Your Favorite NoHo Novice

Iris ♡Smith College 2020♡ CT | Smithereen, volleyball player, and high jumper :) Ready for a new adventure!

[texan-smithie]

Tan France comes to Smith

This spring, the Student Event Committee brought Tan France, a successful fashion designer on the hit show Queer Eye, to speak at Smith! JMG, the biggest auditorium on campus, was packed with a line that stretched almost to the Quad. It was extremely fun, and he talked about his career, his experiences as a Pakistani gay man, and more! Smithies brought a lot of energy and audience participation. Smith brings high-profile speakers like Tan France to campus multiple times a year, and it’s free for students to attend!

[thesmithadventure]

Lauenen and Gruyère

As promised, here are some snaps of our weekend trip to Lauenen! Highlights include: free chocolate from the Cahiller factory (made by us!); free wine at the hotel; getting to see a medevial castle in Gruyère; and seeing the most stunning mountain landscape I have ever seen, by horse-drawn sleigh, of course. The whole weekend was Swiss magic ✨

[iristakessmith]

Hello! It's been awhile since my last update, but in case you didn't know, I'm studying abroad in Geneva for the semester and the orientation has been a whirlwind of activities. One of them was a visit to the United Nations. We also spent a weekend up in Lauenen and Gstaad, which Emma recently posted about! It's my first time overseas so while it's been plenty of fun so far, it's also overwhelming at times. I'm excited to improve my French and start my classes and internship!

[texan-smithie]

Birthday Perks in Downtown Northampton!!

In Northampton, there are a variety of free things you can get downtown on your birthday!!!!

FREE THINGS

1.) Medium Sundae from Herrell’s

2.) Small coffee or expresso at Share Coffee (located inside Thornes Marketplace)

3.) 2-piece box of chocolates at Heavenly Chocolates (located inside Thornes)

4.) One rose from Forget Me Not Florist (also in Thornes)

5.) 5 minute massage from Backstop Seated Massage (In Thornes)

6.) A button from Captain Candy (in Thornes)

Free things on your birthday…. when you sign up for email list/loyalty programs!

7.) Drink at Starbucks when you sign up for Starbuck Rewards

8.) Drink at Dunkin Donuts if you sign up for their loyalty program

9.) Bagel & cream cheese at Bruegger’s Bagels when you sign up for their email list

Other perks:

20% off at many other stores in Thornes Marketplace, including Cornucopia (a little grocery store), Cedar Chest (many cute things!!! Great for gifts), ACME Surplus (everything and pretty affordable!), and more!

[smithbysmithies]

I'd love to bring my bike to campus with me, but to avoid rust, I don't want to leave it outside when it's raining or snowing. Are there any indoor bike rooms or designated areas where I can keep it during inclement weather? Thank you!

Hey!

Sadly I think most of our bike racks are outdoors, which really sucks when winter rolls around. What my friend did was lock her bike in the basement of our house, with permission from the housekeeper, and you’ll see bikes across campus with plastic bags on the seats, etc. I can only think of 3-4 houses/buildings in which I’ve seen bike racks under a roof/vertical bike racks, though they’re newer and hopefully the college is moving in this direction?

Naomi ‘19

[iristakessmith]

Cutter and Ziskind have designated bike storage rooms! Park has a bike rack that's fully under the roof, but if your house doesn't there are other bike racks around campus that are.

[smithbysmithies]

Do the athletic teams have big sib/little sib?

Hi! So I can’t speak for all sports teams but I’ve asked around and this is what my research has determined-

Swim and dive does big/little sibs called “big/little bananas” whereas volleyball, field hockey and basketball do not have sib traditions. Crew and lacrosse also have big/little sibs. What having a big or little sib means also probably varies a lot depending on your team. For crew, the bigs gave their littles gifts once a week for a few weeks leading up to one of our races, and while field hockey doesn’t have specific big/little sibs they do the same kind of thing. Overall even if you don’t get a specified “big sib” on your team the upperclassmen are always super willing to answer questions! I know coming into crew this year I was scared of learning how everything worked but all my teammates were super helpful in helping me learn. -Eleanor ‘20

[iristakessmith]

While volleyball doesn't have big sib little sib, we do have a buddy system! Everyone gets paired with a teammate, not just first-years. All season we check in with each other and do things to psych each other up throughout the season. Track and field does secret psych ups as we approach the NEWMAC championships, but we don't have sibs.

[iristakessmith]

This chaotic whiteboard resides in the stairwell on the second floor of Park House. Every week, the topic changes and passersby can contribute (I did multiple times)! We're a good group of people to watch TV with, in case you couldn't tell :)

[iristakessmith]

Exploring the Smith College Museum of Art is always a nice change of pace! It may be hard to find a similarity between all of these pieces, but they all incorporate the color red ochre somehow. It was a real challenge looking for it in order to write my English essay about color and sight, but a fun one!

[iristakessmith]

ENG 135: Writing About the Senses

My favorite class by far this semester has been my English class. I haven’t taken one since high school, so I felt a bit intimidated at first, but I quickly learned that there was nothing to be afraid of. We break each unit down by a sense - so far we’ve done sight, touch, smell, and hearing. Some of my favorite activities so far have been:

Touring the botanical garden, creating our own perfume, and giving the scent a story

Going to the Smith College Museum of Art and looking for one particular color through a wide array of pieces

Listening to a string quartet play Beethoven beautifully for an entire class and breaking down what makes the piece dynamic

Dropping everything at 8:42pm sometimes to simply write what I’m seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling at the moment

Taking a trip to the largest yarn store in the country (located right in Northampton!) to feel and describe different types of fabric

Listening to podcasts snippets about a wide variety of topics: architecture for the blind, the history of neon lights, what makes a good flag, what makes therapy couches special, you name it!

[iristakessmith]

A highlight of my time as a social media intern for College Relations is my biweekly live stream with my co-intern, Agnes! It's a different way to answer your questions and share my experiences. It's also an awesome way to see how global our Smith community is - our viewers come from all over! Our lovely boss, Darry (who is actually from the class of 2005), is always open to our suggestions about projects old and new. I couldn't have asked for a better work study experience this year.

[iristakessmith]

It's been a few weeks since we had spring break, but with busy schedules and seemingly never-ending snow and mid-terms, I can't help but reminisce. I went to Chicago to visit one of my best friends! It was my first time in the city and my first time on a plane, so there was a lot to take in. It wasn't the beach, but almost everywhere was warmer than Massachusetts that week. And in case you were wondering: I did try deep-dish pizza and it was great.

[iristakessmith]

How did you make the decision to go to a D3 school? Were you looking at any prospective D1, if yes what made you choose Smith?

That’s a great question! I decided to go to a D3 school because they’re still competitive, but I didn’t want to be dependent on a sports scholarship if I somehow managed to get one. I wasn’t seeking that out, but financial aid can vary and you never know what you’ll get until you’re accepted. I wanted to build up my skills in track and volleyball without having to pick one over the other. The most important factor for me was that my D3 schools had what I wanted in student life and academics, and my D1 schools all lacked one thing or another academically that I didn’t want to compromise (and I knew I would only have tthe time and skill set to play intramural instead of varsity sports).

I chose Smith because although I knew going into college that I would be a government major, there were so many other programs that I was interested in and would feel comfortable switching into if my original plan didn’t work out. I felt liike I could easily be a part of the community after my first visit - it was a gut feeling. Smith also gave a better financial aid package than any other school, including my state schools! I hope this answered your question. If not, feel free to send another message :)

[iristakessmith]

There's always a lot going on during track meets, and towards the end of indoor everyone is pushing to meet new personal records and qualify for pre-season meets. We're currently training for outdoor season, and spending time with my teammates has always been a highlight of my day here at Smith. We're all competitive while also having the opportunity to try a lot of different activities!

[agnesatsmith]

Smith To-Do Aquariums!!!! I was a little confused at first as to what the aquariums meant, but it turned out we would be getting bamboo to put in our aquariums. I have always wanted to have a bamboo plant, so I was DELIGHTED to see the bamboo!! There were lots of sand colors and rock color options, and it was pretty fun to customize as well. I’ve named mine Sigrid, and my friend Emma named hers Barnacle. My whole windowsill is filled with plants from Smith To-Do, and I love it! It really helps to brighten up my room.

[iristakessmith]

is it easy to get to other stores from smith? i know there's a target and whole foods and trader joes nearby, but haven't made the trip before. is it a long trip? and is the bus free and all that?

Hi! The PVTA B43 bus will take you on the route to Target, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods. It doesn’t take much longer than a half hour to get there, and it is free during the school year if you show the bus driver your OneCard (student ID). It’s super convenient in the beginning of the school year when you inevitably forget something you needed for your room...

[iristakessmith]

What can you do during J-term?

There’s a lot of options if you’re staying on campus, actually! The campus opens up for J-term, or Interterm, on January 2nd, so you can return as soon as you would like after that, even if you have nothing on your agenda. If you are looking to keep busy, here’s a few things that happen around campus:

Work study shifts for various offices, the mail room, dining halls, and the gym resume, giving you a chance to put in some extra hours if need be.

Winter training for some sports (including track and field!) occur during J-term. You’d be surprised how many practices you can get in when school isn’t officially in session!

 Plenty of fun 1 and 2 credit classes are offered - if you want to learn about drones, brush up on your math skills, or learn transcribe Sylvia Plath’s poetry drafts, Smith has probably got you covered.

J-term also offers a special opporutnity for field trips! My Africana Studies professor has a group of students spending a week in Washington D.C. at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Agnes is spending her J-term in Russia! Some friends have mine have spent their Interterm in India through Smith. It’s a great time to travel if your summer is preoccupied.

Fun classes are offered by Smithies and people in the community for no credit, as well! Want to learn how to do henna or have a night to paint? Want to teach people something fun? You can, for no more than only a small supply fee in some, but not all, cases.

[iristakessmith]

Hi iris, I was just accepted ED1 to smith and I'm super excited to be a smithie! I've been in a cappella all through high school and I really want to try out for smithereens next year.. how early in the semester are auditions and what do they usually expect from auditionees?

Congrats! I’m so excited for you! I wish I could’ve done a cappella in high school... I really lay out the format of the audition process here and what we look for with musical literacy here. (You don’t have to be able to read music at all!) Auditions take place during about the third week of classes each semester. During the fall semester, it’s always the day after Arch Sing so you can hear each group before diving into auditions. If a group has too many members in the fall, they might not do spring auditions, but that doesn’t happen too often. You have plenty of groups to choose from, regardless!