Use flight following
I'm a big fan of flight following.
This is where you remain in contact with a controller through all or part of your flight, even if you don't strictly have to be in contact with them due to airspace requirements.
They give you a discrete transponder code and hand you off to other controllers as you make progress.
Flight following is handy if you're going into an unfamiliar metropolitan area. It makes it much more difficult make an airspace mistake.
You're still in charge, of course, and you still have responsibility for everything -- and the controller can terminate your service anytime he wants -- but in practice I've found they're helpful and I imagine that if you said you were a student they'd be less likely to drop you even if they became busy.