I arrived at Columbia three months ago and want to present you my “Top 5” list about the best and the worst things I have found:

THE BEST

1. The University of Missouri-Columbia. Very dynamic and plenty of resources, activities, green opened spaces, multiculturalism... I am not a scholar, but I can realize that it is like a small town, all designed for the student life.

2. The variety of cultural, artistic and entertaining events. Every week there are activities for all, you can select concerts, theatre, cinema, dance, thematic parties, politic or cultural meetings, and different ways to participate in activist groups.

3. You can find a lot of second hand things, especially furniture, very cheap. And this is one of the best ways to recycle and start an independence life. You have the “Thrift Store”, garage sales, advertisement of particular sellers published at different newspapers… And also some stores of outlet products.

4. People who attend to customers in the shops and the drivers of the buses are the most kind that I have never found in any other place. Always smiling, they know how to make the customers come back.

5. The fauna of the city. You can see squirrels, rabbits, a lot of different and big birds, including crows. Also, a few days ago I could see a deer!

THE WORST

1. The transportation system, that ends around 5-6 p.m. from Monday to Wednesday, there is not on Sunday, and the rest of the days the service finishes around 9 p.m.; also buses are reduced on Saturday! So, the possibilities to participate in the largest list of event are drastically reduced if you don’t have car. And if you want to go out and visit other cities, that’s impossible! Bus schedules going out of the city are impossible to combine to make a round trip in the same day. Sometimes I feel like I was in jail.

2. The monopoly of Wal-Mart over the food markets. If you don’t have car, this is practically the only place to buy, you like or not this controversial business.

3. There are very few sidewalks or other security areas to move around the town. Sometimes you have to cross roads with four lanes, in two directions, without traffic lights. Too much vehicles. Indeed, you can see more of them than people walking.

4. Food. Most of the restaurants are fast food services, plenty of fat and with little nutritional value. And the fresh food is very expensive. I was very surprised when I saw, for the first time in my life, that each unit of some fruits are being sold at a really expensive price, like tangerines. I think that the fresh veggies and fruits must be the most affordable food because it is the base of our nutritional pyramid.

5. There are not mountains or sea at all; and unfortunately tornados are common.