I do not think that any of us would have thought that we would feel this way four years ago when we moved into the dorms (more specifically…Teter Rabb 1). By the end of that year we were complaining about the small dorm rooms, the crappy food in our food courts that after a year no longer seemed to be that great, and were just ready to move home for the summer (even though it meant leaving our friends for a few short months). By the end of sophomore year we were ready for a change of scenery. We were over the Villas (especially some of those who actually lived there and were not just a very frequent visitor like me), tired of house parties, and ready for what junior year had in store for us. By the end of junior year, we were all experienced in the bar scene and stuck in the same old routines, I was tired of living so far away from campus (and all my friends), and was more than ready to move into a townhouse on 14th St with my besties and be walking distance from campus (and well, I guess the bars too).
But when we started our senior year, we knew we couldn’t take it for granted because we only had one year left. Senior year I made it a point to make it to all the tailgates and at least one football game (I realize now how much I slacked on the soccer games, and this disappoints me in retrospect). We took advantage of the gorgeous days in Bloomington by going on hour long walks. By the end of the year I had a tradition of going to Kilroy’s for dinner on Tuesdays ($2 Tues) with the same group of girls or on Thursdays ($3 Thurs) for dinner (and the free shirts of course) with my roomies and the rest of the girls. I got to the point where I basically knew some of the staff. That place slowly, but surely became my favorite hangout in town. By the time spring rolled around it was harder and harder to get all of us out in one place at the same time because we were all busy. We had our last hoorah, the TBO Bar Crawl and we were finally all together at one time... celebrating in true TBO fashion. This time around as the last day of finals drew nearer, we all would have loved to have stayed in town together. Not one of us wanted to leave what we had come to know as life for the last four years.
The people we met along the way became our family. As the year draws to an end and I can't help but think about all of the good times we had together. And after all of this, my questions is: why don’t they tell you going into college how hard it will be to leave. I feel like I went through a terrible break up with IU. I long to be there at the tailgate fields, walking on campus in between classes and running into ten people I know, eating lunch alone in the union/library, going to UB meetings, walking over to my boyfriend’s house that is 5 blocks away not two hours, taking way too many pictures with my best friends, laying in bed all day with my roomies and so many more things that I associate with IU.
Some parting advice for those still at IU or planning on attending in the future if any future Hoosiers ever actually see this.
- Don’t take for granted the time you have at IU and with your friends.
- Don’t just automatically fall for all the stereotypes on campus. Although some people fit them perfectly, some that you would assume would fit may actually be the complete opposite. Make the judgment once you know someone.
- Make sure you go to as many tailgates as you can…and try to go to at least one football game while you are there (that is what the tailgates are supporting).
- If you choose to live in the Villas, make sure it’s your sophomore year. If you don’t live in the Villas…make sure there is a couch for you to crash on there. It’s essential.
- Get season basketball tickets at least one year (I really suggest all four years).
- Take at least one class just for fun, as an elective if you must. Mine turned into an entire minor.
- If you are not a morning person, do not schedule a bunch of morning classes thinking you will be a changed person by the end of the semester. Speaking from experience, I know this is not the truth. You just end up hating the class and yourself each time you have to wake up at the crack of dawn.
- Invest in a good pair of rain boots and snow boots. A little bit so rain or snow (or in a lot of cases, a lot of it) will not cause your class to be canceled by IU. If you are lucky, you’ll have a professor who feels the same about the weather as you and will cancel on their own. Otherwise you have to deal with the sidewalks on campus that are hardly ever easy to maneuver (hills are never your friend in the winter). I know because I never had either types of shoes and really wish I would have had both!
- Don't take for granted the beauty of campus, you'll miss it one day.
- Never slack off upon return from Spring Break. That is the time to get everything caught up so you aren’t stuck doing it all during Little 5 week.
- That being said…go to at least one race. That is what the whole week of celebrating is all about. Just make sure you stay for a few laps…or see the finish. I was quite sad that I didn’t brave the elements and go to my final Little 5, but glad I didn’t get drenched in the downpour midway through too. You win some, you lose some.
- It is imperative that you go on a senior bar crawl of some sort. Theme or no theme, get your closest friends together and rage.
Now...on to what will probably be my favorite part of this extremely long post. This is where I am going to list some of my favorite memories over my four years in Bloomington. I asked some of my friends for their takes on some good memories for this post. I had originally wanted a Top 10 of college, but clearly there were wayyyy too many good memories to narrow it to ten. These are in no particular order (although I'm trying my best to group them by year), just how they came via text or to my memory. There are a lot more...trust me. Add to the list if you wish :)
Teter Rabb 1; Wright food court; meeting Amanda during Culture Fest; HH; house parties; learning Kings at K-Sig; 5th and Clark; invading Rabb 3; "Ask me if I care"; Men, Women, and Children Concert/After-party/Brennan performing 'Ignition' in his lounge converted dorm room; Elise and I standing too close to Ben Folds' tour bus "Hey Girls..."; meeting and working the Dierks Bentley concert; Rabb1 Superbowl party in the lounge; nights on Rabb 3 talking and movie watching until 5 am; Top Shelf; meeting Howie Day randomly at the DCFC show in Indy; Charlotte boys; running for the O.A.R. concert and taking the guys to the mall and the SRSC and watching the concert from the stage with the opener; Campus Corner; tailgating; 325 Varsity Lane; meeting the "neighbs"; HH Christmas parties; Little 5 Olympics; the infamous calculator destruction; Jenny's ugly sweater Christmas party; ABC party; surprise birthday party; IU Men's Basketball; Showalter Fountain; soccer games; DJ White; Little 5 week; Stake & Shake/Denny's runs at the end of the night; WTF Are You Wearing; midget pong; nights in at Campus Corner; Christmas with the roomies; Morgan and Zach's wedding; John Mayer reunions; Bros Thursday nights; Village Deli/Chipotle/fast food Friday mornings/afternoons; IU Fight Song on the drunk bus from Kirkwood to Bros on Mo's Bar Crawl; "neighbs" house parties; cookouts; walking everywhere; Miami boys/smallwood nights; Bluebird Wednesdays; 'brary study seshes where we only gossiped; straight to KOK after class/exams; $2 Tuesdays with the girls; 14th St; James; TBO; beer pong at KOK (never again...ok maybe); Sports patio; bar hopping; TBO bar crawl; going on walks all over town; recapping our previous night while piling on someone's bed or in their room; decorating for Christmas; my last night in Btown with Jaron and Jordan(we started together and I ended with them); etc. etc. etc.
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