At the end of our season, we had a banquet. We gave out awards to sum up funny incidents and celebrate unique personalities and contributions to team atmosphere. We ate at Masala, a Vegetarian Indian Cuisine restaurant.
A couple of months back I decided that I wanted to run for the University of Iowa’s Student Government!
Lucky for me I had some friends who were willing to help me out and help me get started. Once I joined a party, the “I Party” and campaign dates began, I was in a whole new world. I met some new people along the way and said, “vote I party” more times than I think I have ever said my name in the past couple of years! Haha, I had a great time and went to a lot of really cool events. It was a good experience for me to publicly state what platform I agreed with the most and explain to people why that is. It was a great opportunity for me to learn how to better communicate just why I believed or thought a certain way. During this time frame, I spoke with a lot of my friends on what is important to them, and to say the least I received a lot of very interesting responses. 🙂
In the end I was elected as a senator for the 2012-2013 term for UISG.
Even more recently, I was elected as Diversity Committee Chair. So basically, I now have a title that goes with what I like to do in my free time anyway.
I am excited for this upcoming year and I look forward to working with everyone on my committee and contributing to an even better University of Iowa community and experience.
As for freshman, there are still spots open for freshmen senators, so if you’re interested please let me know!
Luckily for me I only have 3 finals.
I had every intention to begin studying for my finals a week before, however, that was really hard for me to do considering the following.
Lets face it… we need our caffeine and we need it CHEAP!
Come to terms with the fact that even your coolest friends can’t hang until 5 am!
The only thing negative about the beautiful weather at the end of a Spring Semester at college, is the sole fact that it is beautiful weather. Who in their right mind (and this is subject to anyone during finals week!) would want to be inside slaving away at practice problems inside a text book when the sun is shining? Not I! So make a promise to yourself. Say, “Self, You have to study your textbook (not FACEbook) for an hour and a half and then you can go out side and play a game of frisbee or sunbathe” It works. I promise 🙂
I am not for sure who came up with the idea to bring dogs into the Main Library and have them available to play with stressed students, but it is absolutely GENIUS! Sadie and Garbo and I became really close! If your school doesn’t bring the dogs to you, go volunteer at an animal shelter for an hour or two.
Not everyone can afford to do this, but it is a really nice break 🙂
You can go out and treat yourself with a couple of your good friends, try to avoid talking about the tests you have around the corner for once and instead talk about your summer plans!
Or if your budget is tight like mine, you can go around campus seeking out all of the free food!
The CAB organization has provided all of the late night studiers an option to have a few minutes of AMAZING with professional masseurs.
If you study in the Iowa Memorial Union (like the rest of the world) it will be easy for you to relax and recuperate with a FREE massage every night of finals week in Hubbard Commons from 9:00pm-midnight. I go every night!
Your membership to the the new Recreational Center is included in your tuition. What better time to put your bucks to your benefit?
Earlier this evening a couple of friends (from my dance team!) went to the Rec Center and had about a half hour of jacuzzi time and about 10 minutes in the steam room. We left feeling absolutely amazing and stress free. However, it does make you feel so soothed that you may want to go straight to bed. I highly recommend doing this at the end of your study day and since the hot tub is open from 6am until 10pm you have some time. 🙂
Lastly,
You feel more confident when you feel well put together. 🙂 Dress for Success!
Good Luck!
Some of you may already know, but I have a crush on (arguably) the best Hawkeye Spirited athlete on campus——> HERKY.
As you can see…we finally had our moment together : )
Maybe one day we will surely go on a date, where Herky can share with me all of it’s experiences and life stories as a lifetime Hawkeye!
Who doesn’t love a hard worker? Herky performs at 300+ Community Service events per year—BEAT THAT! 🙂
As a college student all you need in life is Ramen Noodles, coffee, Shin Noodles (to spice it up a little bit), more coffee, easy mac, and more coffee (just in case you didn’t understand it the first time I said it 😉
The Spring Festival!!! It’s the biggest holiday in China and many other Asian countries!
This year at the University of Iowa, I finally had the chance to learn more about this Chinese New Year that I have heard so much about.
AWESOME! Is the word I would use to describe it! Although what I experienced here was not even a fraction of what is actually done to celebrate this magnificent holiday in it’s homeland or in U.S. metropolitan areas heavily populated with people of Asian decent, I still learned a lot and I had a nice introduction to the culture and traditions behind THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON! 🙂
Here is a picture of my friend Gisela hookin’ herself up with some Chinese dumplings and sauce! At the business building there were assorted Chinese dumplings, miso soup, and cute deep red envelopes. Earlier in the year I was dating a Chinese international student and he informed me of some of the traditions associated with the Lunar New Year. One thing that he said is that they eat dumplings as a good luck charm (or something like that), oranges are also seen as good fortune during the New Year.
A friend of mine asked me if my dance team, Iowa Andhi, would be interested in performing in front of 500 people. And of course I said Heck Yes! So, sure enough we were performing at the Chinese Student Scholars Association’s Spring Festival Gala. During this event both English and Chinese were spoken (Talk About Immersion!), people sang, danced, and did magic tricks.
My dance team was the first to perform, and while we were upstairs in the Iowa Memorial Student Union rehearsing, I remembered that there was a concert about to go down on the 2nd floor. Soo… during water break I ran down to the second floor only to find the band still setting up. I shared with TBD that I had a performance tonight so I couldn’t come to the concert, but that only means that they must come back and they HAVE to take a picture with me for good luck! They agreed! So here is my picture with Tim Be Told! ::))) #GEEKED!
There was also an event that I could not go to because I had class, but here is the brochure.
This upcoming Friday me and the girls will be performing at the Vietnamese Student Association’s Lunar New Year Celebration.
Here is the Facebook event! It should be awesome! 🙂
What is FAFSA anyway?
This semester was not my best semester as far as grades go. 🙁 I will share that right now, however, I did learn a lot about myself and my study habits.
Kyra’s Do’s and Don’ts
Don’t Study in your Dorm Room
I often say to myself, “Self, just go to your dorm so you can get your Japanese homework done there.”
That is a HUGE LIE. I usually get to my dorm, decide I am hungry, start cooking and then tell myself that I will start my homework after I get done cooking. In reality the only thing I end up doing after I eat is sleep. Which brings me to my next lesson…
Do Not Order Jimmy’s/Papa’s/Hut/or Pit Whenever You Feel Like it
This may seem like the obvious to you, but for whatever reason last semester, I ordered a meal (sometimes 2) every night and it used up a lot of my money! I ate pita pit and papa johns at least ten times a week!! The solution to this is, use your meal plans first, and come home at a decent time to cook dinner before going back out to study. One could also convince their friends that they are hungry too, so that they split the bill with you 😉
Do Stay Up and Get The Last Bit of Homework Done- BEFORE You Go To Bed
One too many times last semester I had just a little bit of homework left… just a little bit and I would put it off until the following morning. I did this, knowing my habit of BARELY waking up on time and hitting the snooze button like it was saving lives with every press. Lesson Learned… get it done BEFORE I go to bed… it’s not that hard.
Do Go Over Your Class Notes Every Night
I mean really Kyra, why do you write all of those notes during class, if you are never going to look at them again? Its a waste of paper!!! Look over all of your class notes every night, that will help you retain the information! DO IT !
Do Not Start on Your Homework at 11:00pm if it is due at Midnight!
Get it done before then, enough said.
Do make space in your daily schedule to study.
All last semester, the only time I had available to study was after 8:00 pm. Although I am a night owl, this was only enough time to get my homework done and get to bed. Late at night just wasn’t the best STUDY time.
Well, there you have it.
I will do some more reflecting and see what other things I need to keep on my forefront as the next semester begins.
Hey Friends,
I know it has been a while since my last blog post… but be sure that I am out doing interesting things that I will later blog about in the near future!
I love the commentary and feedback I received from the last few blogs.
Currently I am eating leftover subway, facebooking and writing a speech in Japanese.
My roommate Kristy is on her bed studying for her Chinese test tomorrow.
Recently, I was just crowned Miss Greater Des Moines! 🙂 Kind of Cool, ya?
Among the all of the prizes, I am most excited about the 1000$ scholarship! WOOT WOOT!
When students are looking for ways to help pay for college I want to encourage the ladies to not forget about pageant scholarships. It sounds weird but it is definitely a possibility and who knows, you might be surprised, have a lot of fun, and meet some really awesome people. I did.
For all of you who are interested in the many things that the University of Iowa has to offer, but there is just one concern that you have concerning being a minority.
As some would assume, I am African American plus a mixture of about 4 other races/ethnic backgrounds. However, African American is what I identify with in the quick scheme of things.
Q. Are there any black people there?
A. Yes, I am black, and I am here 🙂 There are other students of color that attend the University.
Q. Are there a lot?
A. In comparison to other races, no, not really. This is a really big university that is predominantly white. However, you shouldn’t let that discourage you, the black population here on campus is really involved and all over the place! 🙂 Check out this page on Fall 2010 Diversity Demographics.
For a comprehensive list of University diversity resources, please visit:
http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/diversity/index.html
There is a website that is home to collective essays written by black students on campus. The focus of the essays are NOT college life, but just about educating people by using historical events to shed light on present and future events. Occasionally things will come up about college life here, so it is an interesting place to go for perspectives on the issue of diversity.
Here is the link:
http://www.youngblackeducated.com/2011/11/why-do-black-women-get-no-love-in-iowa.html
We at Young, Black & Educated wholeheartedly believe that knowing our
history is the only way we can navigate our future. By engaging and having those
conversations that many people are afraid to have we wish to promote a free and
equal society.
I think the website creates some very interesting dialogue, I also think that it discusses some very controversial topics, and gives everyone something to think harder about. For example; Q&A: “Black Men’s Obsession with White Women” is a topic of an article and so is, “Troy Davis Execution: Georgia Pardons Board Denies Plea for Clemency .”
These articles represent some of the very diverse thinking of a small group of students at Iowa and their opinions are definitely interesting and worth the read.
Also, for incoming students check out: http://iowaedge.uiowa.edu/
