Odds are that most people who attend Purdue University know one or two people who attend the latter: Indiana University. Especially if you are from around the area, you may have close friends that attend IU as well, and these may be best friends, close acquaintances or significant others. With the relationship definitely comes an array of struggles because of the infamous and extreme rivalry between the two state schools. Here are some seriously relatable and significant struggles that come with being close to someone/many people who attend IU or are die hard IU fans:
1. The disappointment of move-in day.
Getting to be together with your friends all summer while you are all home is absolutely fantastic, until the day that must come: move-in day. The saddest part about move-in day is knowing that your friend will be traveling to Bloomington while you are headed to West Lafayette. Although you know the day will come all summer, it is still the largest disappointment knowing that you won't be able to see each other everyday once school starts again.
2. People always describing your relationship as a "friendship divided."
Whenever someone asks you about your high school friends and where they are at in life now, you immediately get the response of, "Ohhh friendship divided!" Actually, no, we are not divided. We just attend different universities, but thank you for your concern.
3. Being told that nobody attends Purdue except engineers and farmers.
"Why would you choose Purdue over IU? Isn't that school only for engineers and farmers?" Nope. There's actually 40,000 people who attend Purdue with varying majors from Science to English.
4. Being told, "Yeah she goes to Purdue, but I guess we will still love her."
This is a statement I have received a lot, and although they say it in a joking manner, I don't understand why it is necessary to say at all. You guess? Didn't realize my college decision was the end-all-be-all of our relationship.
5. Being the odd man out at hometown gatherings because the majority go to IU.
This is actually terrible because there are always arguments that are started, or even worse, the IU students talk about IU the entire time.
6. Every time you wear a Purdue shirt to their house you receive dirty looks.
It is as if they didn't know you attend Purdue and would only own Purdue shirts. I will not compromise my wardrobe just to come over and hang out for a few hours, so you better enjoy staring at my black and gold.
7. Seeing the exact same Snapchat stories whenever IU has any function.
Party? Concert? Football game? No matter the occasion, whenever I get on Snapchat I somehow close the app feeling as though I attend IU...and that is scary.
8. Feeling as though you're always being one-upped (but not actually being one-upped).
Sometimes I feel as though IU students think that they attend the only school that has cool parties. Wrong. Whenever I want to have a conversation about the amazing things that I experience at Purdue I always get replies such as, "Oh well we party after class on Fridays," "Oh well we have Little 5," and "Oh well we had Post Malone come to our school." While these are all fun and exciting events, Purdue has the same amount of similar occasions.
9. The ugly feud when there is a Purdue v. IU sporting event.
Sometimes these can actually be really fun and intense until someone loses. There is never an end to the "remember when we played you guys in football and won?" comments.
10. Always hearing the comeback, "Well, at least we have banners."
Look, this is great. You have banners on your wall in Assembly, but I have heard this statement at least 34,000 times and it gets extremely redundant. Purdue's basketball team was way better than IU's team last year, and yet, IU fans still felt the need to reply with this statement, a statement that has been used for ages. The highlight of my year was when Purdue beat IU in Mackey Arena for the B1G Championship title, so screw your banners.
Obviously, being friends with an IU student/fan can come with its many struggles, but there is a reason you were friends with them in the first place. Friendships and relationships are much stronger and meaningful than a little Indiana state college rivalry. Next time you feel the urge to argue about the Hoosiers versus Boilermakers, swallow the savagery and embrace your differences!
