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.
I wanted to recap a very exciting event for me that occurred in May, and announce exciting news regarding my literary magazine, Broken Clock Mag.
For those who didn’t know, I took over Broken Clock last fall after the previous Editor-in-Chief graduated. I knew this magazine had big potential to grow, and I set about doing just that last year.
In May, we officially launched our first-ever print issue, which was amazing!
Look at these amazing covers designed by our talented Creative Director, Lauren Wallis! I want to extend a special thank you to our staff and contributors for making history this year – none of this would have happened without you all!
If you’re interested in submitting to or working for Broken Clock, follow our Instagram @brokenclockmag for more information in the coming weeks. And stop by the student org fair on September 5th at the IMU to grab some candy and meet our staff!
As I am currently wrapping up my first week of summer, I thought I would do a little recap and then discuss what I will be up to for the next three months!
I had finals about a week ago, and in the midst of that, had packing, magazine launch parties, move-out preparation (Gotta love the RA role!), and then hanging out with friends, of course. Several close friends of mine just graduated this past week and are off to do incredible things in every corner of the world – shoutout to one in particular: fellow blogger Elana Walters! I’m going to miss being in the same city!
I had two pieces published in Boundless – Translate Iowa!
I have also had some hard realities to face as my semester rolled its credits. Not only with my friends starting their adult lives, but also my time at Iowa is coming to an end. This is my last summer where I get to look forward to coming back to Iowa City and hanging out with my closest friends on a daily basis. I’m going to miss being here. Adulthood is getting close, and while that is exciting, there are so many paths to choose from, and I have no way of knowing until months from now where I’m going to end up.
However, I have a summer and one more year to make things count. Here is what I am up to when I’m not at Iowa:
Catching up with friends back in Arizona (day trips to Sedona, anyone?)
Visiting family in Indiana, getting my French passport, and possibly a Universal Studios trip?
My boyfriend is coming to visit!!! I think this is the highlight of my summer.
Enjoying my favorite eats here in my hometown, like Dutch Bros and Dayung’s
My internships with Bookstr and my local chamber of commerce!
Working my summer job at Abercrombie!
Training for a half-marathon
As you can tell, this is not a relaxing summer. I don’t think I’ve genuinely ever given myself time off, I like being busy!
But here is a quick life update for y’all, and I am excited to share many more things at Iowa this fall! Have an amazing summer.
Recently, a new cafe opened up in Iowa City. This one is called Hyper, and it specializes in energy drinks. I am not a big energy drink person, but I thought it was worth a try since it is already so popular.
I have a bad caffeine sensitivity, so I ordered a caffeine-free drink. I am so happy they offer that as an option! I got a white chocolate and blue raspberry flavored one. It had a good flavor, but energy drinks are not as yummy as a chai or matcha in my opinion.
A lot of people love Hyper, though, so worth a try if you like energy drinks!
Wow, April has been such a busy month as I’m wrapping up the school year and preparing for summer and my last year of college! (what?!)
Earlier this month, I went to AWP, the Association for Writers and Writing Programs conference. I went on behalf of the University of Iowa as a representative of the English department. I got a stipend in exchange for working a shift at the Iowa booth at the book fair.
In my free time, I spent time exploring the conference by chatting with presses and publishers, buying books from independent presses, and going to sessions held by authors and people in publishing. I learned tons of writing advice, how to pitch manuscripts, and even got my book signed by Carmen Maria Machado, an Iowa alum and a favorite author of mine!
In the evenings, my friends and I explored downtown L.A. This was my first time being in that part of California, and it was fun! We had a fancy dinner at a rooftop restaurant and went to the Last Bookstore and found ridiculously cheap books.
The conference will be held in Baltimore next year, and I have every intention of going again!
I tried a new coffee shop the other day, called Daydrink. It is tucked away in a neighborhood on Bowery St, making it a quiet place to relax and enjoy a drink!
I was on a rainy run that took me past it and decided to stop by as a post-workout treat. The baristas were so kind, and I had a fun conversation while waiting for my drink. I ordered a fig matcha with brown sugar – phenomenal! It came in a cute glass jar.
Inside Daydrink, they have cute plants, tables, and tiny old-school block TVs with shelves and shelves of old VHS tapes. It made me feel like a kid again!
