Begin at the Soma Coffee House And Juice Bar East (1318 E. Third Street). Stop in for a cup of coffee and a tasty croissant, or enjoy an inexpensive breakfast. This is a popular spot for Jacobs School of Music students—watch out for musical instruments as you make your way to the counter! Next door is a Village Pantry convenience store
Head west out of Soma to the The Indiana Shop (1302 E. Third Street), where you can purchase textbooks or IU gear for yourself or family members. The Indiana Shop is one of two bookstores carrying used and new textbooks for IU courses. The other is the IU Bookstore at the Indiana Memorial Union.
As you walk further west, you’ll see Memorial Hall on your right, the southernmost building of the Agnes E. Wells Quadrangle, a central hub of academic life. The Wells Quadrangle buildings—Memorial, Goodbody, Morrison and Sycamore Halls—house many of IU’s humanities and cultural studies departments such as African American and African Diaspora Studies, the Archives of Traditional Music, and East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Walk further west by the Music Practice Building just past Ballantine Avenue, and take note of the neighboring Karl F. Schuessler Institute for Social Research (commonly known as ISR), a focal point of IU’s highly esteemed Department of Sociology. The ISR houses several research facilities including the Center for Survey Research, and offers advanced training in research methods to Bloomington students and faculty.
Take a tour of the Biology Building Greenhouse on your right! Open seven days a week, the greenhouse is home to plants from around the world (including the wacky but wonderful tree known as Monkey’s Dinner Bell) and is a center for teaching and research of the Department of Biology. Artists set up there to draw and paint the plant life, too.
If you’re looking for a place to park your car (not easy to do on the IU campus), the Atwater Parking Garage is just south of Third between Faculty and Woodlawn Avenues. Free during the weekend (from 6 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday), the garage is also open to the public during the week for an hourly rate.
Continuing south on Woodlawn Avenue, you’ll see IU’s School of Optometry across Atwater Avenue, which, in addition to training students and conducting leading research, provides eye care to the Bloomington community at several locations.
Walking back up Woodlawn, cross onto the north side of Third. Continue west past Myers, Rawles, Swain East and Swain West Halls home to the Departments of Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics and Medical Sciences. Hillel, the Jewish Student Center, is across the street from Swain East. After crossing Fess Avenue, you will notice the Henderson Parking Garage (which operates on the same schedule as the Atwater Garage) down the block to your left.
The IU Maurer School of Law is on your right (looking down a walkway). Take a right on Indiana Avenue. After a block you can take a left on Fourth Street for delicious international cuisine or continue up to Kirkwood (also known as Fifth), which terminates at the Sample Gates, for the full downtown experience. Drop in at the IU Visitor Information Center to ask any questions you might have.
