First Post from Daum Hall

Hey all! Well, here I sit in my dorm room in Iowa City. I've had an amazing, frightening, interesting, exhausting, and exhilarating few days since moving in four short days ago.

Let's start with the basics:

1. My dorm room is awesome. We essentially have a triple for only two people, meaning we have three closets. For those of you who know me well, you can only imagine how excited this makes me. My roommate and I were going to share the extra closet of course, but she didn't have anything to put in it so I sure as heck was able to fill it up! (My roommate is also great!)

2. I've already been to class! Yes, that's right. The same day I moved in I was sitting in class that afternoon for Honor's Primetime. I earned one semester hour of honors credit by participating in a three day intensive workshop. My unit was "Destination Midwest: Immigration and Migration"and it was fascinating. I'm so glad I already have had such a positive in-class experience! I even met a good friend, Emily.

3. I've already completed a presentation! (IN FRONT OF 300+ people) Yay Global Ed! Thanks to you GE, I had no problem speaking in front of the entire group of Honors students on behalf of the "Destination Midwest" group. I comfortably represented my group of 25 students during our presentation with 3 of my new peers :)

4. Tomorrow is the first Service Saturday! I can't wait to get involved with outreach on campus. Tomorrow morning we will make cards for the children's hospital in Iowa City. Thanks to a rather harsh quote I recently found, I'm more motivated to help others than ever. "Children die every day because millions of us tell ourselves that caring is just as good as doing. It's an internal mechanism controlled by the lazy part of your brain to keep you from actually doing work." Challenge yourself to get out there and do some good for those of us we "care" so much about. 

5. Tonight I went inside Kinnick Stadium for the first time. Not only did I go inside, but I stood on the field to form the giant block "I" with my peers for the next four years. I also hugged our adorable mascot Hurkey and got my first picture with him. I already feel the Hawkeye pride growing inside me :)

6. I've rode the buses enough that I'm starting to feel comfortable with them. With my sense of direction, this is a HUGE accomplishment. 

Clearly it has been an outstanding, memorable few days. I'm so happy with my school decision, and am eager to really begin my life as an Iowa Hawkeye. Many of my doubts have drifted away over the past few days, but some still remain. My first ounce of homesickness kicked in today. Mainly because back home Jackie, my life long dance teacher got married. I'm so excited for her and would have loved to be there to celebrate the momentous occasion. I also have a sense of loneliness as I am surrounded by 5,000 other students and have yet to make many friends that I have really connected with. I have undeniably met lots of awesome people and made some friends, but not many that I can foresee myself being friends with for a long time. I'm sure I will make lots of friends down the road, but for now I'm missing my friends and family back home. Hopefully when classes start I will meet some awesome people who share my driven priorities. 

Let's all hope the unfamiliar faces turn into the faces of new friends in the next few weeks for me. For now it's time to embrace everything Freshman year has to offer. Keep following my journey here :)  Until next time, goodnight Iowa City!