My Simpson Experiences

Another week of travel has come and gone, and during this past week, I met a ton of new people. I was able to share so many of my experiences from Simpson with them. Among the thousands I left Simpson with, there are certain events from my four years as an undergrad that come up quite often--such as studying abroad, the relationships I built with professors, opportunities do to research with primary documents, the great friends I met over four years, the ideas I analyzed and the books I read.

As a student, I studied abroad in multiple places (as one of my previous blogs mentioned). I spent a May Term in Thailand and Vietnam, one in Greece and Turkey, and a semester in London. Every time I get to talking about these experiences with people I have just met, I find I am constantly coming up with a new story to tell--like riding an elephant with my friend Nick through the jungle in Thailand, or the day we spent on a rickety huge old boat in Halong Bay, Vietnam, avoiding stinging jellyfish and sunburns--those were good days. Although I learned a ton about the world while studying abroad, I learned more about myself.

I also like to share stories about my favorite professors from my time at Simpson. People are always surprised when I tell them about my years as an undergrad and how I would often meet a professor for lunch, or a pedicure; as often as we talk about personal relationships with the professors on campus, it isn't until actually hearing stories from people who are/were students that you can really begin to understand what that means.

Of course, I have to tell students about the great friends I met over the past four years. I came to Simpson and continued all the way through with one of my great friends from high school, and along with that, I met so many new friends along the way. Some of them I met at summer orientation, or on the first day of class. Others I met through student organizations, study abroad trips, different classes, randomly at the library, or in the dining hall. I met some of my best friends from college through other friends, and some I met quite accidentally. Any way I look at it, I realize that I left Simpson with some of the very best friends in the world--they always say that college is where you meet the friends you'll have for the rest of your life, but it's hard to believe that statement until you actually live it. In my experience, it's true.

Research. Well, often research doesn't sound like something that is tremendously entertaining, but to us history majors, we were in heaven. I worked on a ton of research papers throughout college, but a project during my senior research seminar was one of my favorites. It was based on the history of Simpson during a span of a year during the 70s. We used the Simpson archives, conducted interviews in person and over the phone, read old newspapers, etc. to try to reconstruct what actually occurred during that time here on campus. Putting the pieces together, and being able to place our project into the broader context of Iowa, the nation, and finally the world gave me a greater appreciation for history than I had ever had before.

I also fell in love with reading. Courses in college are quite different from classes in high school. Expectations, assignments, and the time needed to complete projects/papers/and the like are much different. My senior year, I found there were many nights that I would have like a hundred pages to read, and as much as I complained about it and would have rather been hanging out with my friends, I was always content to be curled up in my roommate's reading chair with my blue and white blanket and whatever book it happened to be at the time. I spent hours reading classical literature, poetry, history texts, memoirs, historical fiction, articles on politics, editing papers, and the like. Although I am sometimes glad to not have to read that much every night, I still find myself reading for (get this) fun!

When I first went to college, I knew I was in for a ton of change. What I didn't expect was for that change to shape the person I became by my senior year and the things I became passionate about. I also find that the experiences I had at Simpson have shaped the way I see the world, and the way I continue to live as an alum.

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**For those of you following my travels through this blog, next week I am headed into the great state of Wisconsin for several college fairs. I'll keep you all informed of my adventures in the coming days...