Alakananda Mookerjee

Everyone has heard of the White House in Washington D.C. But a White House in town? SDSU’s Indian student population has their very own White House, albeit a far, more modest version of the famed D.C. structure. A few steps away from Taco John’s and at the junction of Medary Avenue and Sixth Street is a nondescript little white house where students from India are first housed when they arrive at SDSU. After about a month of sojourn there, they move to their more permanent addresses to 726 and 708 Medary Avenue-a series of two brown-colored apartments that is in every sense Brookings’ “Mini-India.”Out of the 94 Indian students currently on campus, most will make Medary their home for the next two or three years of their life at SDSU. Twenty-three-year-old Murali Somavarapu, pursuing a M.S. in Computer Science told the story of his journey earlier this year from Hyderabad in Southern India to 726 Medary. “I had a friend who used to go to school here. After I got my visa to come to the US, I got in touch with him. By the time I arrived, he’d already transferred to Dakota State University and his space had been vacant. So, I moved in his place,” he said. Donna Raetzman, International Student Advisor said that is common for most international students to do.”Each student incorporates the other. As one student graduates, he or she will usually find someone new to replace him or her in the apartment and the cycle goes on,” he says. It is hard to say who exactly set up the base at Medary but whoever chose the strategic location possessed great insight. Though 708 and 726 Medary are for all technical purposes off-campus housing, they are for practical purposes a part of campus. Most departments are within easy-commuting distance. Snow or shine, students can either zip down in a car or even walk it to school. Another reason that most newcomers prefer living there is that it’s a stone’s throw from the University Police Department. The UPD holds a special appeal for foreign students because of its 24-hour-Internet facility. On a typical Sunday morning, students will wait in line to grab a seat at one of the computer terminals. Access to chat software on those machines enables them to stay in touch with friends, family and relatives from home. Last, but not least, they choose it for economic reasons. “The rent for the apartment is about $550, but since there are four of us sharing it, each of us shells out about 140 bucks each,”Abdul says. There are at present 218 international students from as many as 42 countries – 30 undergraduates and about 190 graduates. While the vast majority of Indian students end up living on Medary, the rest of the international students are scattered all over the city, not excluding the university-provided Married Student Housing on campus. Exchange students however, who are usually undergraduates, are taken care of by the university and are housed in Berg and Bailey Hall.Though the university is not responsible for providing international graduate students with housing, with the opening of the new residence hall, Caldwell, “we’re hopeful that there will be some space available for international students who desire to stay on campus,” Raetzman said.