Studying abroad is a junior year rite of passage for many Amherst students. I check in with Gabby Edzie ‘17, an English major at the college who began her study abroad journey in August. She engages with both fellow American students and Australians while spending her fall semester at the University of Sydney. She shares her insights about choosing a program and a location, navigating Australia’s slower pace of life, dealing with time differences and catching on to Australian slang.
1. Rao’s Coffee
17 Kellogg Ave.
(413) 253-9441
If you’re sick of Frost and need a change of study space, consider Rao’s. Seating is usually hard to come by, especially on Sundays, but the coffee shop is a favorite of local students. Beverages can also be a little pricey, but there are lots of choices and both the food and coffee are locally sourced. Definitely worth the walk.
The Common, published biannually, is an Amherst College-based literary journal intended to challenge and broaden the reader’s sense of time and place. The magazine, which counts Jennifer Acker ’00 as its editor-in-chief and Vanity Fair editor-at-large Cullen Murphy ’74 as an advisory board member, released its first print issue in 2011. Since then, The Common has managed to distinguish itself amongst a glut of titles in the literary journal genre as a publication with a unique sense of purpose.
Irish director John Carney brought us the quirky and low-budget movie musical “Once” in 2007. “Begin Again,” his newest release, tries to replicate the charm of “Once” and almost succeeds in doing so. For its setting, the 2014 film swaps the streets of Dublin for an idealized version of New York City cherished by hipsters. There’s an abundance of red brick, green spaces and intimate music lounges and an absence of crowds. In “Once,” Carney selected the unknown actors Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová to play his leading man and lady.
The 12th annual Tribeca Film Festival has come and gone. New York’s most famous celebration of movies began on April 17 and ended this past Sunday after showing hundreds of feature films, documentaries, and shorts in various cinemas throughout the city. The festival was founded in 2002 by actor Robert De Niro, film producer Jane Rosenthal and real estate investor and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff in an attempt to revitalize Lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) has been having a difficult time processing the dissolution of his marriage to his first wife, Katherine (Rooney Mara): they grew up together, they went to college together, they saw each other through the hardships of establishing careers and beginning their adult lives. But he’s met someone new — her name is Samantha and she’s really great, super funny, smart, friendly, kind. She also sorts emails and files with ease, keeps track of calendar dates and events and wakes Theodore when it’s time to get out of bed in the morning.
It seems that every generation has had their own “teen” or coming-of-age films. Many of the most memorable movies from those genres were released in the 1980s and 1990s — movies that celebrated fun and frivolity and youth while still being at least somewhat poignant. What happened? Very few memorable films about young adults have hit theaters in the past ten years or so, and fewer still have proved to possess staying power or enduring popularity. What qualities do the so-called “teen movies” of the eighties and nineties have that make them so enjoyable to watch again and again?
