<p>what do the collegefolk do in amherst? (besides party)</p>
<p>is it somewhat necessary to have a car there? (i come from a city in ohio which is roughly about 3/4 the size of amherst and a car is absolutely vital…but then again, its ohio)</p>
<p>princeton review says that amherst is an “awesome college town” in “an area full of education and culture”</p>
<p>those who attend/visited please assess the validity of that statement :)</p>
<p>thankssssssssss</p>
<p>The Amherst/Northampton area has a lot of great restaurants, some festivals, quite a few independent theaters, good coffeeshops with live jazz (more so if you go in to Northampton, which also has some great small music venues). If you go north of Amherst a bit, there are some gorgeous hiking trails. It's a good mix of metropolitan and beautiful rural scenery. </p>
<p>Boston is a 1.5-2 hour trip, NYC is 3 hours. Montreal is a fairly plausible weekend trip. </p>
<p>This weekend there is chocolate festival going on in historic Deerfield, a beautiful quaint nearby town. The oldest peace pagoda in the Western hemisphere is about 10 miles north. It's a nice place to be.</p>
<p>Amherst is much more lively than you'd expect from it. This is primarily because of UMass, which is just on the other end of downtown (although if you go the wrong way, you'll end up on a semi-back road, where you probably will get jumped). There are a lot of places in Amherst and Northampton that cater to college students (although mostly through delivery), mostly UMass. You won't need a car all that much, as there's a pretty robust bus transportation system (run by UMass).</p>
<p>Honestly, though, you probably won't find yourself leaving campus all that much. When I do, it's mostly to head down to UMass.</p>
<p>UMass: We dominate you.</p>
<p>I leave campus all the time, and I never go to UMass. It certainly isn't a big part of my life.</p>
<p>I just visited over the weekend. Lots of cute shops, restaurants---seemed pretty lively to me. Northampton's great too. Fantastic vintage clothes shop, along with tons of other things too. Sorry, I'm not much help as someone who lives there but I got a good feeling from it.</p>
<p>Car not necessary in Amherst. Public transportation (FREE) shuttle runs between the 5 colleges, the mall, and (I think also the town center).
Biggest free bus system outside of DisneyWorld, no kidding.</p>
<p>Trains by Amtrak (google it up!) or bus (greyhound, trailways or Peter Pan, can't remember which) takes you to NYC or anywhere else you want to go. A free bus (I think it's free) runs 3x daily from UMass campus.</p>
<p>If you attend Amherst College or you can walk 1/4 mile to the town center. UMass is a healthy walk, maybe half a mile, or take the shuttle if you're really lazy.</p>
<p>The town is delightful. It's described this way: "Cafe, bookstore, bookstore, cafe. Cafe. Another bookstore. Restaurant. bookstore."
(as compared to some towns that could be described: pizza joint, nail place, beauty salone, pizza joint.)</p>
<p>My S who attended was more involved in theater and music EC's on campus than parties, but stopped in to say "hi" for a half hour on his way to some activity or other. He was always performing or rehearsing on evenings, even weekend evenings. The athletes don't have enough to do in the evenings so maybe they party more.
So, there are parties but you don't have to build your social life on them, in other words. His friends came out of the campus activities.
Lots of interest in meeting kids from any of the other 4 campuses in the "Five College" system (Amherst, UMass, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith) keeps it lively. Whenever you want a change of scenery or to meet somebody different, just hop a shuttle and rattle around a different campus.</p>
<p>oops, correction: above, I meant to say the free bus 3x daily is to BOSTON. Leaves from the Umass campus. And of course, every campus connects to every other campus by the free shuttle. </p>
<p>My son's only complaint was re: ground transpo to the airports. That had too many transfers through Springfield, so instead he'd ask a friend who owned a car to take hinm or pick him up. They'd exchange a favor or some cash. Other than that, he didn't need a car.</p>
<p>After graduation he moved right to Manhattan, where he REALLY didn't want or need a car.</p>
<p>Do not even try to imagine Amherst,Massachusetts from an Iowa perspective. God has smiled upon you;no need for a car. You will love Amherst-both the town and the school. Welcome to four of the best years of your life! Pardon me-you wrote Ohio,not Iowa. The advice is still good,just with a touch less drama.(I love Columbus,Ohio-but Amherst is better at your age.) Welcome to four years of heaven!</p>
<p>I am a big city mom and I love Amherst! It is still quaint with that New England charm and history, yet is still lively. Some of the best food I have ever eaten anywhere (and that includes Paris and Rome). The only times D really misses a car is when it is really cold and she doesn't even want to leave her dorm for meals, let alone, classes (LOL!) (and even then she couldn't use one, since everything is too close to drive) Everything is an easy walk from campus to Town Centre. I left the car parked and we walked - besides, parking can be dicey at times of the day. Loved the little shops - bought a jacket there in a little boutique that I wore the fall before they actually became the rage over here the next fall. D takes Seemo to airport, (Hartford) and she doesn't mind it. Besides, if you have a license, you can (starting this year) rent a college car for a few hours when you really need it. D did it one time when a friend of hers came in from out of town - she picked him up at the airport, they drove to Springfield, etc., and it didn't cost her any more than renting a car anyplace else, especially when college aged kids can't rent them from Hertz, etc. Northampton is a hopping town with the New England charm. Great ethnic food, too! You will love it! Good luck on 4 years at Amherst.</p>
<p>Another thing I recall about Amherst entertainment: lots of students become fans of the different a-capella singing groups. There are at least 5 groups, and they introduce themselves with a concert at freshman orientation weekend. Don't miss it; they are all awesome.
Then, what happens is: your friends (or you) get into all kinds of theater, orchestral music, dance, classic choir or a-cappella singing groups and you find yourself going to hear and see great presentations and support your friends' efforts. It's very exciting when you see the people you know doing all these things.
There are speakers on all kinds of academic, political, scientific, literary and social topics (see this year's website for a sampling).
People go and see each other in sports.
Since Amherst College encourages EC's as equally important to academic coursework, the students generate tons of cultural performances themselves.
They are top quality because the faculty supervises, even if behind-the-scenes; in other words, there are "department-sponsored" plays and concerts, so the quality of performances is very high. Some of them are the senior thesis projects of people majoring in these departments.
TIckets are free to students, and reasonable for townsfolks. I know a lady who moved to Amherst from Manhattan to retire, just to take it all in each evening and pay $7, not $70, to see a play or hear a concert.
If you want to take a hike, see if you can get onto the trail across the top of the East-West mountain range that runs just south of town (Holyoke Range?). It's the only East-West oriented range in the East Coast. Really goofy if you're used to the Appalachian Mountains or the Rockies!
WIldlife: Quabbin Reservoir
Small town architecture, maple syrup and all the good New England flavor is in every town around Amherst (as well as Amherst): Deerfield, So. Hadley, each l0 minutes away by car.
Something akin to Seattle or San Francisco in political environment is Northampton (where Smith College is). Drink a thousand cups of latte, a zillion LGBT posters, great bookstores. I believe they also have a restored historic theater there now that brings in national acts (Arlo Guthrie is the only one in my memory right now; google up Northampton and see).
Over on the Hampshire College campus is a wonderful new Museum of Children's Literature with a permanent exhibit of Eric Carle's work (Hungry Caterpillar). Also the National Yiddish Book Center, which has occasional cool programs like klezmer bands or plays/readings/speakers re: immigrant life in America.<br>
Most evenings my son had about 3 evenings. He'd go to one event at 8 p.m., meet friends at a second event that started at l0; then eat out with them or go to their rooms and watch movies on each others' computers.
He was always busy, engaged and happy -- socially, culturally, artistically.
So that's why I'm saying...the "partying" is only one way to create a social life at Amherst. Not the only way.</p>
<p>wow. that sounds absolutely amazing paying3tuitions.</p>
<p>but, there ARE parties every weekend....right?</p>
<p>Oh yes. Don't you worry about that.</p>
<p>yeah i was sort of worried about that about at first, i mean the art and music is definitely above partying... but it is COLLEGE so i definitely will be wanting to party a little bit.</p>
<p>in which case i hear thats what umass is good for :) hah</p>