ASA: Academic Study Associates 2008 Programs

We have received many faxes in the last couple of days granting students permission to travel into San Francisco unaccompanied by ASA staff but with other ASA students. This Sunday is the only weekend day that we do not have a full excursion planned. Many students would like to take advantage of the opportunity to visit San Francisco. We do have a full day of events planned here in Berkeley and one RA will be leading a trip of student into San Francisco to visit the historical and now hip Mission District neighborhood. Please be sure to send a fax to our office by Saturday if you would like to grant permission for your son/daughter to visit SF.
510 643 5832

Hello,
Yesterday was a busy travel day. We had over 130 students scheduled to arrive from over 15 different countries. We are happy to say all our students who were scheduled to arrive Sunday have arrived safely and with their bags. There were a lot of bags!

Students started classes this morning. There were only two who we had to wake up. The other 132 students made it to class on time. Our students who enrolled in the SAT class are even taking a full length SAT test as I type this posting.

The morning classes end at 11:45. Following class students are going to lunch and then taking a tour of the campus. During the tour they will have a chance to buy supplies. The next class begins at 4:15. Dinner follows the afternoon class then the students have a 7:30 RA group meeting and a 9:00 social event. Given the busy schedule today do not be surprised if you have not yet heard from your son/daughter! We will remind them to email/call or text you.

Hello,
We have just been informed by the University Housing Services Department that they do not think our guest rooms will be available until after 2:30 PM on Sunday. We will have a safe and secure place to keep luggage until the bedrooms are ready. There is plenty of space around our dormitory areas for students to relax in, hang out and meet one another until the rooms are ready. However, if you have the flexibility to wait until after 2:30 PM to arrive, that may be easier as it will mean only one location to bring luggage to. Most of our students who are traveling by plane will not arrive to the campus until around 3:00. The first planned event on Sunday is dinner in the dining hall at 6:00.

Please feel free to check in any time after 12:00. You may want to check in and then tour the campus together before unloading luggage.

Thanks,
The ASA Staff

We are anxiously awaiting your arrival on Sunday! Your RAs are here in Berkeley planning a summer full of fun activities and events. Your teachers have all turned in their syllabi and are ready for your first class on Monday morning. We can’t wait to meet you all.

We will have ASA staff members at the airport to greet you and get you onto airport shuttles to bring you to the beautiful Berkeley campus. The ASA staff members will be waiting in the baggage claim area for local flights and outside of customs for international students. All ASA staff members will be wearing blue t-shirts with the ASA logo printed across the front of them. If you do not see anyone at first, do not worry. They may be in the restroom or escorting another recent arrival to the shuttle area. Stay put and someone will be there within a few minutes. If you are traveling with a mobile phone you can call 510 847 4822 to let the Berkeley office know you have arrived and are still waiting for an ASA staff member. We will have many staff members at the airport and are prepared for delayed flights.

We are looking forward to a rewarding and fun summer with you all.

Best,
The ASA Berkeley Staff of 2008

Please note that the phone numbers for the Berkeley program office have just been changed by the university. The new numbers - which will be activated as of June 29 - are:

ASA Berkeley Office: 510-847-4822
ASA Berkeley Fax: 510-643-5832

The 'Magnet Material' sheet available through MyASA has been updated to reflect these new numbers. If you have previously downloaded a copy of this Program Contact Info sheet, please discard it and download the new copy. If you have not yet downloaded the Program Contact Info, please go to MyASA and do so now. You should also be sure to have downloaded the Berkeley Handbook.

ASA t-shirts and luggage tags have been mailed out and should have begun last week (except international students – yours should arrive in another week or two). It is very important that you wear your ASA t-shirt when you travel to the program so our staff will be able to easily identify and help you when you arrive.

Please note that we are not able to exchange t-shirts for a different size. Shirts were ordered according to sizes given and unfortunately we do not have extras for swapping. If there was a mistake on our end, please bring your t-shirt to the airport / program and we’ll see what we can do.

Summer contact information (as well as driving directions) has been uploaded to your MyASA account. Be sure to print out this sheet and stick it on your fridge for easy reference during the summer!

We have now past the June 1st due date for all forms. Make sure to log in to MyASA to double-check that all your forms and materials have been received. If some are missing, please go to the Form Downloads section of MyASA, print, complete, and fax the form to our office ASAP (fax: 212-334-4934).

NOTE: It may take 2-3 business days for forms to be processed and appear on MyASA, as we have over 1300 students joining us this season. Please be patient and use MyASA to verify receipt rather than contacting our office directly.

Be sure to download and print out the Orientation Handbook / Packing List from your MyASA account (see the Form Downloads section). The Handbook contains important information about the program and guidance as you prepare for the summer. Please read it through promptly, as it holds the answers to many questions, including some you haven’t thought to ask!

Today you will be receiving a series of important reminders and updates to help with your final preparations for the program. Please be sure to read each of the posts in its entirety and attend to the necessary preparations. This will help to ensure a stress-free and smooth start to the summer.

We’ve subscribed this e-mail address to automatically receive postings to the News & Updates for the UC Berkeley program. We will use this to convey important information to you before the start of the program, and to keep you informed about what’s going on once the program has started.

Please be sure to set this e-mail address as one of your trusted contacts so it does not get filtered as spam. If you would like to unsubscribe, send an e-mail with “UNSUBSCRIBE berkeleyupdates@asaprograms.com” in the *subject* and *no text or signature in the body* to subscriptions@asaprograms.com. If you would like to subscribe an additional address, send an e-mail with “SUBSCRIBE berkeleyupdates@asaprograms.com” in the *subject* and *no text or signature in the body* to subscriptions@asaprograms.com.

In the next few weeks, as you finish up your school year and prepare for your journey to Berkeley, ASA staff will be preparing too. As staff put finishing touches on course syllabi and add last details to excursion plans, they will keep you posted about details that you'll need to know by adding an entry to the 'News & Updates' feature on the ASA website. Before you travel to UC Berkeley entries to 'News & Updates' will be informational with details like your mailing address, program phone number, driving directions etc. Once you arrive on campus the section will take on quite a different feel as your program director and senior staff post program updates with photos of you and your friends, your instructors and your adventures. Please make sure you subscribe to 'News & Updates' now so as not to miss any pre-program details. Encourage grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends to subscribe before the summer so that they can see all that you're busy with in California. Look for a new post each week. Keep working to complete your pre-program forms and don't forget to visit the 'Forms Download' section within MyASA to get a program packing list, pre-program handbook and other valuable materials.