The stars have aligned and once again I was fortunate enough to be the receiver of yet another free coffee experience. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but as a struggling college student who is being scheduled less and less at her minimum wage on-campus job, I will not ‘look a gift horse in the mouth,’ as some might say.

One of my favorite things I’ve experienced, and that has turned into a sort of tradition, since moving to San Jose, is a weekend visit to House of Bagels. The small, family owned business is conveniently located a mere block away from SJSU’s housing village and quad, and has been a staple in the university community for years now.

Despite my constant complaints of being too broke to do anything, I’m always down for a good breakfast date, so when my friends arose with plans for an early morning HoBags trip, I was the first to be up and ready to go. My open-faced lox on a pesto cheese bagel, and my medium iced white chocolate mocha was waiting for me.

As my debit card waited to be abused once again, we ran into my sorority’s new house mom, in line. She insisted on paying for our entire meal, despite our determination to not make her spend much money on us.

I’ve had the iced white mocha from HoBags many times, but this was probably one of the best tasting ones I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and it may just be because it was completely free of cost and strings.