Harvard College Student Blog

Spring Break!

March 29, 2011 by John Kimani | 1 comment

Amazing! That’s the only word I can think of to describe my first Spring Break. I tend to love all breaks (lots of sleep, no homework, lazing about- what’s not to love), but this one was particularly enjoyable. The timing was also perfect, coming after a week of midterms. I took the opportunity to explore Boston during the first weekend by taking the ‘Freedom Trail’ which is a 2.5 mile trail through Boston that leads you to 16 important historical sites. This in many ways felt like a crash course in American history and left me feeling I knew Boston much better. I also visited China Town and had dim-sum. Ah, the joys of having a huge city a few minutes from Campus.

The next week my friend and I were in San Francisco. What a city! We went everywhere from Alcatraz where we saw Al Capone’s cell room, to Coit Tower which has a most beautiful collection of murals, to Haight-Ashbury which was a center of the hippie culture in the 1960s. Our hosts were phenomenal- they drove us around and showed us all of San Francisco’s hidden treasures. Oh, we also met up with a Harvard alum who took us out to dinner and showed us a grand time. See, that’s something I quite enjoy about Harvard, knowing that wherever in the world you go you’ll probably find people who went here, but I digress. The greater point is that San Francisco was amazing!

A note on being international, I thought San Francisco is supposed to be scorching all year long. In fact I was worried I hadn’t carried enough shorts and sandals. Turns out none were necessary- evidently it’s never really hot in San Francisco and it ended up raining for two days. I had fun nonetheless- I wasn’t about to make enjoying my spring break contingent on nature. Lesson: weather forecasts are there for a reason.

My biggest lesson from break was that all countries including Kenya need spring break (spring or no spring). We might also want to consider throwing in a break in autumn to compensate for all the years we’ve missed spring break (just saying).

The One (My thesis)

March 28, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | Permalink

I have mentioned in previous posts that I have been spending a lot of time this semester working on my senior thesis (!) I am happy to report that I turned it in last Monday and am excited for the rest of senior spring! Because I am a Molecular and Cellular Biology concentrator, the bulk of my thesis involved experiments in lab that I performed during my junior and senior years, and during the summer before senior year. This past semester, I then spent most of my time writing up my experiments and making figures (and doing a lot of editing!)

One of the things I realized as I finished up my thesis during Spring Break is that things generally take longer than you expect—which makes time management crucial to college (and most periods in life!). For example, on Sunday afternoon, I sat down to do a final read-through of my thesis. I expected it to take about an hour since I was just looking for spelling errors. Six hours later, I finally converted my Word document to a PDF and headed to Kinko’s to print out five copies. Two hours later, I had printed out five black and white copies, reprinted and inserted all the color figures, and had the copies spiral bound. It was awesome to see my thesis put together and ready to turn in!

The next morning, I headed to the MCB office to officially hand my copies to Tom Torello, the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies for MCB and CPB. Every concentration generally has a celebration when seniors turn in their thesis. MCB/CPB had lots of yummy drinks (including mimosas!) and homebaked cookies!

Although I forgot to take a picture with Tom, Eric ’11, and I (with Eric and I looking a bit tired…) here are somewhat representative pictures of the final stages of the senior thesis:

(1) Printing and binding the thesis!!! (My thesis!)

(2) Turning in the thesis!!! (Kevin ’11 with the Neurobiology Advisors Tamily and Ryan)

(3) The aftermath – my roommate Emma ’11 surrounded by (some of) the books she used in her thesis

Harvard Takes Me to Dubai

March 28, 2011 by Punit Shah | 2 comments

One thing I didn’t expect coming to Harvard are the number of international opportunities, generally funded by the university or other means, that allow students to explore the world. This spring break, I traveled to Dubai for an academic, cultural, and social exchange conference through the Harvard College in Asia Program (HCAP). Over the week I saw and learned about the United Arab Emirates, but more importantly, I made a really close group of friends from both Harvard and abroad.

The HCAP experience is a set of seven conferences that take place at Harvard and across Asia with all expenses paid except airfare. Each February, nearly 50 students from the top universities in their country come to Harvard for a week-long conference Harvard students put on for them. After a few lectures in the morning, we show the students Boston and give them an introduction to American culture. Then, over spring break, approximately 70 Harvard students split into six groups to visit one of the six partner universities over spring break. We aim to make the conferences accessible to all by having all expenses covered while abroad and by helping students gain university funding for the flight if they are unable to pay. This year, we partnered with schools in Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Mumbai, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Participating in HCAP and this trip to Dubai have been experiences I could never have imaged I doing just three years ago as a high schooler. My trip to Dubai took myself and ten other Harvard students abroad. We visited with high profile speakers such as the US Consulate General to the UAE to a leader in the push for opening medical tourism facilities in Dubai in order to learn about healthcare in the the region, the theme of this year’s conference. But after the academic portion of the conference, the American University of Dubai students took us for sightseeing, to the beach, and to their favorite hang-out spots. From the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest man-made structure, to hidden gems like an Indian street food restaurant, we saw all aspects of Dubai and gained a thorough appreciation of the locals’ propensity for setting world records. The students were frank about life there, both about the opportunities they’ve had in Dubai as well as the darker side of the city with workers living in harsh conditions to enable the emirate’s quick growth.

Spending nearly every waking hour with both my Harvard peers and having my life saved from crazy drivers by the Dubai students served as an effective formula to create strong bonds. Indeed, the relationships I built on previous HCAP trips I took to Singapore and Tokyo persist. I’ve received emails asking for a place to stay from my friends abroad, and I know if I ever travel through Asia, I have a bed waiting for me. These bonds have become even stronger in the past; HCAP’s first president eventually married a student he met while at the conference abroad. While I may never have that strong of a bond with the students abroad or even see some of them again (except possibly through Facebook), they have challenged me to think deeper, question assumptions, and peer outside my American paradigm for viewing the world.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Spelling HCAP on Jumeirah Beach

The view from the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest man-made structure

Taking a break from the desert safari through the sand dunes outside Dubai

Taking a camel ride after the safari

Visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, which honors the popular founder of the UAE

Visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the eighth largest mosque in the world, which honors the popular founder of the UAE

That was Ghungroo 2011

March 14, 2011 by Punit Shah | 2 comments

Managing 350 performers for four sold-out performances of four hour each? I would have said this was impossible a month ago, but my job as producer for the past couple weeks has been to provide some organization to, Ghungroo, the largest student-run production on campus.

Ghungroo is an annual cultural show held in early March by the Harvard South Asian Association. For me, the show extends far beyond the dances, skits, and music acts that make up the show. Rather, the show is the largest moment where our student organization builds the community of students excited about South Asian culture, performance, and pushing the limits of what they thought they would be able to do. Over half of the students are of non-South Asian descent and the vast majority have never danced before. After the performance, many students stay close to their peers in their dances. On the final night of the performance, nearly a hundred alumni from the show’s generation-long history return to cheer on the current performances.

Producing a show of this scale is a major feet. Apart from booking spaces, coordinating rehearsals, managing our technical and production staff with the help of our amazing directors Alethia, Jeff, and Sharmila, and selling over 1000 tickets, we’re maintaining a full course load and (ideally) still getting sleep and seeing our friends. But while we put in hundreds of hours over the month, I gained the confidence to mange people and play a critical part in creating something far larger than what I could do by myself. Harvard is great at showing its students that if they put their mind to something, it’s pretty tough to reach their limits; I have to say this definitely applies here. But as with any student activity, the best part is definitely meeting the other students and making friendships that far outlast the show.

Like any show, the most exciting day is the actual performance. Ghungroo is known for its colorful costumes, intricate set, and exorbitant energy:

The "Bollywood Oldies" dance

The "Nepali" dance

The glow-in-the-dark moon seen on the set during a filler by a dancer wielding glow sticks.

Lastly, sorry for the my lull in writing. With Ghungroo now over, I should hopefully have more time to provide updates on the blog. Next up: an update on my spring break trip to Dubai with the Harvard College in Asia Program exchange conference.

Our House!

March 12, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | 4 comments

Today, Harvard Yard is quiet as most students have gone home (or to a warmer place than Cambridge) for spring break, but on Thursday the campus was filled with yelling, cheering, laughter and tears. Thursday was Housing Day – the day when freshmen at Harvard find out which of the upperclass Houses they have been placed in for the next three years!!! Freshmen can form a blocking group of up to eight people that are guaranteed placement into the same House, and can link with one other blocking group that they are guaranteed to be placed into the same neighborhood with.

On the morning of Housing Day, students from all of the Houses gather early in the morning to deck themselves out in House apparel and deliver letters to students assigned to their House, followed by lots of shouting and cheering in front of Annenberg Dining Hall. Here, for example, is the Mather contingent (the best, in my biased opinion!) Of course, since Housing Day is right before Spring Break, students often have papers and midterms due that day (as I did freshman year), but generally the entire campus comes together for Housing Day, with professors laughing along as mascots from the Houses storm big freshman classes like Ec 10 and LS1b.

In honor of housing day, I went through my photos and found group shots of my roommates and I from freshman, sophomore, and junior year. Freshman year, my roommates and I were part of three different blocking groups, which were placed in Mather, Dunster, and Cabot. Every semester, we have a freshman roommate reunion at Nine Tastes, the restaurant where we went for our first roommate dinner together freshman year (which is where we were going when this photo was taken!)

Sophomore year! Here are my roommates and I right before winter break, sometime in the midst of reading period and finals, in the common room of our lowrise room in Mather.

Junior year! Here are my roommates (and our new roommate for senior year) right after the room lottery. We tend to have the worst luck, and got the lowest number in the lottery for junior year and for senior year. (Each house has a lottery to decide the order for picking rooms for the next year). We still ended up on the seventh floor of Mather tower this year though, so it was all good 🙂

Waka Waka

March 4, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | 1 comment

This past weekend, I took a break from thesis writing and went to the 26^th annual Cultural Rhythms with a couple of my friends. Every year, the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations puts on a wonderful show celebrating Harvard’s diversity and awards an Artist of the Year. This year, the artist was Shakira, of Hips Don’t Lie and Waka Waka (the official song of the 2010 World Cup!) fame. Needless to say, we were all super excited! Thankfully, we bought tickets early, and managed to get pretty good seats in Sanders Theater for the show. My friend Chris ’13 was even luckier, and won the lottery to get lunch with Shakira!!!

During the show, (which Shakira MC’ed!), a variety of different cultural groups from Harvard performed pieces, ranging from the Harvard Ballroom team and the Asian American Dance Troupe to the Kuumab Singers and Harvard Wushu (who had some crazy skills!) At the end, all the performance groups performed a fusion dance to Waka Waka and Shakira got up and danced along!

I walked away from the performance thinking about why I chose Harvard four years ago—in a big part, because of the students. Events like Cultural Rhythms showcase just one aspect of students at Harvard—everyone here comes from different backgrounds and has different interests, and I love seeing everyone pursue their passions.

Here’s Kevin ’11 (the co-director of CR last year) with Shakira!

Part Man, Part Monkey

February 18, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | 1 comment

Sorry for not posting in the past few weeks! I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’m involved with a club on campus called HUBSS – the Harvard Undergraduate Biological Sciences Society. My official role is the co-Career Coordinator, which means I am in charge of organizing events like visits from life sciences companies and career panels. However, the entire board (which is largely composed of my blocking group!) works together to organize a lot of our events, including our recent Night at the Museum: Survival of the Fittest (yes, we like science a lot). In honor of Charles Darwins’s 202^nd birthday, we worked with the Harvard Museum of Natural History to create an event where undergraduates could visit the museum after hours, enjoy mochi ice cream and local froyo favorite Berryline (with fresh fruit toppings!), and participate in behind-the-scenes tours of the museum collection.

To prepare for the event, I spent an afternoon walking through the museum exhibits (Harvard undergraduates get free admission with their ID card) and writing up questions related to Darwin and evolution for the scavenger hunt undergrads could participate in for the chance for winning gift certificates to a local sandwich shop (called Darwin’s Ltd!). HMNH is just one example of the amazing resources available to students at Harvard. Without the urging of my friend Jeremy ’11, an OEB concentrator who has been able to use some of the museum specimens for class projects, I probably would never have discovered how amazing the museum is. After my thesis is turned in, I plan to spend more time looking at all the exhibits, which include everything from dinosaur fossils to exquisitely crafter glass flowers in a special humidity-controlled room.

The night of the event, John ’11, Veronica ’11, and I walked to Trader Joe’s to pick up mochi ice cream. Thanks to a grant from the Undergraduate Council, we could buy $200 of mochi ice cream, which we learned meant filling our cart with 44 boxes of mochi (11 of each flavor – mango, green tea, strawberry, and chocolate)! Not surprisingly, we got some strange looks from the Trader Joe’s employees.

After lugging the boxes of mochi to the museum, we spent the night unwrapping the boxes for the 150 undergraduates who I hope had a pretty great time. It was a lot of fun to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a while since we’ve all been buried in our laptops writing our thesis and finishing up research. Remember, take a break every once in a while and do something fun!

Picture by Caterina Yuan ‘11 – note the awesome fossil behind John, Veronica, and me!

Week One

February 10, 2011 by John Kimani | 10 comments

I apologize for being a no-show over the last month. December brought with it finals, January was winter break… but I’m back in full swing. The first week of classes of Spring Semester is officially over. Shopping week was tough ; you know that feeling you get when you walk into a store full of amazing stuff, but you know you can only buy so much… it’s never enough. That is exactly what shopping week is like… you get one week to shop any class you want, that is attend the class, see if you like the professor, the material, the kind of crowd it draws, the fit… the whole shebang. But at the end of the week you can only choose about four (though people can choose to take 3, 5 or 6 classes). With all the courses offered each semester, it can be quite the ordeal choosing four. Overall, I’m quite excited about the four classes that I settled on. I’m taking a Macroeconomics class- it’s the kind of stuff I wanted to learn in my ‘Business Studies’ class in high school. I’m also taking Spanish, a writing class and math. I’m particularly jazzed with my Expository Writing class-not necessarily the writing part, but certainly the part where my writing improves.

Shopping Week- difficult choices

It’s also time to make summer plans. It can be frustrating having to come up with a shortlist of things to apply for, completing the applications, applying for funding, etc. But Harvard does make the process easier, for instance you usually have to complete one application for funding irrespective of the summer program you want to apply to. This can be very helpful for people who apply to lots of programs. I’ll let you know what programs I finally decide to apply to.

Winter in January

For the weather update, it’s February—one more month until the end of winter. Coming from the tropics- where 15C (59F) is considered really cold, dealing with sub-zero temperatures hasn’t been fun I was really scared of the prospect of three months of winter, but I can now safely say it is manageable… but then again perhaps I speak too soon, I’ll let you know if I feel the same way in a month.

Watch out for a post on my winter break … about my travels to Oklahoma City and New York.

A Hard Day’s Night

January 26, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | 1 comment

Although most of Harvard College was off campus during JTerm, some of us were braving the blizzards for our senior theses. Whether that meant hours in Widener with a stack of books and a laptop or hours in a lab with a pipette and a PCR machine, seniors could be seen eating in Annenburg inbetween doing experiments or writing another chapter.

Not everyone at Harvard does a senior thesis – it depends a lot on your concentration and whether you are interested in research. Theses can also take very different forms—my thesis, for example, is a write-up of the experiments I have been doing for the past several years in my lab, while for two of my roommates, their theses in Government and History of Science are based on their ideas about a piece of literature, a period of history, or a political philosophy. For me, I was excited to do a thesis since I have been working in a neurobiology lab since freshman year and I think it will be good practice for my actual PhD. It is also useful to think critically through my results and the reasoning that went into my experiments and learn to write effectively to convey my story to my audience.

Right now, I am spending a lot of time in lab wrapping up my experiments and interpreting my results, and I will soon transition to writing and figure-making mode. Luckily, a lot of my friends work in the same building as me, so we can visit each other and take breaks from our bench or computer screen. Here, for example, is Jeremy ’11 analyzing monarch butterfly migration and in his lab!

It was also pretty nostalgic to eat lunch and dinner in Annenburg during January. The dining hall is perfect for freshman year because your whole class is together and you get to meet lots of people you otherwise might not see if you were already divided into house dining halls. I got to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen for a while who were all on campus for Jterm like me! I really enjoyed hearing people summarize their theses-which were in so many different fields-and hear how excited they were about their work.

P.S. Upperclassmen are also allowed to eat at Annenburg during reading period, and we can eat breakfast there anytime 🙂

Secrets

January 23, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | 4 comments

My last semester of college starts tomorrow (crazy!) and I like to think I have become a little wiser over the past four years. From my first trip to Nochs and my first all-nighter to writing my thesis and applying to MD/PhD programs, I have learned some useful do’s and don’t’s during the past four years.

1. Make sure to take classes you really like. Sure, most concentrations require introductory and mid-level courses that you may or may not love, but when you are choosing upper level courses and electives, take time to shop classes, read syllabi, and pick courses that you will enjoy taking. I have found that I learn the most when I am taking a course with subject matter that I am really interested in, and am pretty lucky to be taking classes this semester that I will really enjoy and that will be useful for the next couple years of my life.

2. Find a place on campus where you can study effectively, whether with your friends or with yourself. Freshman year, I lived in a six-person suite and studied in Lamont Library, where you can always find a fellow study-er. Sophomore through senior years I studied in my beautiful Mather single, although many of my friends cannot study in their rooms or they are at a high (around 90%) risk of falling asleep.

3. Take a break sometimes. Everyone I know at Harvard is involved in some combination of classes, research, extracurricular activities, community service – you name it, and someone is probably doing it! Every once in a while, if you feel stressed out, or have been sleeping less than you want to, take a break. Sleep and don’t set your alarm, catch up on your favorite TV show, go watch the BSO or one of Harvard’s many music and theater groups, eat a two hour dinner with friends, or go for a walk in Boston (assuming it isn’t -4 outside like right now). You will thank yourself later. (Also, learn to take naps. They are awesome. The red couches in the basement of Northwest Labs are particularly effective for this.)

4. Don’t focus on competition. Focus on yourself. This can be said for when you are applying to college, when you are in college, and when you are applying to fellowships, med school, law school, you name it. If you compete, compete with yourself. I find this quote by Eric Burns particularly apt: “Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent. You need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive.”

5. Get involved in activities you are truly passionate about. Again, this can be said for high school, college, even (and maybe most importantly) your career. Try things out and find out what you like the best. Don’t do something just because it will look good. Do something because you will have fun doing it, and when you look back on the experience, you would do it all over again without hesitation.

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