Diversity!

Last Wednesday night I attended "The Mystical Arts of Tibet" lecture at the Memorial Union. Most of the speech was about the Buddhist practice of constructing a sand mandala and what this practice meant to the religion. I knew that mandalas were very intricate works, but I never knew that there was so much symbolism and religious meaning behind them.

I actually enjoyed the speech a lot more than I thought I would. Honestly, I thought that I would sit there bored the whole time, but the monks were pretty interesting. They described their practices and the reasons these practices are significant. Every action holds a lot of meaning for Buddhist monks. One negative about the lecture was that the monks were pretty difficult to understand because of the language barrier. However, after a few minutes I was used to the accent and I could understand the monks better. I thought that the chant/prayer the monks did before the speech itself was the most interesting part of the whole experience. I have never seen anything like that before!

My Bucket List

I guess this assignment is a little weird for me to think about. I mean, I've always set goals for myself and I have never failed to meet them. I have always thought of my life up to this point in terms of things I needed to do, not always things I wanted to do. Being in college means I can start to think of what I want my life to mean and the things that are most important to me for the future. Now is as good a time as any to look down the road and decide where I want my life to end up.

My number one short term goal here at Iowa State is adjusting well to college and doing well in my classes. Obviously, those two things really go hand in hand. I know that this first semester is really important and it will have a big impact on how the rest of my college career goes. Four years from now, I want to graduate with a degree in a field that will be my passion. I want to know that the work I will be doing to the rest of my life will make me happy and be fulfilling.

After college I really want to be able to find a place to settle down and start my career. I hope that I will be able to find someone that I want to spend the rest of my life and raise a family with. I know it might sound corny to some of you (literally), but I really want to raise a family here in Iowa. I don't think there's anything better for a kid than small town values.

Even though I want to settle down in Iowa, I still want to have a chance to travel and see parts of the world. I want to travel to Europe, especially in Great Britain and France. I would love to travel somewhere exotic although I really have to idea where. Something about trekking through the jungle or climbing to a remote mountain top is really appealing to me. I also want to visit each of the fifty states in my lifetime. I want to go bungee jumping or sky diving, too!

Most of all, I want to be able to look back on my life, not only at the end, but also throughout, and be able to say that I have lived without regrets. I know that I will experience plenty of tough times in my life, but those times only make the good times more sweet. I want to feel like my life impacted someone else and that my existence in this world was worth something. I hope that I will be able to look at my accomplishments and find satisfaction in the path my life has taken. Considering I am already looking forward to my future, I think there's a pretty good chance that will happen!

At my best...

We all have moments in our lives that really define who we are and what we believe in. For me, that began with learning that my parents were divorcing. For a long time I had convinced myself that everything was okay in my family and I literally refused to see the truth. My father was a hero in my eyes as a child and he was the center of my world. But as I became a teenager he slowly succumbed to alcoholism and became steadily verbally abusive.

So right about now I bet you're wondering how this could possibly be related to the best of anything. Here's my explanation. Since my dad was so important to me, accepting the fact that he is now a completely different person than the one I had idealized my whole life was pretty difficult. It seemed like the whole world was going to think that I was destined for failure because of him. It didnt' matter how many awards I won. It didn't matter that I had a perfect GPA. It didn't matter that I had supportive friends. I felt completely alone.

As time passed by, however, I began to realize that we all control our own destiny. The support of my family, friends, and even the community proved to me that I was my own person and my father's decisions and actions didn't reflect on my life. We all say that what others think doesn't influence our actions, but very few of us can actually claim that is true. I can honestly say that I am one of those few people. The moment when I realized that for the first time was the single best moment of my life. It was a freeing experience that I can't really put into words. For me, it meant that the darkness and depression that I had surrounded myself with was lifted and my future was restored to me, and now it could be whatever I wanted it to be!

I know that college will present many difficulties for me, but I also recognize that I have many perspectives on life that others do not. I know that I am a very resilient person because I have dealt with hardship first hand. I know that I alone control my future and I recognize that I have the ability to go far in life. I hope you all know that this applies to your lives as well! You can do whatever you want to with your life regardless of what others think or say--you alone control your future so make it what YOU want it to be! Trust me, it's a very fulfiilling experience!

Hi everyone!

I guess this first week is just supposed to be a description, so here goes!

I am from Akron, IA....yes I know you've probably never heard of it.I graduated in a class of 42. Anyway, Akron is in northwest Iowa and about a 3 and a half hour drive from Ames. I live on an acreage with my mom and younger sister. We have horses, dogs, and cats. I'm definitely an animal lover! I participated in pretty much any activity you can name while I was in high school. Everything from drama, to jazz choir, to basketball.

I put some more stuff about what I like and everything under my profile so you can check that out as well! I'm excited to get to know you guys!

Coreen Robinson