66 The Michigan Oaily-Weekeno Ma I - nt biday, Feru'rC 21, 1997 0 0 0 The'Michi jan Daiy Weekend N :.® About Town ® State of the Arts THANK 'U' FOR NOTHING I scream, you scream, the ' screams for ice cream! By Greg Parker and Jenny Rubenfeld The Michigan Daily Judging by the patrons in campus ice cream shops, students seem to scream for ice cream - even in the winter. Ice cream remains one of the world's most popular treats, no matter what the weather. Fortunately for us, there is an abundance of good ice cream in our own backyard. And for those who are a little more health conscious, there is more than a profusion of frozen yogurt ven- dors who want to please all. What could be better than spending a study break, romantic interlude or just a lonely Saturday night over an ice cream cone (or a cup of frozen yogurt)? Not much. Probably the most famous ice cream and frozen yogurt on campus is Stucchi's. This hotbed (or should I say cold bed?) of frozen dessert action has a corner on the market with its two prime locations. The South University locale is brightly lit with cheerful green, black and red square dots bordering the walls, creating the perfect place to stop for a quick treat. The State Street store has a slightly more modern look to it, ideal for the downtown crowd. Like most creameries, Stucchi's offers a variety of ways to serve your favorite flay. With Smushins (candy and other treats mixed into the ice cream), malts, floats, shakes and any topping you can think of, this parlor can probably concoct the ice creation of your wildest fantasies. Stucchi's stocks 16 flavors of ice cream, 16 flavors of hard frozen yogurt and two flavors of soft frozen yogurt. From the mundane chocolate and vanil- la to the more exotic Hazelnut Espresso and Grasshopper Pie, Stucchi's flavors are as scrumptious as they are creative, ice cream and frozen yogurt alike. LSA junior and Stucchi's employee Beth Eurod said, "If you don't want soft serve, the frozen supposedly lower in the "bads" that reg- ular ice cream carries. This taste doesn't come cheap, howev- er. Prices at this Ann Arbor establishment are a little high for such a universal delight. But with the heaping scoops and the delicious variety of flavors, the few extra cents are well worth it. Competition is encroaching with the brand new Java House and Stroh's Ice Cream on the corner of South University and South Forest. Stroh's Ice Cream, boasting itself as "Michigan's Finest Since 1919," is a main feature at this WPM In two months and a week, I am going to drive out of Ann Arbor with my $80,000 diploma buried in a cardboard box in the back of the car. But the ques- tion still floating By Brian A. Gnatt around in my Daily Arts Editor mind after 7 1/2 semesters at the University is whether my Michigan education was worth its hefty price of $80,000. Unfortunately, the answer sounds like an astounding "No." Right off the bat, I want to make it clear I'm not saying my Michigan expe- rience wasn't enjoyable, but that my four years of classroom education were absurdly overpriced, and frequently worthless. Even more sad is that Michigan isn't much worse than any other university in the country. As I sit and think about all the classes I have taken at Michigan, it disgusts me to think how much I paid for many of my classes. Take this semester for example: Out-of-state tuition is near $10,000 (Don't worry in-staters, you're still being ripped-oft), and with the mass of boring $40 paperbacks and $50 coursepacks, the sum for one semester is pretty close to 10K. Divide that number by four classes and you get $2,500 a pop. Go ahead and ask yourself- are my classes worth it? The answer for some courses is "Yes." I admit, some, if not many, of the classes I took were worthwhile, and I learned a great deal of interesting or important information from excellent professors. Nevertheless, the number of terrible, worthless classes I have taken at the University is still astoundingly high. Looking over my transcript, I ask myself- was Comm 103 (Intro to Mass Communication) worth $2,500? The answer is "No." Three times a week, the professor read the most boring and use- less notes from the overhead projector in a dry monotone. (For $2,500, I could have bought a new TV, VCR, stereo system, a year of cable TV subscriptions to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly and a year's supply of beer, popcorn and video rentals. I would still have learned more about the mass media than I did in Comm 103.) But instead, I memorized useless facts the night before the tests and forgot every- thing the second I handed in my exam. An even better example was my History of Jazz class - a course that sounded so interesting when I CRISPed, I was willing to take an 8:30 a.m. class twice a week. While interest- ing at times, ask the $2,500 question once again - was it worth it? For $2,500 I could have purchased the best 200 jazz CDs of all-time (at an average of $10 a disc), and still had $500 to buy reading materials more interesting than those we were assigned in class. Then there are the classes where the professor lectures directly from the texts, almost going so far as writing the lecture outlines straight from the books' table of contents. I do know how to read, and if that's all I wanted- to do, I could have bought the $100 worth of books for the class and saved $2,400. My list of crappy classes goes on and on, bouncing back and forth from depart- ment to department. Pompous profes- sors, poorly designed classes and most frequently, terribly boring and disposable information are my main complaints. I'm simply upset and disappointed at the University for allowing its trend of offer- ing worthless classes to continue. I think it's safe to say the stuff I learned from colleg outside the classroom - w my own studying or with my mic experiences. The Mic and other campus media oul the University's school of c tion, teaching valuable tec writing and, well, commu opposed to the department' attempts at analyzing the ma the Frieze Building's classroc If it seems like I'm being yogurt has the consistency of ice cream, without the fat." Of course the employees like it - but how does it actually taste? Stucchi's smooth, rich ice cream is virtually perfect cafe. While the frozen yogurt selection is lim- ited to only two flavors, Butter Pecan Black Twist, and Cherry the ice Stucchi's serves up some of the best ice cream in town. The rich, smooth (and not so friendly on the waistline) ice cream is virtually perfect: Whether it's huge chunks of Oreo cookies or the rich taste of chocolate chips, Stucchi's ice cream is packed with its said flavor. The yogurt is equally delectable. Stucchi's featured frozen yogurt is hard packed, and it is nearly indistinguish- able from premium ice cream - and JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily LSA senior Brian Wharry prepares a "Vanilla Supreme" ice cream cone at Stucchi's on South University Avenue. / Marga Gomez Half Cuban/Half lesbian cream flavors bring back childhood memories, with the colorful Superman and the monochromatic Blue Moon. "I wanted to bring the coffee house/ice cream idea here. It is perfect because people always do homework and get the munchies. You can get a scoop of ice cream or a shake, or if you're still hungry, you can get a scone or a muffin, " owner Mark Haider said. Served in huge, old-fashioned, glass dishes, the portions are hearty and the prices are a bit cheaper than more bour- geois places like Stucchi's: Cones start at $1.25, and other icy specialties, like malts and shakes, are also reasonably priced. Java House has a variety of spe- cial creamy creations that stir the imag- ination. The question remains, however, whether it is possible to study while eat- ing ice cream. Some students have already figured this out. 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