My First Week at College

My adventure at Iowa State University has now begun.
I have been living at college for a week.
I moved-in last Tuesday.  I am living in a cute, old, brick building.  I am in interim housing, living in one of the hall dens, so I have 3 three roommates.  There is no air conditioning... it is hot.

All day Wednesday and most of Thursday, there was nothing to do.  It was a bit boring.  On Thursday night, Destination Iowa State started for the freshmen.  Mainly, we went to sessions and toured the campus.  Destination Iowa ended on Saturday.

I was able to get a ride to church on Sunday.  That afternoon I had a learning community meeting and then that night I went to Freshmen Kickoff for SALT, a campus ministry.
I as able to meet some really nice girls.

Classes started on Monday.  I only had two classes, Calculus and Food and The Consumer.  Calculus.  I can tell it is going to a struggle right from the beginning.  We started right off with limits.  I remember learning about them in high school, but I didn't understand them then.  And, I really didn't understand what the professor was teaching us now.  (The professor has a big accent... I thought you should know that.)  I will definitely be going to as many extra study sessions that there are for Calculus.  Food and The Consumer is probably going to be my favorite class this semester, so I am looking forward to that!
Monday, is when I actually felt like I add connected with some people.  So, that is real good!

There are some things that are different about being down here.
Running.  There are stop lights that I have to stop at.  Back home when, in my small town, once I start running I didn't stop until I was done.  (All summer I have running some six milers, but now for the past week I hardly run 3 miles.  Frustrating!)
Iowa State has two really nice gyms that us students can workout in.  There is one like right across the street from my residence hall!

The fans have been very important lately!

I love my new bedding!

The food is ok.  The worst part is that there is no kitchen in my residence all.  I am glad that I got the lowest meal plan.  I hope to bring real home cooked food when I go home and to buy some groceries to have food in my dorm.  I don't think the dining places are great with hours and being open on the weekends.  I feel that I am probably going to get sick of the food, if I haven't already.

The bus system.  I have made my way to Target, but I don't understand the bus system yet... it is confusing.

All of us students have a BlackBoard account, where the professors can send us notifications, post our assignments, and things like that.  I only found out about it the other day, and looked at it for the first time a couple days ago.  I had like a 100 notifications with syllabuses, assignments due throughout the semester, extra credit, reminders, and all sorts of things from all my classes.  A bit overwhelming.
I need to figure a way to keep well organized and to manage my time well.  There is the BlackBoard, with all sorts of things I need to know, meeting for clubs that I might want to join, events for new students, free fun for students, that I just a bit overwhelming.

Well, I better get studying.