#macleish

Every year during winter break Smith offers interterm classes, also called j-term that usually begin the first week of January, and end the week before the spring semester starts. Its a great opportunity to take classes that are outside of your major, spend some extra time on campus, or just take something fun! The classes offered are usually 1-2 credits, but some more intensive classes are the regular 4 credits. For years that aren’t in the middle of a global pandemic all students are allowed to return to campus at any point during interterm regardless of whether they are taking a class or not.

For Interterm 2020 (last year) I took a week-long, 1 credit class on New England ecology and outdoor education called Interpreting New England Landscapes. I got to combine my interests of the outdoors and teaching, and the class culminated in our organizing a lesson plan and teaching the sixth graders from the Smith campus school what we had learned over the week. Pictured below is some of the stuff we collected for them (and us!) to look at under the microscope in the MacLeish Field Station classroom. This included leaves, needles, fungi, different types of scat, and bark from various trees. 

My favorite part of this class was getting to traipse around the woods all day with 10 other smithies and our professors and call it a class. We got to learn so much about animal tracks, plant identification, connecting to nature more, and even saw a porcupine! 

While there’s always a TON to do on Smith’s campus, getting off campus is super fun and important too! I’m a huge believer that you should get to know the area surrounding where you to go school. There’s so much do to in Western, MA that it would be a waste not to go out an explore, whether it be visiting one of the other five colleges, taking the PVTA to the Hampshire Mall, going hiking, or even just walking around downtown for an hour or two. 

Here are some of my favorite off campus places to go: 

Bike Path 

Personally, my favorite way to get off campus is on my bike. The Norwottuck Rail Trail is a beautiful 11 mile bike path that goes through Northampton, Hadley, and Amherst. I most often use it to bike to Central Rock Gym in Hadley, but sometimes just go ride for the hell of it. The route is extremely scenic (especially in Autumn when the trees are all colorful), crossing the Connecticut River and passing by several huge fields with mountains on the horizon. 

Puffer’s Pond

Located in Amherst, Puffer’s Pond is a bit of a drive from Smith (about half an hour) but definitely worth it on hot days at the end of Spring semester. My pals and I took a day trip out there during senior week (the week after finals) and had an amazing time!

The Book Mill

I. Love. The. Book. Mill. !!!! It’s this adorable little bookstore in Montague, MA right on the Mill River (about 30 minutes from Smith) that sells used books at really low prices. It’s almost impossible to go there and not get lost looking at books in all the different rooms for hours. There’s also a cute little cafe there and a music store next door. I wear my Book Mill t-shirt at least once a week, sporting the logo “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.” 

Florence Pie Bar

That’s right, there’s a restaurant only 10 minutes from Smith that only serves pie and it’s AMAZING! Located in Florence (which is a super cute little village of Northampton), the Pie Bar is super accessible by car or bike and is definitely worth the hype. 

MacLeish Field Station

MacLeish Field Station is an incredible resource that Smith has. It’s home to a lot of research and other outdoor projects conducted by Smith students and faculty (in biology, environmental science, engineering, architecture, landscape studies, and more). Smith students can intern there and work on a variety of projects. There are hiking paths around the station, as well as a ropes course. You can also go camping at MacLeish, like I did with the outdoor adventure program to conclude our orientation leader training. If you want to go visit MacLeish, vans from Smith periodically make trips out there so you don’t even have to worry about transportation (it’s about a 25 minute drive). (Fun fact: MacLeish has compost toilets!)

The Dojo 

I’ve mentioned climbing at Central Rock Gym several times on this blog, but there’s another, much less known gym near Smith - The Dojo! This tiny co-operatively owned bouldering gym is located in Florence and was created by a group of climbers in 2007 (including Danielle, a Smith alum who takes Smithies from the climbing wall there). You can’t get into the Dojo without an existing member letting you in (the entrance is literally in a warehouse behind a book shelf that you unlock with a key pad, it’s pretty freaking awesome). It’s definitely a hidden treasure. 

Target

Honestly, who doesn’t love Target. Thank god there’s a Target located at the Hampshire Mall (a 15 minute PVTA ride away) for all of your random needs (e.g. during the Fall Rugby season, my friends and I would always go stalk up on Gatorade before games). 

View the brochure in PDF.

A project I did in a Landscape Studies class, when I was first introduced to the MacLeish Field Station that Smith runs up in Whately, MA (or Conway, or Deerfield, depending on which map app you’re using).

Bewildered with the broken tongue

Of wakened angels in our sleep-

Then, lost the music that was sung

And lost the light time cannot keep!

There is a moment when we lie

Bewildered, wakened out of sleep,

When light and sound and all reply:

That moment time must tame and keep.

That moment, like a flight of birds

Flung from the branches where they sleep,

The poet with a beat of words 

Flings into time for time to keep.