Keep cool at the pool

In his poem “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruelest month. Well, I’m going let you in on a little secret: T.S. Eliot was wrong.

Without a doubt, July and August are the cruelest months. The temperature pushes 100 degrees on many days, and the humidity is so thick the air is like juice.

During these two months of the year, I find just about any excuse I can to stay inside, because as much as I enjoy being outside, looking like a hot, sweaty mess is not terribly flattering or comfortable.

Usually I can rely on my trusty old friend, the air conditioner, to keep me company on these warm summer days, but recently our friendship has been forced apart by the recession. More and more people have been trying to save a penny here or there by using electric fans.

While the idea of fans seems nice, in reality all you’re doing is blowing the hot air around.

So this summer I have had to find more inventive ways to cool myself down. The best solution I’ve found is an old classic: swimming.

Swimming is a great way to cool off and get a little sun on these muggy Indiana days. And in Bloomington, there are many options when it comes to swimming.

For starters, students surely know about the IU Outdoor Pool, a pool set apart by its diving boards. As a child, I took diving lessons there, and I vividly remember the nightmares that followed my belly-flop off the second platform.

Off campus, there is an array of places to go swimming that many students might not know about or venture to try.

A common pool hot spot in B-town is the Bryan Park Pool. This pool offers the best water slides in Bloomington and a great diving well. The only turn-off is the children. Bryan Park Pool is very family friendly, and a lot of kids frequent this pool. But if you can manage the kid-infested waters, a sweet water slide could be in your future.

Another great place is Lake Monroe, which has a couple of beaches where guests can relax. These beaches are generally less crowded than the pools, simply because the lake is a little further away from downtown. However, going to the lake is the only way to experience sand between toes as a student.

Those who have seen “Breaking Away” know that occasionally groups of students will brave the waters of the quarries. While I have never done this, I know many who have.

However, I have known of several kids that have died jumping into a quarry. With the extreme risk and the increased patrol of the popular quarry areas, I would suggest a different form of summer enjoyment.

So whether you feel like floating alongside kids, zipping down a water slide or digging your feet into the sand, there is more than one option to cool yourself down during these unbearably hot Indiana summers.