New to the U.S.?

A new country can seem overwhelming at first, but there are many good resources to help you feel at home in the U.S. — some are shown at the right. Argonne itself has a number of resources to help you.

• The Newcomers Assistance Office at ext. 2-8472 can help you find a place to live and get settled.
• Argonne’s Abri Credit Union (only the on-site branch) allows you to open a bank account without a Social Security number (SSN).

A few tips for everyday life:

• In today’s business life, Americans are more informal and more inclined to use first names than people of other nationalities. If, upon meeting you, someone uses your first name,  he or she is being friendly.
• Americans call the ground floor of a building the first floor, the floor above that the second floor, and so on. In a building with an elevator, you will see a star next to the number of the ground floor.
• Americans typically write dates in month/day/year order. To be clear, spell out the month and use the full year.
• At home, Americans do not typically identify themselves when answering the telephone. At work, however, you are expected to identify to do so. Ask your supervisor what she or he prefers.
• Americans use miles, feet, inches, gallons, quarts and so on for measurement, rather than the metric system. An online measurement convertor can be a helpful tool.