{"id":96,"date":"2025-12-03T14:34:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T14:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.admissions.uiowa.edu\/emily\/?p=96"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:30:00","slug":"a-foggy-frantic-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.admissions.uiowa.edu\/emily\/2025\/12\/03\/a-foggy-frantic-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"A Foggy, Frantic Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy November, Hawkeyes!<\/span><\/p>\n

Though fall \u201cbreak\u201d hasn\u2019t proven to be as much of a break from schoolwork as I had hoped (I still need to write that essay and finish that project!), it did allow me to see my parents again for the first time since August. While I suppose it\u2019s only been a few months, I feel like I\u2019ve been separated from my family for way longer and am very thankful that they were able to visit me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a catch to my fall break: I get to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, but not in Virginia. Thus, last Friday began our first-ever time celebrating Turkey Day\u2013or in this case, Turkey Week\u2013in the state of Iowa. I figured I would share both what I am grateful for and <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>grateful for about this experience:<\/span><\/p>\n

Grateful: Molly\u2019s Cupcakes still having a location in Des Moines\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

For those who never toured Iowa City in the olden days (last August) before \u201cMolly\u2019s Cupcakes\u201d shut down, their rich brown butter frosting and decadent desserts were a sweet staple of campus. Fortunately, we had time to go to the Des Moines shop on our way to the city. Biting my sweet tooth into one of those long-awaited cupcakes was a delicious reunion <\/span>that I doubt any slice of pumpkin pie can beat.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Not grateful: the gloomy fog & looming winter storms<\/b><\/p>\n

I have never <\/span>encountered something quite as moody as Midwestern weather. One minute will be a sunny 70 degrees, and the next will have a frosty, knifelike chill. The wind gusts these past couple days have been vicious enough to slam car doors on their own, apparently reassuring my mom\u2013who is originally from Indiana\u2013that she made the right choice moving to the temperate East Coast. The forecast is also predicting single-digit temperatures and thick blankets of snow starting soon. So, even though my parents were initially intending to stay a full week and even travel with me to Kansas City for the Christmas lighting, all of those plans have been wiped out by the weather. They will now be heading home early, and I\u2019ll be back in the dorm early. I won\u2019t lie, the solemn mask of fog over the world makes the idea of being in a nearly-empty building feel especially lonesome. Hey, I guess I do have those essay deadlines to keep me company, though.<\/p>\n