Now that it’s fall, pumpkin spice drinks, scarves and fuzzy socks have asserted their presence into our lives (or at least mine). One other noticeable thing is happening around campus as well: Tours.
Ah, I remember the good old days of high school when I was just a youngling, aspiring to be a grown-up college kid. Sure, I’m just a freshman here at MU, but seeing high schoolers with their confused and awestruck faces makes me feel more in touch with my adult self.
After living here for a while now, I’ve noticed a few things my tour guide left out while I was exploring my future home. Here are the top three bits of information about MU that were left out when I came to visit last year:
**Everything is _not_ a ten-minute walk away**
High schoolers are awed by the color-changing leaves of CoMo, the beautiful columns and whatever’s going on in Speakers Circle. Those dazed moments happen to be the perfect opportunity for tour guides to tell them that everything on campus is just a mere ten-minute walk away.
Unless you have jet engines for legs, or you’re lucky and happen to be in the center of campus at every time of the day, everything is not, in fact, a ten-minute walk away.
I can tell you with confidence that my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday walk from College Avenue to the Engineering West building takes a solid twenty minutes on a good day.
Sure, I could probably get there in fifteen minutes, but only if I want to be a walking waterfall of sweat when I walk into lecture.
**The animals at MU are the best animals**
One major thing my tour guides left out when I came to visit last fall was that the animals here are pretty stellar.
Now nothing beats your favorite dog, cat or fish back home, but you can definitely get your fix of furriness and animal love practically anywhere on campus.
From Puppies with Purpose to CoMo citizens walking around the columns, letting their dogs run loose on the Quad, there are so many opportunities to get that puppy fix in.
Not to mention that the squirrels here are basically everyone’s best friends. Those little guys are just so cute and adorable that my roommate constantly has to remind me on our walks to class that I can’t just pick one up and keep it as a pet.
It’s safe to say No. 1 on my MU bucket list is domesticate a squirrel, name it Sandy — because my childhood will never die — and turn it into my best friend.
Okay, maybe rushing Faurot Field is No. 1, but having a pet squirrel named after a SpongeBob character is definitely a close second.
**CoMo is basically the best place for a college kid to live in**
No, I’m not just saying this because I now live in Columbia — OK, well that’s part of it — but it really is a great college town.
(Forbes magazine places CoMo as No. 6 on its list of Best Small Places for Business and Careers, ninth in job growth and fifth in education)[http://www.forbes.com/places/mo/columbia/].
I think it’s safe to say that if you go to MU and don’t let the not-really-ten-minute walk get to you every day, you’re set to take on the world in a place that’s perfect for doing just that.
The number of times I’ve just wanted to straight up stop a tour group to share these bits of enlightenment is quite ridiculous, and I’m surprised I haven’t done so yet.
Knowing these jewels of information before making my college decision would have made deciding to be a Tiger a lot easier. But in the end, I made the right choice.
