I'm involved with the soccer team. Most campuses I get the impression that football and basketball are the most popular sports, in terms of how good they are and the number of fans. At Mac the best and most popular games are actually the soccer games! Our football team got kicked out of our conference because they are so bad. Our women's basketball team recently had to end the season early and forfeit the remaining games because they only started out with 7 players, and lost 3 to injury. Macalester's not exactly the most athletic bunch in the jock sort of way. Frisbee is more up our alley and hiking and biking.
Students in the dorms often leave their doors open.
For my main dating scene comment see the Big Picture section. I'll add here that Mac students don't really date. They hook up or they magically become a couple with no dating involved. I'm still a little confused about how it works and I guess I'll never figure it out exactly...
I met my closest friends because they lived on my floor when I was a first year. And let me just say it's scary how true that is for so many people. They're still best friends with the person who lived next door to them their first year.
2am on a Tuesday, I am writing a paper.
A nice tradition that's started up when I was a first year actually is called Founder's Day. It's the celebration of Macalester's birthday. It's a campus wide "party" or as close as we get. Everyone's invited. Everyone dresses up. Most of Mac's cool music groups, like a cappella and assorted jazz ensembles play music, and over 21s get two free drinks. Students, faculty, staff, everyone comes and it's very festive. It started out the first year a little "formal" and less of a fiesta, but I think it's settled into something everyone thinks is fun, no matter what they spend their time doing - mingling, drinking, listening to music, playing music, gossiping about clothes, etc.
Partying: Some people freak out when they're first years and party all the time, but really scale back by the time they're seniors. Some people start out barely partying, but once they're 21 realize they are unable to drink soda without anything else in it. Some folks study hard and party hard, and that's all they seem to do. Some folks are huge pot heads, but not exactly "partiers". Some people spread out their drinking to twice a monthish. And some don't drink at all.
We don't have frats and sororities (of course).
I really like to see live music. Most touring bands come through Minneapolis. Plus there's a thriving local scene. Mac also has almost weekly music performances of some sort. On a related note, the Current 98.3 is the best radio station I've ever listened to.
Other than the music, if you don't want to drink, you can watch movies with friends, chill at nearby coffeehouses, bake something, go for a walk. It's really up to you to be creative whether it involves drinking or not, right?