By Anu Joshi
Science and Tech Editor ‘12
There are days when all I want is to get away from school. Despite all the amazing movie nights, bingo and brilliant Argus Eyes performances; the midterms, the seemingly endless papers and the thesis coupled with the ever creeping dread of senioritis never fails to take a toll.
Cheap Entertainment
Fortunately, I rediscovered our school’s $6 AMC Golden ticket which is 40% cheaper than the regular $10 price at the Newport mall. The golden ticket is limited to two tickets per person, a day. So feel free to ask any student in the hallway a favor and send them over to the office to buy tickets on your behalf. If you are feeling adventurous enough then you can catch the free shuttle to Jersey Gardens, the largest outlet mall in NJ and snag a $5 movie ticket aboard the shuttle. Don’t feel like going through any of those hassles? The AMC offers $7 Thursday tickets with a valid student ID and all the regular movies are $6 before 12pm every day.
If you scour sites like Timeout and Nycgo there are plenty of free activities to do in and around New York, that is a simple ten to twenty minutes train ride away. This summer, I attended numerous free movies in the park, and concerts and food tasting extravaganza that I would not have been aware of otherwise and probably would have been unable to afford.
Cheap Travel
PHOTO COURTESY OF NJ.COM
For the numerous trips to Manhattan and around Jersey City, the PATH SmartLink is an obvious option for cheap travel. It costs $0.50 less per trip compared to Metrocard which now costs $4 roundtrip, thanks to the recent price hike. The small difference in price quickly adds up for someone who travels a lot via the PATH. Besides, it is made out of plastic and for me; it has withstood three years of abuse without expiring even once like a Metrocard would.
If the distance between the school and yourself is just not great enough and you have the urge to travel to a completely different state, then the Bolt Bus and Megabus have $1 ticket deals for bus trips to Boston, DC and Philadelphia. It is worth checking out before you buy the expensive Amtrak tickets. And, for the expensive airfare, there are sites that specifically cater cheap deals to students like the studentuniverse.com and statravel.com.
Free Music
Screenshot of Spotify --PHOTO COURTESY OF NICOLECIFANI.COM
Everybody loves music. My music stays with me all the time, even when I travel or sleep and my endless playlist is like the background music to the story of my life. Yet, it has been a really long time since I last used my computer’s native music application. I am not a big fan of buying CD’s or tracks and I don’t like downloading it off some site either. The easiest solution for me was free online music streaming sites. Pandora serenaded me through my freshman blues. Grooveshark kept me awake through my all-nighters and I recently started using Fratmusic playlists for their interestingly named playlists. There are more sites like Spotify, Slacker, and Lastfm that are completely free and have completely revolutionized the way we listen to music.
Though all the sites have something they do better than the rest, my personal favorite is Grooveshark. For most of the sites, you can choose a song or an artist, and the site does the rest of the work. It picks up similar songs and plays it like a continuous playlist, but on Grooveshark I can create multiple playlists with songs that I already like.
There are plenty of perks of being in college that I took for granted until I realized that when I graduate in seven months, I would have to pay quiet a price for those very amenities like the free gym and pool that I barely use would come at a hefty monthly fee, the luxury of doing laundry up to three times a week simply because they are free and located in the basement of my building. Being in college also gives me unlimited access to free unlimited Wi-Fi and free cable channels that I am certain costs even more. I love being in college and the advantage that I get because of it.
