Editor’s note: Landlocked is a discussion between two students from far outside Iowa.

It’s just two simple words that some of us hear a little too often but others really want to know. “Why Iowa?” Coming from the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-Pacific, my friends all wished me luck in the land of potatoes – Idaho – swapping two totally different places. Actually, I probably knew as much about my new home as they did: nothing.

Did I hear Iowa, Idaho or Ohio? When I heard I was coming to the United States from India I was exhilarated, but soon my enthusiasm met with confusion. Whoever I spoke to had heard nothing about Iowa and couldn’t tell it apart from states such as Ohio.

I never had any prior experience with Iowa. I hadn’t seen Ames, Iowa State, or even the Midwest until the day I moved into Helser Hall last fall. My first day in Iowa was chaotic for me. I’m sure the jet lag from the 4,000-mile flight wasn’t a help, but I was totally out of my element. Lake LaVerne was a definite change from my usual scenery of the Pacific Ocean, and the plains of Story County were no match for the Wai’anae Mountains I was used to. I had tried to keep things in perspective, being used to stereotypes of Hawaii, but I couldn’t shed from my mind what all my friends mocked me about: a school year filled with farms and well, farms.

Finally I reached my destination. After all the research and manipulating which was going on in my brain of what to expect of a place not known to its own countrymen, I reached Iowa. The instance that comes to my mind is when I arrived at the Des Moines International airport and lost $10 to a phone card machine which just refused to take another $5 dollar bill. It reminded me how wrong I was when I thought “Des Moines International Airport” would be as large and populated as a truly international airport such as JFK.

Although far from my own homeland, I managed to find a similarity here and there. People from small towns have the same hospitality that I am used to from other islanders at home.

Don’t get me wrong; my first impressions of Iowa were positive, I was just adjusting to many new things all at the same time. Adjusting to college life was a challenge, but being in a place with a different lifestyle at the same time just added to the mix. Since Hawaii is a state of the union, people typically assume we have the same “apple pie” Americana, but life at home is so full of additional cultures, such as my own Native Hawaiian culture, that the lack of it in Iowa became really obvious to me. Then came head-on those all-too-familiar questions, like whether or not my grass shack had electricity, if I owned my volcano, and if aloha really means both hello and good-bye. Dude, was this going to be a year.

A year ago I was surely looking forward to be here at ISU; I had a positive mindset about Iowa. After the initial period I finally got into my first class and was amazed by the population. I belong to New Delhi, one of the most populated cities in the world, but had I never seen a room filled with over 200 students being taught by a single professor. It seemed like a sci-fi movie as the professor fiddled with his gadgets and tried to maintain the attention of the large class. For the first time, I felt so neglected after coming from a class of about 35 back in my high school in India.

My first year as an Iowan progressed, and I had an encounter with my first-ever winter. I had brought my “warm clothes” with me from Hawaii (that I owned for when the temperature dropped to a freezing 70 degrees), but I was by no means prepared for anything that was coming my way. Actually, I am constantly told that I had it easy, and that by all means I should have had a horrible winter (thanks for the encouragement, guys) but it was still a shock for me. I was accustomed to year-round summer weather, so it was still a great deal for me. The few feet of snow we did have last winter was still lots of fun for me, even though my friends from Iowa got sick of it a lot sooner than I did.

Experiencing the new weather was actually fun for me; I had come so far for a new life experience. Whether this included a change in scenery, making sure I said `pop’ and not `soda’ to avoid embarrassment, or building my first snowman at eighteen years old, I have many awesome memories from my Hawaii-Iowa transition. As I come back from a summer at home, I leave behind Hawaiian hula, native language, beloved family and friends and paradise, but I look forward to my time in Iowa, a place where I finally feel comfortable in my home away from home.

Experiencing a new way of life was my goal when I traveled thousands of miles to reach Iowa. What I soon faced was the bitter cold and heavy snow. But at the same time I am enjoying this new experience. I still remember having competitions with my roommates about the number of times we slipped while walking on ice. Soon summer came, and now a new semester. It is amazing to note how time has flown in this place which made me feel alienated once but today is “Home”.

Robert Baptiste

is a sophomore in cultural anthropology from Nanakuli, Hawaii.

Rishab Chandra

is a junior in management information systems from New Delhi, India.