What I Learned at the University of Iowa

1. Citrus drinks are easy going down, but hard coming up.

2. The housing office will pair you with anyone but the person you request. This is to make sure you remain friends with them after the first semester.

3. You'll meet a lot of people with foreign accents--people from China, Germany, Boston...but just remember that if you're drunk, everyone becomes easier to understand. Or maybe that's if they're drunk. Well, experiment with it. But seriously, alcohol slows down those fast-talking New Englanders.

4. Half the people you went to high school with have plans to reinvent themselves at college. They won't want you around reminding them what poseurs they are. This will free you up to make much cooler, new friends.

5. When your roommate wakes you up to tell you a mass murderer is lying in wait outside your dorm room, you'll look very brave when you fling open the door to reveal The Daily Iowan. And she'll look like a total maroon.

6. If the Hawkeye football team falls apart at the beginning of the season and the head coach decides to hold a pep rally, make some snazzy signs. You'll be on all the Cedar Rapids newscasts.

7. Do not, under any circumstances, sign up for a class before 9:00 a.m. your first semester. You will never make it.

8. When oversleeping for exams in your 8:00 a.m. class, you can get permission to make it up if you rush to Student Health and fake an illness the moment you wake up.

9. Rolling down Old Capitol hill when the leaves are on the ground is fun. Your friends will think so too when they loosen up enough to try it.

10. Food service trays aren't the best snow sleds...but they get the job done.

Posted by Jennifer at October 1, 2004 06:00 AM