School Freebies

If you are looking for cheap, or even, free gimmicks, the best place to look is to check out university-sponsored activities. Flyers are usually posted in high-traffic area of the campus—dorms, student centers, department offices, library, cafeteria/food courts, etc. Other activities may be advertised in your school paper, or if you are interested in activities around the city—check the city paper (it’s free and lists more “hip” activities) and local magazines (i.e., Time Out, New Yorker, Washingtonian, etc.) or the newspaper for listings. You can also go on the web to check the online version of the magazines or other city guides as well.

City Guides
http://www.timeout.com/
http://www.citysearch.com/
http://www.cities.com/

Campus activities can include socials sponsored by your school which can run from a formal cocktail hour to a laidback evening of pizza and beer in a nearby bar. International students are offered various activities through the international office. At NYU, the activities are designed to introduce “American culture” and the neighborhood to foreign students. Activities included a trip to Harlem to explore the neighborhood and lunch at Sylvia’s (a restaurant famous for Southern cooking), free museum visits to MoMA and the MET, Thanksgiving meals with an NYU professor, skating at Chelsea Piers, and watching a live taping of a TV show. Other university offerings might include free movie screenings, ski trips, discounted theater tickets and exhibits. At Boston University, Rico Manuel (Boston University, Boston) described school-sponsored events such as sailing in the summer and skiing in the winter. At the University of Virginia, one of the most popular school events was the annual steeplechase held in the track beside the school.

Whatever your interest may be, your school/college will most likely have something for you: lectures, concerts, film showings, seminars, even sports. Your tuition covers the use of sports facilities such as the oval, the swimming pool, the gym, there may even be exercise classes offered.