If there are two aspects of the social scene at Mizzou that I value the most it is the diversity of beliefs and the amount of fun things there are to do!
I'm from Illinois and I'll be honest, I experienced a bit of culture shock when I moved down here. In my area you'd be hard pressed to find a conservative, not to say they didn't exist - they just weren't that vocal. Well, when I moved into my Journalism learning community about half of the people on my floor were Republicans! It was a whole other side that I had never seen before.
Don't let that anecdote intimidate you. At first I was a little put off because back home political discussions were everyone agreeing with each other. But after I realized how knowledgeable and eager for open forum everyone was, the difference in perspectives was refreshing! It was like a blind was being lifted off of me, and for once I was being presented with the ability to look at issues and see both sides. The stereotype is that college is where you finally start thinking for yourself, and it's true! In my own experiences, I found that I let my parents and teachers mold my thoughts through high school. Now I could continue with those sentiments or form knew ones. Over the past two months, amplified by the campaigns and election, I've gradually become more confident in what I believe in. I've kept a lot of what I've previously believe, but seen other parts of the spectrum that I agree with as well.
It's not just political views that were different for me. There is a smorgasbord of musical interests, hobbies, and backgrounds. Especially because most of my floor is out-of-state, everyone brings something new to the table. My friends are in love with bands I've never even heard of! (I won't name them because I don't want to appear completely out of the loop.)
Because we're a big school we naturally attract big events. For those of you familiar with PostSecret this Thursday Frank Warren is coming to speak. Motion City Soundtrack and rapper Tech N9ne (Nine) have both been to Columbia as well. In case you haven't heard, Missouri is also a battle ground state, and last week Barack Obama came to campus to speak!
I encouraged all of my friends to go, conservative and liberal alike. It was a great chance to see history in the making, even if Obama doesn't win! He was scheduled to speak at 9:30p.m, but people were already lining up by 2:00p.m. I got in line at 6:00 and was already over ten blocks back. The people behind me had driven 5 hours from Oklahoma just to hear him! This is just an example of what a powerful campus University of Missouri has. The College Democrats orchestrated the event and did a wonderful job. I'm attaching one picture of the McCain supporters just to make sure I present a fair and biased outlook... but really I just thought their sign was pretty funny.
For those of you who don't know. Mizzou and kU have a HUGE rivalry.
Aside from big name people coming to town, Mizzou still offers a fun social scene. You're never to old for Halloween and my entire floor got dressed up to go out! Mizzou After Dark put on a "Spooktacular" which had lots of free goodies. Of course, there were costume parties left and right that you could attend if that's more your scene.
I was Wilma Flintstone! My costume was made by Rachael (middle) who was a genie. Trupti stole the show though with her egyptian costume!
I convinced my floor government to do pumpkin painting so we also did that. It was A LOT of fun! Everyone painting their own and it was really funny to see who did what. My friend Melanie did her sorority letters, Ryan (the business man) painted his pumpkin with a "boss-man" type figure, and my roommate Mystle did the conventional type.
Because Halloween was such a big deal on our floor, we all kind of went all out. Door decorations, costumes on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and carmel apples galore! I mentioned that we all have diverse backgrounds, but we know how to come together and have fun!
If you're from out-of-state don't associate Missouri with being boring. It's anything but!
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