The University of Blog

Cherry Street Artisan: 111 S. 9th

This is the hip coffee shop for both the emo kids as well as the study group and is housed right in the middle of downtown Columbia. The atmosphere is pleasant and has incredibly comfortable couches, delicious coffee and homemade pastries. However with a huge group of people, it can be extremely difficult to get work done. Thus for heavy studying, go alone.

With free wifi, it makes it easy to do some work in a relaxing atmosphere with cool jazz or Bob Dylan in the background. Live music is also housed here, and there are imported beers and wines for a date. On Saturday night both local and regional artists play, and many times it is free. Their events can be found online at cherrystreetartisan.com

And the coffee cannot be ignored. For the long trip, the bottomless cup is only 1.99 (great bargain and delicious coffee). The fancy drinks with anything including the words midnight or chocolate in the name are also to be tried.

The FIG program, which stands for the Freshman Interest Group, is a program at Mizzou where 15-20 students are grouped according to their academic interests. The program has been around for ten years and is thriving to get students acclimated to the school.

For journalism majors alone, there is the Walter William’s Scholars, Journalism Honors and Women in Journalism not to mention the various FIG groups for the other majors as well.

The students that participate are housed in the same dorm, usually within a floor or two of one another and are co-enrolled in three courses. However, it is possible to drop one of the courses when selecting the classes.

The FIG program includes a one-hour “pro-seminar” each week led by a peer advisor. The peer advisor leads the class and decides the curriculum. The subjects vary from helping students get acclimated to Mizzou to various issues around the freshman experience including study habits and partying. The group is paired with “co-facilitator”, a staff member or professor, to gain greater insight about the school as well as a chance to network.

This year, I participated in the Journalism Honor Fig and we had 14 people who were interested in various types of journalism. It was a great experience to be able to meet people right away. Sure not everyone will get along, but it is a nice niche to get acclimated to the school. Living and taking classes with the same people offers a great opportunity to get more out of the learning experience. It makes it an easier transition especially if you go into college with knowing no one or few people.

To get into the dorm or FIG group you want, Apply early. I wanted to find out where I lived and since they are tied to the particular FIG, the information is available online if you are interested. My assessment was that the FIG program really helped and gave me a close group of people to do things with. Our group was particularly close and we did a lot together including going to parties and shopping together.

Meet me, Laura Parkinson, dedicated college student from Lawrence, KS. I began at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO this year. This is actually making me a rebel considering I live in the rival territory. Yes, I crossed the border to attend school at one of the best journalism schools in the country. I am interested in Convergence journalism which is a little of everything. Convergence is using the Internet to connect the various media.

Enough about school, I’ll be talking enough about it. I really enjoy fashion and movies. Lots of movies. I work at the movie theater in Lawrence and like to see movies (did I say that?) They are free and fit in my starving college budget. I also like Hello Kitty. I am 18 and I like Hello Kitty, but hey, I’m a girl and I can be a little crazy and childish.

Enjoy my blog and soon it will be expanded to include your experiences as well. I am a new blogger so welcome, and please, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. Don’t be a stranger!!

Mission: To help college students and high school students realize the idiosyncrasies of their schools or potential schools for the benefit of all students. This site is possible by the participation of students (just me at first) sharing their real, honest college experiences.

I created this blog to help both college students and high school students find unique insights about their colleges. The college experience is very vast ranging from living with a roommate to navigating through the registration process. As a college freshman, I realize this and would like to help students as much as possible. The hope is to make the experience a little easier for everyone.

And what makes me qualified to begin this blog? As I mentioned before, I am a freshman at the University of Missouri in Columbia. I went through the entire college application experience and decided on Mizzou. I am exploring the city as well as the college and it as a never-ending process. I love it. And if you are interested in writing about your own school, the hope is that this site will expand to include your experiences as well.

Tiger walk is where all of the freshman walk through the columns toward Jessie Hall and then eat tiger stripe ice cream. It is a very fun experience at the beginning of the year and it should not be missed. Even some other students… ahem.. not freshman visit the columns at this time to eat free ice cream. And tiger stripe ice cream is not to be missed: chocolate fudge inside of orange vanilla ice cream.