Minor Headaches

• Indiana drivers never use turn signals. This isn't a suggestion, it's a warning. (You really are expected to read the other driver's mind.) One reason they don't signal is that the lanes are completely convoluted in town: sometimes the left lane is left-turn-only, sometimes it is straight-only, and neither time are you warned in advance. Luckily for you, like most Midwestern cities, Bloomington streets are laid out in a grid -- if you make a wrong turn, just go around the block and try again.

• Most streets in Bloomington run one way -- usually the wrong way -- and sometime two-way streets become one-way, and vice versa. Streets also change names midway through. And some names are used more than once. What fun! My advice is: buy a map from the Visitor's Center up on North Walnut or from one of the many area bookstores.

• The major East-West streets are numbered, starting South of downtown with First Street and going North to Twentieth Street. North-South streets are always named, and nearly all streets in residential neighborhoods are named.

• You will never, ever, ever find a parking space on campus. OK, this is a bit of a lie. You can usually never find a space on campus. If possible, try getting a place to live on or near campus and walk or bike in (I suggest walking.) Use the money you save from buying a parking sticker to buy groceries. Take the bus if you must, but try to avoid driving.

• Streets are not well-lit at night. This is one of my biggest gripes with this town: the streets are really dark after sunset. There is a service called Women's Wheels that offers free [?] transportation home from IU after dark (to females, obviously). If you have no other means to get home and it's late, give them a call. Otherwise, buy an "E" parking sticker and drive in for night classes. "E" stickers let you park everywhere after 5pm (except in lots marked "24 hour tow zone".) Bloomington is fairly low-crime, but don't take stupid chances.