10 Years in the Real World...

What the what?! I graduated from college 10 years ago next month. Where did the time go? I still feel like I am 23 some days (except those mornings after a few too many glasses of wine...), and I feel like I'm just now figuring out this whole "adulting" thing. Not that I've been an adult for 10 years already. Good lord.

 Anywho, I went to Drake University in good ol' Des Moines, Iowa. I never planned to go to school in Iowa, and all through high school I wanted to go to a big state school, but Drake kind of snuck up on me. I loved the small class sizes, that classes were actually taught by professors and not TAs, and the campus (or at least most of it) was exactly what I imagined a college campus should look like. Well, at least a college campus that wasn't an Ivy League school. :) And, it was far enough away from home in Minneapolis that I felt like I was spreading my wings, but close enough I could go home for the weekend if I wanted.

 So I moved myself to Des Moines. I joined a sorority, and I found my tribe. We had a whole lot of fun and me, the only child, had a house full of sisters.

 4 years flew by and all of the sudden my time in Des Moines was over. The city changed and grew up a little bit with us, and the kind-of crappy place I moved into as a 17 year old was blossoming into a kind-of lovely place.

 Ok, enough my waxing poetic. Des Moines is pretty damn awesome these days, with great restaurants and brewpubs and culture and of course, Drake Relays. Relays was a huge part of the college experience for us; a huge track meet that made Drake feel like a big state school and a ton of parties and other campus events. Where most schools welcome back alumni during the fall for homecoming football games, Drake Alumni return in droves each spring for Relays.

 A bunch of my sorority sisters and I got together for a weekend full of reminiscing, revisiting our old college bars, eating at some great new restaurants, and visiting our house. It was such a special weekend! By far my favorite moment was going back to The West End Lounge, where we spent many of our college nights. While there, we ran into a group of 25 year reunion Thetas, as well as some girls who are graduating this year. All of us shared in our love for the bar, shared some memories from our time in the house, and were pleasantly surprised to see how some things never change.

(And I should note... no amount of "training" will prepare you for a Relays weekend once you are in your thirties!)