Celadon Indianapolis (Quick Tips From A Complete Noob)

I want to preface this by saying that this isn't a list of complaints just observations I made after arriving here this afternoon.

Be prepared to wait for a few hours for the shuttle to arrive once you get off the bus in Indianapolis. You aren't the only one they are picking up. Also know where you are going. They may tell you that the shuttle will arrive at a certain gate but keep an eye on the parking lot behind the buses. If you only have a permit you are most likely going to the school. If you already have your license then you're probably going to the terminal. The driver may not know where you're supposed to be and at least for me and the other students I arrived with our recruiters didn't tell us where we were going in our acceptance emails, bus ticket emails or phone conversation (perhaps we should have asked). The extension I received in the email was also incorrect but I got routed through after talking to 3 different people. We ended up at the terminal and found out we had to go to the school which is around 100 yards from the terminal but they still shuttled us a second time to the door. I would have simply walked it if I knew it was so close.

Expect almost zero hand holding once you are checked in especially if it's a weekend as it seems there's very little staff here. When I arrived they xeroxed my license, had me sign a gym waiver, gave me a laundry card and a room key. You will not have an id card in order to open doors for up to two weeks (according to the front desk staff) which means you will have to be buzzed in every time you leave. An easy way around this is to walk around the building to the left to the driving range as the back doors are not locked until late at night. You could also try to follow around people with id cards.

Explore the every part of the building that is opened to you. Even if your dorm is on the third floor be sure to explore the first and second. Also walk around the outside of the building to get your bearings. This may help you to remember where the showers, bathrooms and laundry are located. There are maps and signs posted that show you where you are headed, take note of them.

GPS says the nearest Walgreens is .6 miles away but it's more like .2 or .3 and you can find it by leaving to the right when you exit the front door of the school and go right on N. Post Rd. There is a Virgin Mobile store and past it the Walgreens is located on E. 38 St. Your phone's GPS may be useless here just a heads up. There is also a Family Dollar and some other stores I haven't made it to yet.

Make friends. Everyone here is very sociable so far. No one has been mean or nasty and they will all give you tips on where to eat or what times are best to shower and other things like that. If you're not on the driving range it's probably best to ignore some of the stuff they tell you it about as it may overload you before you even start class. It's very valuable information and can change on a weekly basis depending on the number of students. (I got the weekly information part from someone who's been here 2 weeks.) The easiest way to meet people is by going to the smoking area out by the driving range there're always people out there. You can also go to the cafeteria as there's always people there too. This part has been kind of hard for me as I'm not very sociable and am very much a recluse.

If you are in a dorm room you will have a tall end table + a closet both with drawers, bed (with sheets and pillow), some towels and a TV. The room has heat and AC which you can control. I don't know if they want food in the dorms, but I have some snack bars and such which I keep in a ziplock bag. If your tv remote batteries are dead ask for some at the front desk. You may want to bring an extra pillow and a blanket or sleeping bag with you.

The Wi-Fi sucks. You're better off having some kind of mobile tethering as a backup. I have a $40 Virgin Mobile Android phone (Kyocera Hydro Vibe) which I pay $35/month for unlimited talk+text+data(limited at 250mb but I somehow got 1gb/month for stopping advertisements from VM) I pay an additional $10/month for 2gb of mobile tethering through Bluetooth or can simply use it as a hotspot. I get 4g LTE throughout the whole dorm with 3G in the smoking area and it runs off Sprints towers so I get service pretty much everywhere sprint does. I only use this as a backup for when the Wi-Fi doesn't work in the dorm. I lost service once for 15 seconds while on the greyhound. You can also use a referral program so that you and the person you refer get $25 credit once their phone is activated. (not trying to advertise Virgin Mobile, use what you will)

Someone may have already posted something like this, but I didn't see it. I also didn't see some of it in the blogs. I'm sure this is all stuff they go over the first day you have class but I thought this might help people out that have one or two days before that. I apologize for being so long winded.

Good luck!!

When the safety guy talks to you Monday he'll let you know that's a terrible area to walk anywhere in. Very rough neighborhood. He's also an Indy metro police officer so he's knowledgeable about it. Nightly (when I was there) there was a shuttle run to a Wal-Mart supercenter, we were advised take that shuttle if we needed anything. They were in the process of fine tuning a bunch of the training procedures as I was awaiting my otr trainer. Hopefully it's more organized for you, just be patient if it's not.

Place is deserted on weekends as all employees get weekends off.Try uber for local rides. The shuttles handles hundreds of trips per day,be on time,or expect to wait a few hours for the next shuttle.

I can attest to what Jay is talking about. I live in Indy in an older historic neighborhood closer to downtown. The east side has always been a rough side of town and over the past 10-15 years has gotten worse. I'd be careful about walking around alone especially at night because you're not from the neighborhood and it makes you more of an easy target. As with anything else, situational awareness is key but a heads up from a resident never hurts.

Most of all, good luck and have fun. A good friend of mine just graduated the school and is out on the road doing his team portion.