Snow in October?

(Word count: 32)

Oh gosh, it's not even November and it has already started snowing. And not only is it snowing, but the snow is settling. Get ready for lots of snow pictures I suppose...

Glossary of Amherst Terms

LEAP - 2.5 day experience during Orientation Week for all new incoming students (transfers included), LEAP stands for Learn, Explore, Activate, and Participate

If overnight and outdoors, the trip is most likely a FOOT (First-Year Orientation Program) LEAP program, which in my year included backpacking, canoeing, caveing, and rock-climbing. Another type of outdoor program is CEOT (Community Engagement Orientation Trip). All types of LEAP program can be found here -- each type links to a sub-page where the specific trips are mentioned. For example, I was on the Book&Plow Orientation Program, which is held under Sustainability.

Trip Report: Brattleboro, VT

(Word count: 481)

What I did:

• tried to sunset hike Mt. Pisgah -- fail
• drove to Brattleboro, VT instead, and cop free coffee -- success
• went antique hunting/thrifting in BrattleB
• devoured fish and chips
• nosed around a nerd shop!

During the weekend of Week 7 of Fall Semester, I made a day trip to Brattleboro, VT, which is only a 45 minute drive away from Amherst. Isn't that amazing? That you can cross a state border in less than an hour? That's the beauty of living in the Northeast Corridor. However, it is my personal opinion that the culture within said corridor is relatively homogenous. Regardless, it is still exciting to hear Google Maps tell you "Welcome to Vermont!" 

retrieved from maps.google.com 10.26.16

Waking up late -- around 1500 (thanks hangover) -- my initial plan of making it to Mt. Pisgah (which is actually in New Hampshire!!) for a sunset hike didn't quite work out. By the way, the idea of a sunset hike was made feasible by this great app called Alltrails which shows you nearby hiking trails, providing routes, photos, and reviews. Example screenshot shown below:

retrieved from alltrails.com 10.26.16

So instead, acting on advice that fellow farmers from my Friday Work-Study at the Book&Plow Farm (of which I have an ongoing post here) that I should visit Brattleboro, VT and do the following:

• go thrifting/antique hunting

And boy were they right! Twice Upon A Time (a great pun for an antique store name) was fifth on TripAdvisor's list of Things To Do.

retrieved from TripAdvisor.com 10.26.16

But first, one quick story regarding some Vermontian(?) hospitality that I was shown at a gas station. On learning that it was my first time VT (I was asking a lot of newbie questions, and bought some souvenir VT stickers), the cashier didn't charge me for my coffee!

(collecting them snapchat stickers)

Don't snap and drive guys!

So... Twice Upon A Time:

do visit!!! TripAdvisor link

OH WOW, what I've always wanted!!!

3 floors of antique hunting <3

vintage baseball cards!

Fish & Chips

I also had fish & chips for dinner. It wasn't a question; when I saw fish & chips, I went right in.

here's the Yelp link

love chalk menus!  

homemade tartar sauce was bomb, but extra! (just like guac -_-)

 Nerd Shop

Just walking around BrattleB, I stumbled upon a nerd shop (proclaimed by the shop-owner himself), which I found quaint -- I did indeed look for a specific Pokemon card! The wolf T-shirt totally drew me in, if you haven't heard of this internet meme, you have to check this... the Amazon reviews for the following The Mountain Three Wolf T-shirt, but because I know you'll be too lazy to investigate said reviews yourself, I added one at the bottom.

Then a quick drive back to catch some zzzz....

Climbing with the Outing Club

(Word count: 68)

The Central Rock Gym (CRG), Hadley, is a convenient 10-minute drive from campus and has great bouldering/top rope/lead-climbing routes -- far above my abilitiy levels that's for sure, which I suppose simply means there's a lot of room for improvement.

It also has an awesome fitness portion dedicated to strength training, something I need dearly! Anyways, stay tuned for more adventures with the Outing Club!

Learn To Sail Day with the Sailing Team!

(Word count:16)

The sailing situation at the college is nicely summarised here. (work smart right?)

PICS OF COURSE!!!!

JEarns Formal (James/Stearns)

(Word count: 166)

So even though Amherst is split up into a bunch of smaller cells along sports/clubs/affinity group/dormitory lines, it also has tonnes of formals which breed inclusivity. Almost every sport and club has its own formal wherein a member can invite a guest = most people in the school go to quite a few formals in their time here = meeting new people all the time (thankfully not in Val).

JEarns formal was the formal between the two freshmen dormitories James and Stearns (which also are neighbors and architectural mirrors)

How: live in JEarns and get one of these really cute door invites (!) or get invited by somebody...

When: Saturday October 15, 2016, 2000-2300
What: some food; soft drinks; loud, awful pop music; an opportunity for student employees to make some $$$ (student security -- it's a good job); and somewhat of an opportunity to meet new people
Really what: "it felt like a middle school dance" -- an attendee

(APOLOGIES FOR THE POTATO-PHONE QUALITY)

Trip Report: Cape Cod / Martha's Vineyard (Fall Break)

(Word count: 462)

What happened:

• 2 days in NYC, meeting new people, catching up with old people (young people I've known for a while), partying, and doing everything to excess
• D3: drive to Falmouth, Cape Cod
• D4: day trip return ferry to Martha's Vineyard, pet the eff out of some alpacas, and drive top down in a rental jeep (Yes -- Closer style)

Fall Break... a timely 2-day break from school after Week 5 of the Fall Semester. With no class on Monday and Tuesday, Fall Break is essentially a 4-day break, which means a lot in the Northeast Corridor. So many possibilities...

Although I planned on driving through Vermont and on the return journey passing through cranberry bogs opened to the public for educational public, instead I ended up going to NYC (link to meta Trip Report), where I met friends and ... I'm sure you know what I mean. It wasn't the most productive use of my weekend.

Viewsviewsviewsviews

PHD nightclub, classic

supper is a must

she's the one who probably gave me my ticket :'(

it probably has crack in it, that's why it's so good

"practicing my photography", more like creepin' on people

But I turned things around eventually!!!!!

Thankfully, I had a great playlist for this! S/O to Tracy Chen '20...

"Provincetown Spit, Cape Cod, Massachusetts". NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved May 2, 2006.

Cape Cod... where the show Wicked Tuna -- premise: MA fishermen stressin' out in the ocean over these hundreds-of-pounds beast of fish, which they'd be lucky to catch twice a week -- is from, which is honestly one of my favorite reality TV shows to watch. The idea that a fish could be sold for tens of thousands of dollars is something I still find astounding today, even though I've been to Tsukiji Market, Tokyo, where these fish get auctioned and sold off around the world to the best sushi restaurants, some of which I've been to too? I really have to do the fishing part too, then I suppose I've partcipated in all parts of the food chain! (Pun intended)

• Reminder to self: go tuna fishing in Cape Cod!

Instead, leaving NYC in the afternoon (sigh, hangovers get worse as you get older), I only reached Falmouth in the evening. But Tuesday morning -- the day before the recommencement of school -- I took the ferry to Martha's Vineyard and had a blast... Cue pictures.

• Quick point of information: you can buy a ferry ticket for your car... which works out at $80? Not too sure, but I paid $20 for my ticket and $80 later to rent a car on the island for 8 hours... had I brought my own car I'd have had access to my drone/camera equipment! Sad.

PICTURES!