<p>although boston is close by, i'm sure i won't be going into the city everyday. so...what is there to do in wellesley, ma? any dining and shopping suggestions?</p>
<p>First off, if you want to go to Boston, every day you can do it; it’s all about how you prioritize your time. </p>
<p>Wellesley is a wealthy suburb of Boston, so it’s not exactly your mainstream college town. Life isn’t bad though - there are the essential stores you need, though if you’re looking for fun, you’ll probably have to go to Boston or another college nearby.</p>
<p>Food: there are a bunch of restaurants in Wellesley (especially compared to four years ago when I just got to campus). They have developed a new section of the area, so there is now a California Pizza Kitchen and Qdoba, along with 2 CVSs, 2 Starbucks, Bruegger’s Bagels, Lemon Thai, Amarin, and others. There are a few ice cream/yogurt shops. As well as your more pricier (parents coming to visit) types of restaurants: Altastrada, Milestone (just opened in place of Vidalia’s), and Blue Ginger. </p>
<p>Basically there are a whole bunch of different types of cuisines: Thai, Chinese, Asian Fusion, Italian, American that are all within walking distance to campus. Other places also deliver (sushi, etc). </p>
<p>There’s also a supermarket nearby where you can get your groceries if you want them (think if you’re here for the summer, especially). And if you want Whole Foods, you can take the commuter rail one stop down to it. </p>
<p>Shopping - generally pretty high end stuff, but there’s a Gap and an Ann Taylor. I would say most people do their shopping in Boston or in Natick (we have buses to the Natick Collection every Saturday). The Natick Collection is the largest mall in New England so it has pretty much everything. There’s also Shopper’s World near there as well as Walmart and Target. That’s also a great area to look into just as you’re moving in because that’s where all the bedding stores are (Linens N Things, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc).</p>
<p>Wellesley also has a good sporting goods store (Thunder) which sells comfy shoes, warm winter gear, sleds, ice skates and other such. I made out like a bandit whenever they had clearance sales. The Wellesley Booksmith is an excellent independent bookstore that manages to get a large number of well-known authors in for tours (Sophie Kinsella, Allison Weir, Lemony Snicket, Brian Jacques and Julie Andrews all signed books when I was a student). The public library is also rather big and well-funded for a town of Wellesley’s size.</p>
<p>I missed the Julie Andrews book signing :(</p>
<p>Oh yes, the public library is amazing! You can get a library card there and read all their fun books and rent movies!</p>
<p>They’re also just putting in an Upper Crust right next to Breugger’s!</p>
<p>thank you both for the response!
the restaurants sound exciting! blue ginger–is the owner ming something? i used to watch his cooking show…</p>
<p>wendymouse(my name’s wendy, too!)–when is thunder’s clearance sale? after each season? i definately could use some new ice skates!! do they sell summer sports equipment, too? like tennis racquets?</p>
<p>blue ginger is an awesome restaurant – and the owner DOES have a TV show… But it is insanely expensive - $40/meal for dinner and you usually have to make reservations about a week ahead of time.
the wellesley public library rules! Paper source is also in Wellesley, too. If you go further into Wellesley – not really “the Ville” but the rest of town (I’m not sure if this is walking distance?), there are a huge variety of other stores, like Marathon Sports, Whole Foods, Bertucci’s, and a really nice sushi place called Yama.</p>
<p>great! i love whole foods :)</p>
<p>do you recommend having a bicycle on campus? is it difficult to store during the snowy months?</p>
<p>Yes, Blue Ginger’s owner is Ming Tsai. I believe Blue Ginger is the first restaurant he had (obviously now he has many more, including the chain Panda Express). He used to have a cooking show on the Food Network (“East Meets West”) but it’s not on anymore 
He came to Wellesley in Spring 07 as a part of Asian Awareness Month (March) and he cooked for us. Yum!</p>
<p>Some people have bikes on campus; it makes getting around in the not-snowy months easier, but they’re not absolutely essential in my opinion. You can store them in the bike racks during the snowy months; most res hall complexes have a covered area where you can put them.</p>
<p>Whole foods is definitely on the outside edge of walking distance, especially if you are planning on bringing stuff back. Google Maps says 3.5 miles–would probably be better to hitch a ride with a friend or with someone who will drive you for a few bucks (very easy to find someone to drive you places for $ at Wellesley). There are two grocery stores within much more reasonable walking distance–I go to Roche Bros., which is like a 20 minute walk for me (a slow poke), and is really very nice. I usually say that Wellesley the town has pretty much everything you would need (Banks, CVS, Starbucks, GAP, grocery store), even if not a lot of what you might want (other reasonable priced shopping, bars, etc.).</p>
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<p>That is a perfect description!</p>
<p>Actually my given name isn’t Wendy, the user name is a Wendy Wellesley reference. Before the boards switched over (in 2005), my mom and I shared the username ‘Mouse’, which was a nickname my much younger sister picked up at summer camp.</p>
<p>But Thunder’s sales are usually at the end of a sales season, which end earlier than the actual season. It’s a balance between selection (of stuff in your size or taste) and price off. Right now is probably the tail end of the winter stuff: very cheap but not much left, and the people in Thunder are probably making room for the baseball stuff. The winter sales begin right around the beginning of the spring semester, which is nice, but it’s still weird to be wanting a new hat and warm socks in a store full of bathing suits. I did get $100 worth of expensive wool socks and winter gloves for about $25, and I’ve done well with their thermal underwear too.</p>
<p>Thunder certainly has tennis rackets and summer stuff, though I went there much less often when the weather was warm.</p>
<p>A: Hogsmeade. Albeit not as cool since the ville doesn’t offer butterbeer.</p>
<p>Peets Coffee and Starbucks are often popular study-spots for Wellesley student itching to leave the bubble. Along with the restaurants and all, there are a few great bakeries to check out too: Susu’s (DONUT MUFFINS!!!) and Rosie’s. Quebrada bakery, right next to Whole Foods, has the best almond scones ever. </p>
<p>Roche Bros. is a great supermarket. It’s so apparently “of the [wealthy] suburbs” it’s ridiculous. I’m from the suburbs of Long Island, NY and even I was impressed. This is the Cadillac of supermarkets – great cheese selection, funky shaped carts, choose paper or plastic. </p>
<p>Bikes - the Wellesley Outing Club (i think) recently introduced a bike “Revolution” campaign. They have a bunch of hot pink bikes on campus entirely free for public use. If you see one, you can use it. I didn’t have a bike first-year and was fine without. I think that bikes are convenient, especially if you’re always running late like me. By foot from the quad, it takes 5 minutes to get to the academic quad, 10 to Clapp library, and 15 to stone-d & the new dorms.</p>
<p>AHHH that analogy! Is it really true?! It’s fabulous, verbivorous, since I am a HUGE Harry Potter geek! I’m even more excited now :)</p>
<p>Yes, that was started by the Wellesley Outing Club.</p>