Columbia, MO is undeniably the best college town

Nothing beats it

Mid-Missouri is kind of a magical place contrary to the rumors and jokes about nothing being in Missouri.

Columbia is the home of Mizzou, great people, awesome art, many bands and some fantastic restaurants.

Hot Box Cookies

Forget about Insomnia Cookies. If you live in Colombia, Mo. you know that nothing beats their fresh baked cookies. The idea of being able to order cookies and milk and have them delivered is enough to motivate any student to stay at the library until midnight.

The people that work there are super friendly, but who wouldn’t be when you are surrounded by cookies all day?

Lakota Coffee

Lakota is the coziest and cutest coffee shop ever. The ambiance is fantastic and the dirty chai latte is to die for. It is worth getting up early to snag a window table for the perfect study space/people-watching perch.

There truly is no better place to study – corporate coffee shops just don’t have the same quirky atmosphere.

True / False Film Festival

True / False is a four day film festival that takes place in downtown Columbia every year since 2003.

A bunch of interesting people are all congregating in the middle of Missouri to watch each other’s films. It is a fantastic experience. There is literally no better time to explore the area and meet new people and the electric feel keeps the festival growing.

The Blue Note

I have been blessed with the amount of awesome artists that have come through Columbia. The venue is small enough that there are no bad seats and big enough to bring awesome bands.

The shows that come through appeal to all tastes of music. The awesome venue allows the show to be more personal as opposed to larger venues in bigger cities. The venue has students that do public relations for the venue and it really brings the university and the community together.

Downtown is such an important factor in the Mizzou experience and the Blue Note is undeniably an important part of the community.

North Village Art District

First Fridays give some variation to the regular routine. The first Friday of every month, I venture downtown to look at the local art. There are a lot of opportunities for artists in this community and the North Village Art District really caters to the community’s interest in art.

It gives some variety to the usual college town Friday night scene and so the artists of Columbia can remind the community of the talent that comes from mid-Missouri.

Ragtag Cinema

There are other movies than the wildly popular and commercialized ones that are screened at big movie theaters. This is where Rag Tag comes in – they have comfy couches and they screen movies that I probably would have never heard of without this adorable theater.

It’s a cozy environment to catch a film and maybe have a glass of wine.

Mizzou Botanical Garden

Mizzou’s campus, located right by downtown, is a botanical garden. Most people don’t even know this but it’s clearly obvious when you walk to class and it’s way easier when there are flowers to stop and look at. Take a minute to notice the beauty of the plants and effort that must go into maintaining such a florally infested campus.

MKT Trail

Nature is important and it can be completely embraced by just taking a little walk over to the MKT trail, which is fairly close to downtown Columbia.

The stress levels of students would be way higher if it were not for this scenic nature trail right by campus. It is a great place to ride bikes or walk dogs.

Above all, it never fails to remind Columbia that mid-Missouri is beautiful after all.

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Mizzou: University of Missouri