My Guide to A Perfect Fall

Posted on October 10, 2022

Clothes and Shoes

Shoes

First of all, when you’re walking around campus you’re going to need shoes that you can walk around in and not have your feet hurt. I personally interchange my Converse, Adidas, and Doc Martins. Mostly because they don’t make my feet hurt and for me personally I have flat feet. So these are the only shoes I can wear without my feet hurting. But as it gets colder during these next few months that’s when I start bringing up my boots. The sage advice I can give you is to make sure you have fashionable shoes that are comfortable. If you have new shoes make sure you test them and make sure you can walk for long periods of time.

Clothes

My fashion game goes up when fall comes around. Mostly because I hate the heat and would much rather live in a place that is always cold. Fall weather makes me happy because of being able to wear sweaters, jeans, leggings, and hats. I love being able to show myself because the heat and I don’t get along very well. I mostly interchange between leggings and a hoodie, jeans and a flannel, jeans and a sweater, and leggings and a Halloween or horror t-shirt. For example, I have a big Iowa sweatshirt that I love wearing on cold days. Mostly because it’s so big, since I’m 5’5″ the arm sleeves are very long and I can almost put off an Ariana Grande moment in sweatshirts. Now I can’t tell you how to dress or what you should wear but this is one of my favorite parts of being able to have a perfect fall season. This is my favorite season of all time and I will always have a fashion game when it comes to this weather and time period.

Plans with Friends

Game Night

Most of the time my friend group and I plan on having a game night in one of my friend’s dorm rooms. She is on the east side and my friend group is a mix of the east and west side. We mostly do these on Friday nights because that’s when everyone is kinda done with classes and needs a break from academics. We interchange between games like Cards Against Humanity, For The Girls, We’re Not Really Strangers, What Do You Meme, and New Phone Who Dis. We also play this that probably isn’t allowed to say but it’s about a game that you find the worst in people.

Bachelorette Roast Night

And then there are Friday nights that we head over to the west side and watch the Bachelorette and roast the guys on the show. It’s something that I think brings us together as a friend group and it’s been great. We haven’t done one in a little while so I’m hoping we’ll get to do it soon.

Family Dinner

We sometimes like to do this thing where you go out to dinner and just talk about random stuff, to be honest. We go out at least once to twice a month to a nice restaurant around Iowa City and just hang out and eat good food. It sometimes gives a little bit of a break from the dining hall food. Don’t get me wrong the dining halls has good food but sometimes it can get repetitive. These dinners give us a chance to talk and just spend time together.

Fun With Friends

I love my friends and I hope they love me back. They give me a reason to stay on campus and they have to be a part of my fall guide. They are great and they make me feel like I’m on top of the world. So I think that you need these great friends to keep yourself sain and happy. They are many of the reasons why I haven’t dropped out of college. So having fun with friends is definitely a part of my perfect guide to fall.

Coffee, Tea, and Boba

Coffee

I’m a coffee addict and can’t survive without it. So for me, that’s one of my things for being a perfect fall. My go-to coffee normally is either a cold brew with oat milk. That’s my normal order throughout all the seasons and throughout the year. When fall comes around I start moving to warmer drinks. Another go-to drink is either an iced or hot chai latte with oat milk. Chai is my go-to for most coffee places because it can keep me waking or because I like the taste. I also like to drink a hot mocha with soy milk as well when it gets colder. As I’m writing this post I’m drinking a hot chai latte with oat milk because it’s one of the colder days. I’d normally get iced but since it’s cold I wanted to be warmer. This is one of my favorite things about fall so this has to be a part of my fall guide.

Tea

I like drinking tea mostly at night near the end of the day. My go-to tea is blueberry tea with honest, raspberry, and blueberry syrup. I drink it at night before I go to bed sometimes. I make my tea homemade because some places don’t have blueberry tea and it saves me money to make it easy and at home. This normally happens when I’m watching a movie or a tv show I love to watch. This for sure has to be a part of my fall guide because hot tea curled up and watching a movie sounds wonderful

Boba

I love boba as well too. I interchange oolong tea with rose petals and passion fruit with either strawberry or lychee popping boba and jasmine green tea with passion fruit with honey pearl tapioca and lychee jelly. I love getting boba to treat myself because it is a very foreign thing that isn’t really around the campus. It’s downtown and a little bit off campus so it’s only a treat every once in a while. I love going there and just relaxing with people around and having something fun to drink. If you guys don’t know what boba is, it’s pretty much a tea that you can get with these little balls in the bottom of your drink. You can get milk tea, fruit tea, and smoothies. There are different types of boba that people sometimes like to put into their drinks. Now I would describe it but anybody who works at a boba shop does a better job of explaining it than I do. This is one thing that I know needed to be on my fall guide.

Fall Activities

Pumpkin Patch

My friend group and I are planning on going to a pumpkin patch soon I’ve been to my fair share of pumpkin patches and they are so much fun. I just love walking through the pumpkins and picking the perfect one for me. We’re planning on going in the near future but I’ll tell you a little bit more about my experience with all my other visits.

Haunted Houses

I love scary things and I love haunted houses the most out of all the seasons. My friends and I are planning on going to Scream Acres in Atkin, IA. One of my friends loves scary things and has decided that I will lead while she will go in the back to protect everyone. I think it will be a lot of fun and it will bring us closer together.

Movie Marathons

Specifically, Halloween movies because fall brings my favorite holiday. I love watching the classics like Halloween Town, Hocus Pocus, Nightmare on Elm Street, and much more. I started kinda early because I knew I needed to welcome in fall and Halloween time with welcoming arms.

Closing Thoughts

Fall is my favorite season and with that comes hot tea, sweater weather, Halloween, and more. These are just some of my favorite things to make my fall the perfect time for me. You don’t need all of these to have a good time but I know it might help you a lot. So this ends my perfect guide to fall. I hope you guys have an amazing day, week, month, and year! You got this guys!

Continue Reading →

My Top 5 Study Spaces On Campus

Posted on September 22, 2022

1. The Main Library

You have so many places within the Main Library to study and just chill. Each floor has its positives so let’s talk about the 1st floor first.

1st Floor

The 1st floor is the busiest because everyone is running around. It also has some upsides to the floor. If you wanna get something at the café then it’s very accessible to everyone. It’s right next to the library section of the library itself. You got sandwiches, walking tacos, bagels, pulled pork, soda, and Starbucks. Just make sure you don’t waste all your money on Starbucks no matter how aesthetic the drink may be. There are many places you can sit down and just study and chill. Many students also print things off here, I use this as my main place to print things off. The prints are located on the North, East, and South sides of the buildings on the 1st floor.

Now when it comes to studying I like studying in the blue or green sections, but I’ll find it anywhere that is open. The main library is always busy during the times of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, it is tranquil even on the 1st floor mostly because everyone who was leaving for the weekend to go home went home. It’s very easy to get through and around the 1st floor because of the way it’s set up. The only thing that I can’t stress enough is if you wanna study on the 1st floor you better get there in the early morning so you can find a good spot to study and be comfortable for a couple hours at least. Now let’s talk about the 2nd floor.

2nd Floor

It’s not as crowded as the 1st floor but there are many places to study and chill. There are also printers up there on the North, East, and South sides. I’m not too sure about the West side but I’ll do some more exploring soon. It has many places within the book areas to study as well. One of my favorite places to study is being surrounded by books in a little nook of a cubicle area. Another place is if you go to the deeper parts on the South side where one of the printers is located and you can get natural light to help you stay awake. The only bad part about studying in those areas is if the lights turn off. They’re motion censored lights so if you like studying with the light then you have to swing a hand every once in a while. I like studying in the darkness so it doesn’t bother me that much to be honest. This floor is great if you still want some people around you to be productive but it isn’t my favorite floor. Now my favorite floor is the 3rd floor.

3rd Floor

This floor is my favorite if I just need to relax and read. It gives off Harry Potter vibes because of how quiet it is up there. This is one of the only places I can read for fun because I know that I can be focused on this floor. I also love just putting on my chill playlist and coloring in one of my coloring books or on my tablet when I just need to chill. If you guys don’t want too many people around then this is the perfect place to study or chill. Most of the time when I’m so exhausted from the day I just like to chill up there to calm my mind down.

2. The Lindquist Center

Specifically, I love studying near Devlin Family Cafe in the building itself. This building is right around the main library and it is specifically the college of the education building. I don’t have any classes in that building but sometimes I just need to sit and study. The chairs and desk area around the area are very comfortable and easy to stay focused in. There isn’t much activity going on around 3 to 5 pm. It’s also got this little area of bar chairs that are facing a window so there is natural light to keep you awake and alert to whatever you are doing at that moment. It’s almost kinda a hidden gem for study spaces. I didn’t even know about it until I had a job I had to do over there. This place is very underrated and if you have time to kill if you’re near the Seaman Center or the Main Library then this is the perfect spot for you to go. Anytime I don’t want to go to the Library to study I pop over here, plus it’s an easy way to avoid the hill. I also enjoy going there during the mornings and the afternoons around 3pm ish mostly almost every class is done.

3. The Seaman Center

Also known as the College of Engineering building. There are many places to study in that building but one of my favorite places is on the second floor right above the stairs to get to the big library area. It’s got a lot of natural light that I love going to in the morning because in the evening the sun can get to be very brutal. This spot also helps me focus because most of the people coming in and out of the building are engineering majors. They are normally smart or just love putting themselves into challenging positions. Anyway, it makes me work hard because I have a friend who is a biomedical engineering major and I know how much they have to work for that degree. Sometimes I meet her over there and we study together but for our own classes. It’s very much a place where you know that nobody is gonna be screwing around for a long time. Plus if I’m around smarter people it makes me work harder at my studies.

4. The IMU (Iowa Memorial Union)

The place has so many places to study from the ground floor, the first floor, and the second floor. Let’s start with the ground floor.

Ground Floor

This is one of my favorite floors to study on mostly because of being able to see so many people go through there. You can mostly see tours, and people visiting the campus. Plus you got Java House and Union Station in your hands. It’s very busy through there if you can work in that kind of environment. If I’m just coming from my rhetoric class in the morning and I don’t feel like walking up the steps then I go down to the ground floor of the IMU. It’s better to get there around the morning time because more seats are open and if you get good seats you can people-watch the people taking tours of the campus. The only downside of the ground floor is that it is very busy and sometimes I go down there to just rest in between classes, especially on Thursdays. This leads me to the 1st floor.

1st Floor

This floor isn’t too busy, to be honest. Mostly because there isn’t as much activity that passes through this floor. I like to come here to focus on my school work and know that others are getting their work done as well. It’s also fun because I’ve seen most of my friends there and we join in on each other’s study sessions. I will say this floor is not the best in my option but it does have the best seats out of all the places I’ve studied on campus so far. Many of the seats are comfortable but there are not many desk setups on this floor. I’m pretty sure it’s because some tours come through there as a hub for starting the tours. I remember when I was visiting the University that not many people were in that space because of all the people around for the tours going on.

2nd Floor

Now I don’t have as much experience with this floor but I do know that some of my friends like to study facing the window because of the natural light. Granted the IMU is close to the river but it still gets natural light which wakes me up. That’s one of the best things when it comes to this building. It’s not very busy through there because of not much activity. That’s all I have to say on the 2nd floor.

5. Common Rooms in Residence Halls

Even though you’re not out of the dorm building itself, you’re out of the dorm room. If you don’t feel like walking to different locations to study, study in your common rooms. Every floor in each residence hall should have one and each residence hall has a big room where everyone is welcome to come. I’ve studied in my common room many times plus it’s a good place to hang out with people on your floor. It’s so much fun and I live in Stanley so the third floor is a huge common study space right when you walk in so I always go in there as much as possible. My floor has a common room that is pretty nice as well, I mostly go in there to read because I can’t read for fun in my dorm room, no matter how hard I try. Plus it’s a good place to pause before going out for class or even going back to your dorm. I do this a lot if I don’t want to go back to the dorm room just yet.

Get Out Of The Dorm Room

Trust me when I say that it’s easy to get distracted in the dorm room because it is. There are many more places on campus to study but these are my go-to spots at the moment. Getting out of the dorm room and around others who are being productive is some of the best things you can do for yourself. You can go to these study places or you can explore around because these are not the only places to study. You can study in your dorm room but I find it much less successful than studying with friends or even in different places on campus and around campus. Plus if you stay in your room then you’re not gonna meet too many people.

Closing Thoughts

Most of these locations have access to natural light which helps me with my studies in more ways than none. If you are thinking about coming to this college then I suggest looking at all of these locations to study or just chill. As I was looking at colleges I was looking at the way their study spaces are set up and the accessibility to all the different locations. It’s important to explore the campus and figure out which space helps you focus the most on your work. Thank you all again for taking the time to read my post. I hope you all have a wonderful day, week, month, and year!

Continue Reading →

How To Make Friends During College

Posted on September 15, 2022

Meet People On Your Floor And Roommates

I know it can be intimidating to meet new people, especially if it’s hard for you to make friends. Some people are shy and don’t like putting themselves out there. I was like that at first but then I realized that I may as well put myself out there as myself rather than as someone who isn’t me. Most of the first people I met were on my floor and are kinda built-in friends. I will say you aren’t always going to vibe with the people on your floor which is okay, but you’ll be seeing each other daily so it’s nice to introduce yourself to them. I can tell you confidently that if you introduce yourself to people on your floor then it will help you talk to people you meet at events, classes, and just random places on campus. Also, your roommate is kinda like a built-in friend, as long as you get along with them. It’s good to get to know your roommate before you agree to room together. You’re gonna be living together so it’s good to know a lot about each other. My roommate and I weren’t able to meet in person until move-in day but I just knew that we’d be able to get along just fine and we are. We’ve only had a few problems, but we talked it out like adults and figured out solutions to those problems. If you and your roommate can’t get along or be able to talk to each other like adults then you’re probably not a good match.

Go To OnIowa Events That Interest You

If you like something, then someone else is bound to like it as well. Going to different events at OnIowa I was able to meet so many people that I have so much in common with as well. I know that it can be scary but it’s so worth it when you find that good group of friends and keep adding to that group of friends. That’s how I meet most of my friends in my friend group now through on OnIowa events. Then we introduced friends we had met at other events and they became part of our friend group. It just kept expanding and we just added two new people to our chat as well. Some of the events even ran out of stuff to do and we decided to have our own events with each other and just talk. These events that ran out of things to do lead us to create our own events with each other. Even if you end up going alone to an event you are bound to meet new people to hang out with for the rest of the day, it’s so worth it to go to OnIowa events.

Make Time To Spend It With Your Friends

Personally, my friends and I do this thing where we pick a tv show to roast and have a “family” game night situation on Friday nights. And it’s a big group of us as well, it’s so much fun. I also know that it can get hard sometimes to spend time with your friends with everything going on in your life. But trust me that it’s worth it to spend time with your friends because they are like your family in college. One tip I like to do is get my homework done during the school day and then leave time in the evening to hang out with friends because I want to be prepared if anyone just wants to hang out, chill, or just walk around campus. This is the way I hold myself accountable, especially during the weekends I don’t go home.

Your Friends Are Like Your Chosen Family

It is true when they say, that the friends you make in college are like your chosen family. Since you’re so far away from home it can be hard for people to see their family, even if they live fairly close to campus. No matter who you are we will always miss our families back home, so just create your little college family. It has helped me to know that I have friends on campus who are basically my family and that I can go to if I’m not feeling the greatest. Now, this is advice, I can’t make you have a college family, but if your mental health isn’t doing get then I suggest that having a family on campus will help in the long run. You have no idea how much my friends have saved me from when I’m in a dark place. These people that you call your friends from college will become like your family and don’t try to stop it because it’s something that’s a part of life and something to be proud of. I know my mom loves to see pictures of my friends and me on adventures throughout the city and she said she is so proud of me that I was able to find my people.

Closing Thoughts

I know it can be scary trying to make new friends in a new place but the best part about the whole experience is that you’ll the people that are for you. Don’t be afraid to be yourself because the people you meet will like you for who you are. I never really thought I would find anyone but fate works in mysterious ways. Just think about the points up above and remember that you are perfect the way you are and if someone thinks that you aren’t then leave them be.

Thank You

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this post. I appreciate it very much and I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, and year.

Continue Reading →

Move In Day, On Iowa, First Week of Classes, Oh My!

Posted on September 8, 2022

Move In

I’m pretty sure when I say that moving in anywhere is terrifying in most cases. When the move-in day came, I was scared out of my mind. As a freshman, I didn’t really know how move-in was gonna work. I was asking many people I knew how the move-in process would work in the dorms. Everybody I asked said something different, they either said, “Oh it’s so easy” or others said, “My god it was so bad.” I tried to see if anybody moved into my dorm hall but most of them didn’t. When it came to move-in day my family had a semi-plan of how it was gonna go. If one of us started getting angry we would say “pineapple” as a safe word to keep ourselves calm in a time of stress and anger. It provided to be effective in more ways than one. Move-in day is stressful for everyone and during the process, it’s good to take much-needed breaks to calm down and continue with the process. I decided to move in early mostly so I could have more time to set up my room and be able to hang out with my roommate. It does cost an extra 35 dollars to move in early but it was worth it in my opinion. After you get everything out of the vehicle you’re traveling in, the weight is almost lifted off your shoulders in a very good way. My only complaint about the whole experience is the campus system not running after 5pm to get people back to your cars parked at Hancher. Other than that, moving in wasn’t much of a headache. The only thing that was a headache is unboxing everything. Give yourself some time to go through and set up your room the way you want to.

On Iowa Week

On Iowa week was the best experience I have ever had in my entry life. There were so many activities that you could choose to do. I’ve already met so many people from the experiences that I still hang out with as classes start up. Some of the events I went to was moving night, a literature and art crawl, coffee crawls, and so many more. I almost wanted to do other events but some of them either ran out of things or got canceled because of unknown reasons. Yet my friends and I made our own fun through movie nights, family dinners, late-night walks, and random conversations, (Always walk with someone you trust especially at night, or call for the NiteRide service through the University). Anyways, I can’t even think of words that describe this amazing experience. Everything that I participated in during On Iowa week was amazing. My favorite thing was roasting Jurassic World: Domination, a 2 out of 10, not a great movie. All we did was make fun of the movie in many ways and it was just amazing. One pro tip I’ll give you is to make sure you figure out how the cambus system works before the first day of class mostly because now I know how to get from certain places on campus since I live on the east side. This will save you during the fall and mostly the winter months because when the hill has ice it’s not safe to walk up and down on. I’ll come back to this in some more posts during the winter months. My point with On Iowa week is to try to go to as many events as you can, introduce yourself to new people, and don’t be afraid to be yourself. As long as you do these three things then you’re bound to have a good time during On Iowa.

First Week Of Classes

After you create your own schedule with On Iowa now you have to follow a school schedule, oh goodness… but don’t worry there is a way you can help yourself get ready for the first week of classes. I know that I didn’t truly realize that I needed to rest before the first day of classes. I have an 8:30am class Monday through Thursday during the fall semester and I’ve needed to put myself, and my health to make sure I can get to class on time and with enough sleep. I know that as a college student sleep is the most important thing for you to function throughout the day. While being on campus I haven’t been sleeping for very long but with a few changes to when I go to bed. Going to sleep early can help you wake up early and it will help you perform better in classes. Then I have a pretty long gap in between my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays I will say that I did go back to the dorm room during the first day because I wasn’t adventuresome that day but as I enter my 3rd week of classes I’m not in the dorm room until about 8pm at night. I’ve been able to stay out of the dorm because of finding study and work spots on campus. I bounce in between the IMU, The Main Library, The Lindquist Center, Seaman Center, and other study spots on campus. There are several more study spots on campus so use them throughout the day and try not to study in your room because can sometimes make you feel less productive during the school day. My Mondays and Wednesdays look very similar because my classes are spread out during the day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I don’t have any classes in the afternoon and you know what I do, I bounce between study spaces on campus. The first week of classes was really good and I like all of my professors and most of my classes. Some advice I can give you guys looking to come to this amazing school is if you can study outside the dorm, try to balance school life with your social life, and know that even though times can get tough you got this.

Closing Thoughts

Being a freshman at the University of Iowa has been good so far and I know that this school is the greatest school when it comes to a lot of things. I’ll be talking more about things that aren’t really talked about when it comes to being a college student. Like I said above don’t be afraid to be yourself, introduce yourself to new people, and just have fun. There’s a reason this school is in the top 10 Universities in the United States. So I hope this post helped you guys who are struggling to try and figure out if Iowa is the right choice for you and trust me it is. I hope you all have an amazing day, week, month, and year.

Continue Reading →