<p>hk2009 --I would be happy to answer any questions you have!</p>
<p>1) when should I or bring my son (Grade 10) in August (what exact date)?</p>
<p>The calender will be finalized in the next few weeks, so you will know the exact date to bring him. International students come a few days before the rest of the students – and get a personalized orientation to NMH and the campus. If you have the time/money to come up a few days before the orientation starts, I would suggest you do that. It will give you and your son time to rest up from the long plane ride and time to visit the local store and buy necessary items you might not want to bring from home (bed sheets, blanket, pillow, desk chair, cleaning supplies, etc). NMH has a guest cottage that many parents stay in that is a reasonable cost. If you are looking to stay in the least expensive housing, the Windmill Motel is just down the street from NMH and very inexpensive.</p>
<p>2) What stuff should I prepare for him</p>
<p>If you mean “what should he bring”, he will get a list of things to pack this summer. This link has some great suggestions: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/668845-composite-list-what-bring-boarding-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/668845-composite-list-what-bring-boarding-school.html</a> Many items you will want to buy locally, due to size and weight restrictions when traveling – and he definitely won’t need all those things. Many items are a personal choice. For instance, my son absolutely loves his featherbed mattress cover – while his roommate has boxes of legos that he wouldn’t give up.</p>
<p>3) how much monthly expenses should I give him (considering that I am thousands of miles away)</p>
<p>This is an individual choice. My son uses maybe $150/semester of spending money, but he doesn’t go shopping at the mall, he doesn’t eat food at the student snack bar and he doesn’t take cabs to eat or see movies in Greenfield. But our family is very frugal and he is used to doing without – your child may be different. The cost of things like music lessons, charter bus transportation to the airport, etc are billed to his account and you will receive that bill to pay it.</p>
<p>4) If we bring everthing there, does he need to bring all stuff home during summer holiday?</p>
<p>I am not sure if there are storage options on campus for international students – but I know there is no storage for domestic students (we live in Colorado – so we have the same issue). We rented him a 5’ x 5’ storage closet at the storage place just down the street and bought him a few boxes to pack things in. The storage closet costs $100 for the summer and we are splitting the cost with at least one other student. The kids can usually get a ride from someone at the end of school to drop the boxes off in storage.</p>
<p>5) What to do in the Thanks Giving holidays when he has to stay off campus but too short the holidays to go home (HK).</p>
<p>He is welcome to come home with my son and visit Colorado:)! The international students usually go home with someone locally over the thanksgiving holidays – they also sometimes go home with other students over the long family weekends (which happen 3 times a year) but they can also stay in the dorms during the family weekends – where special trips are planned and they get to just hang out (my son also stays during long family weekends).</p>
<p>Tell you son that he will love NMH – it is a fantastic school!! He will join my son and a bunch of other really neat kids that are in the class of 2012. Welcome to the NMH family!!</p>