Send Mail the Right Way

February 1st, 2012

I came to the city on a solo journey to pursue my hopes and dreams. When the stress of NYC starts to build and the wind chills me to my bones, I find myself face-to-face with an all too familiar symptom: homesickness. Did I really give up the sunny beaches at my home in Florida for this?

Whenever I get a little homesick I’ve found that the best way to make me feel better is to send a little love home. In this day and age, technology like emails, phone calls, and texting make communication with loved ones a lot easier, but also a lot more impersonal. That’s why every once in a while I like to mail a hand written letter or send a small package to a friend or family member.

Do you know that feeling when you receive a package in the mail? It’s a wonderful sensation. It’s something tangible that your mom or brother hand packaged and shipped to you. Reciprocating that feeling to someone else is just as comforting, knowing that you mailed a little piece of love to someone you care about makes the distance seem a lot less isolating.

The week I moved to NYC, I went to the nearest post office and got a P.O. Box to make receiving mail easier in the long run. Let’s face it, for as often as New Yorkers move in and out of apartments, it’s much more assuring to know that your mail only will be sent to one fixed destination.

There’s a lot of great mailbox options throughout the city, and not just the U.S. Postal Service. Find the ones with the best NYC student discounts! There are several private companies where you can rent out a personal mailbox. I found a great coupon from MBE (Mail Boxes Etc.) in the Campus Clipper coupon book for an awesome deal on their services. Sending letters and packages has become increasingly expensive as the price of stamps rise, so finding cheap deals to send home a package to the family is a huge help. Just the other day, I sent a small package to someone and it cost me nearly $10!

Find the best NYC student discounts and send mail the right way by getting yourself a personal mailbox at a mailbox center near by. It’s worth it, trust me.

Paul, Auburn University 2012

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Make Yourself Feel at Home

January 31st, 2012

The weekend I moved to New York, I walked around my new neighborhood with my parents to familiarize myself with the stores and businesses around me. I learned where the closest subways stops were, which Duane Reade was open 24 hours and most importantly where to get good meals.Nothing makes you feel more at home than eating well. By eating well, I don’t just mean eating healthily though that is, of course, ideal. Eating food that tastes good makes you happy. It also helps if you didn’t have to spend an arm and a leg to get that food.

My first Saturday in the city, my parents and I stopped for lunch at Goodburger. It is slightly more expensive than a fast food burger and fries combo but the quality of the food is so much better.

The burgers and shakes are wonderful, as advertised but my personal favorite is their crab cake sandwich. I’m kind of obsessed with crab cakes. I eat them everywhere and have high standards for them. The crab cake sandwich at Goodburger is awesome. The crab meat is just lumpy enough and the remoulade tastes great.

Finding something familiar in a new place is a great way to feel at home.

Last semester, I became a regular at the Goodburger on Maiden Lane. I’m somewhat of a habitual food eater so if I like a restaurant, I’ll probably be back about once a week. One night, I dropped in right before closing. They made my food fresh in front of me like always and then threw in a free cookie. No explanation was given. I like to think I won an unofficial favorite customer award.

Now, I can’t guarantee free cookies but Campus Clipper provides a coupon that will give you 10% off your order with your student ID. This offer is valid at all of their 6 locations in Manhattan.

You can also have your food delivered by ordering on line at www.GoodburgerNY.com

Audrey, the New School
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NYC Comedy Scene

January 30th, 2012

Have a funny night at GothamMy biggest passion in life is comedy. It’s like I have some cancer that makes me seek out everything that’s funny. In fact, that’s why I came to New York City—it’s the mecca of comedy, from stand up to improv, it’s here.

I started performing stand up comedy last year, and there’s no greater sensation in the world. It’s terrifying and utterly liberating all in the same moment. Just making one person laugh, one time, is a huge reward. I’ve become addicted to the sound of laughter I receive after I get through telling a story or making a witty remark (maybe people are just laughing at me).

I’m so in love with the comedy found in NYC that it’s not funny. Seriously.

It’s ironic that the thing I’m most serious about in life is something that’s far from it.  I urge everyone to dive into the comedy scene, whether you’re performing or enjoying (or both), because everybody needs a little more laughter in life. Go out and do something, like stand up shows, improv shows, or karaoke. What better way to laugh than at your friends trying to belt out lyrics from The Spice Girls? Finding fun NYC student discounts makes a good time even better, knowing that you’re saving cash!

Joking aside, with a quick web search you can find loads of cheap or free comedy shows all across the city. My favorite, Gotham Comedy Club, hosts a free open mic every Monday; a very cool venue to check out.

Also, if a hilarious night of karaoke with some close friends hits your funny bone, then I found a great coupon for “Karaoke Boho” in the Campus Clipper for 50% Sunday-Thursday and 25% Friday-Saturday. Don’t forget your student ID for an awesome NYC student discount!


Paul, Auburn University 2012

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Finding the Right Show for You

January 28th, 2012

I’m young and I’m in New York City– there’s a million shows for me to see, all within my reach. Movies and comedy shows are my kryptonite, and I’m almost always willing to catch a flick or a cheap show, unless I’m in bed watching a movie.

Living on a college budget makes finding prime entertainment a little tricky, but this week I squeezed in a movie and a comedy show. Sometimes you have to treat yourself, you know? At least that’s how I justify my frivolous entertainment expenditures. I watched the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” at the theater across from Penn Station. I love being in the movie theater– it’s warm, dark, and comforting– an escape from the outside world. I’m a funny or action movie kind of guy, so I was a little reluctant to go ball my eyes out during a movie set in the tragedies surrounding September 11th, but I felt as an American, it was my duty. The actors were great, but the kid’s character was way too precocious to be believable. To be honest with you, there were a few times that I wanted to smack him upside the head for things he said to his mother or the general way he acted towards people, even though I knew it was because his dad died. So, if you love America, little kids, and overcoming a horrific tragedy-related death, then I recommend you see “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”

The second show I saw this week was an Improv show over at UCBT (Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre). I was in tears, had stomach cramps, and couldn’t breathe– all from laughing so hard. There’s no doubt that NYC is the place to be for comedy, and I certainly hit the funny bone at UCB. The group I saw perform was “The Law Firm,” which is a group that’s been together for a while and has gained in popularity. They asked someone from the crowd to tell a story from their week and then they acted out a series of  completely unrehearsed, improvised scenes based on that person’s story. It was pure comedic genius! The show seemed to include everybody in the crowd, feeding off laughter and listening to scene suggestions throughout the show, which was great to feel a part of such a funny experience. Plus, all their shows are dirt cheap, ranging from $5 during the week and $10 on the weekends. Talk about great NYC student discounts!

 

Paul, Auburn University 2012

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Pamper Yourself in this Expensive City

January 5th, 2012

The city is tough, and coming from a girl who self-proclaims that she can handle anything, that’s saying a lot.

Things went wayward when upon my arrival my roommate backed out of the lease we were all set to sign. It was Thursday, her lease ended Tuesday, I started work Monday, and I had no place to live. My four-day plan to unpack, unwind and explore my new city of residence was thwarted and replaced by stress, tears, uncertainty and the strong possibility of being homeless in the immediate future.

I searched and searched and searched for hours and days on end until I found a solution. I’m now subletting an apartment in Chinatown for a month, and my roommate is a 29-year-old Swedish man who works in an art gallery.  Throughout the ordeal, all I can remember is longing for the days when my parents could fix everything for me. But, seeing as Mom is in Jacksonville, Fla. and Dad is in San Francisco, it would have been even more work for them than it was for me. And let me just say, it was work—hard, grueling, frustrating work.

But, everyone in New York City is working hard, working tirelessly, and students aren’t the exception. In a city that revolves around hard work, it’s easy to forget to pamper yourself every once in a while. In such an expensive city, though, budgets often leave no room for a little pampering, and I could definitely use some.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a Campus Clipper coupon book. The Beauty and Youth Salon + Spa is offering special student packages such as $15 manicure and 10-minute massage and $25 for a chocolate manicure and pedicure. Receive peace of mind for a lot less.

 

Julia Jacobo, University of Florida

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Who Can Turn Down a Free Pint of Ice Cream?

January 5th, 2012

I have an addiction, and it’s receiving free stuff for stuff that I was going to buy anyway. Free shipping for spending $25 online at American Eagle? Sure. Free gift bag full of goodies from Clinique for buying the foundation I needed anyway? Heck yes! People say nothing is ever free. I choose to ignore them.

I have another addiction, and it’s ice cream. It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside or what time of day it is, I could always go for a bowl of Rocky Road or French Vanilla with chocolate syrup and sprinkles (or both!).

The best part of New York is even ice cream parlors deliver. You don’t even have to step out into the cold to get your fix of frozen sweetness. Check out the Campus Clipper coupon book for a Haagen-Daaz deal: a free pint of ice cream with your first delivery order of $10 or more. What a yummy deal!

Julia Jacobo, University of Florida

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Super Shuttle is Super!

December 15th, 2011

We’re all in a rush for the semester to be over. With the holidays around the corner, there’s nothing more exciting than the upcoming holiday spirits, with all the gifts and quality family time. Will Dad get you that Hermes scarf you’ve been nagging him about for the past year? What new delicious dishes will Grandma cook this year? Nonetheless, there are always things that are not so joyful about the holidays. How did you end up spending so much money on gifts when you were given the promise of sales by retailers? And how could we forget that annoying relative who fathoms at the fact that you couldn’t get into Harvard? Or Mom crying as to why  you’re still not in a relationship. But no matter the family dispute or the cheesy Holiday flicks, there is nothing more annoying than the chaotic airports. The frenzied traffic and airport security make you feel like you’re in Mission Impossible.

I remember the time that I was in such a rush to get to the airport in time that I forgot my passport at home, out of all the things one would forget (Murphy’s Law). I had no time to call a shuttle service and in desperation resorted to taking an unknown bus to JFK.  I made it to the airport in time, but my luggage didn’t. Turns out that the bus had accidentally replaced my bag in the bus going to LaGuardia. I missed my flight and had to beg JetBlue to place me on their next day’s flight. Following this experience, I now always anticipate ahead of time and call in Super Shuttle, the only reliable and affordable method of going to the airport. SuperShuttle will accommodate to your needs, and they even pick you up at home, and always ahead of time.

Campus Clipper is offering a 10% discount on SuperShuttle rides.  Campus Clipper knows students always travel and being so busy with the pressure of exams and grades, we can be forgetful. For this reason, call in SuperShuttle this holiday season.

 

 

Stephanie Kali, Marymount Manhattan College

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Jewels 32: A Gem!

December 14th, 2011

Finding a place to get a piercing in New York is a daunting task. The sheer volume of piercing salons in the city is staggering, and finding a clean, reputable place to get your body art done can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Horror stories of lost earlobes and infected eyebrows can steer anyone clear of getting pierced altogether.


A jewel in its own right, Jewels 32 is the quintessential piercing parlor. Its cleanliness and pleasant staff immediately calm any nerves a potential pierce-ee might experience. Tucked into the exciting St. Marks Place, it would be easy to miss the little shop. The staff at Jewels 32 promise to provide “the highest quality of customer service possible” and offer a wide range of piercing possibilities. It’s quite comforting to know that the person who will be puncturing your body with a needle is a licensed professional, and Jewels 32 lives up to that promise. The jewelery is high-end and the piercings made in a clean, safe environment by people who have been trained to do what they do. And it’s not just piercings that Jewels has to offer– the wide selection of jewelery offered at the St. Marks hotspot isn’t limited to piercings. Jewels 32 carries a wide range of high-quality jewelery including bracelets, anklets, lockets, necklaces, and rings from reputable designers including Millefiore and Swarovski.


I didn’t get a piercing during my visit to Jewels 32 (ears are enough for me!), but if any of my friends wanted one I wouldn’t hesitate to send them to Jewels. It’s not easy to find someone you can trust with altering your body; it deserves a technician who takes the job seriously. Having experienced my fair share of indecent customer service in piercing salons and tattoo parlors, it was a breath of fresh air at Jewels 32.

 

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STAY FIT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

November 29th, 2011

My favorite part of the holiday season is most definitely the food. As a poor person living in New York City without access to an adequate kitchen, spice rack, or more than one pan, most of my meals consist of Ramen noodles and peanut butter. (Don’t worry; not necessarily together!) So I’m always pleased when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around. Not only am I able to meet with family and friends, I am able to sit down to a great meal without much taken out of my paycheck. This Thanksgiving, my mother and I stuffed ourselves with stuffing and more. We had all the traditional *stuff* (sorry, I’ll stop with the stuffing repetition): turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, veggie casserole, and pumpkin pie for desert.

I hadn’t eaten all day to leave my stomach empty for this meal, and needless to say my stomach was more than full afterwards. Of course, right on the heels of this enormous meal comes the Christmas meal, and all that holiday gorging in between. (I remember in our house, my mom used to bake a new batch of cookies every week until Xmas.)

It’s a common fact that people gain more weight over the holidays. Conveniently, the next holiday is New Year’s Eve, when they resolve to shed pounds for the coming year.  But is there a way to avoid the holiday weight gain in the first place, while also enjoying your favorite traditional foods? Of course! The answer is simple (you just have to motivate yourself): exercise.  New York City offers a myriad of ways to get your daily dose of Vitamin Ex. You can take a jog in Central Park. You can go rowing on the Hudson River. You can take a yoga class!

Head down to Bikram Yoga Manhattan at any of their locations in Chelsea, Soho, or Greenwich Village. Unlike many other forms of exercise, yoga benefits both the body and the mind.

 

If yoga doesn’t interest you (or if you consider yourself too masculine to don those tight yoga pants), then consider joining a fitness club. Fitness clubs offer a social setting where you can also shed pounds. Considering becoming part of Synergy Fitness Club, who’s motto is: “One Life. Live Well.” They offer classes in boxing, martial arts, aerobics, and so much more.

 

As you can see, there are so many ways to get fit this holiday season (while also scoring a great deal with these coupons!) Now you can sit down to that big meal guilt-free. Go on, take another piece of mom’s home-made apple pie. You won’t get another slice until next season!

 

Written by Megan Soyars, Campus Clipper blogger

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Breaking Dawn: I Really Don’t Know Where to Begin

November 26th, 2011

I saw the new Twilight movie yesterday with my mother and two teenage brothers (a mistake), and I can confidently say that it was the worst movie I’ve ever paid money to sit through.

And I don’t think it’s the filmmakers’ fault. The storyline is just… so offensively and violently weird that it’s almost to difficult to stomach. Almost. While my eighteen and fifteen year-old brothers groaned and writhed in pain throughout the entire film, nobody got up and left (though there were threats). When the two hours finally ended, we walked into the sunlight, blinking gratefully, completely unable to find the words to describe what we’d just seen.

Breaking Dawn: Part One opens with the ever-bland Bella rejecting a pair of truly gorgeous shoes because she’s above learning to walk in heels for her wedding. As something of a shoe-freak and heel-lover, this made me audibly scoff over and over. I was essentially infuriated from minute 1. They were such pretty shoes, white with silver detailing, and REALLY BELLA? Can’t stoop to such a materialistic level and class it up at YOUR WEDDING? Ugh. Anyway.

It’s time for The Wedding. Bella’s dressed in a Star Trek Next Generation-type shiny skintight number with a very pretty hairdo. Edward looks like a wax figure that’s been airbrushed. Every guest got the memo to wear neutral golds and lavenders, and there are flowers everywhere. It’s very pretty to behold, and it’s over-the-top-ness prompts some great banter from the adorable and witty Anna Kendrick et al, Bella’s high school friends who are in the same boat with me on the ridiculousness of the scene. And THANK THE LORD that some characters seem wise to the craziness of the storyline: Bella is marrying at eighteen years old in a ceremony more elaborate than Kim and Kris and Kate and Wills’ combined. There are a few tender moments between Bella and her dad that really get the waterworks going (my mom was like a hosepipe throughout the entire scene), a vomit-inducing five-minute long make-out scene at the altar, and some fairly cute toasts at the reception. Everything seems to be going perfectly until Preteen Werewolf Jacob shows up, eliciting heavy amounts of cheers and sighs from the group of middle school girls in the row in front of us.

Jacob decided to make an appearance at the wedding even though he’s all depressed because he’s in love with Bella too (again, WHY?) and proceeds to get WEREWOLF ANGRY when she informs him that she and Edward are planning to consummate their marriage on their honeymoon. He hulks out and turns into a wolf and runs away, and Edward had to pick up the pieces. It is at this point that I realized Bella was wearing white sneakers under her wedding gown, and I became about as angry as Jacob.

Bella and Edward go off on their honeymoon via private jet to a pretty large island that the vampires just seem to own. Edward and Bella finally Do It and apparently it’s great for her but his super-vampire-strength causes him to break the bed and bruise her up a bit. I’m actually not sure because I was pretty focused on covering my baby brother’s eyes, but folks, it ain’t much to write home about.

Edward doesn’t want to Do It with Bella anymore because of the bruises, so for the next few minutes the audience is treated to a montage of Bella attempting to seduce Edward whilst engaging in honeymoon-type activities like cliff diving and chess. Her wardrobe is splendid, and Edward looks more handsome than creepy despite the glittering skin. And then, in the plot twist of the century, we discover that Bella is With Child. Enter the awkward political debate. I don’t even want to get into all of that because there are so many seriously-skewed messages being sent by this plot line, but Bella makes her own choice to keep her Vampire Fetus, and Edward is enraged.

Cut to two weeks, and Bella is so gross-looking I almost barfed. They’ve really outdone themselves in making her look awful, and her pregnant belly is covered in bruises because apparently the Vampire Fetus is as strong as Edward. There’s a lot of discussion between werewolf and vampire alike about terminating the Vampire Fetus, but Bella will not hear of it and there’s a lot of anger and wolf-fighting and hilarious stuff that made me laugh. Whatever.

Bella finds out she’ll probably die because the Fetus is taking all of her nutrients, and somehow it’s decided that she should drink some O- out of a sippy-cup. IT’S SO GROSS. She’s all skinny and the blood is in her teeth and I DON’T KNOW WHY I PAID TO SEE THIS. So Bella’s chugging blood at this point and she and Edward are starting to get excited at the prospect of their Vampire Baby.

Bella stands up and I guess the baby kicks her in the spine because some really disgusting body contortions happen and I covered my face for most of it, but Edward essentially eats the baby out of her, and she names it Renesmee (for time’s sake I won’t discuss the name). Edward shoots Bella up with vampire venom to save her life/turn her into a vampire, and Jacob decides to kill the CGI baby as the wolves gather to help take it out. But in another Shocking Plot Twist, Jacob looks at the CGI baby and falls madly in love with it, which the werewolves define as “imprinting,” resulting in a really weird montage of the CGI baby growing up and spinning in a forest. Jacob kneels in front of the CGI baby, and the wolves have to call off their attack because they can’t harm the subject of an “imprinting.”

This movie is not worth paying to see in a theater. I can’t believe I did. It’s so offensive and you can tell that the filmmakers TRIED THEIR DARNDEST and I really pity them because they were making a movie out of a book that contained all of this material. It isn’t at all reminiscent of how real relationships work and everybody looks so weird all of the time! Why aren’t the people of Forks wise to this? I’ll probably end up seeing it on DVD at some point, but as my baby brother said, “The only good thing that came from seeing that movie is I’m 100 percent sure I’m not going to see Part 2.”

Olivia, Fordham University 2012

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