Check-In Instructions

Before 4:00 pm, July 21

You can either come to my office in Deschutes Hall (West of Agate on 13th), leave your suitcases and spend the afternoon milling around the University, or you can go to the reception area in the North Building of the Living Learning Center (West of Agate on 15th) and wait for the Summer Conference Desk to have your keys ready.

Between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, July 21

Go to Summer Conference Desk in North Building of Living Learning Center (West of Agate on 15th) and tell them your name and that you are with the Programming Languages group.

After 8:00 pm, July 21

Go to McClain Hall (South of 13th on Agate) and find me by knocking on the door or peering into the windows.

July 16, 2008

There are laundry facilities at the dorm. I typically buy a box of laundry soap and load up a debit card for the machine. When doing laundry, people typically pay me the cost of the machine plus $0.25 for the soap.

July 16, 2008

If you need to reach me while you are trying to arrive at the summerschool, you can call my office number: 541-346-4426. I will be checking the messages periodically. If you speak to my officemate and are having trouble getting to the UO, he can probably help you, otherwise, leave a number for me to call you back.

July 15, 2008

Be sure to check the curriculum page! Some of the speakers have posted links to reading materials /software that they would like you to be familiar with before their lectures begin.

June 27, 2008

Things to bring to the summer school:

• A laptop if you have it, with an ethernet cable. The UO campus has wireless almost everywhere; however, the wireless access points allow only authenticated access, (which you are not) but each chair at the lecture hall has an ethernet jack, as does each desk in your room, so a cable connection works for everyone.
• Personal grooming items aside from bar soap. The dorm does not supply hair dryers or irons.
• Good Shoes... We will do alot of walking! (Good does not mean "nice looking". Those are useless in Oregon. Good means comfortable athletic or hiking shoes.)
• Typically, I tell everyone to bring alergy medication, but my personal alergies have not been strong this year, so you can gamble on that if you like.

You do not need to bring sheets, towels or soap.

June 23, 2008

We will be staying in McClain hall. On the map, The Hamilton Complex is located just South of 13th Street between Agate Street and Columbia Street. McClain hall is on the southwest corner of Hamilton Complex. We will be eating in Carson Dining Center, which is located two blocks West along 13th street, and the lectures are at at the Knight Law Center, which is just one block South along Agate Street.

June 23, 2008

A word about addresses: The normal sort of postal addresses do no exist on campus. All mail that is to be delivered on campus must be addressed to a particular department. For people staying in the dorms, that would be the housing department. Your address while in the dorm is listed on this page. However, I suggest that you actually use my address to send mail or packages, because unless they arrive while you are actually here, mail and packages sent to the housing address will be sent back; whereas, you can leave instructions with me about what to do with your stuff.
My mailing address is:

Jim Allen
Dept of Computer and Information Science
1202 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1202

My fake street address (usable by google maps, FedEx, etc) is:

Jim Allen
1477 E 13th Street
Eugene OR 97403

So, to send mail to yourself, on the first line, put

your name c/o Jim Allen

May 30, 2008

I just noticed that the University has a much better directions site. It has driving directions and links to train, bus, etc. You can get there from the maps page.

May 29, 2008

As a matter of trivia, I am back in the office starting today. So, if you sent me something and I told you to stop bothering me because I was in the hospital, all bets are off as of today. If I haven't responded to you, by all means, start bothering me today.

April 21, 2008 - Since I'm feeling long winded today

To travel to Eugene, you can either take a plane to Portland (pdx) and then take a train or bus to Eugene, or you can fly directly to Eugene (eug). Once you have your flight, let me know when you will be arriving at pdx or eug, and I will put you into a group of other students who are also arriving at that time. This will allow you to share a taxi, or just generally be less likely to get lost.

April 21, 2008 — For European Participants:

You probably do not need a visa. Check the Visa Waiver Program website. However, you do need a passport. Also, be sure that you do NOT use the word "summerschool" when talking to INS officials. Since the summerschool gives no academic credit, the INS views it as an academic conference. There have been cases of people coming from innocuous European countries who have been held up at the border because they said "summerschool" and were then unable to produce documents showing that they were enrolled for university credit. So, be careful because the US government has a very limited semantic for the word "school".

April 13, 2008

Registration deadline has been extended to May 2. If your registration was received before the April 11 deadline, you should receive notification by April 15. Registrations received after April 11 will be notified by May 9. If you do not receive notification in the timeframe indicated, please resend your application, just in case.

April 12, 2008 — For Foreign Participants:

It is never too early to work on obtaining travel papers to the US. Since the summerschool does not give academic credit, you will have to obtain a tourist visa to the US. When you go to the embassy for your interview, the main thing you will need to prove is that you are not a risk to emigrate to the United States. This may be difficult for a graduate student, since you don't have a high paying job. This is unofficial advice, but I would suggest taking letters from your family and academic advisors explaining why you would be unlikely to want to stay in the US. The decision is left up to the ambassador to your country and there is no appeal, so be prepared. Talk to other students from your country who have attended conferences in the US.

This page is the property of the University of Oregon