Williamstown in early spring is replete with mud and possibility. The Berkshires emerge slowly: a crocus near Sawyer, buds on bare branches, the mountains filling back in with leaves. The days get longer before they get warmer. As the semester winds down and the landscape comes alive, students are finding new ways to explore the Berkshires. For Becca Bossow ’29 and Alliah Crow ’29, that has meant finding new ways to relate to the environment.
Bossow walks to stay in motion. “I have a hard time sitting still, so I love taking long walks whenever I am on the phone with friends from back home or listening to a podcast or music,” she said. For Bossow, walking opens up the possibility of conversation, thought, and the particular comfort of moving while her mind wanders.
Her route takes her well beyond campus, walking past the Clark, through the residential streets south of Taconic Golf Club, and back up Water Street before returning to the center of Town. The loop she walks is substantial — an hour or more of walking along varied terrain.
Since she arrived on campus last fall, Bossow has marveled at the Purple Valley’s dramatically changing landscape. “It’s been really amazing to observe the Berkshires throughout the seasons on foot,” she said. “Even in winter, I loved putting on my parka and scarf to get fresh air.”
The instinct to go outside and explore is something she grew up with, Bossow said. “My family always emphasized the importance of fresh air and post-meal walks, be it the German Spaziergang or the Italian passeggiata,” she said, referring to the European rituals of stepping outside after a meal. Each traces back to a different side of her family: her mother’s Italian heritage and her father’s German roots, the latter reinforced by the time she spent living with family there. Though similar in spirit, the Spaziergang is more meditative and solitary, while the passeggiata is decidedly social — a stroll through town to greet the neighbors as much as to move the body.
Alliah Crow ’29 picked up her walking habit because of her Winter Study class, “The Wonder of the Winter Woods,” which required her to visit a “sit spot” in nature several times per week. Crow’s route follows the Hoosic River Nature Trail northeast from campus, then branches onto a small dirt path that leads directly to the river.
“For students like us, walking is usually just a means to an end,” Crow said. “When we’re trying to rush from class to class, it becomes a precisely scheduled activity in our daily lives.” The “sit spot” assignment disrupted that regimentation, she said. “I allowed myself to be curious and distracted,” she said. “A 30-minute assignment often became a two-hour affair while I watched birds and followed snowy tracks.”
She found that purposelessness, at the College, is its own kind of discipline. “Leisure and aimlessness are so atypical of life here,” Crow said. “That’s why I think it feels so good.”
