NOTICE: UNDER REPAIR . FIXING TYPOS. 1-21-99Much or most of this has already been printed elsewhere including in the Arts and Sciences Alumni Magazine among others.: In response to your Freshman Year experiences Query: I arrived in Indianapolis after a 24 hour train ride from NYC. In 1967 both the NY Central RR and the Pennsylvania RR were trying to get rid of their passenger service so they made the trip as miserable as possible. (Fall67 song:& Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane, dont have time for a fast train &)My first sight of Indianapolis was from above it. (Fall 67 song: & 'Everyone knows its (W)Indy') I found it weird that the tracks came into the city from way up in the air while curving around but it made it much more impressive than any other stop on the way. It sure looked like an OLD city from the 1920s. NYC had been putting up all-glass bldgs since the 1950s. Indy had none in 1967) I got off, age 17 (I had never been west of East Pennsylvania), and lugged lots of baggage down the steps and out the front door where I got a cab. Told him to take me to the Greyhound (whereever that was, I had no idea how many miles away it would be). Was surprised that it was just a few blocks away. Went into the bus depot and found out that I had missed the last bus until morning. So I put my bags into 24 hour lockers except for one suitcase and I asked where the YMCA was. Miraculously, I went right to it. I still have the YMCA receipt somewhere. Next morning I oversleep. I still recall hurrying to get out before the maid reaches my door.So I go back downtown. I go out front of the Greyhound and walk a block and I see something called Frisches Big Boy on the corner across the street. I go in and see and get my first huge burger. Back east the trend was to make burgers smaller as with White Castle and Wetson's. We only had one McDonalds and that was way out on Long Island and only had little 15c burgers. I had never seen one made bigger before. The 'Big Boy' was later copied by McDonald's in 1969 and now they have the gall to say they 'invented' it. (Fall67 song: && Remember what the dormouse said, feed your head, feed your head &&) On that same street in front of the Greyhound, a couple blocks towards the rr station I see my first Indy newspaper. The headline was about Joel Horlen throwing a no-hitter in the pennant race. (Fall67 song: & "Come on baby, light my fire") I think, that figures, my second favorite (after Gary Peters) AL pitcher throws his no-hitter during the only time in my life Im stuck on a train for 24 hours with no connections with the outside world. So then I walk to the monument circle. Looked like bad designing to me. Bumper to bumper traffic trying to criss cross each other to get out. There was a 5&10 on the circle and one down the street. Both reminded me of home in their design. I went back to the bus counter and asked for a ticket to Bloomington. To my surprise the attendant asks, "Which one?". Huh? Are there two of them? So I say ,"Where the college is!". The attendant says, "Which college?". So I say,"Indiana University" and he understands. Turns out that Illinois also had a Bloomington with a college. Well, the Bloomington bus was always at door 5 and I saw a few other students there so I got in line. There was no huge highway in those days so all I saw was barreness.It diland and I still dont see anything as Im approaching. Just a big muddy field beyond. But when I get to the end I see it.(Fall 67 song; & I can see for miles and miles and miles &) Eastland wasnt as long in those days. And at the end there was a big cheap clothing store and a big field all the way to the street. No Osco or Eisners or whatever is there now. No paved parking lot. Just a thin dirt path. (I walked that dirtpath looking down to watch for mud so many times its burned in my brain like it was yesterday) Eastland wanted nothing to do with the new usurper mall. I enter the 'mall' and Im quite impressed. This is just something of science fiction out east. I read articles about doing such things but they were worried about the expense of 'enclosing an entire town center' and about the roof caving in. This was something in the future in NYC. So here are these Indianan Bumpkins ahead of us worldly New Yorkers. Embarrassing. In those days it was less than half the size it is now. It didnt yet have the theatres or the MCL cafeteria. Way in the back was the Hall of Cards which was mostly catering to the Peanuts frenzy then at its height and the big 5&10 next to it.(Where I got my Fizzies as we werent allowed to have refrigerated sodas (excuse me, 'cokes') in our rooms. The next major thing I recall was having to go to freshman orientation at Swain East. I had absolutely no idea where it was. But all future Physics, Astro, and Math freshman had to go. According to my 1967 Redbook I had to be there at the "New Student Meeting-Junior Division Sept. 10, Sunday, 730pm. So I set out from Wright with no idea where I was going. There were NO signs in front of the buildings in those days to tell one which was which. And Im walking all over the campus for the first time. At 730 pm in September, Central Time, I guess it was twilight. Id have to look it up on my other page. I just remember walking up and down trying to find it in the dusk and not willing to ask anyone for some reason. Actually, in NYC I never approached strangers. But FINALLY I found it. I went into the ancient building and down the stairs where we were all crammed into a small classroom to the left when going down. By the time it was done it was very dark outside. I recall using the mens room and wondering about the strange see-through insects. NYC is held up on the backshowed him) I was surprised though that there were no vendors hawking food in the stadium. I also worked on the Wright/Forest lawn display float in front of Forest. It was based on the newly popular comic strip, Wizard of Id, with the castle and characters. (That was then THE strip for college people as Peanuts went national). I recall having a date that night, making a date with a girl I was working with, and then walking into Forest to make a date via phone. Hey, I was 800+ miles from home where nobody knew me and much of my competition was sent to Vietnam or Germany. I recall it rained all that week and the floats were all a mess._____ _____ _____1-5-99 tuesday 241pm TO BE CONTINUED 1-6-99 wednesday 243pm. Now friday 1-8-99 1208pm: more thoughts: 1967 was the year BEFORE the Frisbees appeared. The SUPERBALL was big then. When I'd enter Parks-1st though the fire door I'd have to dodge superballs bouncing off the walls. And walk thru a cloud of 'pot' smoke. (Fall67 song:& "Incense and Peppermints") They be playing music in unisom at the ends of the hall. Beatles (Sergeant Pepper was new), Doors (also new), Hollies (since 66). Registration was done in the old fieldhouse which had a dirt floor. You'd stand outside and wait for the first 3 letters of your last name to be called. You'd have an index card. Then you'd go from desk to desk as they took cards and gave you others of various colors. Then, finally, you'd be out in the large main dirt floor area with desks all around the edges for each dept. Then you'd try to get the courses on your schedule by standing on lines, handing them cards and getting other cards in return. I quickly realized that one way to meet girls was to find a line where one was last on it and get behind her and start t