Many students—and probably residents and parents also—think Muncie
is a boring little town with few things to do. 
I even have a professor who claims Muncie is the “best place to study in
the world because there are no distractions.” 
Muncie is seen as a quiet little town in east-central Indiana, and some
would translate that to mean “BOR-RING.”

While this is true on a certain level since Muncie is by no
means a large city like Chicago or Indianapolis, I’ve found plenty of things to
distract me from my school work, and I discover even more fun things when I’m
feeling creative. 

I started attending Natural Resources Club when I was a
sophomore simply because there seemed to be a handful of people I knew at the
meetings and I rarely wanted to do homework on a Thursday night.  I’m glad I did.  NRC has possibly the most interesting club
activities at Ball State (unless you’re in Fencing Club or whatever group
organizes this–see below–every week). 

Last year NRC went spelunking in Bloomington, IN, which is
another one of those really cool things everyone should do before they
die.  We had a ton of fun exploring the
caves, spent some time cleaning graffiti, and camped that night next to a
lake.  The whole experience was super fun
and a great change-of-pace from college life.  I think we’re planning on taking another spelunking trip this year, possibly in the spring.  The nice thing about spelunking is that it’s an all-season sport.  The temperature is always constant, so once you’re underground you don’t have to worry about weather limitations.  The best part is crawling through the earth and getting SUPER dirty. 

Last weekend I went canoeing and camping with the NRC.  I was surprised at how close the boat launch place was to Ball State; we drove about 10 minutes to get to the canoes.  My friend and I decided to canoe ten miles down the
White River, which was low and lazy.  It
gently carried us and the rest of the club past Mounds State Park and some
beautiful scenery.  We passed one or two
fishermen, and one brilliant guy who was basking in the sun with a book in his
arms.  We had to get out of the boat only once to walk it over some really shallow water, and we got stuck on some rocks for a while, but overall we did a great job (my friend did all of the work, to be honest).  The whole trip took about four hours.  We passed the time by talking and sharing riddles.  It kind of made me think of the scene in The Hobbit

where Bilbo and Gollum are having a riddle-duel. . . except my life was by no means on the line.  

After canoeing, we set up camp on
the river, built a fire, and played Frisbee. 
We had fun making the fire ridiculously huge and warm, although we forgot to bring lawn chairs to sit around the fire.  We ended up sitting on logs, which limited our fuel ever so slightly.  The whole trip was pretty chill, and I felt refreshed (though smokey)
when I returned home.

Point being, Muncie does have some fun activities to offer its residents.  If you’re having trouble finding something exciting to do with your time (be it spare time or homework time), I suggest joining a club that does something you’re interested in.  Then just go to their activities and meetings.  You’ll be surprised at what you can get yourself into.  Not to mention, you’ll likely meet people who are interested in the same things you are who could become some of your best friends.