New York City has no shortage of things to see and do. When you go to school here, the plethora of possibility can even — and sometimes often — feel overwhelming. So here are some things our staff think no New York collegiate experience would be complete without, to help narrow your focus and get you on the right path.

Start a Club

Aside from simply surviving and graduating from NYU, my goal is to start a Disney club on campus. Meetings would consist of watching Disney movies, playing Disney games and having Disney sing-alongs. College is tough and adultish, and I think students just need a place to be kids again and be inspired by cheesy quotes to listen to their hearts, go the distance and let it go. Maybe if I wish upon a star it will happen, and anyone interested in having a friend like me can be my guest to help make this club part of our world. — Faith Gates, Deputy Features Editor

“Friends” and the West Village

This is touristy as hell, but everyone should definitely go see the “Friends” apartment on the corner of Grove Street and Bedford Street. The summer before my freshman year, I re-watched all of “Friends” — yes, I put myself through the terrible last season again — and it’s what got me pumped to start school in New York City. Plus, the “Friends” apartment is in the West Village and I made the awful mistake of never visiting that side of the village until halfway through second semester. Do yourself a favor and start off your West Village adventures earlier on in the year. — Natasha Roy, News Editor

Joe’s Pizza

The obvious answer will always be to grab a late night slice at Joe’s Pizza. Despite what some dirty liars may say, Joe’s is and always will be the best slice of pizza in the Village and probably all of New York City. Everything else you do at NYU is secondary to this. — Thomas Price, Opinion Editor

Study in Bobst

Bobst is my favorite building on campus. Like, I’m genuinely upset about leaving it and will probably hold some sort of going away ceremony before I graduate. I think it is absolutely essential for NYU students to find their “spot” in Bobst before they graduate. It may take time, but it will be worth it. And it’s okay to cheat on a few spots until you find your soulmate. Freshman year, it was the eighth floor, facing the park, on the right side. It’s very important to be specific about this. Sophomore year it was lower level II, because I always wanted to study in a private room for some reason. And now it’s the fifth floor, west side, in a private cubicle, because that space has the all-important comfy swivel chairs. Regardless of how few hours of sleep you’ve gotten and how stressed out you are, Bobst will always welcome you with open arms, making it a key part of your NYU experience. — Sophie Lewis, Social Media Editor

Send a Postcard

In all of the glitz and the glamour and the gross mess that is New York City, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment-to-moment reality of living here. Our reflection is often reserved for latergrams and Polaroids taped to dorm-room walls. Maybe an occasional phone call to our hometown friends will take a turn for the nostalgic, but more than likely it’ll be a gushing account of Saturday night or a rant about the fifth cockroach you had to squish in your apartment this week. Sometimes, it can be nice — and even healthy — to take a step back and reflect on what it’s like to live in the city on a bigger scale. Writing postcards to a relative you barely talk to or a friend you particularly miss that week is my favorite way to appreciate the city and consider how lucky we are to be here. Take a half hour, buy some cheesy postcards from the discount stores on Broadway, and reflect on half of a small piece of cardstock about your time here. Maybe look wistfully out your window while you do it, or sip black coffee at the cafe where you’ve become a regular. But sit back, take out a pen and zoom out of the city grid for a bit. – Hailey Nuthals, Editor-in-Chief

Rooftop Parties

One thing you should definitely do before leaving New York City is go to a rooftop party in Brooklyn and get greasy food afterwards. I feel like this the most NYU and New York City thing you can do. Rooftops are what make NYU’s party scene so special and it is a great way to appreciate the city skyline — you can also see the Big Dipper! It’s a great way to socialize and enjoy the spring weather, and the greasy food afterwards is just a perfect bonding experience for everyone. Whether you choose to go to a McDonalds and get the McChicken, go to Union Square and get some delicious Halal Guys or go to a dollar pizza store and indulge in some delicious greasy pizza, there is no better way to end a great night of dancing and socializing than collectively consuming food that you know is very bad for you. It is a great opportunity to meet other people who had a long night of partying and you learn different stories. One time, I met an opera singer who also worked as an Uber driver. It’s a time when you see the best parts of people and learn a lot about them. The best way to get to know New York is through the food and the people, and what better way to do it than at 3 a.m. with a little grease on your lips? – Yasmin Gulec, Dining Editor

Take a Class Just For Fun

Take a class for no reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love my major classes, and I have even enjoyed my some of my CAS core classes. However, I have always dreamed of taking a class not just because NYU said I had to, but because I truly wanted to, like The Science of Happiness or a two-credit African dance elective or an English class about Harry Potter. I have few complaints about my academics here at NYU, but I feel like there is so much more than what my double major has allowed me to take thus far. – Taylor Nicole Rogers, Features Editor

Gallery Hopping on the Lower East Side

As NYU students, we get free entrance to so many great museums that would normally cost a small fortune on a student budget. I like to think I’ve taken advantage of the discounts NYU offers, but not all New York has to offer, at least not quite yet. I was recently exposed to the intimate art galleries that dot the Lower East Side. I was lucky enough to talk with Siebren Versteeg, who currently hosts his artwork at Bitforms gallery and ended up exploring nearby galleries with him. Being able to interact with the artists is a perk of smaller museums as opposed to huge collections where you may not even remember which artist created what piece. Many of the spaces do not line the sidewalks, but are rather in basements or a few floors up, requiring twists and turns through narrow hallways to get to them. Because they are small collections, you can easily walk down Delancey Street and visit three or four in just a couple of hours. The Lower East Side gallery map has now become a personal bucket list.

— Rachel Buigas-Lopez, Creative Director

Spreading Yourself Too Thin

NYU students are annoyingly accomplished — just take a look at our annual Influential or Up-and-Comers issues to see a few examples. I am by no means in their league, but between Tisch and WSN, I barely have a minute to myself. But to be honest, that’s part of the fun. I have lost many nights of sleep, drunk far too many Cokes and fallen asleep with my laptop open on my chest too many times to count, but through it all I’ve had the time of my life. Sometimes you will fall flat on your face, but what better time than now to do it? — Rachel Ruecker, Senior Editor

See a Bad Show

Going to a show is expensive, so obviously when you splurge you want to see something good. But every once in awhile, it’s fun to see something bad. I’ve been to my fair share of theater in my time at NYU, and there has been good, bad and then there has been ugly. Sometimes the cute, nice and sweet stuff just fades from your memory but what remains is the steaming pile of trash you saw that one time in the East Village that you cannot erase from your memory. I remember one time I literally had a look of disgust on my face at a show I will abstain from naming and then I looked in the eyes of one of the actors, and he was so invested in the project and I felt bad, but I also didn’t because it was so bad. But am I likely to soon forget it? Absolutely not. — Rachel Ruecker, Senior Editor