DH Noodle is one of those spots that feels like a warm hug as soon as you walk in. The wooden tables, soft lighting, and cozy vibe make it the perfect escape from a busy day. Whether you’re catching up with friends or just looking for a quiet moment, the welcoming atmosphere and incredible food make it hard to leave.
The scallion pancakes are a game-changer—crispy, flaky, and packed with flavor. Pair them with one of their refreshing boba teas, and you’ve got the perfect combo. The menu has something for everyone, from steaming noodle soups to small plates you’ll want to share (or not). Plus, they’re always adding new items, so there’s always a good excuse to come back.
DH Noodle is offering college students a discount when they present the Campus Clipper coupon and their valid student ID.
I’m in my first semester of Senior year now, and listen— I’m still afraid of the dining hall. Kind of. It’s big, busy, and bright. It’s a space that still feels uncomfortable for me to enter some days. During my first three years of college, when I relied on the dining hall for meals because I lived on-campus, it was sort of like exposure therapy going in and out of that place at least twice a day. Now it takes more of an effort. The dining hall is unfamiliar again. But I push through that, and I go in anyway because I know I can. Because it’s not actually that bad once I get in there and sit down.
A few months into this semester, I’ve managed to find a rhythm. Every Monday I meet some friends for coffee, Wednesday we get dinner, Thursday we hang out after class. I try to make time for work, for the gym, for my school work, for my creative endeavors, and for my friends. All with the help of Google Calendar, of course. Every semester is a bit different. I meet new groups of people, and I experience new things. When I first started college I was 18, and now I can go out to bars on the weekends with those same friends I had back then. Things have changed, and so have I. I spend my time with people I’m comfortable around, and people who make me feel heard. Gone are the days where I forced myself to be around people who don’t respect me or my boundaries, the days where I overextended my social battery and pushed myself past the limit of what I was able to do.
my favorite area to walk around in the morning before class, Beacon Hill. There’s a new cat cafe that just opened up!
What I’ve learned (and am still learning) in my time at school is the importance of communication—clear, concise communication. Specifically, drawing lines when needed. It can be especially difficult, because even when there’s plenty of “how-to-set-boundaries” guides online and in books, ultimately it depends on every person involved. I mean, everyone thinks differently, right? But being able to effectively communicate your boundaries is an essential part of friendship, and it’s something I’m still learning to do. Saying “yes” even when you’re scared can be so important, but sometimes saying ‘yes’ to everything can cause issues. The importance of “no” is just as crucial in friendships. Knowing yourself, your boundaries, your energy and comfort levels—staying aware of what you need will no-doubt help your relationships with other people— can be what makes the difference in a meaningful relationship. Real friends won’t expect you to bend backwards at their every beck and call. Saying “yes” to everything is just as problematic as the opposite—something else I learned in my first years at college. There’s a certain balance that’s different for everyone, but by staying in tune with your body and mind, you’ll be able to figure out what works for you.
Human connections are the most important aspect of life. Even the most antisocial of us are social creatures. Our experiences, how we behave, and how we perceive the world are impacted by who we spend our time around. I’m trying to find the people I’ll spend the rest of it with, the people who make me feel like ‘me.’ I’m heading off into the so-called “real world” in just a few short months. I hear those first few months after college are going to be the “worst of my life,” which of course leaves me trembling in fear. But here’s the thing: sure people say it will be that, but I don’t think it has to be. There’s no point in my life I have to be at right now, or even next June or July—there’s no clear-cut blueprint for the point I’m supposed to be in my life by then. Or ever, really. I might feel lost, I mean, I feel lost now, months before I walk the stage at commencement. But taking a step back, I have to remind myself of what really matters. Life is about the relationships I form in my life, and the people I spend my time around. I think that’s true, at least. I’m only 22, I may need a few more years to figure out the meaning of life. But now I know that I’m capable of overcoming my fears, even if it takes a while. My outlook has changed and is still changing.
Enjoy 20% off at KongDog in Somerville with this coupon and a student ID!
By: Meg Carey
Meg Carey is studying creative writing and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. They love reading and writing sci-fi, horror, and romance (bonus points if it’s all three), as well as poetry. You can find them on instagram @megcareywrites, and substack @megcarey.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
To be honest, I’m tired of always being in a transition phase. I’ve been moving from place-to-place, never fully settling down, since starting college. I think it’s something I’ll miss in the future when I feel stagnant, but these last few years I’ve been between school and home and back to school again. It’s gotten pretty exhausting. It’s a different room every year, with different roommates, working a different job depending on where I am. It often feels like as soon as I get a sense of routine, something has to throw it out-of-wack. This year is no different— yet again, I find myself in a different place, trying to figure it all out.
I just recently moved into an apartment, and I’ve been commuting to school for the first time. I’d never firsthand dealt with the technicalities behind apartment renting, so that was a huge learning curve itself, as was figuring out the wifi (and whatever the heck a modem is), gas, electricity, etc.
It’s been a huge adjustment commuting to school, since I have to account for different train times and slow areas on the tracks. Even weeks into the semester, I wind up cutting it a bit closer than I intend to when on my way to class. I’m used to being so close to campus I’m practically able to get to class from my bed in minutes. It’s taking time management skills, which I’m still building up.
I feel like I’m really learning what it means to be “on my own.” Everything is changing, and I’m about to face the most daunting transition phase of my whole life next Spring—graduating college.
Local cat tests out the climb-ability of our new apartment
But for right now, I’m trying to enjoy it. If I think too much about what happens afterward, I won’t be able to stand it. “Where will I live?” “Who will I live with?” “Where will I be working?” They’re all questions on the forefront of my mind, and other peoples’ too—just this last weekend I went home for my birthday and got asked all sorts of questions about my plans post-graduation. But I’ve come to realize I can take things a bit more slowly, going step-by-step. I can enjoy my last year of college and spend time with the people I love, while keeping my future in the back of my mind.
There’s this book my coworker recommended to me called ‘The Art of Now” by Eckhard Tolle. In the book he talks a lot about living in the moment and “letting the universe work for you.” I’ve never given “the universe” much thought, but there’s a lot of really uplifting sentiments that I got from reading the book—and I’m not usually a huge nonfiction fan. It inspired me to make an active effort to stay in the moment, and to stay centered in the present even while applying for internships and jobs in the future. Making sure I see the people I care about, I let my creativity out, and I spend my time mentally relaxing and doing things I enjoy— all while maintaining my grades and doing all my work on-time. It’s definitely no easy feat, but most worthwhile things aren’t easy. I’m trying, at the very least.
Living off-campus definitely makes things feel a bit more distant. Everything and everyone used to feel so close. I’ve noticed it’s taking more effort to stay in touch with friends; it feels like everything’s a bit out of my reach. Still, part of “staying in the moment” to me is staying in contact with people who help me enjoy the moment, like my friends, my girlfriend—the relationships that matter to me.
Things seem to be going by so fast and I’m trying not to forget to enjoy it—even if there’s a lot of new, stressful aspects of my life, and even if I’m not completely sure where I’ll be this time next year. All I can do is be the best “me” now, so I can be the best “me” a year from now, for myself and everyone around me.
Get 10% off at Cambridge Naturals with this coupon and a student ID!
By: Meg Carey
Meg Carey is studying creative writing and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. They love reading and writing sci-fi, horror, and romance (bonus points if it’s all three), as well as poetry. You can find them on instagram @megcareywrites, and substack @megcarey.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
Ever since I started at college, I’d had my heart set on this one study abroad program offered. Basically, Emerson owns a castle in Limburg, the Netherlands, where students live and study for a semester. It’s just as strange and simultaneously magical as you’d imagine.
So naturally I applied my Sophomore year for the Spring semester my Junior year. It was far enough ahead that I told myself I could worry about it when it got closer to the time—it was a whole year away, after all! I had plenty of time to figure it out.
But when I got the list of people attending, I read through it and didn’t know a single name, which filled me with utter, unbridled dread. I’d be doing a semester with strangers– completely starting over and far from any familiarity I had with school back in Boston. The fall before I left I started thinking about dropping out. The thought of boarding a plane with a bunch of strangers sent this paralyzing fear through me, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to deal with it all. But I was also thinking I’d never be able to do this again in my life. It was a one-time opportunity.
So I decided to go through with it, because I knew I’d be pissed at myself if I didn’t. How could I let my anxiety win over me like that, and steal away yet another opportunity presented to me?
The view from my room in Well, the Netherlands
The first week abroad was just like orientation Freshman year—everyone rushing to make friends. A lot of people knew each other already too, and had established dynamics—both good and bad ones. It’s a small liberal arts college, you can imagine how it is.
I decided this time I’d hang back a bit. I’d take it a bit slower, even if that meant I wasn’t as “successful” as I wanted to be in making friends.
I realized while over there that I needed to stop thinking about other people and focus on myself. So that’s what I did. Those first few weeks I was in the library by myself until 2 or 3 in the morning every day. I sat there until the night watch came through and asked me to turn off the lights when I was done. For some reason, those are the memories that stick with me after coming home.
I decided in that first week that if I had one friend who I could eat some meals with and go on some trips with, that was enough. And I had made one, someone I sat next to on the plane. As time went on, I naturally found more people. It’s easier to find friends who suit you when you aren’t desperately seeking them out, bending over backwards to try and make them like you. It’s better to take things at your own pace.
From my trip to Amsterdam
In short, these three months abroad were the most fun of my life. Equally as stressful, too, but I’d go back and do it again in a heartbeat. The way you learn about yourself in unfamiliar situations and locations is something that you just have to experience (even if it’s not studying abroad, just going elsewhere and seeing other ways of living—it’s so important). Even if moving around and changing scenes feels overwhelming at times, pushing through that initial fear can be the most rewarding thing in the world. You just have to be wary of your limits and listen to yourself, your body, and your brain. That’s also something I learned while I was abroad. To know when to back out. When my spoons get too full. When to be brave and say “I quit, this is too much for me right now.” It’s a fine line that I’m learning to walk.
Who doesn’t love French pastries? Students get 15% off with this coupon at Le Macaron in Cambridge, MA!
By: Meg Carey
Meg Carey is studying creative writing and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. They love reading and writing sci-fi, horror, and romance (bonus points if it’s all three), as well as poetry. You can find them on instagram @megcareywrites, and substack @megcarey.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
As a whole, this book’s main purpose has been to encourage readers to add value to their lives. Taking the effort to add a bit more intentionality to your day-to-day life than you necessarily would otherwise greatly improves a time as stressful as college. However, something I really want to hammer home for readers is that all these little things only matter if you can also value yourself at the end of the day.
What do I mean by this? Well, first of all, it’s important to take time for yourself so you have the energy to do these things to the fullest extent. Even if you’re doing a side hustle you enjoy, like writing food reviews, it won’t be much fun if you’re bogged down by sleepless nights. You have to take time for the things your physical body needs before you can take action for internal satisfaction.
However, another part of this is doing these things for the right reasons. Are you just working this fun position in line with your interests for the money? Or are you actually fulfilling some type of goal with this action? Not everything you do has to be weighed down with this much intention, but these are important things to think about when it comes to what you fill your time with.
Young adult life is a rough time to make decisions exclusively for yourself for a lot of reasons. You may feel pressured by familial desires over your own, or go towards what seems to be the most lucrative options for your bank account. These are also the years when people tend to be the most insecure about the way they present and who they are as a person, so you may not feel particularly confident in staying true to yourself. Working through these types of issues can be hard, but with therapy rapidly entering mainstream use and mental health becoming widely recognized as important, it’s easier than ever to move forward.
It can be really easy to let college steamroll its way through your day, completely overtaking your life. Combine that with schoolwork and extracurriculars, and it can seem physically impossible to have any type of intention besides survival. However, that makes it all the more important to form good habits early on. College is the first time most of us get the chance to form our own routines, so it’s good to develop strong intentions early on in your life, to carry that through the rest of adulthood. Hopefully, this book has given you the tools to get started on that journey!
If you truly value your life, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this free beef plate opportunity! You can get one with any purchase as long as you bring this coupon and your student ID to Da Long Yi Hot Pot.
By Izzy Astuto
Izzy Astuto (he/they) is a writer currently majoring in Creative Writing at Emerson College, with a specific interest in screenwriting. His work has previously been published by Hearth and Coffin, Sage Cigarettes, and The Gorko Gazette, amongst others. He is currently a reader for journals such as PRISM international and Alien Magazine. You can find more of their work on their website, at https://izzyastuto.weebly.com/. Their Instagram is izzyastuto2.0 and Twitter is adivine_tragedy.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
When looking for internships for this summer, I stumbled across Spoon University, a blog run through the organization Her Campus, that aims to make food content written by college students for college students. If you’ve been keeping up with the rest of my chapters, you’ll know that this is quite literally my dream gig. I applied, thrilled that there was something out there so uniquely up my alley. Due to my passion for food, I got the internship. Even though it’s now over, I still write with them to this day, getting to cover some of the most exciting food releases and restaurants.
This was a paid position, and I was also sent food regularly for review. However, this wouldn’t have been possible for me to achieve without marketing my skills. If you would like to do the same, don’t worry — that’s what I’m here to tell you how to do!
When applying to Spoon, I went on a very common rant that I would give my friends — my opinions on the Dunkin’ Spring 2024 menu. From my interview, I gathered that this had definitely made me stand out from the competition. So my first piece of advice is to do your research! Within your specific passion, find niche topics that you know you can consistently talk about and feel like you’re well-educated on. If you only passively enjoy something and don’t have developed opinions on it, maybe it’s not the right passion for you to try and make money from. You want to be able to call yourself an expert on this thing and mean it!
Picture I took of myself trying TikTok’s viral fluffy coke for Spoon University this summer.
Another example of a creative way I’ve made money is through music reviews. I had been writing for music blogs through my college for the past few years, until I found a website called EveryDejaVu. As a student who attends college in Boston for the majority of the year, I found out about this publication through many of the local artists I had written about. This leads to my next recommendation, which is don’t be afraid of reaching out to smaller organizations within your community! Just because it’s a smaller organization doesn’t mean they don’t have funding, and big-name brands certainly aren’t everything.
When you’re applying to jobs and especially internships, it can be very tempting to only apply to places you’ve already heard of before and admire. But some of the best places I’ve worked have been companies I’ve only found because I’ve been applying. These businesses tend to place a much bigger focus on work-life balance, and can even sometimes pay better than working for a bigger name.
I also really recommend leaning fully into your interest of choice. Don’t be afraid of doing work just because you like it, without the promise of money at the end! I tend to go to a lot of both in-person and virtual writing events, like writing workshops. Through these, I’ve been able to get writing gigs just through the power of networking. For years, I had served as a reader for multiple literary magazines pro bono, just learning how they worked. But after rubbing elbows with the right people and expressing my true passion for this field, I’ve gotten jobs as a judge in writing contests, an opportunity that has paid up to $50 per contest! When you find the right people to share your passions with, amazing things can happen.
Ultimately, these probably won’t become your full source of income. Especially at the beginning, it may take a while to actually make money this way. But I do find these options significantly more heartfelt than the often soulless get-rich-quick schemes like filling out surveys for hours on end, to only receive maybe $10 by the end of it. I especially think these can be great options for college students who often fill their free time with extracurriculars anyway. These are just like that, but with the potential of a surprising amount of extra cash!
When you make that extra money, this is a great place to spend it! Especially with this 20% off coupon, that you just have to bring to the store along with your Student ID.
By Izzy Astuto
Izzy Astuto (he/they) is a writer currently majoring in Creative Writing at Emerson College, with a specific interest in screenwriting. His work has previously been published by Hearth and Coffin, Sage Cigarettes, and The Gorko Gazette, amongst others. He is currently a reader for journals such as PRISM international and Alien Magazine. You can find more of their work on their website, at https://izzyastuto.weebly.com/. Their Instagram is izzyastuto2.0 and Twitter is adivine_tragedy.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
I originally went into college as a Political Communications major, my school’s version of Political Science. I had always been very passionate about politics and thought the best way to utilize this interest was to go into the political field directly. Maybe become a lawyer, or even run for office one day! About a month into college, though, I realized there was no way I could continue with this as my full-time job. It stressed me out way too much, and I could feel my mental health beginning to decline in the worst way. I also go to a very creative college, and I looked around at all my peers, many of whom were following their creative passions, and felt jealous that my whole life wasn’t the one thing I’ve always loved above all else — writing. So after my first semester, I ended up changing my major to Creative Writing.
I don’t start off with this story to tell anyone that going into a creative field is definitely the right thing for them. On the contrary — going into a creative field has its downsides too. The study “Creative Burnout: Suffocating The Future of Design” by Kayla Roles discusses in depth how creative individuals who make their passion their whole life can experience a type of burnout that prevents them from finding joy in their art.
I tell this story instead to demonstrate how I began to identify the things I find valuable in my life. While I care deeply about politics, I also value my mental health. And above most other things, I value my creativity, and having avenues to explore it in my day-to-day life; hence why I wanted to study it full time.
But how do you truly identify what you find valuable? You may have a vast array of interests and, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, experience a choice paralysis in determining which are the most important to you. I have a series of questions I tend to ask myself when deciding if I should pursue something new. First, what are the things I find myself gravitating towards the most often? What do I spend the most time thinking about? For me, one of these things, whether it was negative or positive, was food. Even if I was anxious about my food consumption, it was ultimately because I’ve always enjoyed food so much.
Like in the case of Political Communications, I also always ask if this is something I can actually see myself doing. While you may have certain passions, not all of them are realistic with our lifestyles or personalities. I also have a vested interest in sea creatures, but I don’t think it’s realistic with my current education or location to try and become a marine biologist.
Lastly, if something is truly valuable to you, it will also add value to your life. Like with the food example, you may really enjoy specifically fast food. However, if you’re just eating fast food all the time, that isn’t going to be particularly positive for your body. You can always reshape this into something more positive overall, though, such as an appreciation for food in general. That way, you can find healthier alternatives that you may end up enjoying more!
At the end of the day, even if the things that you find valuable don’t necessarily become your job, it’s important to make time for the things that you find true value in. Just going through the motions in your everyday life won’t lead to living the life you truly want or deserve to lead. However, if you are interested in making a career out of your passions, or using them to make some extra cash, then be sure to check back in for my next chapters.
For when you’re stressed out by all the potential opportunities in your life, you can get 20% off your next treatment at Best MG Spa! Just pay with cash and bring this coupon and your student ID.
By Izzy Astuto
Izzy Astuto (he/they) is a writer currently majoring in Creative Writing at Emerson College, with a specific interest in screenwriting. His work has previously been published by Hearth and Coffin, Sage Cigarettes, and The Gorko Gazette, amongst others. He is currently a reader for journals such as PRISM international and Alien Magazine. You can find more of their work on their website, at https://izzyastuto.weebly.com/. Their Instagram is izzyastuto2.0 and Twitter is adivine_tragedy.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
For me, it was the not-knowing of it all. I felt like the whole move-in process was something everybody understood except me, that there was a certain way to do things. I was worried about a wide assortment of things—will people be instructing me through it? What if I don’t have the correct documentation? What if my parents park our car in the wrong spot? The panicked thoughts that move-in brought were countless and utterly overwhelming.
Some context: I’m Autistic, but I only recently got tested and figured it out. When I started college I thought I just had this terrible case of social anxiety. Everything felt scary, from a conversation with a close friend to a room full of strangers. Interpersonal relationships have always been my biggest struggle—but at the same time, my biggest desire. Human beings are social creatures, after all. My relationships with other people are some of the most important aspects of my life. You can’t get through life without talking to people—they’re everywhere you look! I used to think that was a terrible thing, but I’ve come to realize it’s a beautiful part of life.
So while I was terrified to start college, I was also thrilled to open up this new part of my life and meet all these new people from different backgrounds.
And on that first day, I wasn’t the only one who felt at-a-loss about move-in. It’s freshman year; it’s new for everyone. Everybody is in the same boat. Even if I felt as though I were more clueless than most, that wasn’t necessarily the truth.
The thing about Freshman year of college is that everyone runs to make friends at the very start, desperately afraid of being alone, and oftentimes those groups fall apart quickly. During orientation, everyone was so nice it was almost ridiculous.
Then, it all died off. Friendships dwindled, people figured out who ‘worked’ for them and who didn’t—and it seemed I didn’t ‘work’ for the people I’d chosen that first week. I rushed into it like everyone else, afraid that if I didn’t instantaneously make friends upon arrival, I’d be alone forever—and I ended up alone anyways.
Not forever, though. Of course not forever.
Boston Public garden
I didn’t set foot in the dining hall until October.
There was a list of reasons why. They might seem completely irrational (and they are!), but to myself at the time these reasons summoned just enough anxiety for me to choose a different option for food—to the detriment of my bank account, might I add. There were too many people I didn’t know—unfamiliar faces, people whose thoughts I didn’t know. I didn’t know where anything was, so what if I walked into the wrong area? What if I didn’t know what to eat? What if there were no seats left and I didn’t have anywhere to sit? These tiny molehills of concerns felt like mountains to me, impossible to overcome.
Then I was invited to get dinner with a new friend. Someone I hardly knew, back then. Someone I got to know better by finally deciding today’s the day and agreeing to join them for dinner.
And, surprise! The dining hall was not the Hell-on-Earth I thought it would be. It was just, you know, the dining hall. A cafeteria. Like a bigger, slightly better version of what there was in high school. All it took was getting in there and going through the process of acquainting myself with new things. All it took was a push, a kind hand outreached. Sometimes, all you need to say is ‘yes.’
Caffe Bene is one of my favorite coffee shops to write at in Boston, enjoy 10% off with this coupon and student ID!
By: Meg Carey
Meg Carey is studying creative writing and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. They love reading and writing sci-fi, horror, and romance (bonus points if it’s all three), as well as poetry. You can find them on instagram @megcareywrites, and substack @megcarey.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
Throughout my time at college, the main thing I’ve learned about myself is how much I value intentionality. College is a transitional period for everyone — a time where you can learn things about yourself that you typically would never be able to in the community you grew up in. I have loved my college experience overall, but the struggles I have had were due to a lack of intentionality in my decisions.
I’m generally a pretty anxious person, leading to the occasional inability to make decisions in my life. The flipside of this is when I overcorrect, making rash decisions to try and force a type of spontaneity into my life that doesn’t necessarily need to be there. Mistakes like this have greatly complicated my relationship to many aspects of my life, and I’m sure many other college students feel similarly!
Take my career path, for example. As someone with a vast amount of interests, making decisions on what I want to do in the future has been difficult. Looking out at all of my potential career paths I’ve felt a choice paralysis, not letting me make one concrete decision. Understandably, this makes looking for jobs even more difficult than usual for a college student.
Another thing I struggle with is food consumption. I’ve always found it difficult to make food exciting. When I was younger, I struggled with consistent eating, more concerned with the way my body looked than nurturing it properly. While I’ve recovered from many of these more disordered thoughts, it’s still hard for me to view food normally. Oftentimes, the thought of cooking for myself and knowing what’s best for my body creates a similar type of paralysis to my career aspirations.
The best solution I’ve found for both of these things is in fact one and the same — the aforementioned intentionality. When I feel anxiety that threatens to cripple my ability to take full advantage of the life I’ve been granted, I allow myself to take a step back. Instead of letting myself wander through life without a clear vision of what I’m doing moving further, I work best when I’m able to sit back and identify what I find valuable. This is the main theme of what I want to impart to readers throughout the course of this guide.
Photo Credit: https://flic.kr/p/9Qp7B7
In the book Intentions and Intentionality: Foundations of Social Cognition by Bertram F. Malle, human cognition is said to be impossible without intentionality. This explains my personal connection to the concept, and why I place so much emphasis on it. Intentionality has helped me find ways to make food exciting again, which has actually also led to a career opportunity! In later chapters, I’ll go over how my renewed love for food has led me to professional writing opportunities and created a job that I never thought I would want.
This has been another part of intentionality for me — placing value in the work that I do. I only spend my energy on jobs I’m truly passionate about and I feel like feed me creatively. There are plenty of ways to make and save money while following your wildest career dreams, as long as you’re intentional with how you go about it. The best example of this is the very platform I’m writing this on, the Campus Clipper blog. Campus Clipper provides college students discounts for plenty of activities we would want to take part in anyway, but makes them more accessible to all. Finding niches like this is the number one way to truly be intentional with your money and time, particularly in college.
The rest of my chapters will focus on a plethora of other ways you too can identify your genuine interests, and create value through your everyday life.
Blick has saved so many film sets for me before with their vast array of art supplies. Just make a student customer account to receive a 10% discount for yourself to check it out!
By Izzy Astuto
Izzy Astuto (he/they) is a writer currently majoring in Creative Writing at Emerson College, with a specific interest in screenwriting. His work has previously been published by Hearth and Coffin, Sage Cigarettes, and The Gorko Gazette, amongst others. He is currently a reader for journals such as PRISM international and Alien Magazine. You can find more of their work on their website, at https://izzyastuto.weebly.com/. Their Instagram is izzyastuto2.0 and Twitter is adivine_tragedy.
For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.
At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.
I consider my first journal entry to be a Tumblr draft I wrote at 14 years old. I remember being vaguely frustrated with my friends, with being a freshman in high school, and with feeling unironically superior to everyone around me (teen angst if you will). In the stairwell of my mom’s old run-down Miami apartment—the paint peeling and the mold accumulating by the second—I took out my phone. Tears in my eyes and cheeks flushed, I began typing a blog post about how incredibly annoying everything and everyone was. I knew I wouldn’t post it, but I just wanted to lift what seemed like the weight of the world off my chest. Putting all my frustration into a Tumblr post also made me feel like I had some kind of control: I could, if I really wanted to, post it and tell my friends to screw all, or I could save it as a draft, hold onto it in case I ever felt like it was worth someone else’s eyes.
Photo of me (16) taken by my sister on my high school football field.
Luckily, my anger subsided once I finished writing, and I saved the post as a draft. From that moment on, I created a habit out of what I would now deem journaling. I wrote in my Tumblr drafts every time I had intense emotions, opinions I was too afraid to speak, or ideas I wanted to contemplate in secret. I felt like I was building a world from within myself that also existed outside of me. I was able to process my life through writing, and it helped me with all the raging emotions and confusion of my teenage years. The first person to lay eyes on the details of my first kiss was not a person at all, but rather my drafts. I felt like I had power over my life via recording the most major and minor details of it.
The day I turned away from my Tumblr journal was the day I accidentally posted a draft, and that draft just so happened to include a rather repugnant, word-vomit rant about a close friend of mine (“She’s just like, soooo whatever”). I had gotten so comfortable with the idea of sharing my inner thoughts in my drafts that I forgot about the possibility of them becoming public. Once posted, I quickly deleted the journal entry, but my stomach was in knots, and a wave of guilt tackled me for how ill I had talked about my friend, how hurt she would be if she saw it. From then on, I moved my drafts to a Pages document on my laptop, which I put a passcode on. By the time I graduated high school, my Pages document, which I titled “The Drafts,” had accumulated 250,000 words.
A photo from my first visit to the Boston Public Library, 2016.
When I started my Bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida, I moved on to pen and paper. Many times I found myself on campus, itching to write and with a dead laptop, so I started scribbling on engineering paper the Reitz would reluctantly give me. This prompted me to buy a notebook, and then another, and then another. I know all too well how cathartic and romantic it is to hold your thoughts and feelings in your hands.
I have since lost the coming-of-age treasure that was The Drafts in the midst of life falling apart and putting itself back together, as it sometimes does. I do, however, have my physical journals from the last 5 years of my life. It is a privilege—and a cringe fest, to re-read them. Know always that if you decide to start journaling, no one can judge what you write but you, and even you shouldn’t judge the contents of your journal. It’s a safe space for you and only you, if that is what you wish.
Now that I’m 24 years old and in graduate school, my intention for journaling changes day by day. Sometimes I journal for emotional processing and release, other times I journal just to have something to look back on. No matter your reason for journaling, and no matter what platform you use, it can serve as a tremendous tool—it is always there whenever you need it. There’s no right or wrong reason to journal; if you have a reason at all, that’s enough to get you started.
What better place to get started on your journaling journey than Caffé Bene? Boston students get 10% off with their student ID!
Brenna Sheets is a graduate student in Emerson College’s Writing and Publishing M.A. program. She is currently a teacher, specializing in middle school history. Her hobbies include going on long walks, watching bad television, reading, and writing.
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