By: Claire Kramer
As someone who came to Worcester never having been here for anything other than for a college tour and then eventually move-in day, I had no clue what Worcester had to offer. My mom texted me a list of places to go and see, but with all my work and trying to save money, nothing stuck out to me. One day though, she texts me about the Blackstone path. I had no time to check it out until Parent’s weekend, and I loved it. Granted, I was in a boot, but it wasn’t a hard walk at all. The foliage was nice, and the boardwalk reminded me of summer. Just days later, I went again with my friends, and we loved it. We’ve decided it’s going to be something we do together from time to time. The path is a little hard to find, but if you go down the road by Freshman field, it’s right across from the gates. There’s also an entrance by a 7/11, but it’s just easier to go to the entrance near campus.
Another place I recently went to was the Worcester Art Museum, otherwise known as the WAM. I had to go for a project for one of my classes, and I’m glad that I did because I loved it there. The architecture was stunning and the exhibits were some of the most interesting things I’ve seen. I saw mosaics and pieces of stone from ancient Greece and Rome that I’d just happened to have studied in my Classical Archaeology class. My friends who came along for fun also loved it. Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch since the museum is only open 10-4 and it was already 1 PM by the time we all decided to go together, but we were able to see everything I needed to see for my project as well as other exhibits we found intriguing. We even had time to take cute photos!
Some other things you should know about WAM is that every first Sunday of the month it’s free entry. I wouldn’t have known that had it not been for my friends and me coincidentally showing up on the first Sunday of November. However, that first Sunday of the month concept only truly matters if you bring people along with you who aren’t Holy Cross students because guess what? Your HC ID gets you in for free! As far as transportation to the museum, I’m sure the shuttle works out somehow but personally, my friends and I just took an Uber. It was a short 7-minute drive so understandably the Uber fee was not anything too crazy.
I have yet to do anything else besides take the campus shuttles on the weekends to Target and the Blackstone movie theater (I also highly recommend this), but another place on my to-go-to list is the Ecotarium. I just need to see the otters… maybe that will just have to be another article!