common issues.

I would recommend paying into the school health plan if it is offered and it is reasonable.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#48

Post by sloaken »

Money issues:

I agree get a Credit card. There are 4 primary choices:

1) American Express - charges an annual fee, but provides benefits, which are typically of value to travels. Accepted at most places.

2&3) Visa / MasterCard. Pretty much the same as each other. These are sponsored by various financial institutions. Benefits and cost vary radically, shop around. I typically use Visa as it seems everyone accepts it.

4) Discover - easiest of the 4 to get, but not as universally accepted.

Bank: There are 3 types of banks: Your standard traditional bank, insured by either the FDIC or a state agency (up 250K per account). These are for profit operations.

Credit unions - usually non profit. They are usually regional or concept regional (people who work for company XYZZY). You can often join the concept ones if you donate a trivial amount of money to 'Friends of XYZZY'. These are also insured (up 250K per account) by a variety of either US government or state agencies. Since they are non profit they often have your best interest at heart. Less services than a bank. Most schools have a credit union. If you can join it before you travel to the US all the better.

Non insured bank or credit union - just avoid. They offer the world and then go belly up.

Money xfer - I assume you need to move money. I use transferwise as it only costs me 1% to change money. Most US banks are expensive to change money.

For tipping I recommend you get a book. The opinions on it are all over the place.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#49

Post by macmcleod »

happypenguin wrote: post #28
zeroego wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I know in some states servers are not guaranteed minimum wage. They can make as little as 4 or 5 bucks an hour, so if you don't tip them they make very very little money. If I was in a state like that I don't think I'd ever go below 20%.

This actually isn't true. Servers makr minimum wage, if all night they were tipped $0 then the resturant is required to pay them more hourly to hit minimum wage. Their combined pay from tips and the restaurant's pay must meet minimum wage. That is a federal law so it applies to all states. States can increase the minimum wage but cannot decrease it.

Have you ever worked in one of these positions? I worked in a few and my base rate was $2.13 an hour. If my tips for the day didn't put me over minimum wage ($7.25/hr at the time) on average, the place would pay me more. The people that had that happen more than once a month were fired.

Re: Ask HN: Moving to US from Argentina for college. Any advice for a newcomer?

#50

Post by duxup »

Side note: I think you might want to temper some of the advice from local Americans here with finding a group of folks from a similar background at your school ... and getting advice from them.

As a local I think our understanding of what you might find strange or confusing, is probably a bit off.

Other folks who have made that move might better understand where you're coming from.

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