Over the past month, I’ve sort of been in denial of the fact that I’m about to be a senior. My time at Amherst has flown by so quickly, and thinking about how it’s almost over is bittersweet. I wanted to spend my first blog post reflecting on some of my favorite memories at Amherst and hoping it’ll give you some insight into what Amherst life is like.
Freshman Year
My freshman year started out rough– I matriculated into Amherst in 2020 during the height of coronavirus, and I was afraid that campus restrictions would restrict me from making friends and connecting with professors, but that wasn’t true at all. My first favorite memory is meeting people who I still consider my best friends today. My dorm-mate and I ventured out into the First Year Quad, saw a group of people sitting outside under a tent, and decided to take a leap of faith and bring out our more outgoing sides. We ended up talking for hours, about home, about our first impressions of Amherst, about our aspirations and fears for our freshman year. The next evening, we all had dinner together (outside, of course) and later in the night, we brought a speaker out to the very same tent and played Paranoia. Paranoia has now become a favorite party game for us, and these people have become friends for life.
I will never forget my first in-person DASAC show during my freshman spring. It was outside, and the feeling of the audience’s energy and seeing the glowsticks we passed out remains unmatched. Amherst students love coming out and supporting one another. Not only did my friends come and make posters, people I’ve rarely or never spoken to had also congratulated me.
At Amherst, people have a way of finding each other, and the small size gives you many opportunities to meet more people you might connect with, sometimes in the most unexpected situations. I’ve met many people in my classes and clubs that I might not have been friends with otherwise, and I’m thankful to Amherst’s community environment for facilitating that. This summer, the Admissions Interns and I have become quite unexpectedly close, and it’s been so rewarding to work with all of them!
Sophomore Year
To avoid the infamous “sophomore slump,” I decided to overwork myself (ironic, I know). Looking back, I have to admit that I remember a lot of stress. Sometimes, I forget about that there were some amazing moments sophomore year. During the first half of Thanksgiving Break, I had one of the best dim sum meals of my life with friends in New York City (Ping’s in Chinatown). There are bus companies that serve Amherst, and all you need to do is walk down the Amherst Common to catch one to the city!
Amherst Student Activities hosted a prom in and outside the Science Center during the spring semester. Those in the class of 2024 never got a senior prom because of the coronavirus, so we were all really excited to finally dress up and have our “redemption prom.” Laundry Day was performing live, those over 21 were lining up for drinks, and people were posing in the photo booths inside. It’s one of my most memorable nights at Amherst, and it goes to show that with all of Amherst’s rigor and work, there’s a lot of (administration-mandated) fun, too.
There’s always other small moments that shape years at Amherst: rolling down Memorial Hill and drawing pictures in the snow, dog-sitting for a CDC, going down the big slide at Fall Fest, ice skating at UMass, late nights with friends in the Science Center, and picknicking at the river down the Rail Trail. There are a lot of beautiful memories to be made at Amherst, and I’m grateful to have the chance to reflect on them now!
Junior Year
Amherst’s Asian Student’s Association and Asian and Pacific American Action Committee was able to collaborate with other Five College API affinity groups to bring Niki’s “Nicole” world tour to UMass, with hundreds of free tickets reserved for students. My friends and I got seats at the front and spent an amazing two hours singing and dancing along to one of our favorite artists.
I went back to November during Thanksgiving break and stayed at my friend’s place, six of us crammed in her living room and frantically cooking on Thanksgiving Day for our potluck.
That winter, we didn’t have to roll down the hill anymore, dragging a mattress out in the dead of night and taking many a precarious ride down both Memorial Hill and the grass “bleachers” at the side of the baseball diamond.
Many of my friends studied abroad or away during the spring. It was disheartening at first, but as I mentioned before, at Amherst it’s never hard to find your people. I had the chance to branch out and grow closer to those I previously considered casual friends and acquaintances, and I am so glad I did. I spent most of the semester in the dance studio, whether it was for rehearsals or for fun, and in my room waiting for my friend to barge in and interrupt my nap, and booking the AAS car to make trips to Northampton or the various shopping plazas around Amherst.
Now that I’m going into senior year, I’m looking forward to making more memories to reflect on. Next semester I’ll be studying abroad in Korea at Yonsei University, returning to Amherst in the spring for the final chapter. For now, I’m enjoying my summer on campus. Some of my amazing fellow interns already have, or will give a rundown of our summers and fun things to do in the area, and I’m excited to do the same and to tell you guys more about Amherst!