Special Section Spring Finals Edition

Let loose after finals with movies, outdoor adventure

Relax along with the rest of the city with coffee, artisan food, and a handmade vibe. at Tout Suite located in the middle of Second Ward. | Dana Jones/ The Cougar

Finals are the bane of existence for college students, and we all look forward to the taste of short lived freedom that is summer vacation. Some of us go on trips or continue to work, whether it be at part time jobs, internships or in summer classes. However, those wishing to relax need not go far.

The event I’m most excited about is a chance to wind down with man’s best friend: dogs. Faithful Paws and its certified therapy dogs will be at the MD Anderson Library at 7 p.m. on May 3 to ease the stress of finals.

Something you can do anytime is visit the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, a nature sanctuary in Memorial Park that has five miles worth of trails. Located in one of the busiest cities in the country, the 155-acre sanctuary is a more than adequate way to regroup and recharge.

Tout Suite, located in East Downtown, is a coffee shop equal in quality and popularity. Complete with mock dual floors, floor to ceiling windows and artisan style food, it’s your average coffee shop but a lot better.

You have to see the art before you can really immerse yourself in a city’s culture.

In Houston, a lot of the art is in the form of graffiti murals decorating walls and underpasses. Since they are not all in one place, seeing Houston’s art pieces makes for a culture-filled scavenger hunt around the city.

On May 5, take a date the way your grandparents would.

The Anheuser-Busch Stage at Discovery Green will be screening the animated film “Sing,” a film about a pig trying to save their his theater by putting on the best show ever, at 8:30 p.m. Admission to the screening is free, but bring blankets, chairs and towels to lay out on the grass.

For the yogis out there, the only thing better than yoga is yoga with fellow yoga-lovers and the backdrop of the world’s greatest city behind you.

Go to Discovery Green’s Sarofim Pacific Lawn bright and early to experience what can only be described as a peaceful, stretched out, synchronized wave. The first event is from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on May 6.

Show your support for some of the graduates by going to view their Graphic Design Senior Exhibition, open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on May 11.

Comprising the work of 23 students, this is the last big show before the senior class enters the workforce, and this is your chance to see how the world is soon going to look.

This last event will take place long after finals are over, but it is the epitome of saving the the best for last. Take a trip back to 2001 and relive “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” on the big screen on July 21.

The showing will be complete with a live orchestra performance of every note of John William’s world renowned score. For ’90s babies, this is nostalgia on the grandest of scales.

Opinion Editor Dana Jones is a print journalism junior and can be reached at [email protected].

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