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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

An IU Senior's Mandatory Bloomington Adventure List

Categories: Outdoors, Indiana University, Arts & Culture, The IU Student Perspective, Live Music, Festivals

This is a special guest post from our fabulous intern, Steffi Wong. Here at Visit Bloomington, we only get to enjoy her presence through the end of the 2014 fall semester, and then she'll be finishing her senior year at IU and will be off to new adventures. We asked her to write a post about all the Bloomington things she'll miss the most. Naturally, the list is pretty long!

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Steffi WongIt's my senior year at IU and I am a native Bloomingtonian. Since I've lived here my whole life I have gotten to go do tons of unique things Bloomington has to offer and see several special places and events. If I end up moving away from Btown after I graduate, there are definitely certain things I will miss about this town as well as wanting to cross off my bucket list if I haven't done it already. If one day I leave, I would want to make sure I:

  • Watch a free movie at the IMU (well, technically I do this all the time, but I love to go since they always show movies that have just left theaters, but haven't been released on DVD yet)
  • At night, lie on the ground and watch the light totem change in front of the IU Art Museum
  • Grab a coffee from Soma, then afterwards get tacos, chips and salsa from Laughing Planet
  • Buy breadsticks with cheese sauce from Pizza X
  • Go to a wine tasting at the original Oliver Winery and sit by the lake
  • Buy a short stack of chocolate chip pancakes from the Village Deli
  • Take a picture with the Herman B Wells statue, Hoagy Carmichael, and Ernie Pyle too
  • Buy grasshopper ice cream from Chocolate Moose and cookie monster ice cream from Jiffy Treet
  • Attend the Little 500 men's or women's race
  • Eat the Sunday brunch in the Tudor Room at the Indiana Memorial Union
  • Go to Kilroy's Breakfast Club during Homecoming weekend
  • Go to Malibu Grill for dinner (which happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in town)
  • Sit in the IU Art Museum after class and go through the different exhibits. Afterwards, stroll through the Angles Café
  • Look down Kirkwood Ave from the Sample Gates at night
  • Get kettle corn popcorn from the Saturday Farmers' Market
  • Climb the fire tower at Hoosier National Forest
  • Watch a performance at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, then go to BLU Boy Café and buy macarons
  • Walk around downtown during Lotus Festival and see a concert
  • Stroll the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center
  • Tailgate before a home football game
  • Go to an IU Auditorium show and an IU Cinema movie
  • Buy center stage tickets to The Nutcracker
  • Look at stars at the Kirkwood Observatory
  • Walk around downtown during the Canopy of Lights, which kicks off the holiday season
  • Go to Flat Rock at Lake Monroe and skip rocks

So if the day ever comes when I leave this beautiful and diverse town, I will definitely have some ideas on what I have to do before leaving.

Abby Perfetti

Abby Perfetti

Hailing from Indianapolis, Abby has lived in Bloomington since 2009. She was the Content & Social Media Coordinator for Visit Bloomington, and in her spare time, she sings in choirs, gardens, enjoys the occasional craft beer, and volunteers for Bloomington PRIDE where her wife, Sarah, is the director.