Welcome back to the blog after a nice month off. I return to Iowa City this week for spring RA training, and then classes start next week! Let’s get my last semester on the road!
My break was very nice, I spent most of it with my family and my three dogs. I caught up with some hometown friends and worked my high school job as well, so I got out of the house!
In my free time, I applied for jobs, read, and did some fun hobbies like coloring, drawing, and watching movies.
I’m back after a lovely Thanksgiving break back at home in Arizona. It was great soaking in the warmer weather, then being greeted with snow upon my return! Perfect for getting into the holiday spirit.
Over break, I spent time relaxing. I worked on some projects due after the break, spent time with family, baked cookies, decorated for Christmas, enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal, and went Black Friday shopping!
I also got to be with my adorable dogs and sleep in. And I also went to see Of Monsters and Men perform in LA! So that was a fun, quick trip.
I am excited to be back in Iowa City and finish up my last couple of weeks!
I just got back from Des Moines, where I was running a half marathon! I’ve been training for the past few months for this since it has been on my bucket list. That was my first time being in the city, and I loved it. My friend is from there, and I stayed with her over the weekend.
Race day was chilly and windy, but I quickly warmed up once the race started. I had some injuries, but they did no hinder me during the race! I felt so good during most of it and I cannot believe I ran 13.1 miles! Now time to train for a marathon.
I just returned from a quick road trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, to see Mumford & Sons with my friends!
They are an indie folk band that many of us have probably heard at some point. (“Little Lion Man,” anyone?)
One of my favorite parts of being a student at Iowa is how close we are to other states, so if a musical artist isn’t coming to Iowa, it’s only a few hours to go see them in a bigger city!
My friend Lynne lives just outside St. Paul, so we didn’t have to book a fantastic hotel! We left after classes and made it a few hours before the concert. The openers were The Barr Brothers and Stephen Sanchez, who all gave such fantastic performances!
I have never attended a concert in such a large venue before, so we were all the way up in the balcony! At one point, the lead band ran across the arena to a surprise mini stage close to us to perform a couple of acoustic songs, which was so fun! They played all of my favorites, such as “White Blank Page,” “I Will Wait,” “The Cave,” and “I Believe.”
Roadtripping with my friends was also so much fun, and I feel so lucky to get to have these experiences as a college student.
I thought some of you might be curious about my class schedule this semester. And I am here to deliver! I am only taking two classes a day, with one on Fridays. I love this personally, because I have time for everything else I do.
Playwriting 1. This class was not something I really expected to take, but I love it! My TA, Randy, is the coolest person ever. Everyone in the class loves to contribute to discussions, and we act out the plays we write for the class, which is fun. I just wrote a ten-minute play for the course, and we are starting our final project, which is a one-act play. If you want to learn how to write plays, this class is for you!
Literary Editing. I work with the Iowa Review to help with the submissions review and editing practice. We also discuss the art of editing and good editorial practice. We have heavily explored the literary magazine landscape, too.
Medieval Norse Literature. This class is so fun! It is very reading-heavy, but the books are entertaining and quick to read. We do discussions about the reading in class and do writing assignments that range from close reading to adding a chapter to an existing saga – so we can be creative!
Social Media Marketing. This class is so useful. I’ve been learning key terms and concepts for working in social media marketing, and also working on fun projects that analyze brands and media platforms. Our semester-long project is creating a social media campaign for the Bike Library, a local business!
Moneywise. An online class about personal finance. This has taught me a lot about savings, credit cards, and loans. I recommend everyone take it!
Advanced Creative Writing: This one is about truth and lying in writing. We are reading five novels with this aspect throughout the semester, write a weekly two truths and a lie about a week, and write a large piece to be peer-edited in class that falls under this category. I like the discussions we have in class.
My current read for Norse Lit! Poetry is all about the Norse gods.
And that is my schedule! I like that it all connects to what I’m interested in and makes my week enjoyable.
I went on a fun trip recently that I want to share with you all!
I watched Caitlin Clark play as a freshman in college and have followed her as she started in the WNBA. My friends and I discussed getting tickets to see the Fever play, and when tickets went on sale, we did.
This was my first road trip with my friends, and I was so excited to travel outside of Iowa City for the weekend and go to Indianapolis. We left after our classes on Friday afternoon and arrived in Indy about an hour before the game. The drive was scenic with bodies of water and the rolling hills of the Midwest.
Caitlin was sadly injured and out for the season, but she was cheering from the sidelines. The game was so much fun! It reminded me of Carver Hawkeye Arena during basketball season, full of cheering fans. The Fever beat the sky and clinched their spot in the playoffs.
The next morning, before my friends and I returned home, we had brunch and went to a bookstore called The Whispering Shelf.
Iowa City is close to several cities, including Chicago, so I highly recommend taking a road trip!
I hope you all had a wonderful summer and are ready for a new school year – whether you go to Iowa or are thinking about becoming a Hawkeye. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
I went to LA this summer. I went to Universal Studios and Disneyland for the first time. I highly recommend the Universal Studios tour. I also went on a Warner Bros studio tour and got to sit on the couch from Friends! Extra exciting news: I got my French passport – stay tuned for why!
I went to Indiana. I visited my family who live there over the 4th of July weekend and had a blast! I miss living in the Midwest.
I had an internship with my local Chamber of Commerce. I was a marketing and copywriting intern for a few months and had so much fun designing social media content and graphics, and attending different events!
I worked as an intern for Bookstr. This was exciting because I had something to do with my actual major! I worked remotely as a social media intern and designed and posted content across Threads, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
I went to Sedona! This summer, I went on a quick trip with my boyfriend, who came to visit (we met at Iowa!), and went up north to Sedona. I have been there nearly every year, and I am always blown away by how gorgeous it is.
I started my second year as an RA! I moved back to Iowa a couple of weeks ago for RA training.
And sad news: this is my senior year! I can’t believe how time has flown by. I’m excited to make some amazing last memories and share them with you all.
