The Rookie: Moving in, growing up

So here it was. The big day. The big move. The day Alex finally became one of the big men on the ISU campus.

And Mom had written “We’ll Miss You!” right there on the door of his room in Linden Hall. Under it, “Love, Mom.”

Still, Alex Murman, an incoming freshman in pre-architecture from Buffalo Grove, Ill., said he’s looking forward to being on his own for the first time.

“Most of my high school friends went to one college together,” he said.

Separation anxiety isn’t getting him down, though. “The only thing I worry about is not being able to find my classes,” he said.

Murman selected Iowa State – which is more than six hours away from his home – over a number of other universities that had offered him baseball scholarships.

“I wanted to come to Iowa State because I really liked the beautiful campus and it has a very good architecture program,” he said.

His family helped him haul boxes and a loft into the Richardson Court Association building and soon they were on their way back to Buffalo Grove. So what’s a boy to do when he’s on his own?

“I’m looking forward to watching football and baseball games,” he said. Beyond that, Murman wants to trot over to the Lied Recreation Center and play on some intramural teams.

He sounds brave, but Murman admits there’s a special someone back home he misses already.

His dog, Bailey.

The Experienced: Loving dorm life

It’s not his fault he gained 30 pounds his freshman year. It has something to do with Dining Services.

“It seems like they serve the good food all on one night,” said Michael Klobnak, junior in sociology, of St. Charles.

“It ended up getting old fast,” he said of the food selection.

Klobnak has called Welch Hall his home for the past four years, and – despite the possible conspiracy in the dining hall – he’s enjoyed his time in the residence halls.

“I’ve had the same resident assistant every year and he’s great,” he said.

Another draw is the camaraderie between the men in his Richardson Court Association residence hall.

He said the annual Birch-Welch-Roberts Challenge is one of his favorite activities throughout the year.

“We get competitive during the mattress races, tug-of-war and kickball games, and it’s a great chance for guys to compete with each other,” he said.

Looking back, there have been some patchy moments along the way as well.

Klobnak came to Iowa State as a budding engineer, but didn’t enjoy the intense studying it required.

“The first semester I was here, I only got two hours of sleep a night,” he said.

“It was hard to get used to because I was still adjusting to college itself.”

Another adjustment was living with roommates.

“I found out just how dirty living with guys can be, but there’s also more freedom living with all men because you can relax and do what you want,” Klobnak said.

The Well-Traveled: Globe trotting to Iowa

The first trip to the Midwest was eye-opening, to say the least.

Ames is different than Trinidad and Tobago, after all, as Brent Hewitt-Borde discovered when he first made the trek from the island in the Caribbean.

Hewitt-Borde, a second-year freshman in pre-architecture, traveled 10 hours from his home to return to Ames.

“After graduation, my classmates scattered all over the world to go to college,” he said.

“I came to Iowa State because they have so many internships available and you can get hands-on experience.”

He sees advantages to living in Iowa.

“The people here are very friendly,” he said. “You can leave your doors open and relax without having to worry about getting mugged.”

On the other hand, Hewitt-Borde said, the Midwest does lack the sense of diversity of his home.

“Where I live, there are many ethnic backgrounds,” he said. “Trinidad and Tobago is definitely a multicultural country where everything from food, music and sports are influenced by the people who live there.”

Sledding and snowball fights were new experiences for Hewitt-Borde during his first winter in the Midwest.

“I am surprised at how unpredictable your weather here is,” he said.

Hewitt-Borde said the close-knit environment in Fisher-Nickell Hall has been rewarding.

“I wouldn’t exchange this experience for anything,” he said. “Living in Fisher-Nickell allows you to meet other international students and learn about people all over the world.”

Nick Northcot, senior in psychology, human resource management and industrial relations, took the scenic route from his home in Perth, Australia.

“I made stops in Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Minneapolis before coming to Ames,” he said.

“I have seen many places already.”

Northcot is at Iowa State on exchange from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia’s largest university.

“One thing I noticed is that many of your students live on campus here,” he said. “Though my university has an enrollment of 31,000, only about 500 students live on campus.”

Northcot said he brought only a suitcase and a backpack with him to Iowa, and said buying more supplies is expensive because of the poor exchange rate between Australian and American currency.

“Everything here costs double to me,” he said.

Though Northcot said he expected Iowa to be flat and dry, he was pleasantly surprised to find how green Iowa State’s campus is.

Despite his newfound fondness of Iowa, he plans to travel to London as an exchange student after leaving the Midwest. Still, there is plenty of excitement for now, Northcot said.

“I love the fact that there is always something going on here,” he said. “I haven’t been bored once.”