Macs are gaining ground on PCs on college cam- puses.

The current economic crisis has hit home for many college students on financial aid. But Tufts remains com- mitted to meeting the needs of all stu- dents currently receiving aid.

In an e-mail to the Tufts community earlier this month, University President Lawrence Bacow promised \u201cto meet the full financial need of every undergradu- ate we admit.\u201d

\u201cOur highest priority is to meet our financial aid obligations to our stu- dents,\u201d Bacow told the Daily last week. \u201cWe will do everything to try and pro- tect that.\u201d

At Tufts, the undergraduate schools\u2019 annual operating budgets provide the vast majority of funding for financial aid. For the last two years, the univer- sity has been admitting students on an

unofficial need-blind basis, in which admissions officers evaluate applicants without considering their ability to pay.

Tufts will not be able to deter- mine until March, when the Office of Admiss- ions finaliz- es the Class of 2013\u2019s makeu p, whether the

economic climate will prevent the continua- tion of this practice, according to Director

Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) acquired a license last month certifying the group as a classified ambu- lance operator in the state of Massachusetts, but TEMS mem- bers say the group has no plans to actually obtain an ambulance.

The license, which the Massachusetts Department of Health\u2019s Office of Emergency Medical Services approved in early September, gives TEMS the same recognition and accredita- tion as any other ambulance ser- vice in Massachusetts.

\u201cThe whole idea of the license is to give TEMS more of an offi- cial standing,\u201d said senior David Kudlowitz, TEMS\u2019 director of operations.

running, and the idea first started as far back as 1999,\u201d said senior Jonathan Nadler, executive direc- tor of TEMS.

TEMS has no plans to actually operate an ambulance because of the vehicle\u2019s high mainte- nance costs.

In fact, TEMS already operates at a standard that is equal to that of other ambulance services, so the new license will not result in any changes to the group, accord- ing to Nadler.

\u201cWe have been preparing for this for a number of years. We\u2019ve been on top of everything,\u201d Nadler said. \u201c[The certification] is not going to change much, it\u2019s just going to give us better recognition with the state and the administra- tion.\u201d

bership to Chemistry Professor David Walt earlier this year, rec- ognizing his development of specialized sensors that can both cap- ture images and perform biochemical analyses.

Walt joined Engineering Dean Linda Abriola in the NAE ranks when he was elected in January, along with 64 other new members from across

the country and nine foreign associ- ates. The NAE made its choices pub- lic in February.

\u201cIt\u2019s a very gratifying recognition, not just for me but for the students who have been working with me for the past 20 years,\u201d Walt said. This year\u2019s new additions bring the total NAE membership to 2,227 domes- tic engineers and 194 foreign associ- ates.

The NAE, based in Washington, D.C., is part of the National Academies, a group of organizations that advise the federal government on science, engineering and medi- cine. NAE members are elected by their peers.

At Tufts, Walt is renowned for his application of micro- and nano- technology to biological issues and

his practical research in areas such as the detection of explosives and chemical warfare agents. In addition to his role as the Robinson Professor of Chemistry, he serves as an adjunct biomedical engineering professor at the School of Engineering. He has been at Tufts since 1981.

Election to the NAE is \u201cpartly hon- orific, but certainly a role in which we solicit [members\u2019] advice regarding the advancement of engineering,\u201d said Randy Atkins, the academy\u2019s senior program officer for media and public relations.

Atkins stressed that the honor is very significant, as very few people are elected. Members are primarily chosen for past contributions to their fields.

Walt expects the most significant difference in light of the honor to be that he will probably spend more time traveling, as he will be expected to serve on advisory committees that provide guidance to Congress and the president.

Associate Chemistry Professor Elena Rybak-Akimova, one of Walt\u2019s colleagues, said that she expects that students will be happy to know that they have a professor as accom- plished as Walt.

Walt\u2019s election was \u201cwell deserved,\u201d she said, \u201calthough this recognition may be somewhat overdue.\u201d

According to Walt, the NAE is \u201cfocused on the right things, like the importance of science and technol-

He cited the influence of a 2007 book, \u201cRising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,\u201d which addresses the need to keep America competitive with eco- nomic, scientific and technological developments happening through- out the world. The book was written by National Academies organiza- tions, including the NAE.

Atkins and Walt both emphasized that the NAE\u2019s governmental-advis- ing process reflects a significant team effort based on the collaboration of talented engineers from around the world.

Walt said he intends \u201cto help them come up with some specifics about how to achieve these goals.\u201d

the downturn has left administrators on the Hill with their own issues to con- front.

Administrators are predicting a dip in the endow- ment, and large capital projects will be put on hold, with smaller construction proj- ects possibly fol- lowing suit.

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be evaluating vir- tually everything to make sure we

continue to operate the university in a pru- dent way,\u201d University President Lawrence Bacow told the Daily. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a look at

a whole range of expenditures, and at this point it\u2019s too early to say what we\u2019re going to do, but we\u2019re tightening the belt on liter- ally everything.\u201d

This means all new capital projects, such as the planned construction of a new biol- ogy lab and of the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, will not be able to move forward.

\u201cBasically, anything that\u2019s large is not going to happen until the credit markets loosen up,\u201d Bacow said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a deci- sion which we even make; it\u2019s a decision that\u2019s being made for us.\u201d

Smaller construction projects also face the potential of being put on hold. Summer maintenance performed on buildings fits into this category, according to the presi- dent.

But most of the school\u2019s costs, such as salaries, are fixed. Salaries make up the majority of the university\u2019s operating bud- get. \u201cWe\u2019re not expecting there to be any sort of change in our operating budget per-

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Police Department (TUPD) officers on Oct. 15 found a car in the Carmichael parking lot that they believed to have a fraudulent parking decal. It turned out to be registered to a different car.

The police followed up the following day at 11:05 a.m. and discovered that a senior had registered his car and given the parking decal to a sophomore. The sophomore, a resident of Wren Hall, wanted to park closer to the dormitory, according to TUPD Sgt. Robert McCarthy. A report was turned over to the dean\u2019s office.

TUPD officers driving around campus at 12:57 a.m. on Oct. 18 found three white males standing on a sidewalk, one of

whom was urinating. The offi- cers approached the men, who said that they were from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and were visiting a Tufts student.

The officers went to South Hall with the three males to verify this with the student they claimed to be visiting. The Tufts student confirmed they were visiting from Lehigh.

In the student\u2019s room, officers observed bottles of vodka, rum and whiskey, as well as several racks of beer. The four individu- als were under 21. The alcohol was confiscated and a report was sent to the dean\u2019s office. Lehigh was notified of the inci- dent.

\u201cintoxicated and combative male\u201d in the lobby of Lewis Hall, according to McCarthy. Somerville Fire Department and Cataldo Ambulance Service, Inc. responded along with the Tufts police. When officers arrived, they were informed that the male had moved to the fourth floor.

When they confronted him there, he stated that he had not been drinking. He was swaying back and forth, holding onto a doorframe for balance, and he smelled of alcohol, McCarthy said.

The student refused to show identification or go to the hos- pital and continued to act com- batively. He was placed under protective custody and brought to the Medford police station.

formance for this fiscal year,\u201d said Thomas McGurty, vice president for finance, explaining that the university is prepared to pay for the budget\u2019s fixed expenditures.

Among the factors causing projects to be stalled is a decrease in returns on investments. \u201cOne area where cost has increased has to do with borrowing costs,\u201d McGurty, also the university\u2019s treasurer, said.

Each week, the university sells variable-rate demand bonds to tax-exempt mutual funds such as those held by Fidelity and Putnam. The interest rates on these funds are going up because the funds themselves have recently \u201ccome under substantial stress,\u201d accord- ing to McGurty.

The cost of borrowing spiked about a month ago, but it has since declined. The interest rates on the funds are reset each week.

Tufts\u2019 endowment has declined with the drop in the national market. \u201cEverything is down; our endowment is down as well,\u201d Bacow said.

The university assesses its endowment most precisely at the end of each quarter, but conducts monthly reports as well. \u201cOctober has been so volatile. It\u2019s difficult to say where we are,\u201d Bacow said.

Despite the current economic situation, Tufts administrators agreed that it would be unwise to make drastic alterations to invest- ments.

\u201cWe make adjustments to our investment strategy only if, as and when the needs of the university change, but not in response to changes in market conditions,\u201d Tufts\u2019 Chief Investment Officer Sally Dungan said in an e-mail. \u201cWe continue to have a well- diversified portfolio and we will be raising some cash so that we can be on our front foot and take advantage of good opportunities as they come along.\u201d

Bacow echoed her sentiments. \u201cWe invest for the very long term, and we know for the very long term the place to be is with a prudent asset allocation that is divided up between equities, between real assets, between fixed incomes,\u201d he said. \u201cYou want to be steady and disciplined in your approach to that.\u201d

The university skirted a mini crisis in August, when an admin- istrator removed approximately $130 million of working capital from the Commonfund Short Term Cash Fund and put it into Treasuries just weeks before the majority of the fund\u2019s assets were frozen. About 60 percent of the money remains frozen.

Although they have not lost any money, over 900 colleges and uni- versities that invest in the fund do not have full access to over $9.3 billion, according to Bacow. He credited Tufts\u2019 shrewd move to Associate Treasurer Darleen Karp.

\u201cWe had become concerned about the overall liquidity of the markets and the potential impact it could have on the fund, given that the fund held some longer- dated securities,\u201d Karp said in an e-mail to the Daily.

The financial crisis has been something that all colleges have had to grapple with. While Boston

University also had no money in the Commonfund when it was frozen, the school has taken pre- ventative measures similar to those of Tufts.

\u201cWe instituted a hiring freeze, and we will not begin new capi- tal projects until we\u2019ve seen what the ripple effects are,\u201d BU spokes- person Colin Riley told the Daily. \u201cWe\u2019re not in any financial dif- ficulty \u2026 Right now there haven\u2019t been any other effects, other than what we put in place on our own.\u201d

Riley said there has been a decline in some of the BU endow- ment\u2019s investments, but he echoed Bacow in noting that short-term losses can give way to long-term gains. \u201cUnless you sell them, you haven\u2019t lost anything,\u201d Riley said.

Back at Tufts, McGurty explained that while there is no way to know what will happen next in the financial world, \u201cWe\u2019ll be closely watching the effects of the financial markets on the broader economy.\u201d

He is unsure of how Tufts will react to any developments. \u201cThe depth and the duration of this sit- uation [are] really not understood at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to make plans and forecast.\u201d

But Dungan said Tufts will have to think long-term in order to confront the financial crisis.

\u201cThe consensus is that the U.S. and global economies will face challenges for some time to come,\u201d she said. \u201cThe stock mar- kets usually lead the economy out of recession by six to 18 months, but it is impossible to know how soon a turnaround may occur.\u201d

Despite Tufts\u2019 economic hard- ships, individual donors to the university have remained active of late. The Annual Fund is perform- ing better this year than it was at the same time last year, accord- ing to Christine Sanni, director of advancement communications and donor relations.

Tufts had its best fundrais- ing year in history last year, in large part due to Frank Doble\u2019s $136 million gift in April. While it would take another extreme- ly large gift to help the univer- sity surpass last year\u2019s record, the Advancement Office\u2019s Director of Central Development Programs Chris Simoneau said the school is still on track to meet the goal of Beyond Boundaries, the current capital campaign, which aims to earn $1.2 billion by 2011.

\u201cThe life of a campaign is lon- ger than any economic turmoil in recent times,\u201d Sanni said. \u201cWe\u2019re in good shape because we\u2019ve had good success in the early years.\u201d

Still, the Advancement Office is not ignoring the marketplace\u2019s turmoil. \u201cWe\u2019re focusing on com- municating with our donors,\u201d Simoneau said. \u201cWe\u2019re not back- ing off, but we\u2019re being sensitive.\u201d

Part of that communication means reaching out to donors not necessarily to ask for money, but to talk to them about different issues and encourage other sorts of involvement, such as volun- teering for an event.

Simoneau also pointed out the diversity of Tufts\u2019 donor base, which draws on over 100,000 indi- viduals, businesses and organiza- tions. \u201cNot all of those are affected equally,\u201d he said.

Technical Services Manager Geoffrey Bartlett, TEMS\u2019 admin- istrative advisor, said that \u201ca number of practical obstacles\u201d stand in the way of operating an ambulance at Tufts.

\u201cWe would be required to garage the ambulance, and that would change the nature in the way TEMS works,\u201d he said.

\u201cIn terms of our protocols, nothing is going to change,\u201d Nadler said. \u201cMost of the rea- son being, for the past number of years we\u2019ve been operating under the stance of getting licen- sure. So we\u2019ve been compliant with all the regulations.\u201d

TEMS volunteer Alice Tin, a junior, said that an ambulance would limit TEMS volunteers\u2019 mobility by requiring them to band together at all times, because an ambulance takes three people to operate.

be wherever we want to be on campus,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there is a call, the person who has the TEMS truck will drive and pick everyone up. If we had an ambu- lance we would need to be at the station all the time.\u201d

Bartlett said owning an ambu- lance would also be imprudent. \u201cWhen we look at the volume of calls TEMS responds to over the course of the year and con- sider the number of times that the ambulance would actually be used to transport the patient, it wouldn\u2019t be cost-effective for the university to operate at that level,\u201d he said.

Bartlett explained that in emer- gency situations that require an ambulance or a stretcher, out- side emergency medical services will continue to provide ambu- lances. Kudlowitz said TEMS\u2019 emergency vans can do almost as much as ambulances can any- way.

call a \u2018real ambulance\u2019 is that we don\u2019t have a stretcher. Everything else is exactly the same,\u201d Kudlowitz said. \u201cWe\u2019re trained the same way, we take the same amount of class time and we take the same exact tests.\u201d

Bartlett said that even with- out a physical ambulance, TEMS plays a critical role in handling campus emergencies.

\u201cTEMS still provides a valu- able service in that they\u2019re able to arrive earlier than the ambu- lance and yet provide the same level of care as a basic life-sup- port ambulance until the ambu- lance gets there,\u201d he said.

TEMS volunteers are ready to assess emergency situations before an ambulance arrives at the scene, Bartlett explained.

\u201cEffectively they\u2019re bringing the equipment and bringing the skills and training of an ambu- lance to the scene a lot sooner and beginning to treat the patient even before the ambulance gets there,\u201d he said.

that the economic downturn is having \u201csome impact\u201d on Tufts families\u2019 assets, citing decreas- ing home values and savings. But there have been fewer effects on families\u2019 incomes. Both assets and income become factors in the financial aid pro- cess.

\u201cIn general, this kind of downturn means individual families need extra help,\u201d Reilly said. \u201cWhat we need to be pre- pared for is most likely there are going to be families who hadn\u2019t expected to need financial aid or hadn\u2019t expected to need sub- stantially more, and because of the financial markets things change.\u201d

She stressed that the econo- my\u2019s effects on Tufts students have been relatively minor so far.

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen yet a big surge in families reporting that they\u2019re unemployed, or that their assets are gone or that they can\u2019t borrow,\u201d Reilly said, not- ing that there was only a two- percent increase in the number of applicants who applied for aid this year. \u201cIn fact, this fall, the number of people who paid their bills on time is higher than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d

But officials must wait to see if rising unemployment will translate to increased demand for aid next fall. Meanwhile, decreased confidence in the

credit markets has not signifi- cantly impacted Tufts students who receive loans, Reilly said.

The university has one of the lowest rates in the country of students defaulting on their federal loans, making it easy \u201cto find lenders who were happy to do business with us,\u201d Reilly added.

Around the country, though, many college students are hav- ing a tougher time securing pri- vate and federal loans since the crisis.

As of last week, 137 lend- ers had stopped making fed- eral student loans and 36 had stopped issuing private ones, Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, said. This means \u201cthat students will have to hunt around a little bit more to find a lender,\u201d he said. The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, the state\u2019s largest student-loan provider, stopped offering private loans in July; it has begun offering some of them again.

Kantrowitz finds that eco- nomic worries have affected financial aid in three areas: availability, cost and eligibility.

Increased credit-score min- imums for private loans will impact low- and moderate- income students, first-gen- eration college students and minority students the most, he explained.

dized and unsubsidized fed- eral Stafford loans will not be impacted by the crisis because their issuance does not depend on a borrower\u2019s credit history.

Federally guaranteed parent loans, PLUS loans, to a \u201csmall percentage of borrowers\u201d could be affected, Kantrowitz said. Users are not allowed to have an \u201cadverse credit history,\u201d which includes, among other things, having had a foreclosure in the last five years.

\u201cThe major impact has to do with the length of the education program,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents at four-year schools are going to be more profitable than stu- dents at two-year schools, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen discrimi- nation against some students at two-year institutions.\u201d

But in many cases, this is not an issue for students at com- munity colleges, who often do not need to enter the private market, since safer federal and state loans cover their lower costs of education.

At Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, officials have seen a recent increase in enrollment from students seek- ing a cheaper college path, said Melissa Holster, the school\u2019s financial aid director.

\u201cWe have a lot more students applying to aid and a lot more students opting to come to community college,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause they don\u2019t want to spend the [extra] money.\u201d

Macintosh computers are no longer reserved for the artsy-fartsy type \u2014 just walk into a large lecture hall on any college campus to find myriad white apple icons glowing on the back of note-takers\u2019 laptops.

With Macs\u2019 inherent user-friendli- ness and high safety rating \u2014 in addi- tion to their \u201chip\u201d factor \u2014 the percent- age of students choosing them over PCs is continuing to rise.

Though Apple computers only hold about 15 percent of the demographic\u2019s market share, according to a report by Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, 40 percent of college students say their next computer purchase will be a Mac. College students also purchase Macs at a much higher rate than the overall population, in which Apple holds only

Junior Hannah Chang, the Mac representative for the Tufts campus, said she switched from a PC to a Mac after applying for her job with Apple and has never regretted the jump.

worked fine, but my friend told me about the [campus representative] job so I looked it up online and got my new Mac laptop for free,\u201d Chang said. \u201cI like how Macs start up quickly, and the battery life is really long. You can record your class lectures, take pictures on Photo Booth and use Garage Band. The built-in camera is great because it can help you communicate with family back home really easily. Macs are not just aesthetically pleasing, but every- thing about them is really easy to use. My MacBook also doesn\u2019t get as hot as my PC used to get.\u201d

problems with her old PC, is similarly pleased with her decision to switch to Mac.

\u201cI was fed up with my old Dell laptop. It stopped working and it would just shut off randomly. I always heard that Macs were less prone to viruses and that

said. \u201cIt took a little getting used to, but it wasn\u2019t too hard. Overall, I am really happy with [the Mac].\u201d

Judi Rennie, supervisor of Tufts OnLine, said that relative to the amount of Macs on campus, the number of stu- dents who bring their Apple computers to receive tech support is quite small.

\u201cI can\u2019t think of a year when we saw more than a fistful of Macintosh com- puters,\u201d Rennie said. \u201cWe see much more complicated fixes on PCs. There are no real viruses on Macs, and the Mac OS X is so much kinder and gentler

than even the old Macs \u2026 It is really a self-serving machine. You can slap in the TechTool CD and it is able to repair the computer for you so you don\u2019t need to bring it in [to us].\u201d

\u201cThere are no known viruses for Mac OS [X] 10. It\u2019s in virtue of the way the security is set up. I\u2019ll make a concession and say that because we have [a small portion] of the entire market share, there is very little incentive for anyone who wants to start a virus. [Also], Macs can\u2019t use .exe files, which are how most viruses are encrypted,\u201d she said.

Touching doorknobs, taking a sip from a friend\u2019s drink at a party, shar- ing a pint of ice cream, smoking a friend\u2019s cigarette, giving a significant other a kiss \u2014 this is the kind of contact that the college experience entails.

But the instances that define the collegiate experience could also jeop- ardize it.

During the last week in September, an outbreak of the Norovirus spread vio- lently and rapidly on the Georgetown University campus. A group of viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis, the Norovirus is extremely contagious and easily spreads through person- to-person contact. With so many peo- ple living in such close proximity to each other, a college campus is the prime location for something like the Norovirus to take hold and prolifer- ate.

Georgetown sophomore Dave Wilkins said the epidemic affected everyone in some way.

\u201cIt was pretty confusing at first, because initially, everyone thought it was dining hall-related food poison-

ing,\u201d Wilkins said. \u201cMy friend was one of the first people infected, and every- one in the ER was initially comparing what they\u2019d eaten recently. The cam- pus pretty quickly went into quaran- tine mode. Everyone started carrying around hand sanitizer and trying to make sure they were keeping healthy because pretty much everyone knows someone who got sick.\u201d

Despite such a \u201cconfusing\u201d expe- rience, Georgetown\u2019s response was quick and direct. The university\u2019s Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson sent nearly a dozen e-mails to the student body detailing the school\u2019s response to the virus and updating students and staff about the number of students infected and the severity of the infections.

\u201cI am writing to notify you that O\u2019Donovan Dining Hall will be closed for breakfast and lunch today, with breakfast temporarily relocated to McShain Lounge and lunch in the Leavey Center. We are taking this step as a precaution after being notified overnight that approximately 25 stu- dents were treated at the Georgetown University Hospital for symptoms

In his second e-mail, Olson noted that by late afternoon of the same day, 96 students experiencing symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea or dehydration had been treated for gastroenteri- tis. With the cause of the illness still unknown, the District of Colombia Department of Health (DOH) was called on site to conduct food safety and epidemiological investigations.

By the next morning, the DOH con- firmed that Norovirus was the cause of the sickness. Immediately, student resident halls were cleaned with a specific focus on common areas and high-contact surfaces such as bath- rooms, doorknobs and handrails.

Georgetown freshman Catherine Urfer said that the university made every effort to halt the spread of the virus.

\u201cFree hand sanitizer and electrolyte fluids were provided in our common room, and the school provided us with $13.50 in order to do our laun- dry and wash our sheets,\u201d Urfer said. \u201cBasically, it was bad for the people who got sick, but it was comforting

othing makes me feel like more of an American than my passion- ate love affair with black filter cof-

fee \u2014 aka my caffeine addiction. I remember fondly the days of chugging fair trade Ethiopian roasts before exams. In true yuppie/hippie/student style, I never went anywhere without my reusable ther- mos filled to the brim with black gold, always prepared to guzzle on the go.

Imagine for a moment then, oh over-caf- feinated reader, the dark day I entered my first caf\u00e9 in New Zealand. Never before had I found myself speechless (quite literally, as they don\u2019t use words like venti-half-triple- shot-soy-macchiato here) in the presence of a barista.

Eyeing the menu, I was distressed by the fact that nowhere on that chalkboard were the words \u201cdrip coffee\u201d written. On top of that, none of the available hot drinks cost less than $2, which, to be honest, is half the reason I drink black coffee as it is.

So, I panicked and ordered an Americano, figuring maybe that in Kiwispeak, \u201cblack coffee\u201d equals \u201cAmerican\u201d and \u201cAmericano\u201d equals \u201cfancy way of saying black coffee.\u201d Just like \u201cgrande\u201d equals \u201csmall,\u201d right? See, even my logic is ruled by American caf\u00e9 terminol- ogy.

New Zealand\u2019s caf\u00e9 culture is taken very, very seriously. I recently learned from my Lonely Planet guidebook that Wellington, the country\u2019s capital, has more caf\u00e9s per capita than New York City. Kiwis mean business.

As it turns out, the only places you can find filter coffee are in American-owned fran- chises like McDonalds and Starbucks or in the beverage section of the grocery store (in the form of instant powder).

Unlike in America, Kiwis do not drain large paper cups of coffee during rush hour. They sit down at tables, with other people, taking polite sips out of ceramic mugs and enjoying every delicious moment.

Not to mention that the caf\u00e9s themselves are more aesthetically pleasing than your average Starbucks. While I don\u2019t mean to belittle the global conglomerates for their superb taste in commercialized, mass-pro- duced art and choice of mood music (How many times do I have to listen to Norah Jones while waiting for my Frappuccino?), I must say that the personalized atmosphere of each caf\u00e9 makes the whole experience feel more authentic.

The ambiance in each caf\u00e9 is different, so you can always match your coffee date locale with your mood. Feeling artsy? Feeling crunchy? Feeling sophisticated? I can assure you that there are plenty caf\u00e9s with either original artwork or vegan food or sleek fur- niture (or all three) \u2014 within five minutes of each other. The hardest part is choosing which one.

Actually, the hardest part is choosing what to order. For a pure caffeine boost, try a long black (basically the equivalent of a single or double espresso shot). Many Kiwis also go for flat whites, which are interchangeable with caff\u00e8 lattes. All these choices are usually the cheapest, and have the highest caffeine content.

Looking to indulge? Splurge for a mochachino, a delicious blend of choco- late, espresso, sugar and whole milk. In New Zealand caf\u00e9s, a true mocha (added bonus: a snobby name pronounced mock-ah) can only be drunk one way: out of a large mug \u2014 with a generous sprinkle of chocolate powder \u2014 and very, very slowly.

Ultimately, it didn\u2019t take long for me to embrace Kiwi coffee. Sure, getting over the initial hump of mornings without mainlining French roast was hard, but the relaxed atmo- sphere and delicious fare of New Zealand caf\u00e9s made for an easy transition from American to coffee sophisticate.

Then again, whenever I need to relapse, there\u2019s always Starbucks around the corner. I know \u2026 Shame on me.

Ally Gimbel is a junior majoring in English. She can be reached at Allyson.Gimbel@ tufts.edu.