Living in Iowa City

Being born and raised in Des Moines, IA, I grew up around Iowa City and the Hawkeyes. My parents met at Iowa their junior years here. My first Hawkeye game was so long ago I can't even remember it. My family has had season tickets for as long as I can remember. I love the Hawkeyes, and I love Iowa City. It is one of the greatest college towns in America as far as I'm concerned. The campus blends with the city perfectly. The buildings on campus are nice, the Pentacrest is a beautiful focal point, and the pedmall is the heart of it all. Not to mention if you head West across the river where you'll see the spectacular Medical school as well as the athletic facilities, most importantly historic Kinnick Stadium. After the recent renovations to the football complex, Kinnick truly is an awesome site. If you haven't yet, I recommend taking a walk down Melrose on a given fall Saturday and you will see a special thing. There is no place I would rather be than Kinnick Stadium on gameday. The atmosphere is electric. You can feel it from the moment you walk outside your door at (for me) 6 AM. It is awesome. If you are a student, and you don't have season tickets, get them. If you have never been to a Hawkeye football game, you need to get to one asap.

Enough about football. This is about the city of Iowa City. It is not a very big city, but it is a nice one. One of my favorite things to do when the weather is nice is just walk around the ped mall. Grab some grub, and enjoy the day. There is so many good restaurants downtown that I promise you will have no problem finding something that you will find delicious. My personal favorites are Which Wich, Pita Pit, Z'Mariks, Mickey's, Saloon, Brown Bottle, and of cours, Panchero's. It's suprising to find out that most people don't realize the Panchero's in Iowa City was the very first one. I take a little bit of pride in that.

Besides the food, there is also a lot of good shops and things around the ped mall. And of course, the Iowa City nightlife is a whole other story. You can find a good deal at a bar literally any night of the week. $1-u-call-it's are one of my favorites, even though I figure out ways to spend fifty bucks on dollar drinks. Punch card night at One Eyed Jake's is arguably my favorite night of the week. 15 drinks for $10 is one good deal. The drinks are small though, but when they are that cheap it doesn't matter. Luckily I have some friends that work there so I usually get hooked up with big drinks. That is the key in this city, hook ups. Being friends with door guys and bartenders is a very beneficial thing in this town. You can spend a lot of money downtown, but you can also have a lot of fun. Opportunity cost is the word for it, you might have heard of it in Econ class. Compared to other college towns, the bars in IC are cheap. The main thing is just finding the deals. Cup night, punch card night, FAC, that sort of thing. The key is having fun, you only get one shot at this, but you also have to be responsible. Live your life and enjoy the time you have here!