Every weekend in the fall and going into spring, us Hoosiers make our way to Memorial Stadium and/or Assembly Hall whether it be for tailgating or to watch our home football/basketball games. But just because we perform this ritual doesn't mean we all actually like sports. Yes, there are people out there like that, crazy I know.
It's not that I don't like sports, it's that I didn't grow up in a household watching Monday night football or the Big Ten championships, because I lived primarily with my mom who was more interested in Dr. Phil and Judge Judy.
I love the scene though, so I do, in fact, tailgate and go to games and enjoy myself at them, but I know there are students that feel like they're missing out because that scene isn't for them. If you're anything like me, you don't really fully understand sports and just clap when everybody else does.
Indiana University has hundreds of other things to do besides watch sports on weekends, and most of it is a hell of a lot cheaper, too. Since football and basketball season tickets can cost upwards of about $300, there's a lot more you could do with that if you don't actually have an interest to go to the games. There are IU-specific, annual events that can be a good time if it happens to be on a day you're free. For example, every year IU has a 5K called the Jill Berman 5K and it's a color run. It's fun, and it's good exercise. It even falls in the beginning of October so it's not super hot outside.
Here are five other things to do at IU if you're not into sports.
1. Tailgating
Tailgating is one of those things that you can enjoy even if you're not into sports. Tailgating includes eating, drinking, and spending time with people wearing the same colors as you. What could be more fun than that? And even better, there's rarely any money to be spent and any sports to be talked since everyone is drunk before the game even starts.
2. Hiking/N(eat)ure
Not only can hiking on some beautiful trails in Bloomington, like those in Lower Cascades Park and near Lake Monroe in Hoosier National Forest, be fun, it's good exercise, free, and you can bring food and friends along to make it even better. It's basically tailgating without the abundance of drunk alumni, frat boys, and sports talk.
3. IU Auditorium
The IU Auditorium has great shows every week. Some weeks there are Broadway shows that are on tour, sometimes famous operas pass through, and comedians like Amy Schumer do shows there as well. It's even easier to do this because you get a student discount for tickets and they end up being pretty cheap if you don't care where your seats are. Go see a musical instead of pretending to know what's going on at one of the football games.
4. Art Museum
The art museum at IU is highly underrated. They have different exhibits being built and put in quite often and it's never the same. Even if you're not big into art history or the facts behind the artifacts, it's a very peaceful place to study or take pictures. The building is most known for its architecture and the shape of the staircase (there are no 90 degree angles in the whole building). That fact is enough to get me in there a few times a semester.
5. Downtown Bloomington
No event specifically needs to be happening in downtown Bloomington to get you off campus for a while. When you venture out past the Sample Gates, and further down Kirkwood, you run into the main square of Bloomington where there are bike trails, a bunch of restaurants, and places to shop. The further you go off campus, the more you'll find to do.
No matter what direction you go on campus, I promise there is something to do on a weekend when there's a game going on that you may not be interested in. My go-to is the auditorium or just hanging out in downtown Bloomington. Living off of campus has showed me a lot of things that Bloomington has to offer outside of the union and dining halls.
