What is there to do at Williamstown?

bruinephland
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:22:07 +0000

I’m a (currently procrastinating) senior from a large west coast urban center and haven’t really ever had a problem with finding things to do with myself out here. While the earlier parts of the thread have touched on some good points, I would say that neither North Adams nor the Berkshire Mall (each a short drive away) are big parts of Williams social life, unless you need to pick up stuff at target or walmart. Also, it is very possible to have a social life while still getting your work done (unless you are an artstudio/comsci major, in which case you will be doing what you love anyway). Williams does a great job of bringing in interesting speakers, has several pretty cool concerts every year, and generally makes it pretty easy for students who have initiative to use college funds to have fun. The social life basically begins and ends with partying in the dorms, though. Security is very understanding (though they try not to act like it), and getting alcohol is never a problem, no matter what BS the fiske guide or your tour guide says about it. Your freshman year social scene will be dominated by your entry, which is awesome. I have a very close friend who goes to Yale and even their residential college system does not come close. If you find yourself ridiculously bored, hit up a professor and they will be glad to hang out with you; I am not particularly outgoing, yet professors here will ALWAYS put in effort to get to know you.

At the end of the day, if you want to go to great art museums we’ve got two of those, if you want to go to concerts you’ll probably have to bum rides (or zipcar!) out of town except for the 4 or 5 concerts per semester, and you don’t want to hang out at the Berkshire Mall or North Adams Wal-Mart, trust. Social life is about hanging with your awesome friends, learning to love (then hate, then love again) Keystone Light, and realizing how lucky you are to be in a place like Williams that pretty much lets you do whatever you want. Though every once in a while I feel like it would be nice to be in a place like Columbia or UCLA where I have so many choices of things to do, it’s not a big deal, and if you make friends (which you will) you will enjoy yourself no matter how tiny the screen at Images is. I hope this has helped, now if you’ll excuse me, I have a book to read before tomorrow.