Congratulations on the acceptance, and on the decision to attend the UofM!! Am headed to Minneapolis as well, for/starting Fall 2011 semester; am in plant breeding and molecular genetics. Which campus will you be attending - St Paul or Minneapolis? Mine is St Paul. I am also not from the US, but I have been living here for almost 5 years now - did both BS and MS (ongoing) here.
Have you started looking for housing? I remember you mentioning in another thread that you wouldn't mind biking to campus. But getting double-digit inches of snow in Minneapolis isn't too uncommon. So getting a place close to bus routes, or even better, close to campus might be better. Right now, the number of near-campus housing ads is quite low. But near mid-March/early-April, people who are graduating or wanting to get out of their current contracts should start listing their ads, and that might be the right time to get one. When I interviewed with my dept, the current grad students suggested that renting an apt or a house with few grad students would be a lot cheaper as well as would provide a lot of space compared to 'commercial' rooms and apt complexes. If we can make a group here at gradcafe, perhaps this is something we can shoot for. And a great way of making friends from different programs!
Oh, btw, I visited Amsterdam almost 2 years ago. Nice city you have there!
