Bloomington’s summer benefits

This being my first real summer in Bloomington, I was shocked to find out the number of my friends that were actually staying here. It seems like the number of people who went back home have actually made this place a lot nicer to get around.

Bloomington’s hustle and bustle this past semester was frustrating. The crosswalk on 10th Street by the business school — installed with care — created a traffic bottleneck.

If you wanted to go through there from the hours of 3 to 6 p.m. on any given day, you could forget it. But now that summer is here, I have had no problem driving through there so far.

Another positive benefit of living here during the summer is that you don’t have to wait forever to sit down at a restaurant. About a month ago, I went with some friends in an attempt to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse and the wait was over an hour. But just this past weekend I did the same thing and had no wait.

Last night I went into the library and it was practically deserted. I had my choice of a few hundred PCs and even the shiny Macs that no one can ever get their hands on. If you want to print something, the problem of standing in a long line, waiting on that one person’s document that takes an entire minute to print just one page doesn’t exist.

Last but not least, there is actually room to do a workout at the SRSC. If you want to get in shape this summer, now is the best time because you don’t have to worry about scheduling yourself around the SRSC’s equipment schedule.

I will admit that not everything in this town is made perfect by the exodus of a majority of our classmates.

The most frustrating thing right now is the construction mess on the bypass. No matter what time of day, the main intersection of the bypass and Walnut is a gridlock. If you are rushing someone to the hospital, avoid this intersection at all costs — they will probably die before you get through.  

Having been raised in a very small town, I can appreciate the amenities that this big metropolis has to offer. So I guess my message to you is if you are here this summer, enjoy the benefits that we have for the next few months because they will be gone before you know it.

­— cjcaudil@indiana.edu