Church Street Mural

This mural is (partially) hidden on a side-street off of Church St. in downtown Burlington next to the M.A.C store. Check it out before it's replaced by a new mural - according to the Defender, it'll be replaced by a parade theme showing the history of Vermont.

Quick sidenote - the last Knightchat session is coming up: www.smcvt.edu/knightchat

Brunch Spot: Zabby and Elf's Stone Soup

Since the weekend is near, I'll provide you with a brunch spot suggestion. At the beginning of the year, my friend and Burlington local Greta introduced me to heaven on earth, also known to some as Zabby and Elf's Stone Soup. The restaurant, which only serves locally grown food, is located right off of Church St. and serves soups, salads, hot beverages and has a full bar of warm goodness to offer. If you're lucky, you can get a seat on the veranda and people-watch.

Vermont International Film Festival

A still of francophone Finnish film Le Havre, which was featured as the Vermont International Film Festival's first showcase film. Photo from The Guardian online. 

This month's biggest event in Vermont is none other than the Vermont International Film Festival, featuring films from 24 countries over the span of ten days. This year's themes are Food, Borders and Displacement, Freedom and Liberty and Egyptian Cinema.

I attended two screenings at Palace 9 Cinemas on the opening night: Le Havre and Tomboy. At $10/screening, the pricing is a bit steep but worth spending - especially to attend screenings during which the director will be present. There was no special event surrounding either of the films on the opening night, but Le Havre premiered in Burlington on the same night as the LA premier screening which is rather awesome considering that LA is one of the world's cinema capitals. Later on, I also watched Connected with two of my friends - one of which was Sarah Murray!

Here's the schedule for those of you who plan on attending! I highly recommend it; this festival brings much relief after being entrenched in a sea of blockbusters.

Downtown Burlington, its Eccentric Street Performers and Vibrant Nightlife

Downtown Burlington - diaporama pps

When my friend declared that Saint Michael's is "truly in the middle of nowhere", he was not entirely wrong but Church Street proves that the campus is only situated a bus ride away from one of America's liveliest towns with offerings such as the South End Art Hop, Fashion's Night Out, jazz nights at the Flynn and movie festivals at the Roxy. The streets of Burlington are throbbing with life; they're lined with crazy acrobatic shows, specialty boutiques, live musical performances and funky cafés. One of my most thrilling concert experiences was actually in Burlington; I attended the Alfredo Rodriguez Trio jazz cabaret night at the Flynn last Saturday and was blown away - the musicians were passionate and having so much fun, the audience gave lively responses and the intimate atmosphere made for a perfect night. If you're interested in reading more about the SMC Cultural Pass and the jazz night, you can click here to read Ben's post. And for your enjoyment - I present you with Burlington's very own street performers:

Campus Events

Before entering uni, my friends who had already survived their first year would encourage me to attend as many campus events as possible while prioritising.  I didn't really understand the value of this advice until this week, when I realised how many interesting events there are every single day; I've only been in school for one and a half weeks and have already had the chance to attend a labour day speech by Senator Bernie Sanders, meet Burlington mayoral candidate Jason Lorber, enjoy a presentation by photographer Jonah Kessel (who has worked for the NY Times, Women's Wear Daily, China Daily, etc.) and see Paul Loeb speak at the McCarthy Arts Center on campus. I'll be writing individual posts on these exciting events and covering all the G.O.T SKILLS events this semester so stay tuned! For now, here's a quick peek at some upcoming events on and around campus: