Amherst

My sister was living in Amherst so I had the opportunity to visit. Nice college town with access to several schools. It’s a beautiful area and I enjoyed it.

Amherst is full of beauty, lots to do, and good folks.

Amherst is a pretty nice town, especially in the summer when all the college kids are away. Then it’s quiet and sleepy, with shorter lines at Rao’s Coffee (best coffee I’ve ever had, really, so good). Great farmer’s market on Saturday mornings.

The whole Scooby-Doo/5-College thing is fun but just a myth. Hampshire College wasn’t even established when Scooby-Doo first aired. But it is a neat comparison. No one seems to be able to decide whether Daphne/Velma went to Smith or Mount Holyoke. It doesn’t really matter. The other stereotypes are fairly apt, however.

Grew up in Amherst and still love it beyond many other things in my life. I love the chillier, rainier weather of the New England area- almost every memory I have includes rain, or has rain juxtaposed over it. Lovely people, lovely rural environment. And if you’re into this as I am- Emily Dickinson!

I used to visit often when a good friend went to UMASS (It’s educational!) Wild stories aside (and there are many) the place is lovely to look at. The town had the expected (and appreciated) quirks of a town with so many institutions of higher education, though it had some of the downfalls, too (pretentious, pseudo-intellectual ponytail guys, etc.)

I can still remember living in Amherst and Northampton – back in the 80’s. I underestimated what it offered at the time.

Last night at a bar the conversation turned to Amherst, specifically to a long-standing rumor that the characters in Scooby Doo were based on the five colleges of the area. Supposedly, each represented a prototypical student at one of the schools: Freddy (the preppy) is Amherst College, Daphne (the rich girl) is Mt. Holyoke, Thelma (the alleged lesbian) is Smith, Shaggy (the hippie) is Hampshire, and Scooby (the, um, party animal?) is U Mass (a.k.a. Zoo Mass).

A girlfriend of mine during college attended U Mass, so I spent a lot of time there in the early 90’s and couldn’t believe the rumor just got to me last night. Though I don’t remember the cartoon all that well, I thought the notion was fantastic, if true. I figured it had to be an urban myth, but I wanted to believe. Oh, well.

They’re sort of snobby, but it’s a pretty campus.

Lots of my friends live here, and I had an awesome, awesome summer staying with them. Fantastic.

I went to U-Mass here (aka the Zoo). Good times and a lot of booze.