Tirupati Farmers Market
The one-stop favourite
Spacious and well-organised: groceries, fresh produce, plus pooja items, mandirs and Indian cookware (tawas, cookers) — and a little café for ready-to-eat snacks.
One page, everything
All resources
The whole guide's practical half, stripped of the story — so you can scan, search and share a single link when someone asks where to buy atta.
Groceries
Indian & desi grocery stores
Seema Enterprises
Since 1984 · two locations
One of St. Louis's oldest South Asian stores. Deep Indian & Pakistani range — spices, lentils, sweets and ready-to-eat.
Bombay Bazar
Chesterfield
Family-run, big on fresh vegetables and authentic spices for everyday cooking.
Global Foods Market
Pan-Asian & huge
10,000+ items across Indian, East Asian and more — great when your recipe needs something unusual.
Mideast Market
Desi + Middle Eastern
Affordable fresh produce and a wide South Asian range, serving the area for decades.
Also worth a trip
Jay International · Desi Bazaar
More desi staples across town — and Desi Bazaar sits next to an Indian bakery, Signature India, for when you need mithai.
Eating out
Where to eat (near campus & the Loop)
Turmeric
6679 Delmar Blvd, University City
Right by the Loop and popular with WashU students — dosas, uthappam and South Indian dishes, comfy for group dinners and watching a match.
House of India
8501 Delmar Blvd
A long-loved buffet — huge spread, lots of veg options, easy on a student budget.
Gokul
Delmar Loop · vegetarian
Beloved vegetarian spot in the heart of the Loop — a reliable, tasty walk from campus.
Gol Bowl
6227 Delmar Blvd (Loop)
Modern, fast-casual Indian (with Thai and halal options) — quick, fresh bowls between classes.
India Rasoi
Classic North Indian
Solid curries, biryani and naan when you want the familiar, done well.
Himalayan Yeti
Nepali & Indian
Momos and mountain flavours for when you want something a little different.
Housing
Where WashU grads live
University City & The Loop
Most popular · walkable · ~10 min to campus
The unofficial student HQ. Diverse, lively, packed with food and shops along Delmar. Eastern U-City tends to be the most affordable; the Hanley–Delmar side is quieter and family-friendly.
Clayton (Moorlands, DeMun)
Upscale · very safe · adjacent to campus
Leafy, polished, and a short walk or bike from Olin. A bit pricier, with a walkable business district and easy MetroLink access at Clayton and Forsyth.
Central West End (CWE)
Lively · near the Med campus & Forest Park
Trendy restaurants and historic streets right by Forest Park. Great vibe; commute to Danforth is a quick MetroLink ride or bus.
DeBaliviere & Skinker–DeBaliviere
Quiet · great value · one stop to campus
Homey and often cheaper for the space, with a MetroLink stop that drops you on campus in about a minute. A favourite for value hunters.
Maplewood & Richmond Heights
More space for your money
A little further out but budget-friendly, with plenty of shopping and easy driving/transit access. Good if you're prioritising rent and square footage.
How to search
Start here
WashU's OISS off-campus resources, plus Quadrangle, Proximity, Parallel Properties, Uloop and Trulia. Ask the group — seniors often pass on leases and know which buildings to avoid.
Admin
Getting your life running
Open a US bank account
You do not need an SSN for this, whatever anyone tells you. Take your passport, I-20, I-94 and proof of a US address — a lease works, and if you don't have one yet the international office can write an address letter. Common choices are Bank of America, Chase, US Bank and local Commerce Bank. Ask specifically for an account with no monthly maintenance fee; most have a student version that waives it, but you have to ask.
How money actually moves here
Two things surprise everyone. First, Zelle and Venmo are how people split a dinner bill or pay a flatmate — set one up early, or you'll be the one holding cash nobody wants. Second, paper cheques still exist, and some landlords still want rent that way, so keep the chequebook your bank gives you. Wiring money from India has limits and paperwork at the Indian end, so plan the first transfer before you need it.
Start building credit early
You arrive with no credit history, and here that quietly gates things — apartment applications, phone plans, deposits. Fix it early with a student or secured credit card from the bank you just opened with. Then two rules: pay the balance in full every month, and keep your spending well under the limit. A year of that is genuinely all it takes, and skipping it costs you later.
Go prepaid first — postpaid is a trap early on
Prepaid needs no SSN and no credit check — just ID, an address and a card. Postpaid usually wants one or the other, and without them a carrier can ask for a deposit running to several hundred dollars, refundable only after a year of service. So start prepaid and switch later, once you have credit. T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all offer it; cheaper networks like Mint and US Mobile run on the same towers from roughly $15-25 a month.
Social Security Number (SSN)
You'll typically need an SSN once you have a job offer (an on-campus role counts). Apply at a Social Security office with your passport, I-20, I-94 and offer letter — plus an OISS supplement form, so start with them. No job yet? You can wait — you don't need it to arrive, to open a bank account, or to get a prepaid phone.
Utilities, internet & renters insurance
Sort electricity and gas (usually Ameren) and home internet (Spectrum and AT&T are common) when you move in. Then check your lease for renters insurance — Missouri doesn't require it but plenty of landlords do, and at roughly $15-30 a month it covers your laptop and your belongings, so it's worth having even when it's optional.
Health
Health cover and getting care
You're on the WashU plan
Every F-1 and J-1 student has to carry the WashU Student Health Insurance Plan, and you're enrolled automatically once you register — the premium is billed straight to your student account. For 2026-27 that's $2,923. You can only opt out if you're covered by a US employer's plan through a US insurer, which almost no incoming student is, so plan for this as a fixed cost of your first year rather than something you'll get out of.
If you're waiving, do it by early September
The fall waiver window runs 1 July to 5 September, it's enforced hard, and it has to be redone every single year — an approved waiver last year means nothing this year. It's submitted through the university's insurance portal with your WashU Key. Miss the date and you keep both the plan and the charge, so put it in your calendar before you fly.
Start at the Student Health Center
The Habif Health & Wellness Center on the Danforth campus is your first stop and acts as your primary care while you're a student. The plan generally expects you to start there and get a referral before seeing an outside specialist — skip that step and the claim may not be covered. Emergencies, urgent care when Habif is shut, care more than 50 miles away, OB-GYN and mental health don't need one. For a real emergency, call 911.
Counselling is already included
Counselling and psychological services are part of what you're paying for, not an extra — and TimelyCare gives full-time students 24/7 virtual mental-health support, which helps when the time difference makes calling home awkward. First terms are genuinely hard for a lot of us; using this is normal. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 988.
Transport
Getting around St. Louis
The Metro U-Pass
As a full-time student you ride the whole regional network free — MetroLink light rail and MetroBus, no limits on how far or how often. You register each semester with your WashU Key, once your enrolment has gone through. If the portal says you're not eligible, it usually just hasn't synced yet: try again the next day. It's a tap card, and replacing a lost one costs $62, so keep it with your student ID.
Free shuttles, tracked in an app
WashU runs ten free shuttle routes that go well past the campus edge — the Campus Circulator loops Danforth, and neighbourhood routes cover DeBaliviere, Skinker-DeBaliviere and the Delmar Loop, where a lot of us live. Two are worth memorising: Campus2Home runs 7 p.m. to 4 a.m., so you never have to walk back alone after a late night in the library, and the Shopper Shuttle runs Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. to the Galleria, Brentwood Promenade and the Maplewood Walmart — how most people do a proper grocery and household shop before they own a car. Track them live in TripShot rather than trusting a timetable.
Parking is a real cost
Two costs, not one. Permits are priced by zone: a graduate Yellow permit runs about $941 a year, an evening-only one around $101, and the move most people miss is Parksmart at roughly $44 a year — park at West or North Campus and shuttle in. Pricing resets each 1 August. Then there's insurance, which is mandatory and brutal with no US driving history — easily $250-350 a month at first, sometimes more than the car is worth. Ask about the good-student discount, and get quotes before you buy anything.
A Missouri licence — or just a state ID
Even if you never intend to drive, a nondriver ID is worth getting so you stop carrying your passport around as everyday identification. Take your passport, your most recent I-94, your current I-20, an enrolment verification letter dated within the last 30 days, and proof of your address. If you don't have an SSN and aren't eligible for one yet, you'll need a refusal letter from Social Security first. Sort it within your first month or so.
Living here
The unwritten rules of living here
It isn't optional, and it's more than you think
At a sit-down restaurant, 18-20% of the pre-tax bill is normal — servers are paid on the assumption that you will. At a bar it's about $1-2 a drink, for Uber and Lyft 15-20%, and for a haircut 18-20%. Counter service and takeaway are genuinely optional. It feels strange for a while, and then it doesn't. Card machines usually offer the percentages, so you rarely have to do the maths.
The price on the shelf isn't what you pay
There's no MRP here. Sales tax is added at the checkout — around 9.7% in the city of St. Louis, and it varies by a percent or two between suburbs — so a $10 item is never $10. Prices are also fixed: nobody haggles, in shops or with landlords, and trying reads as odd rather than shrewd. Rent and salaries are the rare exceptions where negotiating is normal.
21, and they will check
The legal age to buy or drink alcohol is 21, and you will be asked for ID routinely even if you're comfortably older — it's the shop's licence at risk, not a judgement about you. Carry your state ID rather than your passport for this, which is the best argument for getting one early. Drinking in public — a park, a pavement, a car — is generally illegal here, however normal it looks in films.
Small talk, space and being on time
"How are you?" from a cashier is a greeting, not a question — "good, thanks" is the whole answer. Strangers making conversation in a lift or a queue are being friendly, not intrusive. Personal space is bigger than you're used to, and queues are respected absolutely. Punctuality is literal: a 9 a.m. class or a 3 p.m. coffee means that time. And most professors genuinely prefer their first name.
The numbers worth knowing
911 is police, fire and ambulance, free from any phone, and is for genuine emergencies only — a noise complaint or a parking problem goes to the city's non-emergency line instead. 988 is the mental-health crisis line. If a police officer stops you while driving, stay in the car, keep your hands where they can be seen, and have your licence ready — calm and unhurried is all that's expected.
Scams target international students
This one matters. Nobody from USCIS, the IRS, the police or your university will ever phone to demand immediate payment — least of all in gift cards, wire transfers or crypto. Real agencies write letters. The calls can be frighteningly convincing, quote real details and threaten your visa. Hang up, don't pay, and check with OISS. Every intake, someone gets one of these; the ones who lose money are the ones who didn't know to expect it.
A place to celebrate & pray
The Hindu Temple of St. Louis in Ballwin (725 Weidman Rd, ~30 minutes west) is the community's hub — festivals, a cultural center and even a cafeteria. Greater St. Louis also has mosques, gurudwaras and churches across denominations. Ask in the group and someone will point you to the right community and carpool.
You won't cook alone
Grocery runs are a group sport here — carpools to the desi store, split bulk orders, shared Sunday cooking. If you've never made dal in your life, don't worry: someone will teach you, and you'll be feeding the next batch before you know it.
Looking for the full story — packing lists, your first 48 hours, the weather?Read the whole guide →