<p>The piano facilities at Williams were probably the best of all of the colleges I visited. There are tons of practice rooms. All of the practice grands are Steinways, and there are enough to go around that I’ve never not been able to practice on a Steinway grand when I wanted to. Additionally, Williams owns several great concert pianos including at least one Steinway-D, and an incredible Bosendorfer grand (it has the extra octave of keys and everything). The best thing about the concert pianos is that you can practice on them!! I practice every day on the beautiful large steinway in one of the primary recital halls (besides being a wonderful piano, it’s so much fun to practice on stage!).</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the “4 other sister colleges” that you’re referring to are. </p>
<p>I don’t leave Williams frequently, but it’s certainly possible if you’re interested. The motorcoach service (a student run business) runs buses down to NYC and Boston every weekend, and the price is partially subsidized by the college. There is a regular bus(es?) that run through Williamstown. Every year there is a college-sponsored trip to Montreal which provides transportation, and 2 nights of lodging at a nice hotel in a central neighborhood for a super-cheap price. Additionally, there are 5-6 weekend trips down to NYC run by the OCC where you stay at the Williams Club and get to do all sorts of neat things with alumni in a particular field. The one I went on was three days, with transportation to and from NYC, hotel, breakfasts, one lunch, a bus tour of the city, a tour of good morning america, several really cool activities we did with big-shot alumni, and tickets to The Lion King on broadway all provided for $110.</p>