Sophomore Elin Dejus never fails to brighten my day. With her seemingly never-ending stash of memes and pictures of cute animals, she always makes me laugh. The other day I had the opportunity to catch up with her and talk about memes, her cats and the theatre productions she’s been working on!
Hometown: Hinsdale, Illinois
Majors: Theatre Arts and English & Creative Writing
Why did you choose the University of Iowa?
In high school I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I applied to a lot of selective theatre programs and told my counselor that I also really enjoy creative writing, so she suggested Iowa. She said I’d get a response back right away. Basically it was a safety school.
How did you choose your majors?
I chose Theatre Arts as my main major because I did a lot of theater in high school, mostly tech stuff, and wanted to do it in college. I figured it would be a good way to decide if I wanted to keep doing it. Also, I thought it was cool that I could come in with two majors because I think at most schools you pick one and then apply for the other later.
What are your plans for the future?
I know that I’m an artist. No matter what I do, I can’t get the creative, artistic side of myself out of my brain, but I also know that I can’t be bound to one thing. I’m hoping that I can get a number of written works published as my life moves forward. I enjoy—I think I enjoy—stage management and theatrical design. I want to do sound design and lighting design, and maybe scenic design—I’m still not sure how I feel about scenic design. I just see myself doing a lot of odd jobs related to these fields.
What extracurriculars are you involved in on campus?
I do a lot of theater productions, which are technically part of the major but are also a sort of extracurricular. I’m currently managing one show, Trocadero Rose, and I’m going to do another in the spring, Doing Well Together. And I just finished one, Jarred.
Other than that, I’m a DJ at KRUI 89.9. My radio show’s name is Speak Easy. I talk about poetry and writing and also play music, and it’s a fun time.
How do you like to spend your free time?
One of my hobbies is… uh, I tend to spend a lot of time instinctively looking at my phone, so lately I’ve been following a lot of Shiba Inu pages on Facebook. At least it brightens my day and makes my time online worthwhile. (Author’s note: Shiba Inu is a super cute dog breed!)
I write poetry. I questionably write prose because a lot of it borders on the poetic anyway. I’ve been writing a lot of plays recently in hopes that I can soon finish a full-length play and submit it for production to the theater department next year.
I am a die-hard Pokemon Go fan!
Is there anything else you want Her Campus readers to know about you?
Can you put that I really enjoy the Facebook pages Trolley Problem Memes and Lusty Literature Memes? Also, I feel like people should also know that I recently adopted a cat from the side of the road, and his name is Julius Caesar.