I love it here in Mystic, Connecticut. Here are some of my favorite places so far:

  • Mystic Aquarium: I’m obsessed with this place. Best aquarium ever. They have friendly beluga whales. I got to pet a bunch of cownose rays. A cleaner shrimp tried to clean my hand. I stared at the jellyfish for… a really long time. I get in for free as a Williams-Mystic student. I am SO going back.
  • Mystic Seaport Museum: My new home campus! I like walking around and looking at all the old ships and stuff. Also, they have really cool art exhibits, including Oceanus by Alexis Rockman (I wrote about it here). There’s so many things I haven’t even seen.
  • Olde Mistick Village: A collection of little shops with… oddly specific themes? There’s a spooky bookstore (they only sell spooky books), a flavored honey store (go in and taste ALL the honey), an Alice in Wonderland tea shop, and a bunch of other random little places.
  • Mystic downtown: The non-Olde version. So many adorable gift shops. I walked with my friends to the library, and we probably spent two hours getting distracted by stuff on the way.
  • Sift Bake Shop: Their pastries are works of art. Like, they literally have commemorative watercolors of the pastries hanging on the walls. The place is also really cute inside. Highly recommend.
  • The Mystic River estuary: Does this count as a place? It’s kind of the whole area. It’s really pretty. Watch the sunset over it.

I also enjoy The Ditty Bag (sustainable goods and bulk store), the Ocean Community YMCA, and the Mystic and Noank Library. I like to study in the Carlton Marine Science Center and hang out with the shrimp in the lab. There are so many books just sitting in my house that I want to read, plus all my reading for class.

I’m excited to update this list as it gets warmer and I venture out more. (I did enjoy building snowmen on the museum campus yesterday after a snowstorm.) There are several more places I want to visit, including the non-spooky bookstore in town and Drawbridge Ice Cream at the drawbridge (I won a gift card during orientation). Right now, I’m enjoying my classes and home-cooked meals, and I have a feeling it’s going to be a great semester.

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