Rose Avenue Residence Hall: What's it like?

Last semester, the Southeast Neighborhood got a premium upgrade with the opening of the Restaurants at Woodland and with the new undergrad residence hall, Rose Residence Center. Rose consists of four floors, three of which are the actual coed resident living floors. Rose took about a year and half to complete, and is able to house 450 students. Last February, the Indiana Daily Student had the opportunity to talk to the University Architect of IU-Bloomington, and who said that the designs of Rose were based on four principles: "Community, sustainability, technology and flexibility."

After going through recruitment this year, I talked to many young women that happened to live in Rose. Many of the conversations began with them telling me that they initially wanted to live in the Northwest neighborhood, and had preferred living in Northwest, but were then placed in Rose. "Well, how do you like it?" The answer was always the same: "Oh, I love it!" And they would go into how they've made so many friends on their floor and how it was like a tight-knit family. My friend Melanie, a resident of Rose, gave me a tour of the new building (She also gave our current IU President, Michael McRobbie, a tour of the building and her dorm room, no big deal.), and I could see why so many people tell me it's easy to make friends on the floor! 

There's a few lounge areas throughout the floor where I'm told that students watch IUBB or study together for K201. 

Another perk that definitely adds to the community aspect is their lovely kitchen, especially right next to the lounge with the TV.

Rose has many areas for students to refill their water bottles. Rooms and areas also have automatic lights, and there's a recycling bin in every room. Rose tries to put on a lot of recycling competitions throughout the residence hall to put an emphasis on the importance of recycling!

In Rose, there's a nice and cozy computer lab where students can study. Students have access to Macs, PCs and printers in the lab. Another great technological feature that's unique is their ID scanners. For safety reasons, there's ID scanners to access all residence rooms, the elevator, and other certain rooms. Many students like this feature because not only do they feel secure in their res hall, but it's also less fuss when it comes to getting into their building and room, all they have to do is hold their ID up to the scanner.

Last, but definitely not least: Flexibility. Wow. If you're the kind of person who's always super busy, Rose is a nice place to live as it has everything you would need to get stuff done without going too far.

Rose has a Movies, Music & More room where they have movies and music to rent. Other fun perks of Rose is their game room that consists of a pool table, their gym and their awesome basketball court.

It takes about <15 minutes to walk from Rose to Ballantine! (For other walking distances and times, visit IU RPS.) 

And finally, Rose has some classrooms in the building, so it's super possible to have a lecture scheduled there. I currently have U450: Foundations in Residential Leadership in a classroom at Rose, and it's a super nice classroom. It's also incredibly convenient because Rose has a mini cafe where they sell coffee, juices, sandwiches, bagels, muffins, desserts and fruit. Oh yeah, and I guess they also have an AMAZING, BRAND NEW RESTAURANT FOR STUDENTS RIGHT NEXT DOOR. The Restaurants at Woodland in Forest Quad.

With Rose, there's many room options between a single room with private bath, double suite where you share a bathroom with another person, or just a double room. 

Melanie lives in a double suite, so when she scans her ID to her suite, the door opens to a bathroom area that she shares with her suite mate. There's a sink to her left, and the door (yes, you can lock it) to the shower and toilet is to your right. The two doors as seen above are the doors to each person's bedroom. Each bedroom comes with a desk, a closet and a twin bed. All rooms have air conditioning.

Any students who would like to share their experience with Rose Apartments? Write in to We Are IU!