1. If the Bongo app says the bus will be there in 4 minutes, you have 7. Unless of course you’re running late. Then you have 0.
The Cambus is a major plus on days when you just don’t wanna walk all the way across campus or it’s raining, but the app is not always the most accurate.
2. It’s a gosh darn miracle if you’ve never gotten a parking notice or ticket in Iowa City.
And if it hasn’t happened to you, you probably don’t own a car.
3. It’s a gosh darn miracle if you find a parking spot in the first place.
4. Pedestrians are the worst when you’re driving.
5. Drivers are the worst when you’re a pedestrian.
6. Basically any form of transportation is the f*cking worst in Iowa City.
7. The corn monument:
Homecoming is the time when we become about as Iowa as you can get with a creative sculpture made out of corn. There may be haters, but we love our corn-y tradition.
8. Coffee and books are never in short supply.
With the number of awesome coffee shops and bookstores in Iowa City, your energy or brain levels can never fall too low.
9. The sh*t berries
There’s really no other way to describe them because if you’ve ever been on the South end of the Pentacrest, you know the stench you can’t escape.
10. The giant sloth
I wouldn’t be freshman orientation if you didn’t hear about the sloth. Maybe you’ve seen it, maybe you haven’t. Maybe you think it’s adorable, maybe you think it’s the creepiest thing ever. Regardless, you know of its existence and wouldn’t have it any other way.
11. The EPB was not created for people who enjoy the cold.
12. Adler was not created for people who enjoy the warmth.
13. You don’t have a gosh dang choice where your classes will end up, and you’ll have to change seven times a day.
Even if you’re in good, temperature-controlled buildings for all of your classes, you’ll likely still face the dilemma of having to change partway through the day because the day started at 50 degrees and then quickly changed to a solid 80.
14. Mayflower is great, but not if you hate taking buses.
I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to about living in Mayflower love the experience except for the fact that you always have to rely on the bus to get you to campus.
15. Being triggered every time you hear “Back in Black.”
You know it from the very first beat. And if it doesn’t make you want to be at Kinnick for game day like RIGHT NOW, are you even a Hawkeye?
16. The wave to the Children’s Hospital after the first quarter.
Sure, Today and ESPN reported on this tradition the first time it happened, but anyone who sees that will never quite understand what it’s like to be there, participating in one of the sweetest things to ever happen in Iowa.
17. Accepting that construction is just a part of everyday life.
Mayflower, random side streets, Hancher; it seems to never end.
18. Iowa City is always the place to be on any given Saturday.
Hawkeye game days are just about the best days you’ll find at any college campus. Aside from that? There’s a reason we call it Iowa Litty.
19. We know how to tailgate.
If you’ve never been to an Iowa tailgate, you’ve never really tailgated.
20. If you go to Union or Summit, you’re probably a freshman.
21. T. Anne Cleary Walkway is a place to avoid if you hate flyers or being told you’re going to Hell by a lady with a tampon tree.
22. We’ve come to accept that we’ll never know why it smells like dead fish by the Biology Building.
23. Eduroam is the devil’s wifi.
24. The Hill
Yeah, you know the one. The one that has you wheezing and wishing you were in better shape every day.
25. Iowa City is a great place to call home.
No matter what you love, Iowa City is a place you can find your niche or spot or people and want to come back to even when you leave.
26. “On Iowa…Go Hawks!”
You know the cheer. We don’t do it often past orientation/On Iowa!, but it’s certainly worth it when tour guides try to show that we do.
27. It’s great to be a Hawkeye
Enough said.