<p>How hard is it to get to Boston? I have family and a lot of friends in MA...</p>
<p>It's about a three-hour drive; there's a shuttle bus that runs at break times (thanksgiving, winter break, dead week, spring break, and beginnings and ends of semesters). Outside of those times, there's the Peter Pan bus, which IIRC costs about $60 and takes about six hours, with lots of stops and several transfers - it's not a great experience. Freshman can't have cars at Williams, but you could conceivably rent one of the four Zipcars on campus, or hire a cab - either would cost a lot of money.</p>
<p>My guess is that you won't find yourself wanting to leave campus nearly as much as you think you will, though. Williams is a residential school and the campus life definitely keeps moving through the weekend; in fact, that's when most of the social stuff happens because everyone's so busy with work throughout the week. It's not uncommon for kids to leave for a weekend and go visit friends elsewhere once or twice a semester, but much more than that and you're in danger of missing out on the new friendships you should be forming with the people you're actually living with.</p>
<p>I know you're not allowed to have cars...would they mind motorcycles? They take up almost NO parking space...</p>
<p>And that information on the social life is helpful, thanks!</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, freshmen can't have ANY real motor vehicles, which would likely include motor cycles. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. However, even if you did have a car or something, I'm not so sure that making frequent trips to Boston would be wise or feasible. Let's be clear about a few things here. Even if you didn't choose to participate much in on-campus social life, spending 6 hours on a round-trip to Boston and then presumably hanging out with people there is not a good idea for anybody who plans on maintaining at least somewhat decent grades. I also second jeke's statement about missing out on forming social connections here at Williams.</p>
<p>Yeah, I totally agree...I wasn't planning on spending all my time in Boston, I just wanted to know how hard it would be in general for breaks and stuff...</p>
<p>(I posted this on another thread here where the subject came up -- it's from two Williams students on a recent WSO discussion thread:))</p>
<p>"you can also take the bus from the williams inn... there are buses that leave for Boston every day at 10am and 4pm. It takes about 4 hours to get there."</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>"amtrak out of pittsfield is $17 and takes you to south station. leaves at 5:30 pm, arrives at 9:45 pm." [another four hours, presumably also with stops]</p>
<p>It's relatively difficult to get to Boston by bus or by train. Without a car, trips to Boston will be infrequent.</p>
<p>Even for those students with a car, trips to Boston are not frequently made for the reasons mentioned by jeke (#2) and crnchycereal (#4). For breaks (also noted by jeke in #2), Williams Transport runs motorcoaches to both Boston and NYC at reasonable rates (I believe the cost is somewhat subsidized by the college) -- the schedule is usually posted two to three weeks before the break and generally lists several times of departure and return throughout the day(s) at two- to three-hour or so intervals.</p>