The University of Blog

I worked several jobs this summer (three to be exact). My first was the movie theater that I’ve been working at since I was a sophomore in high school. There is something about being at the same place for so long that adds some continuity to my life. My best friend works there too, so it worked out. If you are looking for a great job and free movies (now that the price is going up), the movie theater is a great place. And there are three in Columbia!

I also worked as a hostess at 23rd Street Brewery, a local restaurant. The goal was to become a server, but I didn’t have enough time to train. And then I worked in childcare at my church (another job from high school). I would really like to get a job when I get back to Columbia. I know it will take a lot of work, but a little extra money would be nice. I didn’t hold down a job last year, which gave me a ton of free time and time to focus on school. We’lll see if I can get a job since it is quite competitive in a college town. The hope is yes. If I were in Columbia earlier, I would have applied early (but alas, I did not have enough time.) Today I will walk downtown and pick up a ton of applications.

I rushed last year. This included moving in a week early and going through the rush process. I originally decided to rush because I wanted to meet people. At the end, I decided that Greek life wasn’t for me, but I am incredibly glad that I decided to rush.
house decorations for homecoming decorated by a frat/sorority team

It is a recruitment/ mutual acceptance process. The first day we went to every house and talked to a girl there and learn about each house. Then the next day we received a list of which houses invited us back. We go to fewer and fewer houses until the end when we are invited to up to three houses where there is a preference ceremony and then we numbered the houses that we wanted.

We finally found out what houses that we were selected for during a ceremony at the quad. Each house sang their respective chant and we opened up all of the envelopes at the same time and ran to our houses. From there we ate in a relaxed atmosphere, got gifts and had a chance to meet all of the girls.

The rush experience was a ton of fun and I’m very glad that I rushed. In the end, once I was selected for house, I decided that I didn’t have enough time to dedicate to my sorority and that I had met a ton of great people already. Mission accomplished.

On Wednesday I move into my apartment. I will room with my freshman roommate as well as our friend down the hall. My roommates have already moved in. I’m nervous. Moving is a big process. We rented a trailer to hook on to our car to put everything in there. Driving for four hours with a u haul hooked on the back is nerve-racking in itself. Then we have to move everything from the trailer up the stairs. Yikes!

Since we are renting an unfurnished apartment, we had to buy furniture. This included a mattress, which I got for a deep discount (since it was a discontinued model). Then we got the kitchen table, chairs (4 for $15 at a garage sale), tv (which I got a 27” tv for $25 at a garage sale) and a bedside table ($5). I love the deals. I have to frequent the garage sales to get the best deals. The garage-sale season continues until early fall.

Then I got some posters and post cards to decorate my room. Even though I don’t have cinderblock walls, I still have white walls, which asks for a little color. I have all of that on lockdown, but cooking by myself will be another challenge. We’ll see. It will probably come down to a lot of frozen meals.

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.

My roommate and I have been on the housing hunt for several months now. It is more difficult than I originally thought. There are various decisions that need to be made. One was the location that we wanted. Kristin and I decided that being near campus would be beneficial. Therefore, we looked for places within walking distance to campus. However, these plays are generally more expensive and contain less (from furniture to amenities).

The location was important because we wanted to still feel a part of the campus. There are many options that include all furniture, cable/internet, washer/dryer, dishwasher and are new, but many of these places are not close to campus at all. Driving is fine (because we will probably have to anyway), but I like the option of riding a bike or walking to campus on a nice day. East campus has a lot of houses converted into apartments, and so far we have been driving around looking, writing down numbers and viewing various locations. Some property management companies charge an application fee to be turned in before a showing of the particular location. This is unfortunate, but many of those houses are owned through property management such as REMI, Callaghan and Galloway or 443 Stop and it is a necessary step if you want to go through a company.

Disappointment is part of the process. We fell in love with two different properties that fell through for one reason or another. I advise to like a place, but not to put so much energy and thought into living there until you sign the lease. We are still searching and may end up living on campus again next year. To avoid the hassle of searching, living on campus is easier. Food is provided and everything is within walking distance. This is especially valuable for first year students considering how many people you meet throughout the year. I know I have been very fortunate to live in the dorms this year.

Everyone needs Spring Break right now. Studying constantly, I have two midterms and one test this week. I know that many of my friends are deep in studying mode. However, I cannot wait until spring break where I will not have to read, look at equations or memorize lists and will visit my brother in Seattle, WA. However, I am not quite sure what we will do. If any readers have suggestions, please enlighten me.

If your Spring Break Plans are somewhat close to home, or maybe even home (my roommate is going to “JoMo” (Joplin, MO)), there are still things to do to make a Spring Break fun.

Catch up on the cult classics like The Big Lebowski and Pulp Fiction to be able to catch the allusions to the movies that people throw around all the time.

Eat and cook homemade food, even though it’s just brownies. You never know how lucky you are to have a kitchen right there until it is five floors downstairs.

Sit in your couch at home and do nothing for one day. Do not look at any books. Just relax and do not worry about classes.

And even though Mizzou’s Spring Break is later than most, still find time to meet with your friends, even if they might have classes. This is a great feel refreshed for the part of school after Spring Break that feels endless.

For Kristin’s birthday, a few friend and I blew up 144 balloons. For those who have never blown up 144 balloons, it is quite a feat and I felt very lightheaded afterward. Then while Kristin and I were out, our friends put them all our room to completely take over our little space in Mark Twain. It was a fun surprise for her to walk into a room completely packed with balloons.

For dinner, we went out to eat at Sophia’s off of Providence past Stadium wearing funky dresses. The food was excellent. Very upscale, but not too pricey. There are entrees that are around $20, but the pasta dishes are more affordable (around $12). The paintings representing various scenes of Columbia create a nice ambiance. Also, Kristin got a free dessert. The chocolate mouse cake so good that I would go back just for the dessert. I highly recommend trying it.

The whole birthday was very much fun. Celebrating a birthday away from home can take getting used to, so it’s great to have friends to eat and party with. And if you had ever thought about having an ice cream cake in the dorm, it can be done. We got the key to the community kitchen to keep a DQ cake cold. Then we kept the key until the cake was gone (which took no time at all).

Below: Mediterranean Chicken Pasta Chicken with portobello mushrooms, red onions, romas, artichokes, and kalamata olives. Tossed with penne pasta in a pesto asiago sauce

I had a delightful evening at the house of an alumni couple. I ate real food: pork tenderloin, risotto, strawberry salad and peach pie. was able to chat with other students in various areas of interest rather than just other journalism students that I usually interact with. It was so wonderful. In addition, it was an opportunity to get away from my dorm and have good conversation with new people.

Being a True Tiger (member of the student alumni association) is a great experience. I am able to attend events and network with both alumni and other students. So far, I have attended the Network Dinner earlier in the year (catered steak meal). Aside from being an opportunity for free food, I was able to meet and get advice from professionals in my future field. A retired broadcast journalist told me that he learned more in his four months in his first job than he did in his four years at Mizzou. But he really valued his well-rounded education because in a career, he focused solely on his job. I really like the advice that college is the time to explore all your interests or you might not have the opportunity to. Thus, take advantage of all of the opportunities that Mizzou offers.

Other events include tailgating events with alumni before football games, trip to a game in a different city, and painting the M by Faurot Field. It is only $20 to sign up True Tigers, and you get a free t-shirt and glass cup (it pays for itself). In addition, you get discounts all over town. Free food, good conversation, discounts and networking opportunities: what more could you want?

This weekend I’m in Lawrence catching up with the family. The drive from Columbia is about 2 ½-3 hours. Not bad at all if looking for a fun outing on the weekend. However, I warn against wearing any Mizzou gear. This will just get into a bit of trouble since the University of Kansas (KU and Mizzou’s big rivals) is housed here. However, don’t ignore Lawrence just because it is supposed to be the enemy: it has a lot of culture and fun activities.

Lawrence has a great music scene. I saw my first concert at Liberty Hall, which is comparable to the Blue Note mixed with the Ragtag in Columbia. If a concert doesn’t work out in your schedule, at least go to Liberty Hall to see a movie. It is beautiful. For a list of activities, visit Lawrence.com.
Another fun thing to do is eating at the variety of restaurants. Ethnic options include Indian, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Mongolian, and American (can this be ethnic? There are lots of pizza options here). I ate at this Tuck away Korean restaurant off of Massachusetts street (main drag) on Friday night. It was pretty crowded (usually it’s not), but the food was excellent. We shared the tuna roll among three and I had the chicken rice bowl. Delicious. I have yet to find a Korean restaurant in Columbia.

Funky lamp at Java Break.

It is great spend Saturday afternoon strolling downtown Massachusetts Street. Stores to hit up downtown include Hobbs, Weavers (old department store), Eco Boutiquo, and Urban Outfitters. My favorite coffee shops include La Prima Taza, Milton’s and Java Break.

Sometimes it can catch up with you to be away from your family. Sometimes everything can just get a little overwhelming. Sometimes you can just feel a little blue for no apparent reason. There are some things you can do that might help with this.

Go outside. If it is nice weather outside, nothing makes me feel better than going into nature. On the outskirts of campus, there is Peace Park with a babbling brook. The grassy knoll by the columns is also a nice spot to study, play Frisbee or just hang out. I have a friend who hosts a wiffle ball game on every Wednesday there.

Get away. Since you are going to class in the same place that you live, it can be hard to separate relaxing time from studying time. I am a big movie buff, so to relax, I really enjoy going to the movies. It is a good idea to get off campus if you can. That way when you are relaxing, you don’t have to be constantly reminded of school or what you have to do. If driving somewhere is not an option, going for a walk is also a nice alternative. Hanging out at a coffee shop or downtown can also help you relax.

Set aside some time for yourself. Participate in your favorite activity at least a few times a week. If you like to read, set aside time each day to read that novel you’ve been dying to finish. Maybe crocheting or painting is fun for you. What about a rousing game of Scrabble? The Craft Studio (located in Brady) offers classes or just a membership ($30 a semester) to go there and do art. My roommate knows how to throw pottery so she always brings back her creations, and I’m always impressed.

Work out. A great way to relieve stress is by releasing some endorphins at the wonderful Rec Center. Several options include treadmill, track, Tiger x classes or swimming. Inclined toward water? There are many options including the lazy river, whirlpool, hot tub, steam room and Olympic size swimming pool.

Still blue? The Counseling Center offers individual and group counseling. The health fee includes 12 individual visits as well as unlimited group therapy. This can be used if you are just a little stressed or feel depressed. Sometimes it’s nice to have someone else to talk to.