Aug
21
First Day as a Hawkeye!
Posted in General
Yesterday was my very first full day as a Hawkeye, and I am absolutely loving it. My bunk bed is surprisingly comfortable and if I kick off the comforter and just sleep with the sheet it is not too hot either. I’m still on English time so it feels like 1pm when I wake up rather than 7am, but it is really nice getting a lie in and being able to watch the sunrise as well. It also means I get the bathroom to myself which was nice. I’m still not convinced about communal bathrooms, the showers are literally cubicles with a curtain across the entrance and then another halfway through to separate the shower area from your clothing. On the plus side they are lovely and hot as well as powerful, not a luxury you always get in British Student Accommodation. I did make the mistake of leaving my slippers on the floor rather than putting them in my clothes bag which resulted in sopping wet slippers. But as it is fabulously warm here, after an hour on my window sill they were good as new. I made my first cup of tea in my microwave; it’s really not great but needs must and it’s far better than making coffee (note to self – buy instant coffee not filter coffee, they are not interchangeable and you do not get the same results at all.) While having my breakfast, I watched the American students that were moving in early. They have an unbelievable amount of things! They were using these ginormous carts and those bag trolleys that you find in posh hotels in order to shift their things from the car park into the halls. My suitcase, which I had originally viewed as obscenely large, looked pathetically small in comparison.
My little suitcase that I fit a year’s worth of things into.
After breakfast, my fellow Brit from my University in Hull joined me for a bit. It is really nice having at least one familiar face here. We both agreed that the occasional sirens whizzing past on the nearby road make it feel like we never left Hull, where we lived on the main road that leads to the hospital. It’s nice having those little reminders of home. I’m also quite enjoying the fact his Yorkshire Accent keeps making appearances – a bit of home in the middle of America.
We went to the International Student Welcome Ceremony in the Iowa Memorial Union. I certainly felt in the minority. Most of the students were from China and Japan, some from Korea, about 6 from Brazil, a couple from Australia and a few very loud Scotsmen. We had four hours of Orientation, which did feel a bit long towards the end; there were three guys from China sat next to me and they fell asleep on each other towards the end which isn’t surprising as a lot of the students had come straight from the airport. On the plus side they broke up the talk with a Cookie break. Warm cookies with the chocolate still melting were brought out by the tray load and served with lemonade, water and iced tea – which I was very surprised to realise is literally cold tea, not like Lipton’s Iced Tea at all. The speakers – a mixture of staff and domestic students – were all really enthusiastic and friendly. We were taught the cheer required for the football games which was fun and we had a very amusing skit that helped to explain the best way to interact with domestic students. Apparently not being punctual is seriously frowned upon. I’m going to have to work hard on that!
When I returned to the Quad I met some of the girls I’ll be living with this year. They seem nice and I hope I’ll get to know them better over the coming months. They swapped ghost stories and offered forth the obligatory haunted story required for all residence halls. Our ghost is called Nan apparently and she likes to open Fire Exits from the outside. She sounds nice too. I couldn’t stay too long with them because I am trying this new approach to University and getting involved with everything I can, which is why I ended up on the Pentacrest behind the Old Capitol Building at the International Student Welcome Night. There was a mixture of American and foreign students. They were playing Frisbee (very seriously I might add, I never realised it was such a competitive sport!) and people were just chatting and the very lovely co-ordinator of the event was handing out Frozen Yoghurt vouchers. People are surprisingly forward here which confuses my British sensibilities no end. I met a second year student who was really chatty and approachable and who almost immediately asked if I’d like to go get ‘FroYo.’ At first I thought she meant in the near future but soon realised that she meant immediately. So we went and I tried the most delicious frozen coconut yoghurt that I covered in fresh blueberries and mango sauce. It tasted like the Caribbean. I loved it. As part of the forwardness, I have noticed Americans add people on Facebook really quickly. I soon found myself scrolling through the girl’s Facebook trying to locate the right Megan Taylor for her to add, and I now know that there is a ridiculous number of Megan Taylors in the world. 5 minutes later I was still scrolling.
The Old Capitol Building
The event on the Pentacrest was really great because it gave me a chance to see some of the university and the city. It is beautiful, there are green spaces all over with flowers and trees and water features in the street that light up and small children like to run through trying to avoid the jumping water. The river is one of my favourite things about the city. I have to walk over it in order to reach all the University buildings. It is so picturesque. The buildings themselves look like brand new stately homes they are that grand. It was such a good day which I finished by consuming a really tasty ‘grilled cheese sandwich’ or cheese toastie as I’d call it, while walking back through the city to the halls.
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