5 Things growing up in Iowa has taught me

“Is this Heaven? No. It’s Iowa.” -Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams

Of course, I had to go with the Field of Dreams quote. That movie is the only thing Iowa has and the only thing we are proud of. Just kidding, I loved growing up in Iowa for several reasons. Although most of my friends were dying to get out of the state, I imagined living there the rest of my life– but Texas was calling. Don’t worry, there will be another post on that coming later.

For now, here is a list of things that growing up in Iowa has taught me.

1. Simplicity

It’s hard to believe that this girl who loves shopping at places like JCrew, Anthropologie, and other designer brands, once wore holes in her American Eagle jeans, and was the poster child for Old Navy. It’s true. Growing up in Iowa, I was kept pretty grounded in the fashion sense and other senses. I had no fashion sense. We had a NorthPark Mall, but it does not even remotely compare to the one in Dallas. I only knew three designers before coming to TCU– Coach, Burberry, and Ralph Lauren. Materialism did exist in high school, but it was for owning Coach purses or Nike shocks.  At TCU materialism is blown up. Though I have to admit, people dress so much better here. I mean who doesn’t want to look like they belong in a J.Crew catalogue? Am I right?

2.Village Inn is the best place to go after Basketball Games

Okay, so this isn’t really a serious point, but I mean they have the best hash browns! Plus, there were so many good conversations I had with friends at good old VI. Did I also mention my friends and I went there the morning after prom? It was just a REALLY good breakfast place and they had the best hash browns.

3.MIMAL

MIMAL= Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This was actually a 1st grade geography lesson but a practical one. I was taught how to find Iowa because there is a person in the middle of the US map. Minnesota is the hat, Iowa is the face, Missouri is the body, Arkansas is the legs, and Louisiana is the feet.

4.Childhood sports

Here comes my cockiness and my enthusiasm for sports. We went to state in football practically every year, so I think this is when I really learned to love sports.

I first started playing soccer when I was in preschool and I loved it. After I got into soccer, I kind of followed my sister. We both played soccer, basketball, tennis, and golf together. Each sport we would always compete against each other. In soccer, we used our swing set as a goal, and basketball we always used to play one-on-one. I could go on and on about how much we challenged each other and made each other better, but that’s another story. Field of Dreams should have called us up and asked us to be in the movie. Because of my sister, I fell in love with playing sports and I was pretty much a tomboy my whole childhood.

I realize you can probably learn how to play sports anywhere, but I grew up playing them near cornfields.

5. Not everyone lives on a farm

Crazy thought right? After living in Iowa for 17 years, I have only known one person to live on a farm and I wasn’t even friends with her. Actually, I have never even met her. We rode the same bus to school when I was in 8th grade and she was a lot younger than me.

Although we do like to joke about it too.

In high school, we played against North Scott, a high school within our conference that was very much located in Northern Scott county, where the tall corn grows. We had dress up themes for when we attend certain sporting events. Whenever we played North Scott we dressed up as farmers.

There was one time at a basketball game when they had a good team and we were beating them we started to chant “Start your tractors.”

Then they chanted back, “We drive combines.”

So yes, some people do live on farms, and yes, we all have a pretty good sense of humor.

Bonus : 6. Iowa > Iowa State

I know I only said I would write 5 things I learned, but I decided to through in this completely biased opinion and add it to the list.  I don’t even want to debate that Iowa State had a better football season or is in a better conference than Iowa. Tough.I’m basing this decision on the fact that I love the Hawks.