Oh, January: 10 ways to pass the time this month

Hi! Welcome home-away-from-home! We’ve been thinking about you while you were away. And things you can do to start the new year off right. Like go ice skating and count the wings on Fetty Wap’s Robins and watch movies so important they should be called “films” and…oh, just read the list already.

Author:

Anonymous

ON CAMPUS

1. Get involved.

If your New Year’s resolution is to get more sleep, take a nap on Wednesday afternoon. But if it’s to get more involved on campus, check out the spring Student Organization Fair, where some of Temple’s more than 300 student organizations will be answering questions and recruiting members. From podiatry to poetry, there’s literally something for everyone. Well, maybe not everyone: Representatives from the Sleep More Club will be in bed that day.

Wednesday, Jan. 13, 12–3 p.m., Howard Gittis Student Center.

2. Play games.
There’s a magical vehicle called GameTruck Horsham, and it will be pulling up outside the Ambler Campus Library Building this Wednesday. What is GameTruck Horsham, you ask? Why it’s a video game theater. ON WHEELS. Grab a friend (or come alone) and battle it out on a big screen playing Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U.
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 12–2 p.m., Library Building, Ambler Campus.

3. Press rewind though.
Are you going to come our way, Fetty Wap? Please? The rescheduled Homecoming Owlchella concert is now the Welcome Back Owlchella concert. Whatever it’s called, this lineup is worth the wait: Fetty Wap, Logic, French Montana and Wale on one stage for one night. (Please let that night be this Thursday, Fetty!) If you didn’t score yours already, there are still student tickets available.
Thursday, Jan. 14, 8 p.m., Liacouras Center; doors open at 6:30 p.m.

4. Fight, fight, fight for the cherry and the white.
Or cheer from the safety of the sidelines as the Temple basketball teams battle it out on the court. The menfolk play Cincinnati on Jan. 16 and the women take on Penn on Jan. 21. Or make a day and night of it on Jan. 23, when both the women’s and men’s teams play home games.
Visit owlsports.com for times and locations.

5. Honor a king.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Answer that question on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by helping make “no-sew” blankets for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (no experience necessary, and volunteers can help out for as little or as long as they’d like; donations of fleece to make blankets or actual blankets are also welcome). And if doing for others isn’t incentive enough, there’ll be snacks!
Monday, Jan. 18, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Campus Lounge, Bright Hall, Ambler Campus.

6. Stand together.
We’ve all heard of Martin Luther King Jr., but are you familiar with Unita Blackwell, Mae Bertha Carter and Victoria Gray Adams? These and other women are featured in the documentary Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders, a compelling story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of women who risked their jobs, their safety and their lives in the name of freedom. When asked how they did it, one activist said, “I was standing on my sisters’ shoulders.” See the film and then stick around for a Q&A with its producer, Joan Sadoff, SSW ’71.
Monday, Jan. 18, 12:30 p.m., Mitten Hall.

7. Don’t go.
Not yet, anyway—you just got back! But if you want to learn about opportunities to fly the nest, attend the spring Study Abroad Fair, where you can talk with students who’ve been there/done that and find out about internships abroad and scholarships available to Temple students.
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m., Howard Gittis Student Center, Room 200C.

8. Listen up.
You had us at “ManChoir, Boyer College of Music and Dance. We thought the name was hilarious, and then we learned the details. Hundreds of young men from across Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey singing at Klein Hall, and special performances by the Temple University Concert Choir and an a cappella group? Sounds seriously beautiful.
Saturday, Jan. 23, 5 p.m., Lew Klein Hall.

OFF CAMPUS

9. Eat up.

Now’s your chance, Owls. During Center City Restaurant Week (which is really actually two different six-day periods in January and includes restaurants across the city), more than 100 splurge-worthy restaurants are offering three-course lunches and dinners that are less of a splurge (lunches are $20 and dinners are $35). So discover what the rest of the world already knows: We’re living in one of the most delicious cities in the country.

Jan. 17–22 and 24–29. Find the full list of participating restaurants, menus and additional details here.

10. Fall on your butt.
Or, if you’re an excellent ice skater, do triple lutzes to make the rest of us feel even more like klutzes (see what we did there?). There are two outdoor winter rinks in Philly, one just a subway ride away, at Dilworth Park. The other, RiverRink WinterFest, is on the Delaware River and also easily accessible by public transportation. Both offer heated tents for cozying up with a cup of hot chocolate. And a burger. And a hot fudge sundae. Because the klutzes among us want that cushion to be extra-padded when we fall.
Various times, dates and prices; find more details at the Rothman Rink site and the RiverRink WinterFest site.

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