Around The State In 152 Days

By Larry Ferguson Editor

What do amazing food, top-tier entertainment, and the wonders of the world have in common? The answer is that they’re all just a few stops away! Whenever you catch wind of an awesome event, the location is always a big factor in deciding whether or not you’ll go. Sometimes doing something fun involves traveling a lot more miles than we can or are willing to take ourselves. That’s where the U-Pass comes in. As an HCC student, you can use it to go anywhere in the state of Connecticut via public transportation for a small fee.

Nowadays, the cost of living is one of the biggest issues that people have to deal with, and for a lot of people, that means creating a travel budget so that we can go places and enjoy our lives can be a huge stressor. Gas prices are ever fluctuating, and that’s only something you have the luxury of worrying about if you’ve been able to scrape together enough money for a car and have enough on hand to keep it running. Due to these factors, the cost-effective solution of public transportation is a fantastic option to keep open. Despite how cheap it can be to travel by taking a bus or a train, those fares can start to add up very quickly if you’re someone who likes to move around and find fun wherever it may be. With a U-Pass, whether your destination is one for business or pleasure, you can get there as many times as you like for a small fee every semester, which may even be covered by financial aid.

Connecticut is effectively your oyster as long as you have a U-Pass, so how exactly do you get your hands on one? All you have to do is make your way to the Housatonic campus and pay a visit to the wonderful people at the Student Accounts Office in Room L-123 at Lafayette Hall anytime Monday through Friday between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM. To investigate just how much effort goes into getting a U-Pass, I attempted to get one myself and find out firsthand. When I entered the Student Accounts office, I was greeted by Khanh Ngo, an accountant from the Housatonic Business Office, who was extremely helpful and answered all my questions about the U-Pass. When asked, Ms. Ngo said that all a student needs in order to get a U-Pass is their “banner ID number” and a sticker for the current semester on their Student ID to verify that they’re currently enrolled at Housatonic. Once I produced everything she needed, I received my U-Pass. The entire process took about two minutes and was extremely simple. A standard U-Pass typically costs $63 a month, but this easy -to-obtain student U-Pass is $40 and is good for an entire semester (about five months.)

Once you’ve got a U-Pass, it is officially adventure time! Using it is hassle-free. All you have to do is board one of the eligible public transportation services and present your U-Pass alongside your Student ID to a ticket inspector, and you’ll be on your merry way. (Visit https://housatonic.edu/u-pass to view the full list of U-Pass-eligible transportation services.) With so many cities and towns eligible for you to explore, it may be intimidating to choose a place to start, but if you want to try somewhere that gives you a little taste of everything, South Norwalk is the place for you. Once you arrive at the South Norwalk train station, you are within a fifteen-minute walk of numerous awesome attractions.

If you love movies and have been starved of a classic theater experience since the times of the pandemic’s peak, you’re in luck, as you’ll find that you’re only a nine-minute walk away from the AMC SoNo 8 movie theater. This theater has a beautiful exterior that will take you back in time. The building is constructed with beautiful brick that evokes an older era, and an interior aesthetic to match. This building even has an old-school marquee letterboard outside to affirm its vibe. Even more enticing, the theaters inside have been updated with all the amenities of modern theaters with comfortable reclining seats, food trays, and bold, vivid, audio/video systems, giving you all the benefits of an antique movie-going experience and none of the drawbacks.

If movies aren’t your speed, how about a trip to the aquarium? If you love aquatic life, or perhaps want to experience the wonders of an aquarium for the first time, the Maritime Aquarium is just an eleven-minute walk away from the station. For about $30, their beautiful collection of marine life can be viewed and enjoyed to your heart’s content.

Of course, if you don’t want to limit your adventure to one big moment, after just 15 minutes of walking, you will find a place with plenty of variety: the modern and upscale mall, The SoNo Collection. Here you will find a plethora of stores, boutiques, restaurants, and services you can treat yourself to within a luxurious shopping center.

The surface of what Southern Norwalk has to offer is just being scratched here. There are hundreds of other places to visit and thousands of other ways you can spend your day while there, but Southern Norwalk is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exploring the treasure trove of amazing places the state of Connecticut has to offer. The best part about it all is that all of these potential activities you can partake in will be unrestricted by the cost of travel thanks to the wondrous power of the U-Pass. The downtown areas of many other beautiful cities like Fairfield, Milford, and New Haven have plenty of unique yet equally fun and exciting places for you to explore using public transportation. The only thing keeping you from your next adventure is a trip to the Student Accounts Office!