To continue with my story, that first night in Iowa was spent at my uncle’s house in Des Moines, not far from the airport. We spent the next morning there as well, and I got to meander about his beautiful property and pretend to be a photographer. In the afternoon, my mother and I traveled east to Iowa City to visit my grandmother and some other aunts and uncles (all of home are related to my father, who was born and raised with his eight siblings in Iowa City). We also picked up things that I needed for my dorm, and, finally, we drove back west an hour to the modest town of Grinnell on Friday night. We had dinner with my roommate and another new friend, and came back to the hotel where we were staying the night before moving in Saturday morning.
As far as explaining things goes, I might as well just summarize and tell you that from Saturday until the next Wednesday I participated in the New Student Orientation program, got my room situated, met new people, made new friends, explored the campus of Grinnell College, ate in the dining hall, stayed up late, met with my current advisor (who is the professor of my first-year class, referred to as one’s Tutorial; mine is “Culture Jamming” and I’ll explain that later), figured out a schedule for first semester, and generally just tried to not go crazy with all the fast-paced changes occurring around me.
The name of my dormitory is Hannibal-Kershaw, and it is a substance-free dorm (one of three at Grinnell). It is located on the east side of campus along with three other dormitories, and so they are collectively (and aptly) designated as East Campus. My third-floor room (2340) looks out at a nearby neighborhood, along East Street. (They were really creative with these compass-inspired names.) So, on Thursday the 27th, my first classes began. They are, in no particular order, Culture Jamming, Introduction to Sociology, Musicianship (Introduction to Music, essentially), and Introduction to French I. Culture Jamming—which is, so far, watching and analyzing and discussing documentaries and books that expose all the really unfortunate circumstances in our world, implementing ways to fight the corporate behemoth of advertising, and learning how to write college papers (the main reason behind Tutorial classes)—is by far my favorite class. Sociology comes in as a close second, and Music and French are both average in terms of how enjoyable they are (you know how it is).
Every morning, I walk down the stairs of Kershaw and out the lounge entrance (where the piano resides) and head out towards the JRC, which is the where the dining facilities are held. I have breakfast, chat with friends, and go to class at eight or eight-thirty, depending on the day. Monday and Wednesday afternoons are busy with classes, and Monday, Thursday, and Sunday nights are spent working at the Marketplace (dining hall). Tuesday nights, as many of you know, are spent in the radio station working the sound waves for my show “Rainbow Explosions,” which I would encourage you to listen to when you can (see: Tuesday nights, eight to ten central time, six to eight pacific; visit my Twitter for links to listen online). So, basically, this is my routine. I hang out with people here and there, and run on Sunday mornings, try to fit in piano (rarely works out), and, above all, work on homework. The rigor of Grinnell College is quite incredible, and its weight suppresses most notions to go out and do much beyond recuperate with naps.
The turning of the seasons has been quite apparent as the sun is keeping itself hidden for longer nights, the leaves are dropping steadily in red and brown clusters, and the rain falls with the dropping mercury. (Foggy mornings here are so reminiscent of the Oregon Coast, it’s scary.) The summer seemed to end abruptly with rain on the first day of school, but fought to hold on until about the end of September. October, then, has been a cooler but pleasant month, and accompanied schoolwork quite nicely.
Which brings me to fall break: because this week is fall break, I’m finally capable of updating everyone. Obviously I am nowhere near able to tell you everything about Iowa, so I’ll leave it up to you to ask about these unmentioned items of interest. Like I said in Part I, I will be continuing to explore a number of different-yet-intertwined topics over the next few days, and this second part was meant to fill anyone who did not know already what life at Grinnell College is like. In Part III (and what may be Part IV) I will begin my formal examination into Misty Aeons. Until then, here are a number of photos that I’ve taken (and edited) to visually document my two month stay here.
I. Iowa (Pond, Driving, Soybean field, On the road, Parking lot at sunset, Clouds)
II. Kershaw (Lounge, Piano, Loggia looking north, Loggia looking south, Foggy morning, Third floor)
III. Campus (North Campus, East Campus, Autumn)
IV. 2340 (Dawn street lamps, Summer tree, Rainy afternoon, Midnight passerby, Sunrise, Autumn tree)
