Amherst

I went to UMass for a show, which one of my friends was performing. It was a big Hip-Hop Show that my friend and his crew danced for NaS. I was the camera man but it was fun, lots of ups and down but overall great. I ended up being in a Documentary and everything.

It is very beautiful there too, one of my friends also lived there and his house was awesome. We had pizza (nothing like New York of course) and just chilled.

If you have to grow up, go to college, or get a job in a small town in New England, Amherst is a wonderful one to choose.

Some of its best features include:

A density of cultural attractions far greater than a non-college town of its diminutive size could support; excellent new and used bookstores, and independent record stores; reasonable proximity to several large cities (NYC and Boston), and very close proximity to a couple of other cute little college and peri-college towns (such as Northampton, its similar but slightly larger, less villagey and vaguely more urbane neighbor across the Connecticut, and a thoroughly charming place); a freewheeling, slightly-smug worldly-liberal atmosphere that is nicely tempered by the town’s close proximity to generations of old-school New England rednecks; historic village aspects, and beautiful fall foliage. It’s also got very good public schools, good public transit for somewhere so small, and better restaurants than most towns under 30,000 people.

I grew up there, still have friends and family there, and always look forward to opportunities to return to the area. But unless you’ve got roots, like I do, or you’re coming for an academic conference, to go to school, or maaaaybe to visit Emily’s house or grave (where generations of sullen professors’ children have left offerings of wildflowers and/or smoked weed, given the graveyard’s proximity to the high school and gothic appeal), I have a hard time thinking of the Amherst area as a tourist attraction or a place to visit. It’s a very pleasant, reasonably wealthy, highly educated, and quite small town a couple of hours west of Boston. If that’s the kind of place you like to go on vacation, great! But it seems more like the kind of place you’re thinking about moving to or going to school in, which I, as a former townie, endorse.

Didn’t see much, it was a swoop in swoop out visit for a Barenaked Ladies concert! Great show too!

It’s definitely worth visiting if you’re considering college, or if you’re from a smaller or blander place. And it’s a nice place. I wouldn’t necessarily pick this place over a trip to Vermont, or Hawaii, or something, but anyway…

I had visited before I came here, very briefly, but didn’t really get how small the area was, in comparison with my hometown (also a college town, but had a population equal to the entire county), and all the places I’d travelled before that point.

Ten years later this place has a fond place in my memories, but in my early twenties – gah! I ended up spending a lot of time visiting Boston and New York, because I didn’t think a lot about what it would be like to spend 4 years on a rural campus in a small town, and how I would make the most of it. I got to know and do things at the other schools, from classes to dances, but it still seemed a little too small for me. I missed being around a more diverse variety of people – older folks, families, children. Many of my friends also got very antsy by the 2nd year of school. Almost none of us had cars, that was a factor too. My worst memories are returning weekly from an two day internship I did in New York City, and having to hang out with a friend working at the Lord Jeffery Inn all night because no cabs or buses were running. Other drawbacks include the city’s limitations on students renting apartments.

Now, what I would most love to do is hike up the Notch and bask in the qualities Amherst has – the beautiful walking trails, the different campuses, and so on – but it’s easier to do that now that I live in a mega city, to appreciate what’s there.

So, if you’re from a city of more than 50,000 or 100,000, or if you really want lots of excitement every night, definitely check this place out and really think about what kind of atmosphere it’s going to be after the first year. You might have the time of your life – or you might find that you’re chafing at the bit.

I second Antonio’s and Rao’s. Rao’s is like my church nowadays!