Clubs

Browsing through the RSO list was like going to a buffet or candy store. My big greedy eyes wanted to scoop up armfuls and armfuls even though it was all definitely more than I could handle. I made lists just like I usually do, and throughout the lists were a good 50+ RSOs I hoped to investigate. It was overwhelming and stressful, but also somewhat fun. I wanted to do things I have experienced before, like robotics and other engineering clubs. I also hoped to get back into the performing arts, and also to do something athletic to motivate myself and keep myself accountable. On the other hand, I also hoped to try some completely new things that I never had the opportunity to do before.

I ended up going to the RSO fair and deciding on clubs based on the people I talked to there. Fall quarter I joined cycling club, Unleashed a Cappella, and Mindfulness club. Later on in the quarter I joined Swing Kids.

Through Unleashed I got to attend Figgy Pudding, a charitable event with many a cappella groups in Seattle. It was a very interesting opportunity. For various reasons, including the fact that rehearsal ended at 9:30 pm when it was dark and isolated, I dropped out of the group. I also dropped out of cycling club, mostly because there weren't enough other casual riders like me; most people wanted to train to race, and it was difficult to wake up early eough on Saturdays.

I also stuck with yoga the entire year. It was a good outlet for negative energy and finding relaxing, or simply even clearing the mind, which is an unimaginably difficult task. In fact, it was at a yoga class that I got my idea for visualizing linked lists, which I elaborate on in my CSE 143/CSE 390 page. Conveniently, the yoga classes were at the ECC, which was about a five minute walk from my room. They were a nice escape and place to recharge during midterms and finals.

Finding Clubs

Swing

I joined swing because several of my friends on my floor were in the club. It was very intimidating the first day since they were a few weeks in and I was about 15 minutes late, but the friendly faces welcomed me in. I was especially relieved to find there was no partner required. The rotation style put me at a lot of ease. I had never really done dance before, so my brain is not used to that style of learning, and I was a horrible mess. I constantly apologized for bumping into people and stepping on their feet. I went back though, mostly because the people were very nice--many of them are engineers, who I usually have good conversations with. It was serendipitous that I found fellow nerds despite not being in an engineering club. I stuck with swing the whole year and absolutley loved it. I especially enjoyed the quarter dances because they involve a live band in the HUB ballroom and I love dressing up for things.

The Winter quarter dance was my first real swing dance. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I really like vintage things, as well as when people dress nicely. The warm glow of lights in the ballroom, the brassy live band, the Star Wars themed costumes... I couldn't get enough of it. I found out that dancing in heels is so much more fun than in flat shoes. I was afraid that I would just end up standing in the corner, waiting for someone to ask me to dance, but that nobody would, so I would just watch miserably from the corner the entire time. That completely was not true. I found myself dancing nealry every song, only stopping to dahs out to the water fountain or cool off. I went with several of my dorm friends, so we also danced together as a group. My confidence rose to the point where I was very comfortable with asking many others to dance with me. As a whole it was an experience I will never forget. I look back on it as probably the most fun thing I did the entire year.

I also went to the Spring quarter dance, which was Clue themed. I planned my outfit pretty far ahead--I went as Ms. Peacock with a candlestick. I 3D printed a mini candlestick and also bought a full-sized gold one which was on sale for $8 down from 40 something. It was very heavy though, so I did not end up bringing it with me. This dance was less well-attended, so it was less fun, and I only went with one of my friends--the other were at a birthday party that we joined later on. It was still fun though. There was a "real" mystery involved too. Before the dance I kept having nightmares that I would spend all my time at the dance trying to solve the mystery and never figure it out, plus I would not have spent any time dancing at all. It showed me how set I was on solving that mystery. Solving the mystery did turn out to be pretty tricky, but I teamed up with another girl and we solved it together. We didn't win one of the prizes, but that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that I solved the mystery. Luckily, I also had time to dance! (And I made it to the birthday party as well.)