Hp Euro Student Guide 1992

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Introduction This guide was written by the Eurostudents 1992, not to replace the two year old Hitchhikers Guide to the Bay Area, but to continue the idea and add some more detailed information. ( Although the answer will always be "42") First idea is to help you as the new Eurostudent to get started as fast as possible by making available the information we collected. However, everything might change and of course will change. Therefore, parts of this guide might be not valid. On the other hand, this Guide might be the start collection of ideas and stories interesting to every student who comes over for an internship to the USA. Therefore, feel free to copy this guide and forward it to whom you want.

Hew!ett Packard Eurostudents 1992

Buy a used car and get the trouble for free? (by Peter Weichsel) Don't Panic Just remember this old rule, when you are trying to get a car in Calitomia. Because I am sure, something will go wrong. I put together the most important intormation how to get a car. Looking back, it was not as bad as it looks like. As an introduction I will mention some good advise which was very helptul to me. Tell everybody that you just have arrived a tew days ago. Then they will try to help you. Tell no insurance company or similar that you are leaving after 3 month, they don't like this.

social security

II

AAA

II DMV written test

II find a car

And now to start, look at the tlowchart.

Social Security Number. There is a social security number required in the USA to apply tor a driving license. It is no problem to get one. Just go to the social security departmen1. You will need your passport and your pink visa paper. It will take you about 1/2 hour and will eost nothing. Ask them to give you a receipt ot your application. You don't need the number but you need this receipt Tor the DMV to process your temporary license. The social security openings are 8:00 to 17:00 and it is located at 438 S. Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale. For other cities, look in the white pages phone book.

II register the car

II rnsurance

II driving test

American Automobile Association Read the DMV book to get to know the rules and laws tor your written tes1. You can get a sample test at the AAA or you may ask your personnel supervisor tor the DMV Motorbook and a sample test. We had a good connection to the AAA in 1992 and they are interested to get new members. If you are a rnember ot a European Automobile Club, you will get help at the AAA anyway. Otherwise, I think it is a good idea to join the AAA at this moment, because they can supply you with aiot ot intormation and you can get there every USA map you need. I am sure you will need aiot ot maps. Furthermore they will help you in case your car has gotten a damage. This might happen driving a car worth less than $1000.

Written Test After improving your knowledge ot Calitornia driving rules (some are really strange) you can do the written test now. To apply tor this test you need your European driving license and the receipt trom the social security. Without a

European or international driving license, you will only get a Iicense to practice and the insurance company don't accepts this practice license for the insurance. After you have successfully passed the written test, you will get a temporary license for 60 days. You are now allowed to drive a HP company car, which is helpful doing the next steps.

Find a carl

When it was brand new it cost $750.

Thars exactly what I'm selling it for

But don't worry. Have a look at the HP-Trader or every newspaper. There are aiot of cars available between $500 and $2500. Try to buy from a private person because the US car dealer are said to be the worst of the world. And remember that you will have to pay 8.5% tax on the cars price when you register it even if you buy the car from a private party. Writing a lower purchase price into the contract is illegal.

Buy the car If you want to buy a certain car, the owner has to give you the car, the "pink slip" (this is a certifieate of ownership) and a new smog certificate. And he will ask you to sign him a form that proves he has sold the car. This document will prevent him against getting your fines.

Register the car Now you will have to register the car within 10 days. To register the car you will need the pink slip and the smog certificate. You can register a car at the DMV or if you want to save time and if you are a member, you can register your car at the AAA.

Insurance for your car After all you need an insurance. This is not as easy as it looks Iike, because they will ask you for a 18 month driving experience in the USA. But there are some insurance brokers who can offer you a 6 month basic insurance. You can cancel this contract at any tirne, getting part of your money back. But don't tell hirn that you are going to cancel the insurance after half the time, they don't like this. Another possibility is to buy a monthly insurance. But this can be more expensive. It eost about $150 the first month and $80 every following month if signed up for one year Nobody seems to care if you just stop paying after 2 month.

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If you are younger than 25, insurance will be more expensive tor you anyway,

but if you are female, you might get a female discount.

It is a typical consultant's answer: It depends.

To get your insurance, you need your driving license, the car registration and

your passport. This guy from the insurance company usually wants to see your

car to check if it is in a good condition but they did never insist on this point.

Now, you are allowed to drive the car !!!

Driving Test After all you will have to perform a driving test. You can do this test either with your own car or with an HP company car or with any other car, which is properly insured for you, Iike another Eurostudents rental car. It depends how your car looks like. You have to phone the DMV to get an appointment. A last good advice And if you ever be stopped by the police, show them your EUROPEAN license and talk to thern in your home language be confused an tell them, that in Europe everything is different. And then, go...

At last, a short summary of the cost caused by my car

social security

AAA DMV wrinen test car registration insurance driving test

$0.00 55.00 12.00 770.00 73.00 410.00

total eost (6 month) $1,320.0 0 = total eost month/y $220.00 duration(month) $4.00

AAA to join Year tee

regisuation tee tax

8 65

insurance price tor 6 month monthly tee & tax

total

$17.00 38.00

395 65 15

$1,170.0

o

Sounds good? Today I sold the car for $950, after buying 4 new tires for $240, and no serious troubles at alI.

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Here comes the other point

ot view:

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Rent-A-Car That's Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Renting a Car in the Bay Area (and USA) (by Antti Hannula) The Pros and Cons

ot Car Rental

Renting a car gives you an easy access to a new, nice car but is more expensive

than buying a used car. You don't have to worry about having enough capital,

getting a CA driver license or ali the complexities ot getting an insurance tor the

car. You do end up, however, paying tor your luxury, but some experiences show

that it might worth i1.

Important: As an HP employee, you are eligible to rent a car tor HP rates, that is

about 20% - 30% le55 than normal, and you will get a preterred insurance with

higher coverage tor tree.

Companies and Locations

There are many rent-a-car companies in the bay area. You can get a car, e.g. at

San Francisco Airport, San Jose Airport, Palo Aito or Sunnyvale. Normally you

have to return the car in the same place where you got it, 50 be sure it's not too

tar away. Companies are Iisted here, but please note that two ot these have

special Hewlett-Packard corporate rate which gives you certain pr05.

Prices do not include California State Tax, currently 8.25%

and check al50 the "Rental Insurance". Yellow Pages is a good information

source tor seeing what companies there are and where they're located.

National

Tel. 1-800-227 7368

Has convenient locations in Palo Aito and San Jose Airport.

Example prices with HP Special Rate:

ECONOMY SIZE CAR:

$22. 75/day, car like Geo Metro, uniimited mileage

$150lweek, uniimited mileage

$510/month (=30 days), includes 3000 miles, extra miles $0.20

Includes Collision Damage Waiver (see "Rental Insurance")

MEDIUM SIZE CAR:

$23.75/day, a car like Chevrolet Cavalier

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$160/week, unlimited mileage

$520/month, includes 3000 miles, extra miles $0.20

Includes Collision Damage Waiver

FULL-SIZE CAR:

$27.75/day, a car Iike Ford Taurus

Includes Collision Damage Waiver and uniimited mileage

Dollar

Tel. 1-800-800-4000

Example prices:

$459/month tor a car like Toyota Corolla

$21 O/month tor insurance Collision Damage Waiver

Together $669/month, including 2500 miles

Convertible, like Chrysler Le Mans $69.99/day

Unljmited mileage.

Budget

Tel. 415-4936000

$29.99 Ford Escort

$139.99 a week

$569 a month

insurance: add $9/day

A-CAR RENT-A-CAR

Tel. (408) 744-0123 and (415) 494 8383

$139/week tor Geo Metro

$424/month

$240 insurance

$664

Hertz

Tel. 1-800-654-3131

Economy size car $687/month with uniimited mileage.

Economy $29/day.

Have special HP rate, good cars but is expensive.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Tel. (408) 730 0900

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Lutz Ford (Palo Aito) 4180 EI Camino Real Tel. (415) 493-6900 Ford Escort $475/month $1 OO/month for insurance Together $575/month.

Rental Insurance It is illegal to drive a car in California without an insurance. Rental cars have basic coverage, but in general the insurance thing is a gamble. Please note that most money rental companies earn comes from different insurance. What you do want to have, however, is Collision Damage Waiver. And when renting from National or Hertz with HP corporate rate, you get it free. This is for HP employees only and it doesn't matter even jf you are temporary, like Eurostudents are. The waiver is valid as long as the driver is an HP employee. Normally when renting a car, ali the drivers have to sign the agreement and some companies take even more money for that. Normally, without any insurance, you are responsible for the car in case of an accident, no matter who's fault it iso So if a driver without an insurance (and I hear there are surprisingly many of those.) hits your car, you end up paying for the rented car. Same thing happens if there is an accident and it is your fault. Collision Damage Waiver 'waives' the responsibility away from you. In some cases your own car insurance in your home country may also cover the insurance, so it might be possible to use the lower rates from Lutz or Dollar. Additionally, there are more options which you normally really don't need. Basically, these are only money makers and you are covered by your own personai insurance as well as HP Eurostudent insurance anyway.

HP Corporate Rate Hewlett-Packard has agreements with two of the rent-a-car companies, that's Hertz and National. That rate gives you lower rate than normally, you get the Collision Damage Waiver free and are able to rent a even if you are under 25. Normally you have to be at least 25 to be able to rent a car, with HP rate you must be only over 21 years old. Nice to know: You need a major credit card Iike American Express, Master Card or Visa in order to be able to rent a car. When returning the car, you can still pay cash if you wish. An international driver license is recommended, althougl1 it's not always required.

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A $55-lnvestment or why join AAA * (by Leon Schumacher) I was one of those, who thought that buying a car might be cheaper than renting one. So I bought one. Even though it was not the cheapest car available I thought it may be a good idea to join AAA They immediately provide you with a huge stock of maps and a plastic car key. You can return (every day) to get maps as otten as you like or need. So I had my nice car, with lots of little lights inside and we went on trips. On one of these trips one of these lights decided to go on. A nice Iittle red light marked 'engine'. When you are about 250 miles from home and you cannot find the smallest hint and the car shows no signs of illness, what do you do ? I decided that one red light more or less would not keep me from driving. After 170 miles and 20 kilos more because of an extensive dinner (4 persons), strange noises came out of my engine. As the noise disturbed my listening to the radio, I decided to stop. The little red light still worked fine, and as it was dark meanwhile we were glad to have at least this little red light. 1 realized that the noises were caused by a loose fan belt, because the transmission belt straightener had lost some screws. We had some of these burning sticks in the trunk, but do not ask us how to get them burning. Atter ten minutes of reading in the instruction manual, I found the emergency light (red) switch under the steering wheel. Now we were standing in the dark with all our different red lights on expecting someone to stop. It took us about half an hour to realize that waiting for help was an illusion, and so we continued slowly on the emergency lane until the Highway Patrol was behind us. (Red lights on) Those guys from the Highway Patrol normally don't like cars standing around on there highway but just call a tow-away service. I asked the officer to call the AAA, he gave me plenty of advises but was pleased, and twenty minutes later the AAA-truck stopped in front of my car and the problem could be fixed temporarily . This whole operation and a possible towing away may cost a couple of hundred dollars; you can save all this (1 did) by an $55 investment in AAA. You may have to buy another car, but that is a different story • AAA Arnerican Automobile Association Remark: Leon gets $10 for any new AAA member?

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The International Joke (by Sherry Gillmore, 10 Years Eurostudent Host) In heaven and in heli In heaven ali the policeman are American all the bankers are Swiss all the cooks are French all the lovers are Italian all politicians are English ali drivers are German in heli all all all all all ali

drivers are American the lover are Swiss politicians are French bankers are Italian the cooks are English the policeman are German

Learning English This is a country, where even the little children are speaking English fluently. Therefore, we strictly recommend, that you practice your English alittie bit. Lets start right now. If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood could a woodchuck chuck? No, I don't have to know the answer, but the pronunciation. Lets try this one. Sally sells seashells by the seashore You see, you learned already some important things. Especially, we found no American who speaks English. Don't be afraid to speak English, some California citizens, Iiving here since years, probably speak less English than you.

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A Guide to the Bay Areas Night life (Nightmare?) (by Peter Weichsel) Summary If you want to go out at night, and don't know where to go: First, they role up the sidewalks at 10 p.m. during the week, never expect to find something during the week. Exceptions are possible. If you want to go somewhere, try: Downtown Los Gatos, Santa Cruz Ave. between Main St. and Saratoga Ave. Downtown San Jose, around St James Street Palo Aito, University St, and the parallel streets. (important, look in the backyards, the University Street itself is not the best place, but there are aiot of good places in the side streets) What about all the other miles of streets? Well, there are aiot of interesting places, but the Silicon Valley is too big if you want find anything special. If you are looking for special things like bowling, you can find hints in the Vellow Pages Phone book. However, those nice lilt bars, where you can find real natives are only known to insider. Therefore, some proposals to get started. Some of the se places have no exact address because of two reasons. First, a number is otten not very helpful. Second, I simply can't remember the address and I am to lazy to look it upo Of course, you can drive to San Francisco, but this is about 1.5 hours. Vou have to find a parking place near China Town Saturday Night and get a damaged car back. I guess you beUer take a rented car to San Francisco. Boswells Cafe The Pruneyard, Cambell xing Winchester, Cambell here you can drink about 40 sorts of cafe and you will find aiot of people even during the week, The bordering bar is good for very loud live music. Every Tuesday you may meet there a group of nice Au-pair girls. In Summer 92, this was an international cafe. Karthoum Eastbound Cambell Avenue, Cambell ( In the oneway part of the street) A bar were you can meet and start an evening or finish it with some good beers on tap or a margarita. Nice atmosphere, strange waitress. Saint James Infirmary Northbound Castro street, lett side, about 1 mile north of the railroad. Absolutely unique place, must have seen it. Prices are normal to low. I would say it is a pub, others think it is just strange. 42nd Street, Palo Aito The name of the restaurant is 42nd Street, not the address backyard between RamonalEmerson, Palo Aito, hard to find very good atmosphere and nice people. You can sit there almost all the evening. Especially in front of the fireplace.

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Gombei Japanese Restaurant Palo AIto 1438 Stevens Creek very good Japanese kitchen, low price, must go there. no reservation for non Japanese. If you know somebody who speaks fluently Japanese, let him call for reservation. Mandarin Gourmet Restaurant 420 Ramona street, Palo Aito excellent Chinese restaurant, don't be afraid of the expensive looking outside, the prices are O.K. (Iess than $20 for a menu, $10 for a dinner) The Black Watch Los Gatos Always overcrowd scene bar. But not to bad to go there during the week. Weekend, no chance t0get in. But maybe things will change until next year. Carries Nations Los Gatos Nice place to drink a beer and start the evening. Take the entrance from the back. you can reach it from a parking lot behind. This parking lot is always, signed as closed. Don't mind. We parked there several times. Fresh Choice Palo Aito, University shopping Mali Valco Shopping Center, Stevens Creek Bvd xing Wolfe Rd This is a restaurant focused on salad and other green stuff. You can eat there as much as you can for less than $7 which includes a really big salad bar and pasta and bread. Beverages not included. I think this restaurant usually lost money when the Eurostudents went there. The salads are very good, and so is the bread. Old Spaghetti Factory San Jose Go there, the pasta is not to expensive, but the interior is unique. Aiot of young people eating there and having aiot of fun. The Tide House Cupertino, San Jose You can find this Bar/Restaurant chain on different places. It is a brewery too. Tlley offer about 9-12 sorts of beer, and some sorts are not to bad (for Germans) Especially the double wheat (Doppelweizen) is quite good. San Jose Live This is the biggest dance place in San Jose. different sorts of music from country to Pop. Billiard, Sport, Restaurant, Cafe, Bar. Entrance fee about $7, ID required. Definitely the best guarded place in San Jose. Big parking lot in front.

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Sports in the Bay Area (By Chris Leuenberger) Here is a small guide about sports in the Bay Area. First of all, don't ask for it, find it. The Bay Area provides you with almost everything you can think of, from the big professional sports events like Baseball or Footbali to all the various occasions you have to keep yourself in shape... (The "California equation" says: 1 Hamburger = 1/2 hour sports). Let's start out with the sports to watch. The Bay Area has professional teams for every major US. sports. Here's a list: Team

Home

Sports

San Francisco 4gers

Candlestick Park

FootbalI

San Francisco Giants

Candlestick Park

Baseball

Oakland Athletics

Oakland Coliseum

Baseball

Golden State Warriors

Oakland Coliseum

Basketball

San Jose Sharks

Cow Palace

Ice Hockey

San Francisco Bay

Spartan Stadium, S.J.

Soccer

(at the time of the editing of this sports guide it was not sure if the Giants will be

sold to St. Petersburg, FLA. So it is eventually possible that there is no S.F.

Baseball team anymore)

(the Sharks played at least their 1992-93 season at the Cow Palace in San

Francisco. A new downtown San Jose stadium is going to be completed by

1993)

There are also several college footbalI teams:

Stanford Cardinal

Stanford Stadium

UCB Golden Bears California Memorial Stadium

(the Golden Bears are also called California or Cal; they are the team of the

University of California Berkeley)

San Jose State Spartans

Spartan Stadium

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Seasons:

Footbali season (NFL and college) is from September to December. Tickets are

usually available without problems for college games, but not for the 4gers.

FootbalI tickets are moderate for college and expensive for NFL games.

Baseball season is from April to October. Watch out, they play every day! The

usual schedule will be like this: 4-7 home games, one day rest, 4-7 road games,

one day rest. Baseball tickets are usually plenty available and very cheap (from

$5 to $15). Watch out for games in the Candlestick Park... Dress as you would in

European winter days, it's frrrrrreeezing!

Basketball season is from October to June. For information about tickets call the

(although the Eurostudent program is normally in Basketball's off Warriors­ season). Ice Hockey season is from October to May. Sharks game are sold out,

so be lucky. Tickets are expensive, especially when bought on the black market.

Buy sports tickets at Bass Ticket locations, which you will either find in the

yellow pages or in Wherehouse shops (CO shops).

Now, let's talk about REAL sport... this will be very incomplete, because there

are thousands of things to do, and it's impossible to cover everything. Look at

this paper as a startup, something that helps you find something quickly in the

first days. Whatever you want to do (Mountain Biking, Swimming, Climbing,

Fishing, Golf, etc.) you will find it in the yellow pages.

Here's just a short selection of places that used to be our favorites this summer

(1992):

Racquetball

Cupertino Sports Center

21111 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA 95014

Tel: (408) 257-9037

Tennis

Look for publie places, they are all over the Bay Area. They may not provide you

with lights, but if you play during the day, it's fun & free!

Jogging (Sailing; Surfing)

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You'll find sports places everywhere, but especially nice is the Shoreline Park in Mountain View (next to the Shoreline Amphitheater, THE place tor big concerts). You also find there a small lake tor sailing and surfing (beginner level; call them, they might have courses).

Aerobics Ask at HP's Recreation Center (Sunnyvale site), they have daily classes tor cheap rates.

Volleyball, Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee HP employees play aiot ot sports during lunch time. Just go to the Recreation Center and ask tor it. As a special tip, if you like action and a hard work out, try Ultimate Frisbee, it's very nice!

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The next chapter of this guide is about other places than the southern Bay Area. Even though most of the Eurostudents have been in this area, there are always a couple of students far away from HP Corporate Headquarters. I tried to get some information about these other places, but received only one article yet.

Introduction for the Eurostudent-Prograrn for students, who work at HP in Ft. Collins, Colorado (by Juergen Imt'lOff)

Ft. Collins is about 5900ft. high (more than 1.6km), so if you do or pian any

sporting-activities, keep in mind, you have to be trained.

Ft. Collins is a perfect place for any outdoor-activities, such as skiing, c1imbing,

hiking, caving, flying, biking.

There are all sports activities you can imagine. To get around, I would assume,

to buy yourself a car. When I stayed in Ft. Collins (summer '92) a reasonable

price for a ten year old car, was around 1000-1500$. You can resell it easily,

especially, ­

when your host-parents help you. Best newspaper is the Denver Post, they have a large amount of used cars in their ad's, but Ft. Collins paper

(the coloradoan) has a good overview too.

Don't expect any news about Europe, there are N 0 N E. Try to get in contact

with all other SEED/Eurostudents; that is quite important, because Ft. Collins

has not very much evening-events.

We went to Denver (50 Miles) on the weekend and t"lad much fun. HP Ft. Collins,

HP Greeley and HP Loveland are really close together, so if you want to take

some really good HP-impressions back home: get to know people. They offer

you the best chances here, and you are very well supported by personnel.

HP has an own Picnic-Area in Estes-Park (25 Miles) it is a very big place- you

can rent ­

little cabins to stay over the weekend, do hiking it is right in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Old Town is a nice place for meeting students and other folks, they have an

open-air concert there every Thursday evening at 7 p.m.

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Te be Centinued?! We had aiot ot tun writing this guide, and as some ot the articles have been ready after the second week, it, was even helptul to other 1992 Eurostudents. We want to ask tollowing generations ot Eurostudents to continue this guide by collecting intormation and stories about their great summer at HP. As the idea ot a Eurostudent Guide started two years ago with a first list ot tips and tricks called Hitchhikers Guide to the Bay Area, we think that every year ot Eurostudents will have their own special stories and events, and their own way to write this down. We will try to leave the sources ot this text at HP, to be continued.

Eurostudents 1992

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