Weather
Summer Reading Recommendations
Posted May 2, 2024 by Olivia McGovern
Whether it’s laying out a towel at the beach or setting up a hammock at the park, there’s nothing better than reading a book on a beautiful summer day. Even though I’ll be taking a Summer Semester class for part of it, nothing and no one can keep me from getting an iced coffee and reading in the sun! Here are some of the books on my list to finish this summer: Fantasy The Dreamblood Duology by N.K. Jemisin N.K. Jemisin has been one of my favorite authors since my mind was blown by The Fifth Season several years back. I’ve now finished two of her fantasy series, and I think it’s time to tackle another. In this duology, priests of the dream goddess roam rooftops to collect the magic of sleeping minds, until one priest becomes entangled in a murderous conspiracy. World building? Check. Magic? Check. Conspiracy? Murder? I’m in. Science Fiction The Vanished Birds by Simon Jiminez I picked up a copy of this book in the used section of Harvard Book Store,…
Looking Forward
Posted April 2, 2024 by Emily Jones
I can’t believe the semester is almost over! My first semester went by so fast that I feel like it just started. I have been enjoying the warmer weather and getting to walk around Boston. I haven’t spent the Spring yet in Boston so I’m excited to see all the flowers bloom. While I’m looking forward to the semester ending so I can have a break, there is a lot of work to do between now and the end of the semester. It’s almost time for fall class registration and I have been planning my classes for next semester. I’m looking forward to next semester and getting to take more electives. Graduate class registration is not as stressful as undergrad classes were so I don’t mind this process. The SLIS faculty is also smaller so I feel like it’s easier to know someone who has taken the class or had the professor before.
Life in Boston: Beginning of Spring Semester
Posted January 22, 2024 by Emma Hayden
Happy beginning of Spring semester! As I begin my 4th semester here at Simmons, I have really been reflecting on the past year and a half I have spent in Boston and everything I have learned both inside and outside of the classroom. Since moving from California I have had to adapt and learn the many parts that come with living on the East Coast, and I have to continue learning as I go! Recently a large portion of the Green Line trains have been down, which at first really freaked me out. I live close to the Green Line and use it to get almost everywhere in my life, so I was concerned with getting to work and the places I meet my friends regularly. Luckily for me, this has pushed me to become familiar with my local buses, which I had been nervous to use in the past because of their schedules. Now I can easily make it to everything I need to without having to use the Green Line so I will…
Spring and the Midway Point
Posted March 21, 2022 by Bryanne McArdle
The past few weeks have been your standard Boston spring weather. Beautiful days sometimes going up to even fifty degrees followed by frigid windy days that sting at your face and snow that covers the ground, only to melt in the next few warm days. Meteorologically speaking, it is a strange time, but so is coming back to classes after a weeklong spring break. For all my classes, we have officially passed the midway point. It’s a great feeling and my classes have all been going really well. But it’s also strange to be nearing the end of the semester and, in the grand scheme of things, my time at Simmons. I’m starting to realize how much I will miss my classes. I know that may be strange to say, but I did miss the lectures and discussions last week, and it made me start thinking about the future. But let’s not dwell on melancholy topics. I am truly excited to really start getting into my assignments for the end of the semester. I have…
A Snowy Boston Day
Posted February 1, 2022 by Bryanne McArdle
Over the weekend, a huge blizzard hit the area and blanketed everything in snow. I’m a born New Englander, so this weather doesn’t faze me at all. I actually really love all kinds of storms, but especially snowstorms, since you can ski and snowshoe after. But there is always an issue when the snow falls, and if you aren’t used to snow, you may not realize it. Where to put all of it? Snow stays around, especially when it’s cold. And after the storm on Saturday, there’s was a lot of snow that’s wasn’t going anywhere. For me, I simply just strap on my boots, put on my warm jacket, and off I go. Sure, the commute into Boston took longer and the trains had some issues, especially since some plows accidentally took out a few of the crossing guards while cleaning up (oops). But I realized when I got to campus and chatting with fellow students, that my attitude of how normal this is, is not always the case. For the Simmons students who…
A Three-Part Guide to Daylight Savings
Posted November 9, 2021 by Abbey Metzler
On Monday evening, or really what I would call at most late afternoon, I sat at my desk in my office building watching the sun go down. Spring forward and fall back, daylight saving time has come to an end here in the United States. I know that I am somewhat alone in loving winter. Five lake-effect snow laden years living in Central New York will do that to a girl. But, even I felt the spike of dread at watching the sky darken at an early 4:30pm. I know that a lot of Simmons students aren’t from New England, myself included. Winter here is not the same dusting of snow that shuts down major Southern cities. Before we also start to resign ourselves to hibernation until Spring, I thought I would share my plan to make our long, cold nights a little less daunting. Maybe these three tips will make you winter people yet. We are always looking for converts! Step 1: Read. I know. I know. We are all here in the…
Moving Across the Country
Posted December 16, 2019 by William Crouch
In September, I moved to Boston from Texas so I could attend Simmons and try and get a real winter. I’m only 3 months in and it’s already way colder here than it ever gets in Texas. I wanted to go over some of the things that were part of the challenge of moving here and how Simmons helped me with the move. The major thing was finding a place to live which can be difficult wherever you go. Finding a comfortable space that is also affordable is a challenging process. Thankfully, Simmons has a really great listing that students can access that lists available places within the area. It took me a while but I managed to find a little place in West Roxbury that a Simmons alum owns and managed to find a great roommate. The next thing to deal with was how to get to school and figuring out public transportation for the first time. In Texas, there’s no real convenient transportation service because everybody has cars and because Texas is such…
Going Home and Going Online
Posted February 13, 2019 by Maria Reilova
I got back from winter break a little later than everyone else since I had my brother’s wedding to attend the last week of January. If anyone needs a refresher (I’m sure I mention it in nearly every blog post) but I am from Florida, and in true extra Florida fashion, my brother got married on a 3-day Disney cruise to the bahamas. It was fantastic, I got to spend quality time with my own family and my new sister-in-law’s family, most importantly though I got to spend that time with family in the sunny caribbean. I mention this lovely vacation not to brag (that’s a lie, I am totally bragging about how great Florida is) because in order to spend the most time with family over break and for the wedding, I decided that this semester I will be taking classes fully online!. It just made the most sense given that I wanted to spend as much time as possible home in Florida. Which is one of the great things about Simmons, they offer…
First Weeks
Posted February 6, 2019 by Sarah Callanan
So it has been a crazy few weeks! First, the weather has been insane. We’ve had super cold weather, we’ve had snow squalls, we’ve had ice, we’ve had rain, we’ve had sun, we’ve had wind, and yesterday the high was 63 degrees! We’ve had a little bit of everything! Will the weather ever make up its mind? Every day is a surprise! I thought one of the things about living in New England was guaranteed freezing cold weather all the time in the winter, but the past two days have proved me wrong (although I’m certainly not complaining because I did not enjoy the snow squalls last week, and I do not want anything similar to the polar vortex the Midwest experienced). The first few weeks of class have been going great! As you know, I’m taking LIS 451: Academic Libraries this semester. It’s my first elective at SLIS, and my last blog was posted on the first official day of my class, so I didn’t have many details to share, but now I do! …
A Fall Outing
Posted October 3, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
I went on a wonderful fall outing this past week! Ever since I moved to Massachusetts I’ve been working on trying to explore the area more. I research things to do and places to visit online, I ask classmates and colleagues where to go, and sometimes I just stumble across places as I go about my day. One thing that several people told me was that I couldn’t go through a fall in New England without a trip to an apple orchard. I’ve noticed that there is an abundance of apple orchards near where I live, and it feels like there are far more here than there were North Carolina. This past week, I decided to take the advice that was given to me and I visited an apple orchard with my family. We went to Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, MA. At the farm it is currently apple and pumpkin picking season. During other times of the year, you can pick other kinds of fruit such as strawberries (early June to early July), cherries…