A marble loaf is waiting for you when you pick up your coffee Wednesday. Starbucks Coffee offers many samples of their coffee and food. Don't hesitate to ask. (CU Independent/Alexandra Lehnert)
Just because the prices of Boulder’s real estate are through the roof doesn’t mean the price of entertainment should be. There are countless ways to enjoy yourself in town without emptying your pockets, without even reaching into them at all.
Taking a look at a few general necessities for the average college student—fitness, food and fun—one can find opportunities to engage in most of them around town without dropping so much as a single penny.
Take fitness, for instance. It’s undeniably something everyone should make time for in their life, and, with a little research and effort made to get around the system, it can be enjoyed in many forms for free.
Many yoga studios offer free weekly or bi-weekly classes, and others offer a free trial week, as do most gyms.
prAna on Pearl Street has a free class almost every day of the week, and the schedule can be viewed at their Web site. Lululemon, an athletic-wear store in 29th Street Mall, has free yoga every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. CorePower yoga offers a free seven-day trial and is good for unlimited classes within those seven days.
Gyms such as 24 Hour Fitness, The Workout Studio, the YMCA and even Flatiron Athletic Club offer free trials (though the time limits vary).
Some CU students, like 19-year-old sophomore communication and film studies major Alyssa Magsanide, say they take advantage of free fitness right here on campus.
“The Rec Center on campus offers a week of free classes; we did cycling classes,” Magsanide said.
Hiking at Chautauqua Park is how Amy Nelson, a 22-year-old senior MCD biology major, said she gets her free exercise.
“It’s always free and it’s always beautiful,” Nelson said.
Nelson also said she enjoys finding ways of getting free food around town, from freeloading on samples at grocery stores to exhausting bottomless starters at restaurants.
“I always hit up the samples at Costco; it’s almost worth the $50 membership, even if you don’t buy anything,” Nelson said. “When I keep asking for more bread at The Med and they ask if I want to buy anything I’m like, ‘Uh…no?’”
It’s accurate that a trip to Costco or Whole Foods at around 5:00 p.m. will provide a hungry shopper, or browser, with a plethora of samples—enough “tapas,” so to speak, to make it a meal.
Ice cream places like Ben and Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs are also fairly generous with the number of free samples they give out.
Nineteen-year-old sophomore business marketing major Kendal Borras said her trip to Glacier was informative and appetizing.
“Glacier on 28th does a free tour on how they make the ice cream, and they’ll give you a free scoop,” Borras said.
And for all the ladies planning an epic, gratis girls-day-out, try a free makeover and hand-treatment after a free workout and lunch.
Cosmetic stores like Sephora always display more than enough samples for customers to give themselves a free makeover, and the best part is, they can try out bold new colors they’d be too scared to buy.
Melt on Pearl Street Mall and Bath and Body Works on 29th also offer free quality services on a sample basis. There is no purchase necessary to try out hand-scrubs, lotions and body washes.
Tours of local companies that produce popular products can also be a surprisingly fun way to spend a day. Some that offer free tours include Celestial Seasonings, Colorado Coffee Merchants, Coors Brewing Company and Russell Stover Chocolates.
Included in the tours, respectively, are free tea, coffee, beer and chocolate!
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ana McIntosh at Anna.mcintosh@colorado.edu.
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Quit stressing, do yoga – Free yoga classes offered twice a week on campus
https://cuindependent.com/2010/02/05/quit-stressing-do-yoga/