As a student at Mississippi State University, I fully support all the clubs, athletic teams, and really anything that goes on on campus. Sometimes, though I wish things were a little different.

Let's begin by talking about the buildings. My mother is an MSU alum and tells me all the time how some of the buildings are just as disgusting today as they were when she attended school here. I am sitting in the library as I am writing this, and to my left there are several miscellaneous buckets set out to catch water from the peeling, mildewed ceiling. Hand Chemical Lab is always freezing and the labs look like they were built in 1963 (which they probably were). Allen Hall smells of human urine, and I don't even know where to begin with Dorman.

The dorms aren't much better. My freshman year, I lived in Nunnelee Hall, which is supposed to be a newer dorm in the Shackoul's Honors College. Throughout the year my roommate and I frequently fell ill due to black mold growing in both the shower and air vents. Our carpet was peeling up because whoever lived in that room before us allowed the fridge to leak for weeks on end. And I didn't even live in one of the worse ones.

I had a good friend that lived in McKee Hall, which was an all boys dorm. He would have to walk up seven flights of stairs every time he wanted to return to his room. The stairs were missing rubber grips and were falling apart, which made it very dangerous to go up so many flights. Not only that, but the door would never unlock for him and he told me he saw someone use the restroom in a trashcan placed in the hallway. He literally had to beg the school to come repair the building because it was in such bad shape and he was living under such unsafe conditions.

Next let's talk about food. As a freshman, you are required to buy a meal plan, which means you can either choose from Fresh or the Perry. Fresh is probably one of the most remote buildings on campus, making it inconvenient for students to dine there. Its food was okay for supposed "health" food, but definitely could have been better, considering I was paying $2000 plus for a meal plan. The Perry was more "comfort food," I guess. The first semester I was here, it was actually pretty good, but then MSU decided to get a cheaper food provider and it became a little less desirable.

Not only was the meal plan outrageously overpriced, but there just aren't enough food options. The Colvard Student Union has Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Pizza Hut, some weird healthy salad place, a bakery, and the P.O.D. The P.O.D. is MSU's version of a mini convenience store. There are P.O.D.s located in three buildings apart from the Union, but when I need something that will keep me full and I only have five minutes between classes, a pack of peanut M&M's won't do.

In all, I pretty much enjoy being an MSU Bulldog, but there are some things the school could do to make the student experience a little bit better.