In Amherst
On my second day in Amherst, bringing Rachel to Hampshire College, where she is transferring to from NYU. (The final verdict on NYU: too big, too terrible in the way it treats its students, and in New York, which is fine to visit but less fine for day-to-day living, in the opinion of Rachel and her roommate, who also transferred out of NYU and is at Temple this term, but probably UMass Amherst in September.)
We took the train up from Philly yesterday morning, since there is only one train a day ("The Vermonter") between home and Amherst (two, technically: one in each direction). That took about 6.5 hours and was pretty much on time, and we got to relax and semi-sleep most of the time. We were fairly sleep-deprived from packing the day and night before. I went to bed earlier than Rachel and Chris, who stayed up all night (and also watched the first Star Trek reboot movie) but my mind was racing just about all night, so I might have gotten an hour or two of sleep, tops.
Fortunately, the inn where we're staying is a five minute walk from the train station. We're right across the street from Emily Dickinson's House:
There was some confusion when we arrived, because we were at the door that isn't usually used by folks who arrive by car (which we didn't, having walked the five minutes from the train station), but once we were in the room it was lovely and we went out for dinner at a very cool Persian/Mediterranean restaurant with huge portions and low prices (and WONDERFUL food!).
Since it's a bed & breakfast, we had breakfast in the dining room this morning, and of course the only other person eating with us is also from Philadelphia! A retired man is here with his wife to visit their grad student son at UMass Amherst, having driven up the day before. And it also turned out that the innkeeper used to live in Philadelphia while her husband was going to pharmacy school at Temple. (Philly people are EVERYWHERE.)
We shopped, had some lunch, and got a taxi to go down to the campus (which is in South Amherst) for dorm check-in and taking what few things we could transport on the train with us. (A moving van is coming from Philadelphia tomorrow with her mini-fridge, a microwave, a television and many boxes of clothes and books.) Later there was a lovely dinner and dessert gathering for new students and their families in "The Red Barn" (which isn't as primitive as it sounds--a very nice renovated space, and fabulous locally-sourced food). We got a taxi back and are settled in our room again. Tomorrow morning we plan to to to First Congregational Church of Amherst and then after lunch head back down to the campus to meet the moving van.
Amherst has been getting socked with snow all day, and it's still coming down a little. Rachel has a very snowy view from her dorm room, which has a view of a gazebo and what I think may be a crab apple tree. So I'll leave you with this lovely, wintry view from Hampshire College in Amherst:
We took the train up from Philly yesterday morning, since there is only one train a day ("The Vermonter") between home and Amherst (two, technically: one in each direction). That took about 6.5 hours and was pretty much on time, and we got to relax and semi-sleep most of the time. We were fairly sleep-deprived from packing the day and night before. I went to bed earlier than Rachel and Chris, who stayed up all night (and also watched the first Star Trek reboot movie) but my mind was racing just about all night, so I might have gotten an hour or two of sleep, tops.
Fortunately, the inn where we're staying is a five minute walk from the train station. We're right across the street from Emily Dickinson's House:
There was some confusion when we arrived, because we were at the door that isn't usually used by folks who arrive by car (which we didn't, having walked the five minutes from the train station), but once we were in the room it was lovely and we went out for dinner at a very cool Persian/Mediterranean restaurant with huge portions and low prices (and WONDERFUL food!).
Since it's a bed & breakfast, we had breakfast in the dining room this morning, and of course the only other person eating with us is also from Philadelphia! A retired man is here with his wife to visit their grad student son at UMass Amherst, having driven up the day before. And it also turned out that the innkeeper used to live in Philadelphia while her husband was going to pharmacy school at Temple. (Philly people are EVERYWHERE.)
We shopped, had some lunch, and got a taxi to go down to the campus (which is in South Amherst) for dorm check-in and taking what few things we could transport on the train with us. (A moving van is coming from Philadelphia tomorrow with her mini-fridge, a microwave, a television and many boxes of clothes and books.) Later there was a lovely dinner and dessert gathering for new students and their families in "The Red Barn" (which isn't as primitive as it sounds--a very nice renovated space, and fabulous locally-sourced food). We got a taxi back and are settled in our room again. Tomorrow morning we plan to to to First Congregational Church of Amherst and then after lunch head back down to the campus to meet the moving van.
Amherst has been getting socked with snow all day, and it's still coming down a little. Rachel has a very snowy view from her dorm room, which has a view of a gazebo and what I think may be a crab apple tree. So I'll leave you with this lovely, wintry view from Hampshire College in Amherst: