ISSS Podcast: Global Connections at USF
Episode #1: International Foods and Food Pantry Resources

Host: Hello and welcome back to global connections at USF I'm Rashi Bhatt, your host and today we're diving into a crucial topic for many international students navigating off-campus housing. Joining us for this discussion is Brandon Thomas off-campus community manager who will provide expert guidance on the intricacies of the rental market.

But first, we'll hear experiences from international students, Axel Ndombasi and Prakriti Shakya as they share their journeys of finding housing in San Francisco.

Welcome, Axel. Can you please introduce yourself, mention your area of study, and where you're from?

Axel: My name is Axel Ndombasii and I am a computer science student at the University of San Francisco and I am from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Host: Thank you. So, Axel, as an undergraduate student, did you have a plan in place for switching from on-campus to off-campus housing? Were there specific factors that you kept in mind? Can you walk us through that process, please?

Axel: Yeah. So when I first started out, I didn't really have a plan. I was just like, yeah, this is not working out for me. Living on campus with a roommate is not something I enjoyed, I wanna say. So I kind of started making my own plan out, like, as time was going, you know, researching, I didn't really reach out to the off-campus department. I was like, I'm an old man and, you know, I can do things by myself. I definitely asked my brother that also lives in California already and he gave me tips on what to do and how to look for apartments. And that's how I, I get. I got it started and I, you know, scheduled tours and try to make sure everything was set up, and then Yeah.

Host: Awesome. Ok. So what are some of those tips that your brother shared with you? I feel like our listeners would find those to be helpful.

Axel: No, definitely. Honestly, the biggest tip he gave me is you need to start like ahead, you definitely can start moving in. Like let's say you are planning to move in September, you can start looking for apartments in August. This will not work out. You won't get what you want. I started looking for apartments six months ahead. And, well, a lot of, a lot of the times when I used to reach out to them, they were like, yes, no, please reach out to us like when it's closer to your moving date. Yes, please don't do that because at the end of the day, you still wanna tour the apartment, make sure you feel home. See all the potential availabilities that they have and just make sure like you're in a safe environment, especially for San Francisco. So definitely looking ahead is like one of the biggest tips he gave me.

Host: Is there anything that international students or anyone in the renter or housing market should be mindful of?

Axel: To be honest, I wanna say yes. When I was looking for apartments, I did find like a spot that looked too good to be true. It was a one-bedroom, a single room and it was a studio at the same time and it was like super nice, super clean, super spacious and it just looked too good to be true, to be honest with the price that was listed and it was like at a good location and I was like, you know what? Yeah, this is the spot I'm gonna take I texted the listing agent from that that from the from the listing on Zillow. And I was like, yeah, I'm looking forward to like move in like two months. Do you think we're able to like sign the documents or whatever? He was like, oh yeah, no problem. Just the only thing you need to do is just like send me the deposit through Zelle and I was like, huh interesting. So I texted Zillow, I was, I was so glad that I did text Zillow because it was eventually a scam but I did text Zillow. I was like, is this listing like credible listing? Is it a a real person or is it, is it a scam? It because it was really too good to be true. What happened is that Zilla texted me back? They were like, oh yeah, let's look into it but I will let you know and I realized that the listing was gone and so it was a scam. So just be mindful of people that will try to scam you because a lot of students are just like, yeah, I just wanna get over it and everything. It is a very complicated process. Just don't give up and just don't fold for people that are trying to scam you. So just be mindful, just make sure and double check that this thing is legit. You wanna of course go toward the spot. Don't rely on images. The images can be very different from what they are in reality. So that's another tip that I wanna give up.

Host: Sure, definitely. So I guess looking back now, do you think you would have done anything differently?

Axel: To be honest, something I would do differently is just stick to your plan and stick to your budget specifically your budget. I wanna say that because when I first started looking for apartments, I was like, you know what? All right, I think I'm able to pay like $1500 for example. And I started looking at places and I was like, oh, this place is 1600 maybe I should look into it. Oh, this is 1700 is not that big of a difference. Honestly, the best thing you should do is just stick to your budget. Make sure you keep looking. I know it does get a little, a little bit frustrating when you don't find places that are around your budget. But I promise you that if you keep looking, you will find those places. And you should also be aware that if you want to leave by yourself, for example, you will be paying more rent than somebody that will have roommates. So just be mindful of those things as well. Just know that not all apartment buildings will have your utilities included. So a lot of the list prices that you see on the websites, just make sure to add like maybe 100 or $200 per month, just so you have your utilities covered and whatsoever you might need from the apartment to be honest. So that's something I would do differently. I would kind of lose myself a little bit and go like maybe I could like change my budget. But honestly, I'm glad that I didn't and I kept looking. So that's something you should definitely stick on right now and that's something I would definitely do differently because I did waste a lot of time looking at other apartments that were out of my budget and yeah, it was just a waste of time basically.

Host: Now that you live off campus. Are there any specific facts that you keep in mind for traveling to university? Anything else that has changed because of your housing that you'd like to share with us?

Axel: Yeah. Something that definitely has changed is how I get to school when I used to live off campus. It, it was like, oh, you know what, wake up an hour early,, shower, get ready and then I'll be in class on time. Living off campus. You have to factor the bus time, and your commute time. And that in a lot of like in a lot of situations can be very different than living off campus. For example, I live downtown and before getting my scooter, it used to take me an extra 40 minutes to get to school. So that's something you should be mindful about. Just look at different transportation options. I got a scooter because I felt comfortable riding a scooter and that has helped me a lot. And now that I have my scooter, it basically takes me 10 minutes to get to school. So that's something that I really enjoy. It does not make me lazy at all because I know like if it's like a 40 minute ride, let's say, for whatever reason, your bus is late and then, you know, you miss like your bus or for example, you have to wait another 40 minutes and then you show up to class late and maybe you don't even want to go to class no more. So just that, that's just something you should probably keep in mind. something I would just want to share just for like general knowledge and just so you're aware about like the moving process living on campus and off campus is totally different. Like you get into a place where you don't have no furniture like you, the apartment is basically totally empty. You have to make up everything by yourself. And it's a lot of money, to be honest. how I dealt with it is shopping like with my availability basically and shopping the most important things. So I didn't go ahead and buy like a TV, for example, right away. I started with my bed, you know, with my U utensils, for example, like things that I would need before anything that I would want. So that's something you should definitely keep in mind and try to help your friends to help you out. Also just be aware that it does feel very lonely if you live by yourself. For example, I used to have a roommate and now I live by myself. I was lonely for the first couple of months honestly, but I got used to it honestly, just find time to enjoy your time by yourself. just being independent is just very different than just being on campus. Like on campus, you have your friends, you could just step out, go to class, for example and just start studying at home. You have to make your home a study area, you know, for example, and also just like, you can't just make sure you don't go back home like at midnight, for example, it could be like dangerous or whatever. Like, what are the factors that I that I took into consideration to select my apartment? Definitely the price if it felt like home because honestly, a lot of the places here don't feel like home and I was able to find a spot that really was heartwarming to me. Try to communicate with your parents. Honestly, they are able to tell you like they have experience they know what you need. So try to communicate with them, send them videos, send them pictures if you have send them pictures and videos. Just so they're able to help you out because they probably have more experience than you in like moving in those sorts of situations. So find, try to find something that is really heartwarming, try to find something that is close to something that you like. For example, I have one of my close friends that is from Congo as well that lives in an apartment living that is two minutes away from my spot. So sometimes when I need something, let's say I'm out of laundry detergent, I'm just able to walk to her spot and, you know, get some help, for example, or let's say if you're a big fan of, let's say a, specific supermarket and you're like, oh, I know I'm gonna shop there every day, maybe try to find a spot that is gonna be close to that, supermarket or whatever. But yeah, that's just something you should keep in mind at the end of the day. Just know that once you sign that lease, it is going to be very complicated to change your decision. So just make sure you feel at home, you feel safe in the area you select before signing that lease. And yeah, and also just remember that because you're an international student, The deposits are very different from that regular domestic students, for example, I had to pay 1.5 times the price of my lease while residents here just pay like like half of the lease or like a quarter of the lease, which is different values when you think about like $1000 for example. So that's something you should be mindful about. Just be prepared, honestly, and ask questions, you can come to our office, ask questions and I myself will be happy to help.

Host: Yeah. No. Thank you so much for listing some of those factors that you kept in mind. Landlords typically require a US cosigner or a social security number which most international students may not be able to provide. Right. So some landlords may ask for a higher security deposit to lower their risk as you mentioned. And just to ensure that you will pay the rent owed for the length of the lease. And this amount varies based on the company or the landlord, but typically it is one month's rent held as deposit. So it's always good to keep some of these specifics in mind while you're planning and budgeting for your off-campus housing. I'd like to thank you again, Axel for speaking with me today and sharing your tips towards securing your place of residence.

Prakriti: Hi everyone. My name is Prakriti Shakya. I am a second-year master's student studying international development in economics and I am from Nepal.

Host: Wow. Ok, welcome. So do you mind sharing a little bit about how you went about conducting your housing search from abroad and what factors you kept in mind doing?

Prakriti: So, of course, so I started looking for housing as soon as I decided that I wanted to do my masters at USF but then I actively started looking for housing just a month and a half before moving because stuff, it's like the landlords only start like renting out the place a month before. So I started actively like sending emails messages and also following up with calls and with calls, I made sure I was aware of the time zone as well.

And besides that, I was a part of a lot of like Facebook groups where I was like, actively checking it every morning and evening and sending messages as well and asking for virtual room tours because I couldn't do it like in real, I mean, in real time.

So I could ask for like room tours. And then some of the factors that I kept in mind while looking for a place was like the location to the bus stop. If I was like living further away from the university, how close is to the supermarket and the cost, the rent, the amenities, how many roommates were there? And was it like a monthly or yearly lease? And I also made sure that it wasn't a scam.

Host: Yeah. Thank you for listing out those factors. Those are super important to keep in mind. So do you mind walking us through a little bit about the methodology that you implemented for your search? And has it been fruitful for you? Were there any hurdles that came up that you're now kind of mindful of just looking back is there anything that you would like to change?

Prakriti: It took a lot of time and energy for me to look for places from abroad, like, especially like people would get suspicious because when I tell them that I'm from Nepal, which is why I wish I was more open to other options as well.

I wish I had reached out to my like international classmates in the program so that we could have looked for housing together because it's better to look for housing together than rather to like look for it like in like by yourself. And then I also wished I had looked into more resources provided by the off-campus housing department.

And I would say the second time cause I, cause I had to look for housing. The second, I mean, twice from abroad because I went to another country during summer for research work, which is why I had to look into to housing twice from abroad. And the second time, I would say I was more comfortable because I already knew the places in San Francisco. And I also knew what I was looking for, what to prioritize, what not to prioritize. And yeah.

Host: Before we wrap up, do you mind giving our listeners maybe three top tips or resources that you think would be the most helpful to them based off of your experience?

Prakriti: OK. Like I mentioned earlier, I wish I knew about the resources that the off campus housing were providing. And I wish I had like, actively reached out to them and made an appointment to actually have a conversation about. Although I read their vlog blogs and other resources. I wish I had talked to another person who had expertise in this topic.

And besides, I wish I had known about like other apartment listing, like outside of just Facebook that I was actively looking into like other website like Zillow or Craigslist.

And lastly, I wish I wish I knew about the vendor letter that US F provides that mentions that you are an incoming student and you have the finances to live in the US to study in the US because that would have helped me build trust with the landlords or the agents. They wouldn't have been suspicious about me, like, like reaching out to them from Nepal, you know. So I wish I had known about that.


Host: Wow. Yeah, that's super helpful to know, especially because you're basing it off of your experience firsthand and I'm sure our listeners are going to be taking notes and help them make their housing search a little bit easy. Thank you so much for, for spending a little bit of time with us and sharing your tips and your off campus housing search. So thank you so much.

Prakriti: Thank you.


Host: Hello, we'll now converse with Brandon Thomas. Brandon can you please introduce yourself briefly? Tell us a little bit about your office and the roles as an OCL community manager.

Brandon: Yeah. So hello everybody. My name is Brandon Thomas. I use he/him pronouns. I am the off campus community manager here at USF I've been in this role a little bit for about eight months now.

And so my job, my responsibility is to help students who are looking for off campus housing, whether they're incoming students, graduate students, they're making that transition from on campus to off campus. I'm just here to, you know, be that person that can, you know, listen, but they also give advice, they also just help you through the process, not necessarily tell you which apartments are good, but just give you advice, information about the general housing, general housing options in San Francisco.

Host: Oh, awesome. Yeah, that seems like an all-important job. especially when students are making that transition from on campus to off-campus or just like navigating the San Francisco renting market. It can be overwhelming. So thank you for the role and thank you for the resources that you provide.

Brandon: So do you mind giving us a bit of an overview of some of the most common questions that students reach out to you? Maybe in the different stages of their housing search specifically maybe for international students. yeah, there are multiple ways that students come to us. So I like to break it down into three stages.

So it's the first stage I haven't even started and I'm planning to arrive at us f I've started but I still need more information, which is like the second stage and then the third stage is OK. I think I've gotten everything but now I just want to review it just to make sure.

And so whenever I talk to international students, they are always with within one of those three stages or a combination of the three. And it's, and it's interesting because international students who are, you know, come to us south, they aren't necessarily like, they aren't here in San Francisco looking for housing as an on-campus student who's looking for housing or just like a regular student who's like coming from like another state. And so I think that it's interesting. and so one of the things that we do is we always set up a meeting time whether and it's always on international time.

And so we meet with the student, we talk about some of the things that they're looking for what's their budget range, things that they can do things that they can provide when they're looking for housing. A common question that we always get is do landlords like international students?

And the answer is Yes. Actually landlords love international students which was new to me when I got here. And so yeah, so we always say that it's easy.
Well, it's, it, it's a process when looking for housing but for international students, it takes a little bit more information. and that's fine. It's better to provide more information than not to have enough information. 

Host: Yeah, definitely. I think it's good that you mentioned that there are three distinct steps, but students can reach out to you regardless of where they are in their housing search and find some specific resources, especially if they're trying to find some listings. You know, from being abroad and just verifying the information that they need to provide. But also the information that's listed if it's valid or if it's fraudulent. 

Brandon: No, that's a, that's a really good one because there are so many times where like an international student would be like, oh my goodness. I found this great place. It's amazing. And then it turns out to be a scam and that's what we don't want for our students. So we try to give as much information, but we also tell students that like you live in the real world. So like people can sometimes be cruel and try to, you know, take things that don't belong to them.
And so we, we tell students about scams and how to avoid them and things to look out for and then if they need again that additional support or additional resources, they can always email us and be like, hey, I have this apartment listing. I'm not sure if it's a scam. Can you, you know, answer this question for me?

Host: So yeah, yeah, that's good that they could kind of reach out to you and have somebody else wet it as well. So there's like two sets of eyes looking at the list thing that's super helpful. And are there any specific resources that students can find through your office? I know a lot of students need to provide proof of finances and explain to landlords why they don't have a social security number? And the vendor letter that your office provides in congruence with international students and scholars services is such a vast resource for international students, right?It explains to landlords that the student has secured a visa based on financial ability to pay for their living expenses and tuition and just that they are a USF student. And also information about why they may not have a social security number. So are there any specific resources that you have in mind?

Brandon: Yeah, so as you were talking about the vendor leather is always a good resource for students to provide to landlords or people that they're looking to rent from.

There are a couple more that they can provide a couple more information that they can provide. One of them is their class schedule slash their USF ID. A lot of times a landlord will believe that they, that, you know, international students are in classes, but they just wanna make sure that they are taking like the appropriate amount of classes to be a full time student. So they can provide that. they can also, and in conjunction with that, they can also offer to pay two times the rent or not the rent, sorry, the deposit and or pay in advance.

So a lot of international students that have come through our office, they, we've told them that you can double the deposit. So if your deposit is $1000 you would double that to 2000. just to have that security that you can make payments to the landlord. But then also just showing that, you know, you're a really good tenant and that you have the money to pay for it.

Host: Yeah, excellent. And I'm guessing we could have our students go to your web pages to find some of these resources.

Brandon: Yeah. or if they're in conversations with us, we'll probably drop like these little nuggets here and there. But all of this information is on our website.And so we want students to be well prepared and well and well versed when talking to landlords. That they know exactly what they're talking about and they know exactly what they want.

Host: Awesome. And if we could ask you to give us three quick tips that students could keep in mind either during their search or when negotiating their rent with the landlord or just like quick tips for off campus housing search.

Brandon: Yes. So, there are three, so one, is actually a two parter that we tell all of our students no matter whether graduate students, undergraduate international students is that there are always, two types of searches that you wanna do. So your soft search or like your soft launch into looking for your apartment.

That is when you are researching the market, that's when you're researching, all of the, the market price, the neighborhoods, deciding whether you wanna live on a busy street or on a quiet street, you're researching the neighborhoods, you are doing all of this research and gathering all of this information. So then when you get to the second step, which is your heart launch or your, like your heart search, That is when, a lot of different things come into effect. So the 30 day cycle that is on sf And so, what that is is you wanna backtrack 30 days before you move into your apartment?

So if you are planning to move into your apartment, August 1st, your heart search would start July, June 30th 31st slash July 1st. So it's the end of so it's the end of June, beginning of July because every 30 days there will always be new apartments that populate. So let's say you're in April and you're like, oh my goodness, I need to find an apartment for August. You're very, very, very, very early. which is not bad, which is we, we always we always thank students for being early and being on top of this.

But now they're in their soft search. So they're looking their research and they're like, ok, I can, you know, have ease of mind because I can take it day by day. But when you get to June that June, July time period, that's when you wanna start understanding. Ok, I want to live in this place. I like this neighborhood. This is how much I can afford, this is my budget. This is how much I pay for amenities, utilities, etc.

Second, you can talk to friends. So I know that for international students, there are different webinars that students attend. And the last one that I was a part of I saw so many students creating whatsapp groups and getting to know each other and all this other stuff. So if you're in one of those groups and you're like, hey, like I really like you or I think that we should room together just to save our money and time. Definitely rooming with friends, especially people that you're gonna be in the program with. that helps a lot and so that, you know that both of you are gonna go through this process together and you're not gonna do it by yourself because Oco will be here. And then lastly come and talk to us, we are always here, always ready to lend out all of the information that we have. We try not to gatekeep it or hold it to ourselves like we want students to ask as many questions as possible.

Because the more questions you ask, then the more that we kind of take a step back and understand the needs, not only of our undergraduate and graduate students, but also our international student population. Well, definitely, I'm sure those tips resonate with a lot of students like either in their soft search phase or their heart search phase.

Host: So thank you for listing those out for us. As we close, please remind our students how best to get in touch and we'll be sure to link all of the resources that you mentioned in the episode description as well. Also, please remind us of any recurring or prominent events that they can look for. Look out for either during the semester or in the fall.

Brandon: Yeah. So every Wednesday, we have a walk in Wednesday. So, let's say I only have 30 minutes and I don't have time for an appointment any other day. We will be tabling. And it's always posted on our social media, our Instagram of where we will be tabling. So I think this week we'll be on the first floor of the University Center and we'll be tabling. There's no appointment needed. You can come up, sit down, have a conversation with a couple of our, our team members and talk about off campus living. Get resources, ask us questions, take brochures. We always try to have snacks at our tables. So if you're just hungry and you're like, I just need somebody to sit down and talk to about off-campus living. We will be there.

Host: Awesome.Yeah. Thank you so much for providing all of your tabling kind of timelines. And I know you guys do a lot of online events as well like Instagram live and such. So we'll be sure to list out your Instagram in the description so students can join and check in on your stories and see when the next one is happening. Thank you so much.

Brandon: Yeah, of course.

Host: Thank you so much for participating and sharing these amazing resources with our students. We were so happy to have you on here.

Brandon: Thank you.


Host: Thank you and thank you so much to our listeners for tuning into global connections at USF stay tuned for more enriching conversations in the episodes to come. All of the resources mentioned in my conversation today will be linked in the episode description on our podcast web pages. Please also don't forget to follow us on Instagram at @USFCA.ISSS and share your comments, topic suggestions. And if you'd like to participate in one of our upcoming episodes, see you next time.