Iowa State freshman Jake Peterson, a native of Minneapolis, thought Iowa was a vast wasteland of corn.

And apparently, many out-of-state students from larger cities come to ISU expecting the same. Aubree Davison, a sophomore from Grand Rapids, Mich., said, “I thought everything was cornfields and cows.”

Students are finding, however, that Ames can play host even to “city kids.”

Brent Widler, a sophomore from suburban Chicago, said, “I always wanted to come to a college town with a lot of old buildings on campus. I didn’t want to go to school in the city. This was kind of my idea of an adventure.”

One of the biggest changes for students from big cities is adjusting to the relatively safe environment of a small community.

“It blew me away that you could walk out of your house and leave your door open,” said Jill Lansing, a junior from a Minneapolis suburb.

Davison was also shocked by the lack of precautions many Iowans take to protect their possessions.

“People in Iowa don’t lock their cars. People in Iowa don’t lock their houses. I lock my car at home while I’m driving in it,” she said.

Students also say Ames residents are friendly, making their “rural” transition easier. Widler said ISU students as well are friendlier than students on many other campuses because a majority are from small towns.

Accordingly, Lansing said she finds Ames a refreshingly comfortable place to go to school.

“This is the kind of place you wave to your neighbor or your postman, or the person in a car who is letting you cross the street,” she said. At home in “suburbia,” people are more likely to wave a less friendly hand gesture in your direction, Lansing said.

Peterson, also from a Minneapolis suburb, said Ames is “kind of cozy because it is so isolated. There is pretty much nothing all around us.”

But that isolation is bothersome for some.

“I know it sounds weird, but I miss driving in traffic,” Davison said, “and being able to go shopping and have ‘real’ stores … There’s really not a hell of a lot to do around here.”

Lansing said she misses the conveniences of the city.

“One night you can go to a laser light show, and the next night you can go to a museum. And it’s all 10 to 15 minutes away,” she said. “There is a certain luxury to living in a city.”

Peterson, too, appreciates the “diversity and cultural variance” that a city offers.

“You can’t find much of that down here, that’s for sure,” he said.

Davison said the “conservative” nature of small-town Iowa is a drawback.

“You don’t get as many viewpoints on things in a small town as you do in a big city,” she said.

But despite the disadvantages a short adjustment period is all it takes for many “big city” students to feel comfortable in Ames.

“My first semester here I had a roommate from a small Iowa town. She helped bridge that gap a little … that people from big cities and small towns can share things in common,” Lansing said.