STUDENT PLT OF C152 ENCOUNTERS TFC PATTERN DIFFICULTIES AT A BUSY DEST ON SOLO XCOUNTRY.

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ON A STUDENT PLT SOLO XCOUNTRY; AFTER REACHING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER; I BEGAN MY SEARCH FOR THE DUBUQUE ARPT. HOWEVER; I WAS S OF MY ESTIMATED POINT. APPROX 15 MI W OF WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE; I IDENTED MY POS BTWN CASCADE AND MONTICELLO; IA. ONCE I LEARNED OF MY POS; I IMMEDIATELY TURNED BACK TOWARD THE AIRFIELD. I RPTED AS A STUDENT PLT; APPROX 10 MI OUT TO THE W; YET I DID NOT HAVE THE AIRFIELD IN SIGHT. CONTINUING ON; AT 3 MI OUT; I FINALLY SAW THE FIELD; YET I WAS STILL AT 3000 FT. I BEGAN MY DSCNT AND BEGAN TO TURN DOWNWIND AS INSTRUCTED. I HEARD THE ATC TALK TO OTHER ACFT; WHICH I THOUGHT WERE NEARBY. I UNINTENTIONALLY DSNDED SLIGHTLY BELOW PATTERN ALT; AND IN MY RECOVERY; I ACCIDENTALLY AND UNKNOWINGLY CROSSED THE FINAL APCH. WHEN I LEVELED; I NOTICED WHAT I HAD DONE. I TRIED TO ALERT THE ATC CTLR TO WHAT I HAD DONE; YET HE DID NOT APPEAR TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAD TOLD HIM. HE WAS ALSO ATTEMPTING TO KEEP CONTACT WITH ANOTHER ACFT. WHEN ATC DID NOTICE MY POS; IT WAS NECESSARY TO MAKE ANOTHER ACFT BREAK TO THE R TO AVOID WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A COLLISION. FROM THERE; I WAS INSTRUCTED TO TURN AROUND THE FAR END OF RWY 36; AND PROCEED WITH A L DOWNWIND. FROM THERE; I SAFELY LANDED AS INSTRUCTED; AND CONTACTED THE TWR AND MY INSTRUCTOR. I FEEL THAT CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THIS EVENT WERE MY INEXPERIENCE AS A STUDENT PLT AT CTLED ARPTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS L AND R TFC PATTERNS; SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS OF ACFT IN THE PATTERN WHICH I WAS BUSY LOOKING FOR; HAZY VISIBILITY CONDITIONS ON A SUMMER AFTERNOON; AND A LOT OF RADIO TFC ON THE TWR FREQ. AS A STUDENT PLT (WHO DID IDENT HIMSELF AS SUCH) I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE REQUESTED EXIT FROM THE TFC PATTERN ENTIRELY UNTIL THERE WERE FEWER ACFT IN IT AND THE CTLR COULD HAVE DEVOTED MORE TIME TO ASSISTING ME. ADDITIONALLY; I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE NOT FLOWN A STUDENT XCOUNTRY ON SUCH A HAZY DAY INTO AN UNFAMILIAR ARPT WITH KNOWN HIGH VOLUME OF TFC.