How to Adjust to Life on a Big Campus

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One of the best parts about the University of Iowa is how big the campus is. But depending on the person, that might also be the scariest part about UI. And while a big campus isn’t for everyone, there are ways to make it feel a bit smaller and more like home. Here are a few:

  1. When you come to campus, try to quickly learn the bare minimum about campus. Get familiar with where your dorm, the dining hall, and your classes are. You can take the time to figure out other important buildings and locations later, but getting these few places memorized will make your day-to-day routine much less stressful.

  2. Find a good study spot you can rely on. There are a million places to study on campus, but just try to find one good, reliable place you can escape to where you can relax and get some work done. 

  3. Stay out of your dorm room as much as you can for the first few weeks of college. It can be really tempting to retreat to your private space when the rest of campus feels alien, but it’s very important to get out as much as possible early on. Spending your early free time walking around campus and getting outside while the weather is nice makes it very easy to make friends and see all of the opportunities the campus has to offer. On the other hand, if you do spend too much time in your room early on, it can be very difficult to get yourself to come OUT of your room.

  4. Find a coffee shop or restaurant downtown that you seem to like and make it a point to visit it frequently. When you add something nice and small to your weekly routine, it will brighten your day and help the new place you’ve found yourself in feel more familiar.

  5. Make friends with people who know the area better than you. They can help show you around the places that you haven’t found the time to explore yet. For example, a guy on my floor showed me a really cool comic book store in Iowa City, and even though I don’t see that guy very often, I stop by that shop all the time, thanks to him.

A big campus definitely has its ups and downs, but even for those who think it might not be their scene, there are lots of ways to adjust to the new setting. For me, one of the best parts about the University of Iowa’s campus is that it becomes familiar to you very quickly, but there is always another cool spot in the area to discover.  🙂

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What to Look For in a Freshman Roommate

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One of the most stressful, unpredictable parts about going to college for the first time is figuring out who you’ll spend your year living with. It’s the first major choice you make once you settle on a college, and it feels like it will have a huge impact on your experience at college. So, here are my tips on finding a roommate for your freshman year.

1) Make a list of the qualities that you value most in a roommate. That could be cleanliness, bedtime, common interests, etc. Then, rank these from most important to least important, and keep them in mind while you search for your roommate. To make this easier, when you commit to UIowa, you have the chance to fill out a questionnaire that will automatically match you with the people you are most compatible with.

2) Join the University of Iowa Class of 2026 Facebook group / Instagram page. Here, you can view people’s profiles and message them much easier than you can on the university’s roommate finder. It’s nice because you can create a post introducing yourself to a lot of people on a platform that everyone is already familiar with.

3) Talk to as many potential roommates as you can, and don’t be afraid to turn people down. Again, this is someone that you’re going to live with for a whole year, so you should feel pretty decent about the choice of roommate you’ve made before you dedicate (This advice also goes the other way around; people may turn YOU down, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you, it might just mean that their lifestyle isn’t super compatible with yours.).

4) Don’t stress yourself out looking for the PERFECT roommate. No matter who ends up as your roommate, they will have quirks that you’ll just learn to live with.

5) Take time to think about how to best introduce yourself to people. Maybe just write a few sentences in your notes app that hit on all sides of your personality. And don’t take it too seriously! People will like you most when you present yourself honestly.

6) Above all else, look for someone who would be a good friend. Being friends with your roommate will make it easy to look past a lot of their faults, as opposed to being stuck with someone you’re not friends with, which can amplify all the things that bother you about them. Plus, it’s really nice to have someone that you can see every night that you feel like you can be yourself around.

Bonus tip: Relax! Most people don’t continue living with their first roommate after freshman year. Even if you’re not super happy with the person you’re living with, you have an entire year to meet people that you know could make good roommate(s) for the years to come. It might seem like your roommate will make or break your year, but their role in your life is only as big as you allow it to be.

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Weather OnIowa(!)

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With most of the winter finally behind us (fingers crossed), I finally feel like I can write about what experiencing the University of Iowa at its hottest and coldest is really like. Coming from Pennsylvania, I expected a climate similar to the one I grew up in when I came to college; hot summers, cold and snowy winters, with plenty of rain and thunderstorms scattered throughout the year. I wasn’t wrong – but I wasn’t right, either.

From what I’ve experienced, the weather in Iowa City is like it’s trying to be extreme at all times. When I moved in during the middle of August, I expected the end-of-summer heat before moving into fall weather for a couple of months, but I completely missed the mark there. It was constantly in the high 90s with humidity through the roof all the way through September. And when it wasn’t deathly hot, it was downpouring. On the morning of my very first day of classes, the thunder and rain were so loud I would’ve believed a Civil War-era cannon was being shot right outside my window. I practically had to swim to class through the knee-deep puddles.

As October settled in, I thought I could finally enjoy some nice fall hoodie weather for a while – but that only lasted ~two weeks. Before I knew it, I was freezing the whole way across campus for the rest of the semester. And when it getss cold in Iowa, it. gets. cold. When I came back for the spring semester, I got used to it feeling like -20 degrees 3-4 times a week. My hands have never been so dry in my life! But at least the city and campus look pretty in the snow.

But by far the most noteworthy aspect of Iowa’s weather is without a doubt the wind. The wind will take a hot day and make it bearable, but Iowa wind on a cold day is insufferable. As an example of just how brutal the wind can be here, finals week of last semester culminated in a tornado drill for all on-campus dorms when winds passed 80 mph. I guess I never realized how nice the mountains in Pennsylvania are for breaking up the wind, because Iowa is as flat as land can be, and the wind definitely proves that.

Iowa definitely gets the widest range of weather I have ever experienced, which can make life on campus pretty interesting. With that being said, it’s finally starting to warm up now, so I’m hoping to move into an early spring, and (once again, fingers-crossed here) some mild weather for once.

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5 Ways I’ve Changed Since Coming to College

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College is known for being a life-changing experience by most standards. The combination of moving out, meeting a TON of new people, living on campus, and studying topics of your choice is bound to change you in some ways, big or small. Now that I’m close(ish) to the end of my freshman year, I feel like I’m finally beginning to take note of the ways I’ve changed since coming to Iowa. Here are 5 of them.

 

  1. I’ve become more responsible (duh). This one is pretty obvious. Living on your own for the first time practically forces you to take on more responsibility. I now have an actual laundry schedule (crazy, right?), as opposed to just doing it whenever my laundry basket begins to overflow. And I’ve actually started using a planner! I always thought that was something for people who had their lives together, but it turns out I can pull it off, too. It sounds stupid to point this change out, but there are a surprisingly high number of people who fall apart when they come to college because they aren’t ready for the responsibility of it. I’m glad I’ve been able to adapt to independence, well… so far, because I have definitely come a long way in that department since high school.
  2. I’ve started to enjoy running again. In high school and junior high, because of the sports I played, I was running year-round at a high intensity. I used to be pretty serious about my athletics, which in turn caused me to get anxious about running – I’d be so focused on performing well that the actual act of running got ruined for me. Lately, however, I’ve picked running up again and have started to realize that I don’t need to make excuses for myself if I’m feeling off. It’s just nice to run again for enjoyment.
  3. I have a better vision of what my future will look like. When I entered college, I knew I wanted to make movies and that I was interested in making space documentaries. Over the time I’ve spent here, however, after talking to and learning from people who have made actual films and done the things I want to do, I’ve begun to realize how I plan to get from being a kid interested in film to a professional director. I’ve also learned a lot about what actually goes into making a film, and how I can make one by myself. It’s nice to finally begin to see a path for myself.
  4. I stay up later. I can’t just make this list about all the ways I’ve changed for the good – there have definitely been a few ways I’ve changed for the worse, and this is one of them. Since a lot of my friends live on the same floor that I do, it’s really easy to get roped into staying up to hang out a little. Plus, when a lot of your classes don’t start until after 10 AM, it’s hard to drive yourself to get out of bed earlier than you need. I’ve been working on fixing this, but with so many midterms to juggle, it’s been difficult to prioritize my sleep.
  5. I’ve started to live in the present more. All my life, I have always been thinking about what my next step will be, how much better life will be in the future, etc. Lately, however, I’ve begun to notice that while thinking ahead is useful, it distracts me from getting to enjoy what I’m living now. There’s a lot that I love about my current lifestyle, and I don’t want to get so caught up in what’s next that I don’t appreciate just being a college kid.

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Attending Iowa as a Film Student

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As my second semester at Iowa really starts getting underway, I thought I’d share a bit of what it’s like to be a film major here. It’s not a very common major at most schools (including Iowa), so I figured I’d give a bit of perspective for those who are wondering what it’s like, especially at the University of Iowa.


I was unsure about whether or not I wanted to be a film major, but I figured I would try it out for my first semester to see if I liked it – and it turned out I did. A LOT. The first class for my major I took was Introduction to Film Analysis, a class that teaches the basics of understanding, analyzing, and critiquing film. It completely changed the way I watch and understand not just movies and TV, but art as a whole – I find myself making interpretations on what the artist’s message is in the books I read and the music I listen to as well. And that is really, really cool. I feel like I can appreciate art now in a way I was never able to before.


The film class I’m taking this semester – Modes of Video and Film Production – is very focused on actually making a film instead of just interpreting it. I’m only a few weeks in, but I’ve been loving it so far. My TA (Teaching Assistant) is Hao Zhou, a grad student who recently won a Student Academy Award for his short film, Frozen Out. It is really cool to be learning from someone who has literally earned an Academy Award for his work, and to actually get to use proper film equipment – real cameras, tripods, audio recorders, and lighting tools as opposed to just my iPhone – is so neat and makes me excited to actually film.


My biggest problem is figuring out what I want to film about – luckily, there is a strong film community in Iowa City to help with that. Just today, I went to a film festival at one of the local theatres to see a handful of short films made by people in the Iowa City area. It was really beneficial to see what kind of work people have done around Iowa City and it made some of the ideas I have for films feel more possible to create while I’m here.

Overall, Iowa is the alma mater of plenty of successful directors and screenwriters, such as Joe Russo of the legendary Russo Brothers. It’s cool to be at a place where I feel like I can learn about and work on film in an environment that promotes so much cinema. If you have any questions pertaining to being a film major or going to UIowa, feel free to reach out to me! 🙂

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The Top 5 BEST Places in Iowa City

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When I was still deciding on where I wanted to go to college, I decided to take a tour of UIowa. While I’d always liked Iowa, I had never seen the campus, so I didn’t have a very good understanding of what school would be like there. After visiting, however, I realized that part of what makes the University of Iowa so great is Iowa City itself.

Iowa City consistently ranks as one of the best college towns in the country, and for good reason. It is the perfect balance of city and town and is connected to the campus, so it’s only a short walk from your dorm. In this post, I’ll rank my top 5 places in Iowa City that made me fall in love with the city (I’ll leave out my favorite places on campus – that could be a whole different post on its own).

#5: Target – I know this may sound like a boring one to start off with, but the Target in downtown Iowa City is amazing. I can’t even count how many times I’ve had to pick up something like hangers, Chapstick, notebooks, or laundry detergent and was so relieved that it was just a 5-minute walk to Target. The Target downtown is the perfect miniature size – it’s 2 stories tall and is just big enough to have pretty much everything you need, but not too big to get carried away (Pro tip: Make sure to get the Target app – for how much you’ll spend there as a student, you get a lot of deals and can earn a lot of loyalty points).

#4: Teemo – Teemo is a bubble tea shop right next to Target, which is directly across from the Pentacrest on campus. Boba is one of my favorite drinks, and Teemo is by far the best tea shop to grab some from in Iowa City. It’s also a nice place to go in and study, do homework, or just relax. They have a giant wall dedicated to sticky notes that customers can draw or write on and hang theirs up, which makes for something really entertaining to look at while you wait for your drink. Overall, it’s definitely worth checking out if you like Boba or any other kind of tea! (Side note: I think writing this entry has convinced me to go grab some Teemo tonight…)

#3: Insomnia Cookies – When I first heard about Insomnia, I didn’t really understand the concept. A cookie store that is open until 3 AM? Why would anybody need cookies that late? And then I got to college, and it completely made sense. There are plenty of nights that you’ll be up late, and maybe you haven’t eaten all day, or just want a reward for staying up late doing work, but all you can think about is downing some cookies. Not only is this place super convenient, but it has a great vibe and is on the same street as Target and Teemo, so it’s not a far walk at all from campus. Definitely check out Insomnia if you get a chance – their ice cream cookie sandwiches are addictive.

#2: The Iowa City Public Library – The Public Library is a place I hadn’t visited up until the start of the Spring semester, but I’ve gone back plenty of times since. I don’t know if it’s just the fact that I came from a really small town where the public library had about 7 shelves of books total, but this place blew me away. It’s multiple floors full of popular, up-to-date books, movies, and video games for you to check out as you please. The inside is full of decorations and rooms to sit down and study or read in a quiet space. There are also plenty of events that go on here, so it’s a place that is not worth missing.

#1: The Pedestrian Mall – The Ped Mall is maybe the most beautiful area of Iowa City. It’s a square right downtown that is full of trees, shade, fountains, art, and events. As you walk down the Ped Mall, you pass by some of my favorite places – a sushi place called Formosa, a theatre called Film Scene, the plant shop… There are plenty of events that go on in the ped mall, too; you can be sure to see dancers, Pride parades, musicians, and artists pretty much anytime the sun is out here. Unfortunately, it’s too cold now to spend much time in the Ped Mall, so I’m counting down the days until spring so I can hang out there again.

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Long Distance Relationships in College

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One of my greatest anxieties as a high school senior was wondering what would happen between my girlfriend and I once we went off to college. While I had chosen Iowa, she chose a school in New York, meaning we would not get the chance to see each other very often. It’s scary to go from seeing each other so often for 3.5 years to once every few months; but after doing long-distance for nearly four months now, I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve realized that it’s not as terrifying as I had expected.

After the first few weeks of long-distance and working through the chaotic, weird phase of trying to figure out how it’s going to work, you’ll start to form a schedule that will become the new normal. You learn each other’s classes and get used to the times when your partner is busy, and take advantage of the free time you both have. For example, my girlfriend chose to study abroad in Italy for her first semester, so we had to get used to a 7-hour time difference. While that was really intimidating, I got used to calling her in the afternoon between some of my classes and wishing her goodnight while the sun was still up in Iowa.

Luckily, now that the world has adjusted to COVID, there are a lot of fun ways to hang out virtually. Watching movies together, playing games online, and sending each other letters are all activities that we’ve been doing often. Of course, it doesn’t feel the same as being with that person, but it’s so much better than being long-distance 30, 10, or even 5 years ago; there are just so many more ways now to spend time together when you’re apart.

Possibly the most annoying part of a long-distance relationship in college is finding a private space to call from. You don’t want to constantly call from your room to bother your roommate, so you have to find some alternative spots. During early fall and late spring, sitting somewhere outside is a convenient option (just bring bug spray), but it gets harder to find somewhere in the winter. Some spots that I’ve found that work for me are stairwells, private study spaces where you won’t bother people (DON’T be that person that calls from a public study space), and empty lounges.

Overall, doing long-distance relationships in college is not easy. There are plenty of times where you’ll feel lonely and be jealous of the couples who get to be together; but if you’re in a relationship you’re happy with, it’s worth putting in the effort. It makes the time you get to spend together feel more valuable and special, and it helps you understand the reasons why you value your relationship. It’s like they always say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  🙂

 

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Going Home For The First Time

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As an out-of-state student, going home isn’t nearly as feasible for me as it is for most people who live within an hour or two from campus. While most of my friends had been able to go home for a weekend here or there, I wasn’t. Until Thanksgiving break, of course.


As much as I love it here, I was really excited to go home; to see my family, my old friends, my new dog, and my hometown. When I was moving in, I told myself that it would only be a few months until I was home again and it would go by fast. I was right; it DID go by fast because I was kept busy with school, events, clubs, etc. But once I got home, it hit me how much time had passed. New billboards were up, all the leaves I grew familiar with had fallen, my local gas station had been renovated, I got new neighbors, and the whole house had been redecorated. As stupid as it sounds, it was shocking how much had changed – when you leave for school, it almost feels like time should freeze back home while you’re gone. But it doesn’t.


I did have homework over break, but it wasn’t much at all. Since Iowa combines its fall break and Thanksgiving break, we start our break before most other schools and get over a week off. I got most of my work done in my first few days back so I could be free for the rest of the week when my friends would get back.


There’s a stark difference between the friends you make at college and the friends you have from home. Something about growing up together makes the friendship different; not necessarily stronger, but just different. This is a topic I could (and probably will) explore in its own post, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s refreshing to see those friends that you’ve known for a long time.


The worst part of Thanksgiving break is that you don’t want to go back to school once it’s over. Not because you don’t like it there, but rather because you know the next couple of weeks are going to suuuuuck. Once December rolls around, it is officially Finals Season – and you’re going to feel exhausted. I most likely won’t cover anything about Finals this semester just because I don’t actually have any in-person finals, so my experience will be different than most. But no matter what your finals schedule looks like, the combination of the grind and burnout is going to make it tough to push through… But before you know it, it will all be over, and you’ll be on your way back home once more. 🙂

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Being an Iowa Honors Student

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The Iowa Honors Program was something that I knew NOTHING about when I was applying. I hadn’t even heard about it until my roommate (who I had just started texting at the time) told me he was a part of it. I looked it up and found out that applications for the Honors Program were due. that. day.

I grinded an essay out and turned it in about half an hour before the deadline. I’m still convinced that I was the last person to submit an application. Luckily, I got accepted a week or two later and began to learn about what the program offers.

The Honors Program encourages students to take advantage of their time on campus and do more than just average classwork. You’re required to complete a certain amount of experiential learning – basically, things like research, internships, study abroad, etc. It’s a great reason to do things that are both interesting and progressing your career.

Honors students get priority when it comes to choosing classes, too. You’ll have a better chance of getting the classes you want each semester if you’re in Honors.
You also get the option to live in special housing for freshman Honors students in Daum Hall. At first, the idea of living in Daum can be off-putting to some people; I mean, who wants to live with a bunch of nerds?

A lot of people are afraid that they won’t make friends in Daum because they imagine Honors students to be antisocial. That is definitely not the case. I live in Daum, and even though I had those fears myself, it quickly became clear that people in Daum are just… normal people. The Honors Program isn’t full of freak genius-type weirdos. It just is full of people who have shown in some way or another that they’re driven. My closest friends all live on my floor and are outgoing, friendly, and involved on campus. The dorm rooms are some of the larger ones on campus too!

There are a few requirements in order to graduate with Honors, but they’re nothing crazy. You need to maintain a 3.3 GPA and earn a certain number of Honors credits and experiential learning credits. They’re things that you’ll most likely do anyway as an Honors student.

Overall, the Honors Program is something you should definitely check out if you want to make the most of your time at Iowa. It gives you connections with others that have large goals, it prompts you to progress your own career in your undergrad, and it offers advantages that can’t be passed up. Be sure to check it out!

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Going to a Big School: The Pros and Cons

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When I was trying to figure out where to apply for college last fall, I remember constantly getting hit with the age-old question: “Well, do you want to go to a big or small school?” Coming from a small town, I felt like everyone around me expected me to go somewhere small to match my high school experience, but the opposite was true; I wanted a chance to get out and join a big community – so I went with my gut. And I’m glad I did.

(Note: not everything I list here will apply to EVERY big school, but they all apply to Iowa and I’m assuming they’re general enough to be the case for most big schools)

The Pros:
– You always have new people to meet. If you’re ever feeling like you don’t fit in with the people you’ve been hanging out with, you will always have the chance to find new friends. Friend groups are much more fluid and flexible than they are in high school, too, so it’s easy to join a pre-existing one.

– You have a city at your disposal. In my experience, most small schools are in small towns. The opposite is true with big schools, and it is extremely convenient. If I need anything, it’s a five-minute walk from my dorm to the Target downtown. There’s plenty to do, which is not usually the case in small towns.

– Your school’s sports teams play on the biggest stages for college sports. If you’re someone who isn’t that into sports, you might not think this point matters much to you. But personally, as someone who never really was into football before, I’ve become the Hawkeyes’ #1 fan. Just this week, we got to play (and BEAT) #4 ranked Penn State in a sold-out Kinnick Stadium to move us up to the #2 ranked football team in the nation. I’m from Pennsylvania, so getting a win over my local state school felt SO good. The energy was insane and is something that you could never find at a small school.

– There are (typically) more resources available. More buildings, more places to study, more clubs, more options for majors, etc.

The Cons:
– At a big school, you’ll have a really hard time being the “best” at something. For example, an RA I met is insanely good at Chess. He can beat people blindfolded, is an International Master, and in an online format, is considered a Grand Master… but there’s another guy in the Chess club that consistently beats him. In a setting where so many people from all over the country come to study, the competition is really stiff.

– It can be tough to stand out to a professor when you have large lectures, which you wouldn’t find at a small school. Luckily, Iowa doesn’t really have this problem; despite the large student population, most classes are pretty small. However, it can be difficult for some people to get used to having educators that can’t match their name to their face.

– The transition from high school to college at big schools can be more overwhelming than at small schools. Feeling lost and lonely in a huge sea of unfamiliar faces is really difficult, and small schools usually have environments that are less intimidating.

Overall, I’m really happy with my decision to go to a big school. I feel like I’ve been well-equipped to overcome a lot of the cons, and I enjoy being a part of such a large community. Iowa has been great so far, and I can’t wait to tell you guys even more about it here.

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