Feature: First U.S. presidential debate unveils amid tight security, media fervor

Helicopters hovering overhead, roads blocked miles away from the central campus, police and U.S. Secret Service personnel guarding checkpoints with the help of sniff dogs ...

All these have turned Monday's Hofstra University, a usually reclusive and tranquil private school located in Long Island, New York, into a high-security fortress.

But the school obviously takes pride in it, as reflected in the small and large "Debate 2016" banners that can be seen everywhere on campus, and the amicable attitude and great hospitality that can be felt from every school volunteer.

As the two major candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, are set to have their first face-to-face debate on TV, Hofstra, which has reportedly turned a sports and exhibition complex on campus into the "Debate Hall," is also making history as the first ever university to host three consecutive presidential debates since 2008.

"I was really overwhelmed by the presence of so many media people from all over the world," said a Chinese student who just joined Hofstra two months ago for graduate study. "Just now I was interviewed by a Japanese reporter."

Over 6,000 journalists rushed into the university to cover this year's first debate, possibly a record high compared with 2008 and 2012, a source at the media credentials center told Xinhua. But the center officially declined to give any comment.

The number of journalists that actually showed up must have exceeded the organizers' expectations: The original media center, a renovated physical education center, was filled up several hours before the debate's start, and a nearby medical building had to be put into use, with reporters seated in what apparently was a classroom.

The unique nature of this U.S. presidential election, which many believe was the most divisive and scandalous in history, has earned itself unprecedented attention from media all over the world.

It was not easy for the journalists to get in. First they had to drive around the campus in a large circle in order to find the only entrance, and then take a 15-minute shuttle bus ride to the media center. Even after all the troubles, most of them didn't even get a chance to enter the debate hall.

However, they still preferred to "cover the big story right from the scene." And organizers also offered some rewards for their painstaking efforts: free meals, even with dessert and beer.

According to the Chinese student new to Hofstra, who preferred not to be named, the school took one day off for all its 10,000-odd students to greet the huge influx of guests on Monday.

"But I think it's worth it," he said. "This is my first national-level political experience. Some of my fellow Chinese students even got selected to sit among the audience in the debate hall."

The successful hosting of the presidential debates also helped Hofstra, a relatively obscure institution compared with Ivy League schools, build up its fame in foreign countries like China.

"My parents never heard of Hofstra before. But when I told them about the presidential debates, they felt much relieved about the school's credit," the student told Xinhua.

In contrast to the excitement and overcrowding at Hofstra, a fried chicken chain store just a dozen blocks away in Hempstead was seeing just a few customers on Monday afternoon.

The storekeeper, a local resident of Mexican origin who identified himself as Nick, said he had little interest in either candidate who will be debating soon in his town.

"Donald Trump is not good, but Hillary Clinton is also not so good, maybe just a little better," he said.

Inside the store, a TV was running a major news channel's warm-up program for the evening debate, but Nick said he would not watch it.

"I will just go to the church after work, as always," he told Xinhua. Endi