Newcomers

 

Welcome freshmen and transfers! Want to know more about IU? How does the housing work? Where to shop? Tips? Burning questions? Here's the right place!

1) I got visa problems!! Help!!! here
2) How do I get to IU from Hong Kong? here
3) How can I get around IU? here
4) What should I do first when I get here? here
5) Any advice on what classes to take? here
6) Any advice on housing? here
7) I am bored. Where can I go? here
8) I am hungry. Where can I go? here

If you cannot find answers to your questions here,email us and we'll get back to you soon!





1) I got visa problems!! Help!!!

Most of the students here carry an F-1 visa and I-20. If you are a transfer and are currently having J-1, you may need to get in touch with American embassy or IU's office of international services (OIS). Their email is intlserv@indiana.edu and their webpage is http://www.indiana.edu/~intlcent.

2) How do i get to IU from Hong Kong?

Majority of Hong Kong students take either Northwest, United Airlines, or Continental. A typical Northwest route is HK - Tokyo - Minneapolis/Detroit - Indianapolis, while United is HK - (San Francisco) - Chicago - Indianapolis and Continental is HK - Newark - Indianapolis.

Bloomington is about 1 and a half hours away from Indianapolis, the state capital of Indiana. There is an airport shuttle bus service running from the transportation terminal of Indianapolis airport to IU (2 stops at Mcnutt dorm and IMU). Limo and taxis are available at off peak hours. The shuttle bus runs every 2 hours, and you can check out the schedule here.

3) How can I get around IU?

First of all, give us a call or send us an email! When you first get here you may not know anyone at all, so check the HKSA website regularly for events where you can meet more Hong Kong people!

It is easy to get around campus. There are two types of buses around campus. The red ones are IU buses, which go around campus areas. The white/green ones are operated by Bloomington Transit (BT), which go around campus and within Bloomington. IU Campus buses are free while you need to show the driver your IU student ID card to ride on BT buses for free.

You can find BT bus and IU campus bus schedules and maps on our useful links page.

Wanna go somewhere further? Taxi cabs are available but it is not cheap - it costs at least $4. Just call Yellow Cab and the taxi will come in 10 minutes or so. Their phone number is (812) 339-9744.

4) What should I do first when I get here?

After reporting to the school for arrival, be sure to go to the student ID card office at Eigenmann or IMU and get a student ID. You need this for bus rides.

Register classes if you have not done so. Classes tend to fill up VERY quickly, especially freshmen/introductory classes! Your advisor should have contacted you through email so that he/she can meet with you to talk about this.

Get a ride or call a cab to BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) where you can get a learners' permit, drivers' license and state ID. State ID is useful to travel domestically within the states - if you have it, you don't need to bring your passport. If you want to learn how to drive/get a license, ask for a drivers' manual at BMV and go back again later to take the written test.

Need to call home? The closest place on campus that you can buy phonecards is the oriental supermarket on 10th street. Be sure to check the rates before buying.

Need to get a cell phone? Experiences show the service providers with better connections are Verizon, AT&T (previously Cingular) and Sprint, T-mobile has a really bad connection here in Bloomington. You can purchase a cell phone from your service provider, who may have some good deals when you sign up for a plan, or places like Best Buy, Target, and Radio Shack.

You may want to bring a cell phone from Hong Kong, but you have to make sure that the cell phone is capable of receiving four channels. Although three channels can also be used, experience showed that tri-band phones have very bad connection in many places on campus. Popular choices include the newer versions of Nokia, Sony Ericsson or Motorolla. Please note that if you choose to bring your cell phone from Hong Kong, you can only use AT&T because it is the only service provider here that uses a sim card. Although Verizon and Sprint have a good connection, they require you to purchase a phone that comes with the number that you can only use in the US.

5) Any advice on what classes to take?

Most of the Hong Kong students are business majors. Therefore, we can provide you with some tips for registering business courses:

1) Try to avoid early 8 am classes! You may think that you're used to go to 8am classes in secondary school, but almost everyone here skips 8am classes! If you want to get good grades, try to register for later classes. If they are all full, WAITLIST them. You may be able to register for your preferred section later on. Just wait and see.

2) Usually people will start off their first semester with introductory classes like ECON E201 (Microeconomics), BUS K201 (Microsoft Excel and Access), BUS A100 (Introduction to Accounting), ENG W131 (Writing), and MATH M118 (Finite math) or M119 (Calculus). Typical gen ed classes are Psychology (P101), Geography, or Philosophy.

3) Rumours said i) computer science classes (A1XX) are kinda tough and demanding; ii) there are a lot of work to do for east asian studies classes; iii) do not listen to advisors as they will try to trick you to take some tough and unnecessary classes; iv) W131 for non-native english speakers tend to be easier. Ask advisor for authorization.

4) We say: to keep up good grades, DON'T SKIP CLASS (pop quizzes and extra credit opportunities are common and are good ways to pull up your grade) and don't play too much mahjong ;) ...

6) Any advice on housing?

Most International students live on campus for their first year, then many of them will move to campus apartments (Campus View and Tulip Tree are the most popular) or simply live off campus.

The school will not place new students to campus apartments. Instead, you will most probably get a single or double room in other campus dorms, often with one common bathroom/kitchen per floor. Popular dorms are Foster, Wright, and Ashton. For Business majors, Foster and Wright are the closest. For Music majors, Read will be the closest. For those students who prefer single rooms and a quiet environment, Ashton would be the best choice.

If you want to move to on campus apartments later, be sure to find a roommate and hand in your application to RPS early. There is usually a long waitlist for apartments! There are priorities when applying for these appartments. Seniors have the highest priority, while freshmen are the lowest. However, if you have lived off-campus, your priority will be the lowest even though you may be a junior or senior.

If you choose to live off campus later, there are a lot of choices out there. Popular apartment complexes include Campus Corner (formally University Commons), Scholars' Quad, Woodbridge Apartments, Bradford Place, and Fountain Park. For a list of appartments, visit the Useful Links page. They are on BT bus routes and that's why they are popular. Rent ranges from around $280 to $500 something per person per month, excluding utilities.

If you live on campus - DO NOT GET TOO MANY MEAL POINTS! Choose the lower plans. Experiences show that people can NEVER use up their meal points and will treat their friends all the time towards the end of spring semester. However, 75% of your leftover will be rolled over to the next semester.

7) I am bored. Where can I go?

The biggest shopping mall in Bloomington is College Mall, and you can take the C bus to get there. They have Abercrombie & Fitch, Sears, American Eagle and some restaurants.

Need grocery shopping? Kroger is on the C bus route, right before Campus Corner appartments. Saraga, one of the biggest oriental supermarkets in town, is on the same street as Kroger. Go there for Asian food and snacks.

Most IU and BT buses pass Kirkwood Avenue. The Kirkwood area is considered as downtown bloomington, with some pubs, nice stores and restaurants there. Girls: can check out Urban Outfitters, Pitaya, and Cha Cha for clothes...you may be able to find some good deals there!

Movies? There are 2 cinemas in town. One is a few minutes walk away from Kroger, which usually play older movies. If you want to watch the newest ones, the biggest cinema (Kerasotes Showplace West) is on west 3rd street. It is far away from campus, so if you want to get there, ask your friends to give you a ride or call a cab.

Clubbing? There are pubs around Bloomington, but they are often quite tight in checking your IDs. If you are over 21, you can get in with a state ID or drivers' license. Most people go to this club on walnut street called Sports.

Many international students like to go out of town during weekends/holidays. Most popular choices are Indianapolis (1.5 hours of drive) and Chicago (4 hours of drive). Indianapolis is the closest place if you want to have dim sum and a better place to shop; Chicago chinatown is the place to be - delicious food, supermarkets with HK stuff, cheap phone cards, everything...

8) I am hungry. Where can I go?

There are not too many choices to eat on campus. The closest Chinese restaurant to campus is Fortune Cookies on 10th Street, opposite Ashton and next to 10th Street Market. They have a wide variety of Chinese cuisine, especially beef tendon and brisket.

If you are tired of dorm food, go to 3rd street - they have some restaurants there. Dragon express is the place for american chinese style lunch boxes. one of the cheaper places to eat.

Miss bubble tea (pearl milk tea)? Chow Bar (Indiana Ave) has the best bubble tea in town. Slightly overpriced ($3.75) but worth a try. Chow Bar also has good Chinese food that you may like.

Wanna have barbecued pork (char siu), soy chicken and roast duck? Noodle Town is opposite College Mall and next to Stake 'n Shake and Borders. They have more authentic cantonese food there with price slightly higher than Dragon Express. Closest restaurant for hong kong style food.

Hungry at midnight? Denny's and Steak 'n Shake are the only places open. Remember to try the hand-dip shakes at Steak 'n Shake: personal favorite is the "very very strawberry" shake :p