I'm in Pakistan right now for the next few days, so I'll try to answer your questions since I came here with a lot of the same questions.
Starting Date Confusion
Regarding the official starting date of classes, it's still quite unclear. The email said end of September, 3 weeks ago two school officials told me October 15th, when I went last week right before the email came out, they told me it would be most likely after Eid. I believe I also read a post in the original DIMC post on this forum that said the September 29th date was just an Orientation day, which would follow with classes starting after Eid.
Stuff to Bring
As far as stuff to bring, theres a few threads on this forum such as:
http://medstudentz.com/pakistan-medical-schools/409-what-should-i-bring-pakistan-medical-school.html
I posted a question in there before coming here, because last time I was here (3 years ago), it seemed as if not many Western products could be bought here. Within my first week of coming here, I was introduced to a few stores that we will probably all learn to love. Mackro and D-Mart. Mackro is essentially an exact clone of Costco. It's a huge warehouse that sells products in wholesale packaging. Almost anything and everything that you want is available there (Fruit, Clean meat, Mosquito killing products, Hygiene products, Frozen foods (Pizza, chicken nuggets, etc), Electronics. They even sell Generators and cars. D-mart is basically like the supermarket's we are used to. Most of the products are imported, and you will most likely be able to get what you're looking for. Both of those stores are professionally managed by overseas companies, and are
centrally air conditioned.I believe Mackro has 3 locations, and D-mart has 8 or so.
Aside from those two stores, you might want to check this website out:
Karachi Business Directory - KarachiSnob.com
It's basically a website made for people like us. A directory of every high end/clean place in Karachi. For the past 3 weeks that I've been here in Karachi, I've used that Directory and found nothing but amazingness. The best part, the US and Canadian Dollar are strong over here.
Living Situation: Where are us guys to go?
Since the school closed the boys dorms (rumored to be due Political parties forming), us guys are forced to arrange our own accommodations. This all depends on your own financial situation, and if you have family in Pakistan. One issue that we cannot ignore is the fact that Karachi is not by any means a safe place. Even in wealthy areas like Defense and Clifton there is a large number of reported and unreported street crimes. The most common of these street crimes is cell phone snatching at gunpoint. It's widely understood that if you are confronted with such a situation, be prepared to give them everything you have on you. The unemployment rate in Karachi (I think) is above 35%. People are doing whatever it takes to survive, which sadly means crime is increasing. Due to the safety factor, I believe it is vital that you choose a safe place to live. Above all, if you have family in Karachi, stay with them. In my case, I do have family here, but I am trying to get an Apartment that I will hopefully be able to share with a few other guys in Clifton. The reason I chose Clifton is because as I previously stated, most of the wealth is there. There are more people like us from other parts of the world who are already here, so it will be easier for us to blend in with our surroundings. The only downside is that it's far from school (45 minutes in mild traffic) Unfortunately the area surrounding school is kinda sketchy at night, which is another reason I'm opting not to live there. There isn't much activity, and all of the amenities we are used to (KFC, McD's, Pizza hut, Bowling, Movies, etc) are at least 15-20 minutes away. Most of the current DIMC male students are staying with Family, but I can see a lot of them shifting into Apartments with our batch once we all get settled.
I'm not sure if I answered all of your questions so let me know if there's anything else I can help with.
- Tarick