i love iowa. it's home.

There is really nothing like the feeling of being HOME. When I first went to UNI, I never thought I'd miss home. I'd be having to much fun with friends and too busy with homework (and other social activities). Well that was somewhat true. In the early years of college I only really came home during breaks - Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. And then Junior and Senior year we lived in a house on University Ave. with no laundry (looking back, silly choice... but oh well), so I never wanted to go to the laundromat and pay through the roof for some public laundry service... so my mom was kind enough to do my laundry every other weekend. This meant I went home for a night or usually we just met halfway (it's a good thing I was only an hour and a half away). 
All throughout college, I never lived at home for a summer. After freshman year, I stayed at UNI to take summer classes and work. After sophomore year, I traveled to the Caribbean. After junior year, I went to Cincinnati for an internship. And after senior year, well here I am.

I need this shirt.

My first time going away for a while was when I went to the Caribbean. Granted it was only 26 days, but there was no internet, no cell phones, nothing. It was like a whole different world. I thought it would suck a little bit but it was AWESOME getting to hang out with everybody on the cruise ship when none of us had technology to get in the way. It was like a flashback to 3rd grade.
So then I went to Cincinnati for three months and missed home a little bit. I loved all the fellow interns but I lived by myself in a little apartment that could be somewhat scary at times. 
After that, my best friend and I went to Maryland to study for a semester. I missed Iowa (I think we both did). There really ain't nothin' like the Midwest! But we sure as heck had ourselves a good time on the East Coast!
Once we were done in Maryland, it was back to the homeland in time for Christmas. So lovely. Then I accepted an internship in Colorado Springs and moved there shortly after New Years. Didn't help that I hated the job (although I did like the people I worked with), but it was nice to come home shortly after moving. I can never thank my family enough for moving me in in January and driving back to move me out in February. :)
Then I thought it'd be smart for me to go to Cleveland for a couple months and work for TeamWork Online. It really ended up being great because for the second half of the time I was there, Jason was down in Cincinnati. We'd drive 4 hours every weekend to see each other. It was like having a piece of home/comfort. It was great!
So once Cleveland ended at the end of June, I had nothing planned so I went down to Cincinnati to spend a month and a half as Jason's roomie. It was pretty neat I must say. Especially the time his family visited for a whole week and we had sleepovers on the living room floor every night! And the time both of our families came out to Cincinnati to celebrate my birthday! Memories I'll never forget. :)
AND THEN I came home. Got a job in Davenport and made my way to the Quad Cities. I love it there. And I love that I'm a little over an hour away.

Much like a lot of people I know, growing up I always thought I would never live in Iowa. I always saw myself living in the big city (not sure why now that I think about it... since I have a phobia of public transportation). But after many experiences and living in numerous cities, I love Iowa. It's HOME.
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In unrelated news, there's a new section on the blog that I encourage you all to check out if you love reading blogs or have thought about blogging. It's the bloggers i love section. Scroll down on the right and you can see my blog favorites. Looks like this:

I hope you all had a great weekend and listened to lots of Christmas music!