Sent email response today, 7/6.

To Angeline Kiang, angelinekiang88@gmail.com Dear Miss Kiang, Thank you so much for reaching out to me-- I’m sorry I wasn’t able to respond promptly to help introduce you to Bloomington. I hope you’re finding the town as beautiful and unique as I do, and I’d love to give you some suggestions to help you explore Bloomington. Since your mom wanted a good guide book, I’d like to direct her to this link: http://www.visitbloomington.com/includes/content/images/MEDIA/docs/visitors_guide_2016_full.pdf. It’s an online pamphlet that describes the town’s culture and gives suggestions about activities for visitors. Regarding restaurants, I’m not sure I can pick a top five; Bloomington’s cuisines range from Thai restaurants to Ethiopian to burger joints, so it’s hard to rank them. However, I would highly recommend going downtown and walking along the streets to get a good picture of the different places to eat. The downtown area is home to many of these restaurants, as well as local stores, a great art museum, and a historic theater where you and your mom could catch a show. I would also recommend walking around the IU campus. It’s consistently ranked as one of the prettiest campuses in the country for a reason. There are lots of areas with trees and woods, and the buildings are mostly made of Indiana limestone. And if you like the outdoors, McCormick’s Creek, Olcott Park, and any of our parks are pretty places to be outside. There are also some great state parks that are close to Bloomington. I hope your experience with the Summer String Academy is rewarding and fun, and I’m sure you’ll be learning a lot from the fantastic people at the Jacobs School of Music. It seems that you’re a very accomplished cello player and I wish you the best of luck on your path. Maybe eventually we’ll see you attending Jacobs School of Music! Regards, John Hamilton, Mayor City of Bloomington