Hi everyone! I hope you are well. In this blog, I’m going to talk about some of the draws of the community surrounding Amherst College – the town of Amherst, MA. Please email me with any questions at sgoldsmith24@amherst.edu!
The Food
Amherst has a huge variety of types of restaurants. There are typical American restaurants (Antonio’s Pizza and Johnny’s Tavern), Chinese food (Oriental Flavor), two Vietnamese restaurants (Miss Saigon, Omi Omy), a few Mexican places, several cafes, and three boba shops. A favorite of mine is Paradise of India, but I also like Crazy Noodles because the prices are pretty low.
Most club events at Amherst that have food order from restaurants in town, so it is very easy to be exposed to the different restaurants without actually going there and ordering. For example, Hillel holds a Shabbat dinner every Friday that is open to all students. We order takeout from a different restaurant each week, and this week is Pita Pockets, which serves pita sandwiches, falafel, and other Middle Eastern dishes.
Jones Library
The Jones Library is Amherst’s local, public library, and I’ve talked about it briefly in an earlier blog. I got a library card as soon as we were allowed to leave campus (for my first year, Amherst College established a “bubble”), and all you have to do is fill out a form online and give proof of residence, which can be a postmarked piece of mail. I like going to the library to do homework, browse, check out books, and get a bit of a walk in. The Jones Library is about a ten minute walk from Val (our dining hall), and all of my experiences there have been wonderful. The staff are welcoming and kind, they provide masks if you need one, and they host programs for the Amherst community.
Residents of Amherst recently voted to renovate the Jones Library, with a goal of making an environmentally-friendly library better structured to meet the community’s needs. In honor of Amherst College’s bicentennial, the college donated $100,000 to the library to support the renovation. They will finish the project after I graduate, but I’m excited to see its progress over the next few years.
The Common
There is a green common area (referred to, fittingly, as “the common”) in the center of downtown Amherst. I learned in my First Year Seminar last year (the only class required for all students!) that the common used to provide grounds for people’s livestock to graze, but that is not the case anymore. The common has picnic tables, and it is common for people to grab some food from town and eat it outside. Events by the town are hosted on the common, including a carnival, live music, lights displays, and a weekly farmers’ market from mid-April to mid-November. When the farmers’ market is active, I like to go every Saturday and see the variety of produce, snacks, meats and cheeses, and novelty items that are being sold. Going to the farmers’ market grounds me and helps me feel like I am part of the greater Amherst community, because I get to talk to people who work and farm and spend their lives in the area (unlike college students).
Thank you for reading!