One of the first clubs I joined when I came to Ball State was the Swing Society. My roommate, Becca, learned swing with her friends at home and told me I should give it a try. With my love of dance, I thought why not?
So we went to the call out meeting the first week, learned a few moves, and turns out I love swing dancing! The basic steps are simple and easy to pick up. It’s such a fun, social style of dancing. I’ve been going to lessons every week since!
My favorite part about swing club is the Friday night dances at Fountain Square. It’s in a historic part of downtown Indianapolis in an old theater building that’s been converted for receptions and parties. Every other Friday night they have swing lessons and then dancing for three hours. There is even a LIVE band!
The first time we went, the band was the Ball State Jazz Band and they did a fantastic job. The whole place was filled with Cardinals! This last time, we took some of Becca’s friends along with us and they had a great time. It’s fun to share such a cool place with our friends.
Swing dancing has become my favorite thing to do in the evenings. Becca and I look forward to Mondays and (every other) Friday now; we call these our “bookend days” for the week!
When I chose to go to Ball State, one of the first things that came to mind was where I would be living. That had been a major part of my decision to come here. During campus tours, they showed us a residence hall and a sample dorm room. Since I would be part of the Honors College though, I knew I would be living in DeHority. This dorm is only two years old and has some of the nicest features on campus. It’s almost like living in a hotel! My favorite part is the semi-private bathroom that my roommate and I share with 6 other people. It’s so much nicer than a community bathroom in other residence halls!
Anyway, I got to see where I would be living before I chose where I would attend. The dorms at other schools I had been looking at were not going to be nearly as nice as DeHo (campus shorthand for DeHority), and I realized that making my home-away-from-home at Ball State was going to be the best choice.
Once I applied and was accepted, my next concern (besides how to pay for it) was who my roommate would be! One of the awesome features Ball State has for students living on campus is the Roommate Search program. All you do is type in the username and password sent to you in your housing contract, set up your profile, and start looking for your perfect roomie! You can match up interests, whether you’re both in Honors College, whether you prefer a non-smoker for a roommate, what times you like to get up, and even what kinds of music you listen to!
I found so many different girls who had similar interests as me. One liked to dance and would be majoring in dance, another loved NCIS, and still another spoke French. But the one I chose to be my roomie is named Becca. We’re both in Honors College, neither of us smokes or drinks, and we have similar book, music, and TV interests. Becca also loves swing dancing, which was new for me, but something fun we could definitely share at Ball State. Before long, we sent in our requests and officially became roommates!
We met for the first time on Move-In Day and have become great friends already. I’m so lucky to have been able to use the Roommate Search to find an awesome girl to live with this year.
