On August 2, 2010 when I arrived in Ames, I was very nervous because I was very worried about studying as a graduate student raising children without my husband’s help. Even though this is not the first time living in the United States, I felt great responsibility for my graduate study and children at once. When I first came to the United States in 2001, I relied on my husband who takes good care of our family. But this time, my husband stayed for two weeks to help us settle down in Ames. After he left, I was so afraid of being left with my kids. In addition, there was lightning and thunder almost every night since our arrival in Ames. One night, my family experienced a blackout on account of a horrible thunderstorm.
For several nights, I could not sleep tight because of not only jet lag but also scary weather changes. On one day, the rain poured and flooded the west areas of Ames. The night before the flood day, I saw dark and sinister clouds spreading all over the sky of Ames. It was a really horrible scene. It looked as if devil spirits were coming down on to Ames. Because of the flood, puddles formed in front of my house and a number of mosquitoes attacked our house.
As I lived in fear for several nights, I had several times to think about going back to my home country. I could not have peace of mind and could not enjoy the natural beauty of Ames.
One day, we were driving around the ISU campus. We found a small lake called Swan Lake Laverne. The lake was beautiful, picturesque and calm, reflecting the shining sun on the surface; it seemed like some shining marbles rolling on the surface of the lake. The beauty captured my heart all at once. When I saw two swans floating on the water, I felt like I was a protagonist in the fairy tale of Swan Lake. We pulled over our car near the lake and had a great time taking pictures together.
After that we started to walk to central campus and suddenly I found out a big beautiful sculpture on the green grass in the middle of the central campus. It was “Border Crossing”, one of Luis Jimenez’s signature works of art. This artwork gave me a huge impression touching my heart at that time. This sculpture is of a man crossing the border carrying a woman on his shoulders. The woman holds a crying infant in her arms, sheltering the child from harm. This sculpture commemorates the huge number of immigrants who travelled across the southwestern border from Mexico into the United State in search of a better life.
Even though I was not one of the immigrants, I came here with the same purpose and had had difficult time to adjust and set up a new life in Ames. I think this is the reason why I felt this artwork so beautiful.
After experiencing such a wonderful moment, peace came filling into my mind and I decided not to come back to my home country. Because of the Swan Lake Laverne and the sculpture, “ Border Crossing’ in ISU campus, my negative first impression of Ames turned into positive one and I was fully convinced that it is worth living in such a small campus town, Ames.
Today I watch this artwork with different eyes and mind however I still remember the moment when I met this sculpture at the first time.
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