In 1991, Terre Haute gave off the impression of a somewhat run-down town. The campus was quite large but flat, with buildings sparsely scattered across a wide, level area. It was hard to call it a beautiful campus by any means. When I looked it up again in 2024 on Google Maps, it had obviously undergone significant renovations and had transformed into a much more well-maintained campus, vastly different from what it was back then.
Usually, around a university campus, there are plenty of shops catering to students, but the area around Indiana State University was rather desolate. There was only one store that resembled a supermarket near the campus, so after moving in, I went there to buy some necessary household items, but I was disappointed by the poor selection of goods. The surrounding buildings were also extremely old, making me wonder when they had been constructed, and the whole place felt as though time had stopped in the 1970s.
Back then, it was still the era of mall culture, so there were few small shops, and most of the big retail stores were located inside the mall. Everyone would go to the mall to shop or spend their leisure time. I've heard that malls across the U.S. have since declined, but I’m not sure if that has also happened in Terre Haute. In any case, if you wanted to do any proper shopping, you had to go to the mall, which was about a 20-minute drive from campus. It was not a walking distance, and for international students without cars, this was a serious problem.
The only fast-food place near the campus, Herdee's, was within walking distance for international students, so it naturally became a hangout spot for international students. I had never heard of the food chain when I was in Philadelphia, but apparently, it was common in the South and Midwest. I didn't learn until much later that chain restaurants vary by region within the U.S. Our only options for late-night food were pizza delivery or this Herdee's, and to be honest, I got pretty sick of eating there as often as I did.
From the summer I arrived, I was already anxious about whether I could adapt to this town and whether I could handle student life here. However, the fall semester hadn't officially started yet, and the campus was still fairly quiet until more students returned. Most importantly, I felt a mix of anxiety and anticipation about whether I could take classes in English and earn credits as expected.
To be continued.
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