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this is the building i have my class in

I bonded with ISU's campus today. Taking a summer class is way more intimate than normal semester classes. There are only about ten girls in my class, and I am not shuffling through hundreds of other students while walking to it. During the fall, not only are there tens of thousands of other students jostling each other off the sidewalks, but a quarter of them are dazed and confused freshman. Everyone is trying to reclaim their niche, or wedge into the vacated president position of their favorite club. Iowa State is competetive by nature! Didn't you know that we actually won the best mascot competition against other schools across the country. Who takes the time to vote for their mascot? We do. We're CYCLONES!

I have never considered myself a Cyclone. I'm a student who is trying to get through her classes ASAP. I get up every day, go to class, come home, do my homework, and try to cope emotionally with being a student. I didn't come to ISU because my parents did, because the Political Science program is phenomenal, or because I wanted to be a CYCLONE. I came by accident, and until today I have been living with that. I merely exist at Iowa State - I don't thrive, like lots of people do. But today, walking across campus, with nobody to compete for the sidwalk with, no girls giving me the up-down, no cigarette smoke to dodge... I enjoyed my beautiful campus. I am a senior this year. I'm on top! I am putting together an internship. I am taking my last semester of classes in the fall. All the people I used to want to avoid have graduated. I have been waiting for this since my first semester.

I enjoyed campus today. I'm not going to stay in Ames for it. I'm not going to impress upon my children that a legacy must be made. I'm not all about ISU... but I'm not as cynical against it anymore either. It ain't so bad. I hope to spend the next semester allowing myself to enjoy good ole ISU.

PS - 20 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR KIGALI, RWANDA!