Lounges

 I am one of the lucky people who live in a lounge room. For me, it's great. My roommates are amazing and the room is huge. During the first few weeks, people were constantly asking us if they could see our room. This was great because it meant that my roommates and I were showered with compliments. They would just go on and on about how awesome our room was and how lucky we were. 

About a month later, we found out that by the end of the semester, we would have to move out and the university would place us in regular rooms. This came as a shock to us because nobody had mentioned anything about it to us before. So we all began to cope with moving away. Of course we hoped to stay somewhere in Tri. 

Then a couple of days ago we received an email saying that we might not have to move out. Apparently, the university is having trouble finding places for all of the lounge kids to live. The email said to respond if we would be interested in staying. We did so and now we're awaiting a reply. Fingers crossed!!

Floors

#4. Floor layout.

On each Tri Tower floor there are twenty regular sized rooms. There is one room that the floor RA lives in and a lounge. On some floors, the lounges have been converted into rooms which house four students as opposed to the usual two. There are four bathrooms: two men's and two women's. There aren't a lot of people on any one floor. This makes everyone feel much closer. Kind of like a family or something. I prefer this layout to that of Watterson. Watterson is composed of suites. This means that you have to have a key to get like anywhere. It's pretty hard to get to know other people there. Plus, there are twenty-seven stories worth of people. That's a lot. In any of the Tri Towers, you only have to worry about twelve floors.

Linkins fitness center.

#3. Linkins fitness center.

For those of us who aren't college athletes, it's sometimes hard to get as much exercise as we should. Between class, studying, hanging out with friends, RSOs, and shoving our faces with cookies (it can't just be me) there's really no time to work out. However, some smart people decided to put a fitness center in the basement of Linkins, thus demolishing all of our excuses. Downstairs doing laundry? Run for half an hour on a treadmill. Walking to the dining center through the basement? Put on some sweats and sneakers and ride a bike before. All of the athletes prancing around offer great inspiration. When everyone around you is exercising, it's hard not to.

Proximity to central campus.

#2. Proximity to central campus.

As I said before, some people few this distance as a problem, but to me it's just an excuse to get a little bit more exercise. Or alternatively, get a good knowledge of the bus system. It takes approximately fifteen minutes to walk to the quad from Tri. The quad is surrounded by most of the classroom buildings. The Bone Student Center, Health Services, Watterson Towers, and Milner Library and all mere minutes from the quad. There is a Red Bird Express bus that leaves Tri Towers every seven minutes. Even in the winter, getting to class is never a problem. Also, it helps me feel better about myself when I eat half a dozen cookies in one day. Come on. You know you've done it.

Everybody!

Those of you who aren't athletes are probably wondering why you would want to live in Tri. I personally am not an athlete. I love it here for other reasons.

#1. The food.

Linkins Dining Center is notorious for having some of the best food on campus. There is a never ending supply of burgers, fries, salads, pasta, cereal, cookies, ice cream, soda, pizza and everything else in between. Watterson has all of this, too, but EVERYONE goes to Watterson to eat. It is always super crowded and thus the food is cooked super fast. Somewhere in there it just loses its greatness. Also, the people that work at Linkins are the best. There are always events going on and they go all out. It won a price for having the best homecoming decorations. Even when it's packed, the people are always friendly.

Athletes

Tri is pretty close to a lot of good resources for students; especially athletes. This is mainly because most of the sports fields and arenas are located right next to the towers. Red Bird Arena houses Girls' Basketball, Boys' Basketball, and Volleyball. It is right in front of Wilkins Hall. Hancock Stadium is where the Football team plays. It is connected to Horton Field House, home of the athletics department here at Illinois State. These are both right next to Red Bird Arena and in front of Haynie Hall. Various other athletic-type things are really close, too. There's the track, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, etc. There's also a sand volleyball court in the court yard between Haynie and Wilkins. All-in-all, athletes should seriously consider living in one of the Tri Towers.

Tri Towers!!!

Illinois State University has a number of residence hall communities. The most famous is, of course, Watterson Towers. It and its twenty-eight stories have made it known as one of the tallest residence halls in the world. There is also south side. It consists of Hamilton, Whitten, Atkin and Colby. However, after this school year they will not be used as residence halls anymore. Next is Hewitt and Manchester. There's not really much to say about them. They aren't awful, but they aren't fantastics.

The last community is, as you may have guessed, Tri Towers. The Tri Towers community consists of three towers. Shocking, right? Their names are Wilkins, Wright and Haynie. Each tower has the exact same set up. They are all connected above ground and below by what is called Linkins. The Tri Towers are relatively far from the center of campus. This makes many students believe that Tri Towers is not a desirable place to spend two semesters. There are a few aspects of the community that could make it undesirable; however, overall it is a great place to live.