So, the day has finally arrived for the Des Moines group to part for the capital city of the state of Iowa! Although it wasn't the first time we were going to Des Moines, there was a different sense of excitement. Getting to work with some of the politicians and policy makers in Iowa was truly going to be an insightful experience.
Derek and ourselves left Waverly at around 11:30 am on Sunday, 27th of February. The day prior was when we did most of our packing and we were contemplating on what to take and what not to (also keeping in mind if we'd forgotten anything). Derek was there to pick us up as neither of us (Liza or Bibek) has a driver's license. So he was to be our personal chauffeur (you know we love you Derek).
The journey was 2 and a half hours to Des Moines. As neither of us had lunch, Liza wanted to get some food. We decided to stop at McDonalds on the way. There's a funny story here. As the two of us went inside to get some food, Derek remained in the car as he didn't want to eat anything. When we returned, Derek noticed some red and thick stuff on his shirt. It turns out, Bibek has accidentally picked up some ketchup in McDonald's and succeeded to make Derek's million dollar shirt look a bit...dirty. He told us that he'd clean it up in the hotel room for the reception later in the day.
We then met the other participants of the Orange Connection at St. John's Lutheran Church in downtown Des Moines. We were the first to arrive, followed by the others. When everyone got there, we were split into group of mostly 2-3 people. Our goal: to take pictures in front of all the monuments listed in the handout. The team Bibek was in had quite a ride, as the other participants knew exactly where to go. It wasn't much of a problem to get everything done. Liza' group on the other hand struggled and was the last one to show up at the Alumni Reception.
The Alumni Reception was held at Kevin and Abbie Smith's lovely home. 2000 Wartburg graduates, the Smiths were more than happy to host the event. To add to this, they were our personal hosts too! The event went by smoothly, with alumni who talked about their Wartburg education and then moving on to explain what they did. We met the editor of the Des Moines Register along with a gentleman who owned his own insurance company. Overall, it was a good event but many couldn't show up.
Later that night, we spent time with Kevin and Abbie talking about our countries and our experiences at Wartburg. They talked about their life with the new addition of Nicholas who was trying to get to know us more. Their dogs Gadget and Gizmo seemed to love us already, trying to sit on our laps. We had to start work at 9 the next day and thought it would be great to sleep after the Oscar's were over.
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