In any endeavor, it is helpful to have someone there who knows more about it and is willing to help you achieve your goals. College is no exception. It is a crazy time what with trying to figure out your future. Fortunately there are people here who can help. Among them are the members of the ISU faculty.
Before I can pick the person who can most help me, I need to have a better idea of what I want and what I need. One thing I know I need no matter what is someone who will encourage me and be genuinely happy for me when I do well. I also need someone who is amused rather than annoyed by my excitable personality. It would also be useful if they were knowledgeable in the field and could point me in the direction of resources (be they people or opportunities) should they arise.
The closest thing I have to that person right now is Professor Cervato. She is very encouraging and seems to be amused my outburst and questions. In addition, she is very knowledgeable in the field of geology and though I don’t think I want to be a geologist, I am thinking about becoming a naturalist. Having someone knowledgeable in the natural science field will only be to my advantage.
Overall it is good to have someone in your corner helping you out. Hopefully I as I progress in my studies I will find more people, who can help me. For now though it is good to know that I have at least one member of the faculty on my side.

Clubs are wonderful things or so I have been told. In order to find one for me, I went to Clubfest. When I got there I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of clubs there. There were three however that caught my eye.
The first was the Medieval Recreationalist Club. What I can I say; I came for the puffy pants and stayed because it sounded interesting? They spend their time learning about medieval combat techniques. It sounded like it could be fun so I gave them my email address. However, it took them a long time to send me any information about it so by the time I got it I had decided that it wasn’t for me.
The second club I checked out was Mock Trial. This one I had actually heard of prior to going to Clubfest, having seen their flyers around campus. This organization, as their name suggests, spends their time creating trials and competing in courtroom competitions. However, I ultimately rejected this one because they wanted 50 dollars to join and it requires a huge time commitment, which I wasn’t sure I wanted to make.
The third was the Iowa State Robotics Club. Their booth was cool, which is why I stopped. They had a robot that you could interact with. And overall what they do, building and competing with robots, sounds like fun. Regrettably they meet on Thursday night, which is the day that I spend with my sister, so I had to decline their invitation.
So I didn’t find a club for me. And maybe I’m just not a club kind of girl. After all as Groucho Marx famously said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me a member.” But then could just me being melodramatic again. Maybe I just need to try again next semester or next year. After all there are over 800 clubs and organizations, there has to be one for me.

You can’t always choose when you are at your best. Sometimes it is sprung upon you. Other times it comes when you are feeling at your worst.
One of the times that I was at my best came when I was just coming off of feeling very low. Last week I was feeling very stressed. Homesickness was really starting to set in and I had my first big test of the semester coming up. It was the perfect storm for feeling horrible but then last Wednesday something changed.
I was just checking my mail when one of the girls in my building asked me to teach her how to open her mailbox. Despite my own ill feelings I helped her out and it turned out to be an instance of me feeling at my best. I not only helped her but it also helped me to break out of my funk.
So you can’t always choose when you are at your best. It is often just thrust upon you. However, I find that I am frequently at my best when I get the chance to help someone else.