Slowly till the end of July all new and old students started coming in the town. In my first week I saw may be one or two students on the streets hardly anyone in the University. I took advantage of the situation and roamed around whole campus. Missouri S&T campus is not that big. For me, I was almost overwhelmed to see those buildings. Now, some people may brag about their Universities and architectures etc but for an Indian guy in his first visit to USA to see these kind of buildings was a dreamlike experience. Many of the buildings looked more like castles or at least some kind of Victorian structure. It was totally new for me. My engineering college will fit in just the parking lot of the Havener Center which is a community center. All the structures around me were looking fortified buildings ready for the war. The Mechanical Engineering building I must admit looked half modern half old to me. Eventually I found out that my speculation was right. Missouri S&T is an old University. I enjoyed my first week just strolling around in those buildings, I couldn’t enter those because I did not have an ID Card at that time.
On the other hand, I was a bit worried about my accommodation. Obviously, I was not going to stay in Nikhil’s apartment as a temp! For new students and aspirants, I must let you know that in every US University there is an Indian Students Association (may have different name but an organization of Indian students) and the old students, experienced students help you in any way they can. I had wonderful experience in terms of getting their help. So, keep in touch with the organization and do let others know about your problem. In my case, in first week of August 2009, ISA took all new students to library, then Bank of America and finally to registrar’s office where we got our ID Cards from. I will advise to carry traveler’s checks and a credit/debit card which can be used internationally. It is not good idea to carry cash at every place. Also, if you are a new student and haven’t got a driver’s license, please keep your passport with you while travelling. Overall it was a nice experience. University undertook a seminar especially for foreign students, explaining all technicalities which needed to be fulfilled, rules etc. I did not really pay too much attention. University had also arranged a feast for all international students, which I personally felt was a good thing.
“A very critical advise to new students, please go and ask counselor as soon as possible while choosing the subjects. The system is different from India’s. In USA, student has to choose his subjects. If you are late then you might not get admission for that subject because no. students for a subject are limited.”
Till, first week of August all went well, but, one question was still unanswered, how and where to live? Renting up an apartment of myself was never an option, it would have been just too expensive. So, no the next thing was how to get roommates? and where to live. When I arrived in July just after me Sumant Joshi arrived in Rolla. We were both from Pune, so it was a good starter. We agreed to be roommates. With some contacts with old students we got in touch with Himanshu Hirlekar who was from Mumbai. So, we were three agreed to stay in an apartment. But, we didn’t have an apartment! Me and Sumant looked for an apartment to be rented. After seeing two available apartments we chose, an apartment on 15th street (yes this is how some of the streets are named in USA, in Detroit they are named after miles, 8 mile road, 10 mile road etc). 
Property owners told us that, the apartment was recently cleaned and maintained so there won’t be any issues (which later turned out to be false). All the apartments we were taken to, were a bit dark and dull. I think it is just the way they are in Midwest. None of the lamp was white, all were incandescent bulbs, emitting dark yellowing light. All the houses and apartments are built with wood so you always get that peculiar smell whenever you enter a house in Midwest. After a month or so we got used to it. The day we got keys for the apartment, Me and Sumant took out chairs on the lawn and partied.
Now, the only task remaining was to buy all the groceries, food and other required things like bedding, mattresses, cushions etc. Because, we were going to somebody’s place for lunch and dinner for first few days. I personally thought it is not good as I burdening others. So, I started searching for the restaurants. There were at the most three restaurant in Rolla at that time, Subway, DQ and Huddle House. Subway was famous in India at that time, but, I never had a sub before. Sumant, who knew it better helped me getting a sub combination, which I am still ordering without any change! At that time Rolla, there were only two places to buy groceries Kroger (closer to apartment) and Walmart (away from apartment). At that I thought these were just normal malls or stores but later got to know that these are giant shopping mall chains in USA. This was new to me as we in India, never bought anything from the mall. Rather considered it expensive and elite. But, we were still short of one roommate in terms of rent share. We did wait for some days. After couple of weeks just before classes begun Pankaj Jogaikar asked for accommodation. He was from Amba Jogai another Marathi speaking guy. We thought it was ok. Later however clashes happened between Sumant and Pankaj. I will explain those later. After getting all rooms filled just any other apartment occupiers we sat down and decided cooking, cleaning and rent payment turns. All calculations were set.
I had successfully found my own space in a new place. Classes were going to begin from next Monday. I was seating on the lawn.. ‘It was a new beginning’