Stop days provides opportunities to de-stress
With finals bearing down upon us, most students are looking forward to study days as a break from the madness, as a welcome lull before the impending storm hits. But what about all the students who dread those long, empty days? What about the students who drive themselves crazy trying to break the monotony of study days with meaningful and fulfilling activities? For those who are looking for a break during these stressful days, here is a suggested list of activities to get you through the doldrums (as for the sane rest of us, we’ll be napping to our hearts content and numbing our minds with online TV marathons).
May 3: Attend a movie screening at the School of Cinematic Arts
Finally, something more terrifying to think about than your finals! For all you horror movie fans out there, the School of Cinematic Arts will be screening “Purge” from 7 p.m to 10 p.m at the Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108. Make sure to buy tickets fast before they run out.
Get tickets here.
May 5: Take a tour of every coffee shop on campus
Whether you’re trying to avoid the line at TroGro, had one too many iced drinks from Coffee Bean or just need a change of scenery, scoping out all the coffee options on campus is a good way to waste a solid chunk of time. Here is the list of all the places whose coffee you can sample: Trojan Grounds, LiteraTea, Coffee Bean (Campus Center), Coffee Bean (School of Cinematic Arts) Ground Zero, the Law School Café, Popovich Café, Shop Café (in the Architecture building), Seeds, Tutor Café (in Viterbi), or URBNMARKET (we’ve never heard of it either). If all else fails, you can just revert to the delectable options at EVK (adventurous, but risky).
May 7: Experience the Los Angeles Tea Lovers Festival
When you’ve become adequately sick of coffee, switch gears and opt for a tea overload at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Open from May 3 until May 28, the Festival includes a seminar on how to read tea leaves, focused labs on how teaware affects tea taste, and a “Tea and Chocolate Workshop”, among other random but interesting events. The festival even has a Mother-Daughter Indian Tea Party planned for Mother’s Day.
Learn more at www.TeaLoversFestival.com.
May 9: Sleep.
May 11: Check out the new drive-in movie theater Downtown
Most people these days have never been to a drive-in movie theater, so why not start now? It’s a great way to experience something new in L.A relatively close to school. During study days (on May 11) this unconventional theater will be playing Alien— grab a date, friend, or fly solo and settle in for a relaxing night of alien gore and loud explosions.
You can find tickets here.
May 13: Visit all the museums in the area
Step off campus (but not very far off campus) for the day and enjoy a trip to the multiple museums surrounding USC. If informative IMAX movies or checking out the Endeavor space shuttle is your thing, try the California Science Center (it’s free admission for their permanent exhibit galleries). Or, you could head over to the Natural History Museum for the new Dinosaur Hall exhibit, along with the chance to meet a live animal (a real live animal, wow!!!) from 3-3:30 p.m.
May 15: Go to the Los Angeles Career Fair
The most exciting thing way to celebrate the completion of finals week is clearly to visit a Job Fair— and from 11 a.m until 2 p.m on May 15 you can do just that. Head on over to the Holiday Inn at LAX, whip out those resumes and business cards and get ready for banal small talk en masse! 18+ only.
Register here.