It is often easy to stay on campus for long periods of time without stepping out of FitzRandolph gates. Students at Princeton are busy with classes, extracurriculars and a social life. However, there are many things to do in the town of Princeton that I encourage current and future Tigers to make time for and enjoy.

The most common reasons to venture through the gates and onto Nassau Street involve a craving for food and drinks. Princeton has four ice cream shops in a very small vicinity. My personal ranking is Halo Pub, Kilwin’s, Bent Spoon and Thomas Sweets. Everyone has their own personal preferences for where they go to satisfy their sweet tooth.

The town of Princeton also has a variety of coffee options. Regardless of if you’re a Starbucks person or a Dunkin’ Donuts fan, you can get your favorite coffee. If you want a coffee that doesn’t come from a chain, I would recommend Small World Coffee, a local brand with two locations, one on Nassau Street and one on Witherspoon Street.

The Princeton Public Library on Witherspoon Street has a great selection of books available to students for free. I got a library card pretty soon after coming to campus. With that card comes access to the library’s collections, as well as free tickets to museums in New York City and Philadelphia.

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Princeton Garden Theater offers multiple movies per week at a discounted price for students. Princeton Undergraduate Student Government (USG) screens movies at the Garden Theater every weekend for no cost at all if you’re willing to wait in line for the free tickets.

While all the activities I described above are in walking distance from campus, there are also some fun destinations within driving distance. TigerTransit has a Weekend Shopper shuttle that takes students to shopping locations, such as Wegmans grocery store, Walmart and Trader Joe’s. The shuttles often get crowded as students refill their rooms with snacks and cleaning supplies.

If you’re willing to take a car share service and go a little farther from the campus, there are multiple malls in the area. I’ve seen a couple movies at an AMC movie theater at the MarketFair Mall and Quakerbridge Mall is also quite popular with students.

We have our own train station on campus with a one-car train called the "Dinky" to take us to the Princeton Junction station. From there, it’s an easy ride to New York City and Philadelphia. My friends and I have taken several fun trips to New York City to explore the museums and see shows on Broadway. 

The Princeton campus is often described as the “Orange Bubble,” but I do my best to get off campus every so often. Princeton is a great town with lots of fun activities. Pretty soon, you’ll have your own list of favorite spots off campus.

New Jersey can be one of the most weather-confused states. Whether it's 60 degrees in January or 35 degrees in April, New Jersey has some interesting weather patterns. Season-relevant attire is important because Princeton is a walking campus and I don’t know about you but who wants to be caught in the rain with socks and slides? Here are some tips I find helpful to have throughout the school year.

• Coat with a hood: Any hat plus coat combo is fine, but a hood keeps you warm, is easy to put on and can’t really be forgotten. No worries if your coat doesn’t have one. Water Resistant Shoes: Rain is a pretty common forecast on campus. Rain boots work perfectly. Snow boots would also fall into this category for the colder months.
• Gloves: Gloves are also necessary for a cold winter breeze or an autumn downpour! Your fingers can get cold holding up your multipurpose umbrella or sometimes your pockets are full and your hands can’t fit into your jacket pocket. Regardless of the reason, gloves are pretty handy. No pun intended.
• Warm Socks: I thought ankle socks would be fine, but turns out fuzzy socks and crew socks keep you warmer. Fuzzy or thicker socks are great for comfortable walking sneakers because your feet can get cold from walking everywhere. New Jersey often has some vicious winter winds.
• Umbrella: This works not only in the rain, but also in the snow. A raincoat is an alternative, but an umbrella can also protect your bookbag. 
• Scarf: Scarves are a nice touch to your look. They can be repurposed as a head covering to warm your ears or cover your face during windy, cold days.
• Stay Hydrated: This includes your skin and hair. Many people find the winter months to be dehydrating, so make sure you keep some moisturizer, water bottles and hair products close.
• Short & Sandals: Although New Jersey can be a pretty cold state, when it's warm, its WARM. I would highly recommend bringing some clothes for warm weather in the early fall, because it can be notoriously hot and humid.
• Sun____: Sunglasses, sunscreen and other sun-related items like hats are also nice to have in the fall for protection from the sun's harsh rays.

This is an opinion-based article and none of these items are an absolute necessity. These are just a few useful tips I find helpful to keeping warm, dry and comfortable during the school year. I hope these tips help to prepare you for your time at Princeton.

Some of the best parts of my classes have taken place outside of Princeton. In three of my classes, I got to go on amazing field trips that greatly enriched my learning experience. All three trips were to New York City, which is only an hour and a half away from campus and accessible by the train (affectionately called “The Dinky”) on campus.

Morgan Library and Museum

In the fall of my first year, I took a freshman seminar called “Disability and the Making of the Modern Subject: From Wordsworth to X-Men.” After reading “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, we took a class trip to the Morgan Library and Museum to view the exhibit “It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200.” This exhibit displayed a wide collection of art and artifacts related to the book. Portions of Shelley’s original manuscript were on display, as well as scientific tools, movie posters and comic books. The exhibit showed me the lasting impact of the novel in pop culture. We also saw Pierpont Morgan’s library, which was one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever seen. I hope to have as many books as him someday.

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Bloomberg News

My investigative journalism class recently went on a field trip to the Bloomberg News headquarters. We got a tour of the building, including the newsroom, TV studio and its super cool curved escalator. Then, we heard from a panel of experienced journalists who have written many groundbreaking stories. One panelist even won two Pulitzer Prizes! The panelists had many useful tricks of the trade to share with us. It was an honor to be in the same room as them and learn from the pros about what it’s like to be a journalist. Another highlight of the trip was browsing the huge snack selection on every floor.    

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"Hadestown" on Broadway

“America Then and Now” is an interdisciplinary class that explores the concept of America over time. One of the three professors is a theater professor, so we read the script and listened to recordings for several plays and musicals. The best part of the class was when we went to Broadway to see Hadestown, which won Best Musical at the Tony Awards this year. Although based on a Greek myth, this show explores many topics of importance today, such as climate change, worker exploitation and xenophobia. I was blown away by the creativity of the story and beauty of the music. I had been wanting to see the show for a long time, and it did not disappoint. The producer of the show also spoke to my class as a guest lecturer the following week.

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It was so exciting to step outside “The Orange Bubble,” or what we refer to as the Princeton community. These trips brought what I learned in the classroom to life.

An iconic part of the Princeton experience is the illustrious eating club, or rather, 11 eating clubs. Usually, if someone outside of the "Orange Bubble" is asking me about Princeton, they’ll mention an eating club. However, what many people tend to forget is that there are other systems in place so students can eat: staying on the dining hall plan, joining a co-op or being independent (currently the system I am using). Choosing the independent dining option at Princeton means that you have the ability to arrange your own dining. This means that you can cook on your own, eat at other campus dining places or eat at local resaturants.

Before starting my junior year, I was nervous about being independent. I never had to cook for myself, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for such a big step. My sister teased me and said I would starve, so it wasn’t looking great on the homefront in regards to support, either. Nevertheless, I packed the car with the bare minimum of kitchen supplies I thought I would need; I knew I would be using a hall kitchen, so I couldn’t bring everything I was using at home.

My parents brought me to the grocery store on move-in day, and I stocked up for the week. Very quickly, I realized I was going to have a hard time; I had never even been to the grocery store by myself, and now I had to become celebrity chef Rachael Ray overnight! I knew I had to learn, and fast. Here are a few things I have found useful during my short time dining as an independent student thus far:

1. If you have a friend with a car on campus, bribe them with snacks and see if they will drive you to the store. If not...
2. The Weekend Shopper, a campus shuttle, that runs every Saturday and Sunday takes you to a variety of places, including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Walmart and Trader Joe’s. It’s free and easy to figure out!
3. Join the Free Food listserv. Princeton has free food everywhere, all the time. Sometimes you can even find full meals through it! Other times, you can find a nice snack. Either way, it’s definitely something to make use of!
4. Independent students get two dining hall meal swipes per week, so make use of them!
5. There are a few quick, relatively affordable options on Nassau Street if you’re looking to treat yourself (i.e., Tacoria, Jammin’ Crepes, Olives, Panera, Qdoba and more). Use this option sparingly; the costs add up!
6. If you have friends in eating clubs, they get a few guest swipes per semester!

I am sure I will learn more as the days go by!

During the semester I had the privilege and opportunity to work as a veterinary intern at the Princeton Animal Hospital (PAH). PAH is only about ten minutes from the University and handles various medical cases for dogs and cats.

At the clinic, I see a wide range of medical cases, since you truly never know what is going to walk through the door. While at first I was mostly observing and learning the ropes, now that I’ve been there for a few months, I’m able to do much more in the lab. I help with blood samples, prepare injections, pull medications, as well as assist during physical examinations. I have learned so much from the time I have spent in the hospital. The vets are incredible and always try to explain the case to me.

While I’m not in a lecture learning material as with traditional university classes, this internship is teaching me the practical skills that will prepare me for veterinary school. I am learning by doing, which is exactly the type of preparation I need. I am verifying this is the field I want to go into, and I am so thankful that I was able to coordinate the internship with my class schedule to make it happen.

Plus, I have to admit, it’s nice being able to get off of campus twice a week and pretend I am in the real world. Oftentimes, I find myself caught up in the Orange Bubble (how we fondly refer to campus), unable to get off campus and explore the surrounding area. Though I am only traveling ten minutes from campus, it is still a nice way for me to engage with the local community.  

This internship is just one of the many examples of ways in which Princeton students are engaging with the local community. I have friends who tutor off campus, work for the hospice at the nearby hospital, babysit for professors and other townspeople, and intern at other local companies. It is definitely feasible to have an off-campus job if you are willing to put the work into it. For some, that may not be of interest, but if there is an organization or company that you really want to work with, it is possible and 100% worth it.

I like to refer to Princeton as “an academic playground.” Within the confines of the “Orange Bubble,” my responsibilities and obligations are largely limited to my academics and extracurricular interests. I am blessed to be at a point in my life where even if I am rushed, frantic and busy every moment of the day, this sense of ordered chaos only exists because I am doing so many things that I am immensely passionate about.

Princeton is my academic playground because I am unbound by the things that I can learn, the places I can go and the professors that I can meet. My favorite days in the academic year are the days that course offerings are released. On those days, regardless of my coursework or responsibilities, I am immediately caught up in the wild fervor of reading and examining every class that sparks my interest. Princeton offers hundreds of courses each semester and I am often paralyzed in my decision-making.

I have yet to finalize my course selection for next fall, but I suspect that by the end of the year and certainly by the end of summer, my interests will have shifted. For now, here are some of the courses that have made my short list:

POL 388: "Causes of War" with Professor Gary J. Bass

• One of my certificate programs, the History and Practice of Diplomacy, focuses on the links between diplomacy and war-making. I am currently taking a course, "Grand Strategy," and am interested in studying the history of war through a different lens.

POL 345/SOC 305: "Introduction to Quantitative Social Science" with Professors Marc Ratkovic and  Matthew J. Salganik 

• A course required for my major and one of my distribution requirements.

HIS 425: "The History of Political Propaganda from the French Revolution to Vladimir Putin" with Professor Igor Khristoforov 

• After several weeks working on a project involving political posters from the first revolution in Russia, I am interested in exploring the theme of propaganda more thoroughly.

HIS 383: "The United States, 1920-1974" with Professor Kevin M. Kruse

• This course consistently receives great reviews, several of my friends have recommended it and I love U.S. history. 

JRN 441:"The McGraw Seminar in Writing - The Art of the Profile" with Visiting Lecturer Rebecca Mead

• Several of my close friends have raved about their experiences with journalism courses here. Rebecca Mead is a staff writer at The New Yorker.

ART 272: "Rage against the Machine: Art and Politics in America" with Professor Rachael Z. DeLue 

• I took a class with Professor DeLue in my first-year spring, but haven't had the chance to take another course in the Department of Art History since.

ITA 303: "Dante's 'Inferno'" with Professor Simone Marchesi

• I may or may not have specifically started taking Italian last fall specifically so that I could take this course.

At noon on Jan. 16, 2014, my first semester at Princeton finished. After finishing my thoughts in response to the devilish last problem of my physics final, abounding joy and relief at having made it brought me to Princeton Junction station: It was definitely time to leave the “Orange Bubble.”

When I first visited Princeton, I distinctly remember the tour guide explaining the peculiar phenomenon that we Princetonians term the “Orange Bubble.”  For all you who may not be familiar with this concept, it refers to the relative seclusion of Princeton from the outside world: I do not hesitate to speculate that 30% or more of Princetonians can count on one hand the number of times they’ve ventured beyond Nassau Street, and I know of people who, for example, only found out about the federal government shutdown when they tried to access data from government websites.

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Fortunately (and paradoxically) enough, Princeton, one of the most insulating environments I’ve ever lived in, also offers more opportunity to travel and explore than anywhere else I’ve been. As I began this post, I was en route to NYC where I caught a bus to Boston. Princeton programs have taken me this way several times as well, en route to more exotic destinations: my freshman seminar to Cyprus and Greece, and the Bridge Year Program to Senegal, for example.  And by the end of next summer, I’ll have been to the Bahamas with the Department of Geosciences as well as Germany with Princeton in Munich (hopefully!).

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The Bubble is real, sometimes cozy, but sometimes not.

As I write now from the library of my girlfriend’s art school in the collegiate (and brutally cold) city of Boston, I’m developing a new perspective on the Bubble. As much as I sometimes miss the empowering and exciting atmosphere of city life, the city will stay where it is, and, at least in the cases of Philadelphia and NYC, that’s only an hour away from Princeton. Meanwhile, the Bubble’s boundaries carve out a special place where an intensely academic environment also feels like home and where a strong community comes from the student body within the Bubble. For me, the important thing is remembering to periodically step outside of the Orange Bubble, physically and mentally, to keep in perspective what I do while I’m inside of it.