The University of Blog

I have one recommendation for this: start early! Moving in the dorms can be tricky with hundreds of people using the same two elevators and trying to get into the same place at the same time. We lucked out by getting a laundry cart. This is the best method for moving a lot of stuff from a car to a small room.

Have you talked to your roommate? My roommate and I emailed each other back and forth to decide who was bringing what. I brought the microwave and Kristin brought the fridge. You don’t need (nor can you have two of) these items. To save space we got a over the toilet storage unit to stack all of our food on top of the fridge. Communication is essential.

Bunking the beds add space, but who wants to climb up and down all of the time? We decided against bunking because we wanted to have the opportunity to lie on our beds (and also I store stuff on mine). We had a small tv, which was a good addition to be able to have Grey’s Anatomy parties.

Living in the dorms is a great experience. There are tons of people to meet. It is the best way get acclimated to college life and share that experience with so many others going through the same thing. I’m a fan, and I will definitely miss living in the dorms this year. I will especially miss the convenience of eating in the dining halls and having someone else cook for me.

The moving-out process was daunting to say the least. The 80 degree weather combined with everyone moving out at the same time made things a little, or a lot, stressful. It was hard to find a laundry cart, ad half my stuff fell of the cart that I did use. Luckily, I had my parents to help the process. I would recommend that you try to move out before the last day of finals week. With some finals, it may not be an option to leave before then, but it is a lot easier on Wednesday or Thursday. We made several trips to a storage shed and then we were good to go. Our storage shed, however, is SUPER full with furniture for our apartment.

And then I forgot that I would have to move back IN my house. Thus, I got rid of a whole bunch of stuff in my room (I hadn’t done that in several years) to make room for my college stuff. It took the entire weekend to move back into my house. It made me think that I had way too much stuff. However, it does feel good to be home. I now have an entire summer to relax (and work a lot) at home.

My summer plans include working at a local restaurant and taking a couple of summer classes. It will be busy, but hopefully I can get a few credits out of the way as well as make a bit of money. Let me hear about what you are doing this summer before college. What are you all up to?

Moving out is a big process. As I finished up my last final, the thought then hit me on how to move out all of the stuff from my room. I have been packing for a couple of days and it looks like nothing has changed. The walls look a little barer, but other than that, I have so much stuff. I can’t believe that I’ve accumulated so much—and that it fits in my small dorm room. But I figure that I’m living here more than I live at home, so it is totally worth it to bring more stuff to make Mizzou home.

My parents will come tomorrow to pick up my stuff. So far I have rented a storage shelter (Storage Mart to share with my friends to keep the things I need for next year. It is kind of pricy, but I don’t need a lot of this stuff at home anyway. The dorm checkout process is pretty simple, except the fact that we need to bunk our beds and clean everything really well. If we don’t clean, then they charge an hourly fee for a cleaner.

The rush to get an elevator is a bit challenging, and there is usually a battle for the laundry carts, but a little endurance will go a long way. Moving out will feel really good when done. The hardest part is saying goodbye to all of your friends. At least knowing that you will be back in three months to see them helps.

One of the advantages of living in the dorms is the free food. And you can never deny college students free food. Tonight in the lounge, we have Panera bagels. Tomorrow we have Jimmy John’s subs, and Thursday we have Gumby’s Pizza. The food comes from the activity fees from the beginning of the year (since I am in the Journalism and Communication Community).

Then, we have a school-wide midnight breakfast at Brady Commons tonight AND one in the dining hall Wednesday night. And these are open to all students living on or off campus. It is great to have these kinds of opportunities for students to be able to take a break from studying for finals. This week we don’t have classes, just lots and lots of tests. I have two tomorrow and one on Thursday. So I plan on taking a lot of food breaks.

One of the advantages of living in a community such as the Journalism and Communication Community is that it provides great opportunities to network and meet people. A group of about 20 students went to three journalism professors’ houses for different courses of the meal. It was great to be able to meet these important people in such a low-key setting. Plus, who can pass up free food?

We had salad at Katherine Reed’s house, who teaches a reporting class as well as is the adviser for Adelante!, the student-run bilingual publication. Reed mentioned that students can either chose Adelante! for their beat or can volunteer there. She spoke in our Cross Cultural class about this cross-cultural success story.

Next, we headed to the Associate Dean of Journalism Brian Brooks’s house for the entrée. We spoke about how to navigate the journalism system and the Walter William Scholars program. With a 33 ACT, journalism students receive faculty mentors and a scholarship

For our dessert, we ate at the director of mymissourian.com Clyde Bentley’s house. Mymissourian.com is a blog site for Columbia. He spoke about citizen journalism and the convergence program. I leaned a great deal about the direction journalism is going.

Oh my goodness, for a sweets fiend like me, it is a paradise (or an undeniable hell when it comes to calories). The dining rooms are ridiculously full with cookies, frozen yogurt, ice cream, cake and pie. In addition, for the salt fan, there are potato chips, fries, and nachos. The common denominator here is that they are unhealthy and there are plenty of them.

So, the alternative to eating all of the good-yet unhealthy-food is to choose healthier options. Good tips are to always have breakfast and to always have two meals of the same food. This means to always have a salad or sandwich for lunch. Limiting your options helps make you feel fuller. Eating different ethnic foods (pizza with tacos for example) does not signal your body that you are full as fast due to the different spices.

Then limiting the junk food options is also smart. For example, have dessert once a day or once a week. Treat yourself, but don’t overindulge. I have learned firsthand that I feel like crap if I eat too much chocolate.

Knowing what you will eat or planning meals is also a good idea. This makes sure that you know how many calories you are eating and you can stick to your plan. The menus will be available online (once the site is updated).

The key is moderation. Have dessert, but limit to a few times a week. There are SO many options that it is wise to stick to one type of ethnic food. And balance protein (meat or cheese) with carbs (bread or pasta—wheat is always better) with GOOD fat (olive oil or almonds). Use the options (including your meal plan) to your advantage.

Being away from home for the first time means one thing: doing laundry by yourself. There is no mother to help and I hadn’t learned how to do laundry until entering college. The price is $1.00 to wash and $.75 to dry. Be careful about finding one that works though, because the dryers can be shotty. And keep track of the time on the washer and dryer. Students have no problem taking the clothes out of the dryer if they need one. It is up to you if you want to sit in there with your clothes. A couple people do, but they don’t have the most comfy place to study. I think if you pay attention to the time, it is not bad to just come back and forward the laundry.

In Mark Twain, the Laundry room is downstairs in the basement. There is one room that takes just coins and another that takes student charge. I just use my ID because it is easier, but all of them also take coins. I choose to do laundry every week because it is easier to find a couple of washers rather than four. It seems to work out pretty well.

I have a very crafty roommate. She knows how to make earrings, necklaces, weave, color, and much more. My friend next door knows how to crochet, scrapbook and cute little magnets. Being surrounded by such crafty people raises my craft-skills by ten points. It is so incredible. I never thought I would learn so much in the dorms.

I learned how to crochet and made great homemade presents for Christmas. It was a cheap way to make gifts, and my family and friends LOVED them! And it is not hard. At all. However, it is much easier to find out how to do it with the help of a person. It is much harder to try to do this by the internet.

And making earrings is not difficult either. It takes one tool, beads and a couple of metal parts. Also they make great gifts.

Crafts are quite great to do while watching Grey’s anatomy. I either blog or crochet while watching TV (I’m a notorious multi-tasker). Learning a craft and taking advantage of the knowledge of those around you is a great idea to create something unique and totally you.

Since I applied early enough last semester I get to park in Mark Twain lot. This is quite exciting! I did not use my car very much last semester. Having a car is a good idea, but it is not always necessary. Columbia has a lot of pockets of civilization to find and drive to. It is true there will always be people who are able to take people to Walmart or to the movies, but it is nice not to rely on other people all the time.

When I parked far away, if I really needed to go somewhere and no one could drive me, I would simply walk to my car. It was an inconvenience, but having the option of a car is nice. However, when I was riding my bike in the rain from the Student Health Center with Strep Throat, I was annoyed to say the least. Oh the upside, when I was parked in a garage, with the major snow we had, I was the only one who could drive out. So there are ups and downs to both. However, to celebrate my newfound close parking space, I went to Walgreens by myself! Who know where I will drive next.

The parking pass dates for next year have been released. Renewal for students living in the residence halls and commuting is assigned according to class rank. For new students, April 30 is the date to remember. The online application, that takes about five minutes, is available online now.

I could write a lot here because I spend a lot of time there. Basically, it’s awesome and the only way to experience its awesomeness is to visit. Walking in is like walking into a spa with palm trees and leather couches. Going deeper into the rec center, there is the high intensity workout zone with rows of treadmills, ellipticals and Stairmasters. Each machine is equipped with a headphone plug-in for the big screen TVs as well as the option for personal TVs on several of the machines. Photos are available at mizzourec.com.

There is also the weight room with every kind of weightlifting machine available. Then is the quiet room with several cardio as well as weight machines with no music out of the communal speakers. More photos are available online.

Not a treadmill person? There is also 1/6-mile track that gives a different option. The basketball courts and the racquetball courts are also nice options to workout in a fun way. Need a push to workout? The tiger X pass for $46 offers various classes such as cycling and cardio kickboxing to work out with other people. Yoga and Pilates are also offered.

Swimming in the Olympic size swimming pool is a nice option for working out. However, the whirlpool, Jacuzzi and lazy river offer a great study break. Sometimes they have free movies on the big-screen television there.