Category: Uncategorized
IMP Overview
Peer Advice
By Panita & Anh
Places to Shop for Winter Clothes
Speaking of joy, it always comes when people start holding a cup of hot coffee or cocoa. Winter is approaching, and we might need warm clothes. I will recommend the places and brands to shop for winter clothing: A good place that is walkable from campus is Newbury Street. A 20-minute walk through our beautiful Boston Common and Boston Public Garden, the street is full of a variety of stores. However, in winter, Boston didn’t come to play. For that reason, I would recommend North Face or Uniqlo. The price might seem high for North Face, but it is very durable and warm. You can choose various types of jackets, such as puffer or fleece. For Uniqlo, there are also various types of designer jackets for you to choose from. Uniqlo’s styling is more minimalist as compared to North Face, where the brand has more colorful jackets. However, choose was suits you the most and do not consider only the design, as once again, winter in Boston did not come to play.
By Valezka Laine
A Local Thanksgiving
During Thanksgiving and winter break, transportation and accommodations can get more expensive. One of the ways to save on accommodations is to take a day trip or stay home and spend time with your friends or family.
Some activities that we can do when we stay home in Boston is going ice skating at Boston Common Frog Pond or Steriti Memorial Rink. Frog Pond admission is $6 and $12 for renting the skating shoes. For Steriti Memorial Rink, skating is free, you just have to rent the skating shoes for $5.
Another fun activity that we can do is doing potluck with your group of friends. Not only can we save money by staying in Boston, but we can also save more money by cooking the food for the potluck.
If you want to take a day trip, we can take the commuter rail to Rhode Island. There is a commuter rail unlimited pass for the weekend for $10. One of the interesting activities that we can do in Rhode Island is visiting Simmons Farm. At Simmons Farm, you get to hike with a goat. You will get your own goat on a leash and will walk on a designated trail. It sounds really fun, doesn’t it?
By Aqil K. Legopranowo
A Local Spring Break
Spring break is coming up, and most of you students might be wondering ahead about the places to go for a getaway or sightseeing while you have some free time to spare! If you’re looking for a place not to leave the state, then look no further because, in Massachusetts, there are various places to visit right here.
Outside of Boston, there are notable places that are common for tourists to visit. One recommended place would be Provincetown, located at the northern tip of Cape Cod. It is known for its hotspot as a coastal town to sit back and relax with numerous galleries, restaurants, and specialty shops around every corner that show what makes the town special.
Another area would be to visit Salem, located north of Boston on the north shore. Salem is famous for its historical witch trials and the spooky things in town. Modern Salem is home to a university, restaurants, and renowned museums like the Peabody Essex Museum.
Another place would be Plymouth, a coastal town south of Boston famous for the ‘Plymouth Rock,’ a boulder in Pilgrim Memorial Park, marking where the first European settlers are thought to have landed on Massachusetts’ shores.
There are so many other places to visit in Massachusetts for international students to explore! So get out of Boston and go!
By Thong “Nicholas” Tao
The MBTA Explained
This article is for everyone still curious about the Massachusetts Bay Transporation Authority (MBTA) subway lines in Boston, especially for new Suffolk students who just arrived in Boston this Semester.
The MBTA generally includes Subways, Commuter Rails, and Buses. For the Subway, the most popular transportation in Boston, there are four main colors for train lines: Red, Orange, Blue, and Green. Every train line has its own specific area that they will pass by every day. I recommend that everyone should use Google maps to search for instructions to know which direction they should look up, what station they should get off at, and then get on the train.
In terms of the Greenline, this is the line for anyone who wants to visit the West side and the North Side of Boston; it has stops in Allston, Brighton, Back Bay, and Brookline in the West and Medford in the North. For me, there are many interesting places to go on the Westside, such as Boston College, Boston University, or the Fenway Stadium, which is home to the Red Sox baseball home matches, and they have a variety of delicious food. In my experience, the Green line has four different trains; the B, C, D, and E trains, and they have different directions. Therefore, you should be aware of where your destination is. What train is it? At what station should you get off? This is mainly because the Green line has so many stations and stops, and it would be very time-consuming to get back if you got on the wrong train. The Park Street station for the Greenline is the connection between the Red line and the Green line.
The Red line train is easier to understand since it only has one direction at the top and two different directions at the end. This line goes from the Cambridge area in the Northeast to Ashmont or Braintree on the south side of Boston. For the Red line, it will appear on the board Alewife for the Cambridge side, so if you want to visit the Cambridge universities or Cambridge area, you should look for the Alewife direction. On the other hand, if you want to visit Dorchester because of the Vietnamese food, you should head in the Ashmont direction to go to Dorchester. And the Braintree direction is for Quincy, which is a different city from Boston, and it has a beautiful City hall and lots of traditional Chinese restaurants.
The Orange line and Blue line have the same structure in that they only have two opposite directions. Regarding the Orange line, Oak Grove is the direction that will go to the North of Boston, which brings you to Malden, and the Forest Hills direction is in the opposite way, which is located in Jamaica Plan. Along this way is Somerville, located before entering Malden. There is an outlet area for buying good clothes; it has many famous brands such as Adidas, Nike, and Columbia. There are also many highly recommended restaurants there; that destination is at the Assembly Row Station. Moreover, to the south, you can find Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo, which is located near the Forest Hill Station and is also a must-go destination when you arrive in Boston.
As for the Blue line, one direction is at the center of Boston, which is Bowdoin station, and it is really convenient to transit on the Blue line since the train is new and it goes past the Aquarium of Boston, which is at Seaport. The other direction is Wonderland, which is in Everett. Along this route, you can see many beautiful beach views there during the spring and summer.
In conclusion, every subway line has its different features in Boston; therefore, everyone should search for the instruction carefully before going to any place that you have never been to.
By Ivan Alshevskikh
Text Books & Electronics
Most students have to buy books for classes if the teacher asks them to. There are several ways to figure out how to get a book. First, you can rent a book in a Sargent Hall bookstore or through different platforms (Amazon, for example). What’s more, you can purchase books at the same places. Of course, renting a textbook will be cheaper, but you have to return it later, so you can’t make any marks there or damage it in other ways. In the case of purchasing a book, there are also two options: getting a brand-new book or buying a used one, which will be cheaper. Besides this, you can also borrow a textbook from Suffolk libraries, but there is a time limit of 2 hours.
If you are an international student, you may need help with electronics like adaptors. For you, the best choice will be to purchase electronic devices online through Amazon or buy those items from Best Buy, which is a store with a huge variety of electronics.
