Column:
Life at MU much different than expected
Published March 19, 2010
From class schedules for next semester to talking to high school students, it seems I can't help but be reminded I'm almost an entire year out of high school and into my life at MU.
This past weekend, my sister came to visit me, because she's on her spring break and able to waste a few days in Columbia as opposed to keeping up with her busy junior year schedule. I've been trying to get her down here for a weekend almost since the very beginning, but this is the first time it's ever worked out.
It's interesting to think of everything Hallie reacted to during her stay in my residence hall room.
Sunday evening, she ranted to my mother for an entire 10 minutes about how we do our dishes in the bathroom sink, something I've never thought of doing differently and my entire floor does.
Having put her up on the top bunk, I was forced to turn on the light for her to get up or down — something my old roommate never had trouble with.
She wears her hair differently than people here (a bump my friend teased her to take down), has no coat other than her letter jacket and considered Plaza 900 a "magical land of food."
In other words, the sister most of my friends from home agree is so mature for her age that we forget she's only 16 stood out like a sore thumb as being in high school.
It's unbelievable I've been here for almost two entire semesters. This semester has been almost entirely different than last semester, which I'm told is mostly because I'm technically a sophomore now. I'm not so sure about that because I fail to see how my credits affect my social life.
I'm still only two semesters out of high school, and I realized recently it's already been a year since I was getting my senior pictures, cap and gown and visiting the campus for the first time.
Although there have been tours year round, it seems I can't go anywhere on campus during the day without seeing the sure signs of a tour or at least a college visit. The folders, the parents and the tour guide all bring attention to the awkward-looking teenager gazing around the campus.
I remember being the awkward teenager, frantically hoping I could remember the relation between buildings and find myself around by looking everywhere on campus. With my sense of direction, it's not hard to figure out it didn't set in until the week classes started.
I came here with a lot of notions about how college would work, something I was reminded of by my sister's visit. Her preconceived notion of a dining hall was similar to what mine was, and I'm so thankful that notion was false.
I also fell into the idea everyone in college parties all the time, but that too isn't the case, even if many do party much more than I do. I also assumed I would have a roommate all year since I live in a double, but this again has not been the case, giving me not just one but two former roommates.
There are countless other concepts I had for how college would be, and not a single one was very realistic. After growing up with the aim of going to MU, I'm extremely thankful the reality has been as fantastic as it has been. When you look forward to something for a long time, especially your entire life, it's easy to be disappointed. Luckily, I have been anything but.
12:05 a.m., March 23, 2010
Pat W said:
Ms. Spaar and Maneater Editorial Staff: I should have stopped reading sometime during the bitching and moaning about your sister's unpleasant experience like were a good friend who might actually care about your petty weekend story. I waited for a climax to come, something along the lines of your sister experiencing something unique or Mizzou-themed that changed her previously negative view of the quality of life offered by the campus to a positive and pride inducing outcome for the reader. I was feeling some degree of disappointment by this point in the article, which was not only at the reasoning behind your choice to submit something that looks copy-pasted right from a run-of-the-mill, solely self-satisfying personal blogpost (which has recently become a common theme in this column and/or submitting just to submit due to lack of read-worthy article ideas). I was disappointed more in the effort made by the staff in quality selection and, more importantly, on maintaining that quality with the organization's best interest and image as just cause. More specifically, investing rationally explainable attention in the interest generated by the author to more than the individual's column, but the Forum section's popularity and newspaper as a whole. I'm probably placing unfair criticism on the editorial staff with valid reasons, such as a limited talent pool to select from/place faith in. I'm being a little bit demanding to be honest. What do you expect, Maneater? With the excitement generated by colorful forum contributors in previous years (specifically Sean B-something and his ability to use blunt criticism to spark interest across the whole community while unifying groups and inducing view re-evaluations/enforcement), I don't see any worth in a blog-like, mediocre personal experience column.