With schoolwork piling up, the ability to find anything you could ever need on campus and with two bars down the street, it is easy to get caught in a Loyola bubble. Listed below are some unique things you can do in New Orleans, even with a college student’s budget.

Friday Nights at NOMA

For only $8, this weekly event offers anything from live music to book signings. On Friday, Oct. 24 from 5-7 p.m., NOMA will offer music by local Daniele Spadavecchia, Italian Gypsy Jazz guitarist and vocalist originally from Alessandria, Italy.

At 7 p.m., following the Italian Gypsy, NOMA, in conjunction with the New Orleans Film Society, will be screening “North by Northwest” in the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Though it sounds like the future fashion line of baby North West, this classic film actually follows the journey of Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue advertising man who finds himself running from the police after being mistaken for a criminal. “North by Northwest” is the second in a series of  “Golden Age” films that NOMA will be screening on Friday nights.

Even if you hate everything about art, you should stop by for the food. The Oct. 24 event will feature vendors from La Cocinita, Green to Go NOLA and Crêpes à la Cart.

Open Mic Comedy Nights

Think you are the next Richard Pryor, or just want to hang out and laugh at people who think they are the next Richard Pryor? Comedy clubs all over the city offer free open-mic nights that welcome rookies as well as well as seasoned vets. The La Nuit Comedy Theater, located right down the street from Loyola at 5039 Freret Street, was voted the #1 “Best Place to See Comedy” in Gambit this year. La Nuit offers an open mic night every Friday at 11 p.m.

The Howlin’ Wolf, located downtown, also offers an open mic comedy night called “Gumbeaux Free Show” on Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m.

And if you want to be able to say you performed in the same place as famous artists, The House of Blues New Orleans offers the “Give ‘em the Light: Open Mic Comedy Show” every Tuesday night at 8 p.m. To participate in these open-mic night events, you just have to arrive about 30 minutes early and sign up to perform.

The Prytania Theater

If you are into dressing up in ridiculous costumes (and aren’t we all?) then you should definitely stop by the Prytania Theater, which often screens “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as part of their late night series.

The Prytania also offers themed Sunday night shows. After Robin William’s passing, they screened some of his most popular movies over four Sundays and also just wrapped up screening Hayao Miyazaki films. The Prytania also screens new movies like any other movie theater, and is a much shorter trip than AMC in Metairie.

Fringe Festival

In this city, it seems like there is always some sort of festival going on, and fortunately for students, many of them are free. Of these is the Fringe Festival, which holds performances across the city from the Marigny neighborhood to Central City.

Fringe Festival’s mission is to showcase the talents of both experienced and up-and-coming artists of New Orleans.

The festival features spoken word artists, musicians, actors and so many more types of performers. Many of the performances do require you to purchase a ticket to attend, but the idea of Fringe is to soak up the rich culture of New Orleans. Just walking through parts of the festival or spending hours at the Free-For-All tent will throw enough culture at you to last until next year’s festival.

This year’s Fringe Festival will be held Nov. 19-23 all over New Orleans.