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Understanding Wine and Spirits

By Arielle Sachar
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Quick Tips

  1. Red vs. white wine – Deciding often depends on what you’re eating. Generally, go for whites with lighter foods like fish or most pastas, and reds with heavier dishes like meat or pasta with cream or meat sauce. But ultimately, wine is a matter of personal taste, so just drink whatever tickles your fancy.
  2. Ordering from the menu - You should never order the second least expensive bottle of wine on the menu because you don’t know what to order and don’t want to look cheap. Restaurants actually prey on this psychology by pricing their cheapest (and worst) bottle of wine as the second least expensive.
  3. Getting help is okay – If you have to ask for help, go ahead. There’s no shame in that. In fact, it’s expected. Most restaurants and wine and spirits stores employ people who know what they are talking about, and love to chat. The web is also a great resource—check out sites like Dr. Vino and Wines.com to up your wine IQ.
  4. Ditch the house alcohol - Nothing ruins a drink and worsens a hangover more than house alcohol. Give specifics when ordering a mixed drink. Ketel One and tonic, not vodka-tonic. While premium may be a few more bucks, it’s worth it if you’re aim is enjoyment. If you’re aim is blackout, then by all means save money by sticking with the well options.
  5. Pick a signature drink - Making drinks at home for friends? Find a signature drink, whether it’s a mojito or a margarita. Perfect the recipe and soon friends will fawning over your bartending skills. You can also make it the drink you default to at a bar.

The pain of graduation leads many to drown their sorrows in drink. But while beer-chugging contests and sake bombing were considered power moves in college, they begin to lose

Watching Vice.TV

By Christopher Schonberger
4/18/08
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Many of us have always known Vice Magazine for its risqué photo shoots, hilarious “Dos and Donts” section, and bohemian infatuation with sex, drugs, and other taboo subjects. While the magazine’s articles are often provocative and exceedingly clever, you have to be able to stomach some pretty weird

Video: How to Get Invited to a Wedding

By Christopher Schonberger
4/17/08
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Recently, my friend Adam met a young woman at a bar in Washington, D.C., who enraptured him and made him think, "Maybe D.C. really is the best city for singles, despite vast evidence to the contrary." As he slyly angled for a second meeting, she told him that she had a hectic wedding season coming up

The Delaying the Real World Fellowship

By Cheddar Ted
4/17/08
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Gritz sent me a link to this unofficial fellowship (not as unofficial as this fellowship) called Delaying The Real World, and even though I'm skeptical of any fellowship that claims to delay the real world by giving you $5,000, I applied because the application

Buy U A Drank

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4/17/08
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Back in the salad days of college, the consequences of a little bit o’ binge drinking were generally limited to raging hangovers and egregious charges on your parents’ credit card. Once full-time jobs and societal pressure to “act your age” kick in

Finding Online Travel Deals

By Karen Keller
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Quick Tips

  1. Find cheap housing – Hostels and camping are always an option, but more adventurous and budget-conscious travelers can check out Couch Surfing or Craigslist to stay in someone’s home for free. Just use common sense and be careful.
  2. Comparison shop tickets – Not all travel sites quote the same fares. Aggressively browse the likes of Kayak and Expedia, use meta-search engines Mobissimo and Sidestep, and consider traveling by Eurail if you’re in Europe.
  3. Avoid high season – Everything from hotels, restaurants, and attractions cut their prices during off season. Different destinations have different “high seasons,” so do a little research. In addition, make sure you aren’t traveling during any major festivals, unless they are what you are going for in the first place (e.g., Rio during Carnaval).
  4. Student savings – If you have an international student identification card (ISIC), keep it. You can pick one up for $22 from STA Travel, which has locations near most major college campuses. You can also try sweet-talking any place that offers student discounts – if your morals agree, of course.

    5. Volunteer – Many organizations will host you in a foreign country in exchange for providing them with your time. There are a ton of opportunities to volunteer abroad.

That spring semester in Australia gave you a taste for travel: the culture (i.e., drinking), the sights (i.e., surfers and beach babes), the food (i.e., more drinking). But how can you afford it now that your parents have stopped paying for you to “learn”? Luckily, travel doesn’t necessarily mean forking over

First Steps

By Tom Wiseman
4/11/08
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Gradiators, READY?!

So, you've already graduated (or are about to) and you can live through anything if Magic made it. Tired of hearing all that crap about "the best years of your life" being behind you

On Adderall

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9/16/08
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As many of you probably know, getting adderall on college campuses is easy. You just buy it from students with prescriptions for five bucks a pill.

In my case, I got my own prescription from the school psychiatrist, at U. Chicago’s

Joining a University Club

By Julie Fishman
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Quick Tips
  1. Go clubbin' – University clubs are great for meeting new people in a new city and for participating in free happy hours and wine tastings. They're also great places to find fellow college sports fans.
  2. Networking – These clubs also offer excellent opportunities for career network in a less intimidating environment. The connections you make here can be particularly valuable for those in business and finance.
  3. Discounts – Besides hotels, some university clubs offer great deals on everything from rental cars to clothing and test prep courses. You could also land sweet discounts on travel and at cultural venues.
  4. Get your game on – In addition to nice gyms, university clubs offer the opportunity to get involved with organized teams or informal pick-up games.
  5. College redux – Make up for all that time you spent clowning around at school by attending lectures, readings, and book club meetings.

In the movies, university clubs are full of good ol’ boys sitting around a fire in a moose-head-filled room, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey, and sharing quail hunting stories. In reality, they are far less stuffy and can be a resource as valuable to post-college kids as an alma mater beer koozie

Mapping America's Singles

By Christopher Schonberger
4/04/08
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Trying to figure out what city to move to for the best “ratio,” as various chaches like to say? Check out this map. The red represents the metro areas with more single women than men; the blue means it’s more of a “rugby match.” I’m no census expert, but the trend moving east to west

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