i turned 21 and woke up to corn fields

So yes, my birthday was July 20th, and I celebrated here in Iowa. Initially, I wasn’t too thrilled to be celebrating my 21st away from my close friends and family. I had imagined being surrounded by my loved ones to celebrate such a milestone. And while I didn’t think that that could happen as I am 902 miles away from home, I still managed it unexpectedly. This might get a bit mushy at some point, I apologize sincerely for this as it makes me cringe as well, but I could not give this week justice without the heartfelt emotions.

It started off Sunday when Thomas gave me a surprise in the form of tasty lemonade. This moment genuinely made me tear up. I was not expecting anything in any form from my friends here, I was only expecting the packages my parents were sending honestly. So that caught me so by surprise and really made me consider the connections and relationships I’ve formed in Ames, Iowa. Flash forward to Tuesday afternoon, I’m buzzing with the anticipation for Wednesday (my birthday!) and I’m discussing our project with Alli. Jack then surprises me with a gift of one of my favorite popcorn and granola that doesn’t have coconut in it! At this point, I’m overflowing with gratitude toward these people and I’m honestly confounded.

Wednesday comes and it’s my birthday!!!! That day I had a chat with my mother as I went and had a cute little breakfast at the Hub. For this day, we had all planned a small birthday dinner, including the 9 REUs, Jack, Dante, and Mattan. I genuinely had such a great day, like genuinely cannot expess the happiness I was experiancing becuase of this day.

I really want to make sure I’m not coming across as making these past couple days so great only because I got gifts. I truly appreciate the thought and time I got to spend with everyone. It makes me so happy to have been able to have spent these past several weeks with such an amazing group and it makes me sad to write this as we come to an end.

BTW: here are some photos from other days