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Boston!

April 5, 2011 by Alissa D'Gama | Permalink

Congratulations to the class of 2015! We all remember when we found out we had been accepted to Harvard, and we know you have a big decision ahead of you. I hope many of you were able to get some of your questions answered during out Phone-a-thon this past weekend, when dozens of undergraduates got together to call every admitted student. Of course, we all hope you are also coming to Visitas (in less than two weeks!) and we have lots of exciting things planned for you!

Since Kate talked about the top 10 things to do when visiting Harvard, I am going to talk about the top 10 things to do in Boston. It is often said that undergraduates get caught up in the “Harvard bubble” and don’t head out into Boston as often as they would like, but when you do get a chance to cross the Charles, it is well worth it! There are still so many things I hope to do before graduation, and here are some of my favorites:

1. Take a walk around Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden! Depending on the season, you can take a romantic ride on a Swan Boat or go ice-skating at Frog Pond. During the sunny months, vendors selling Italian ices, hot dogs, and pretzels, and groups of street performers, line the paths and create a great atmosphere.

2. North End: The North End and surrounding area include historical points of interest like Faneuil Hall and the Old North church, as well as many yummy Italian restaurants and the famous Mike’s Pastries, which has *the* best cannolis.

3. Theater District: Just next to the Commons, the Boylston Theater District features typical movie theaters as well as Broadway-like shows (The Lion King, my favorite, visited last year!) and special shows like The Blue Man Group.

4. Restaurant Week: Twice a year, Boston restaurants participate in restaurant week, a week when lots of fancy restaurants  feature fixed price lunch and dinner menus. My favorite is Top of the Hub, a restaurant located on the top floor of The Prudential Center, with amazing views of Boston and Cambridge.

5. Visit the wharf and harbor: During the summer, friends and families have picnics on the grassy lawns in front of the Ocean, visit the New England Aquarium (where you can see really cute penguins!), or take a whale-watching trip.

6. Museums! Take advantage of the many museums in Boston, several of which you can get into free with your Harvard ID. A hidden treasure within Harvard is the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and there are many other art and history museums on campus. In Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science are must-sees!

7. Newbury Street: Essentially the 5th Avenue of Boston, Newbury street features everything from a four floor Forever 21 (I was a little too excited when it opened a few months ago) to big names like Prada, Marc Jacobs, Hermes, and Vera Wang. The street also features dozens of wonderful restaurants, including a Pinkberry and soon to open Berryline (we all love our froyo!)

8. Boston played a large role in American Independence, and one of the best ways to take in all the main historical points is to walk along The Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile brick trail that winds throughout Boston and stops at locations like the site of the Boston Massacre.

9. Duck Duck…Tour! Duck Tours are a classic Boston tour in WWII amphibious landing vehicles – in other words, the tour starts on lands and then takes you into the water. These tour are great for when your family visits!

10. 4th of July: If you plan to spend any of your summers at Harvard, 4th of July fireworks are one event you don’t want to miss. Spots are staked out on the Esplanade hours and hours in advance, and barges set off fireworks while the Boston Pops perform. It is a great time to hand out with friends and celebrate America.

Of course, there are lots of other things to do in Boston, but I hope this gives you a taste! I look forward to seeing many of you next weekend!!!

My Epic Adventure with Mary Poppins

March 3, 2011 by Kate Meakem | 11 comments

If there is one thing I regret about my time here at Harvard, it’s that I don’t ever get out.  There is so much to do on campus and in Cambridge that when people ask me, “So, how do you like living in Boston?” I have to honestly answer, “Well… I haven’t really been to Boston.”  It’s embarrassing.

I know a lot of kids that make the effort to go out and explore, it’s just that I’ve become so busy that when I do have down time, I find myself in my dorm or Lamont library socializing or “doing work” (the quotes are there for a reason).  And hey, they don’t call it the “Harvard Bubble” for nothing.

But this was not the case two Thursdays ago when my best friend Heather, who goes to Wellesley, called me up and asked, “Do you want to go to the Boston premiere of Mary Poppins tonight?!?”

I had a million reasons not to go.  I had an Economics 10 problem set to finish, I was exhausted from a week of late nights and hard work (or procrastination…), I really, really hated the movie (Mary Poppins freaks me out – the bankers, the creepy old people, the loud cannon thing that makes dishes fall, the TALKING PARROT), but then I thought, “Why deny myself this opportunity to see a little more of the world?”  So I went!

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

The musical itself was just plain fun.  I mean, who doesn’t love upbeat cheesy show tunes in concordance with lively choreography and brightly colored costumes?  But the BEST part was taking a break from the daily routine.

Of course, because my life is a comedy errors, I was late, one of my high heels got stuck in a crack between the bricks of the sidewalk, I almost missed my stop getting off the T (Boston’s version of a subway), I tripped and fell in front of EVERYONE going down the stairs in the theater… and the fire alarm went off (for the first time ever, according to the usher – of course, it was because I was there).

This is my best friend Heather posing outside of the theater with a fire truck after the smoke alarm went off. Photo cred goes to my cellphone.

Regardless, I had a fantastic time!  Of course, I then stayed up until 5:00 a.m. finishing homework… but it was totally worth it!

Has anyone else out there seen the musical?  What are some things that you’ve done as excuses to get out and about?

The advantages of city living

November 12, 2010 by Caroline Burke | 1 comment

In my opinion, Cambridge is the ideal college town. Harvard Square has the perfect blend of pizza joints, burrito places, and coffee shops; the blocks of Houses stretching towards the River provides a more traditional “campus” vibe; the Yard is beautiful and picturesque year-round. Yet despite my love for Harvard’s red brick buildings and tree-studded courtyards, a part of me is always excited to get an opportunity to head into the city. Another advantage of living in Cambridge is the Red Line: living two blocks away from a T stop makes escaping into Boston ridiculously easy. Normally I don’t have much time to make it downtown, but I was SUPER excited this week to enjoy not one, but three nights in the city!

Tuesday and Thursday night, I got a chance to go to concerts at two of Boston’s innumerable music venues. For those of you who are “up” on the music scene, Boston has a bunch of awesome concert venues that consistently bring both big name and up-and-coming bands. I, admittedly, am not very hip when it comes to music, but I’ve come to be introduced to a bunch of new bands over the past three semesters largely because getting to shows is so easy.

Tuesday night, I saw the Morning Benders at the Paradise Rock Club, near Boston University. Getting there was a bit hectic – I was running to catch a bus from my nighttime LifeSci 2 lab, and spent the entirety of the show smelling like formaldehyde from my cat dissection. They were great though! Last night, I saw Sufjan Stevens at the Orpheum, which is right by Boston Commons, and he was AMAZING. The pictures are fuzzy, but historically accurate!

The Morning Benders

Sufjan Stevens

Wednesday’s event was for one of Harvard’s student-run volunteer programs: CityStep, a group that mentors Cambridge middle schoolers by teaching them to dance, had a dress-up fundraiser at a club downtown Boston. My personal dance skills were lacking a bit in comparison to the CityStep volunteers (who generally can dance WELL), but it was still super fun and really nice to support my friends.

This weekend, I’ll be buckling down to finish a heap of end-of-semester work I have ahead of me: a Social Studies paper, Econ midterm, and sophomore Plan of Study (where I must outline my intended classes and concentration – more details to come later!) await my attention. Eek!

Seminars, Governments and Soirees

November 6, 2010 by John Kimani | Permalink

So one of the things that I like the most about Boston is the fact there is always so much to do, and there are so many other colleges around. About two weeks ago, we had our first Boston intercollegiate African soiree. The dress code was ‘classy’; the crowd was amazing, and the dancing insane. Some of my non-African freshmen friends who had never attended such a party before were blown away.

Other than partying, I have been up to more stuff (of course).  We had our first ballroom competition this semester on Sunday. It was amazing getting to dance waltz, foxtrot, rumba and swing after barely 2 months of learning the steps.  I did my fair share of stepping and got my toes crushed a couple of times, but I had a good time nonetheless. I would post pictures from the event but I have none that I’m in at the moment… I’ll definitely post some from the next competition 3 weeks from now.

Moving on, I have been at Harvard for two months now (yay me!), and about two weeks ago, I had one of my many “this is why I came to Harvard” moments.   Harvard has what we call ‘Freshman Seminars,’ which usually involve a big name in the faculty teaching a group of 12-15 freshmen (sometimes fewer) on an area they are really passionate about.  My seminar is on Negotiation and Conflict Management, taught by Professor Daniel Shapiro. He teaches at both Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School and is the coolest professor I know.  Last week, our class project was ‘An International Negotiation.’  When we got into class,  Dan gave us background info on a 1990’s conflict involving two countries, and our job was to advise a senior government official  on how he should go about negotiating in order to avoid war in less than a week (all true, by the way). So we brainstormed in groups and came up with all these strategies, and then Dan walked out and came back to class, accompanied by a high-ranking government official in one of the countries at the time of the conflict! (I’m being deliberately vague here: my professor doesn’t want the surprise spoiled for future classes). So each of us told him what we thought he should do, and he responded saying why what we said could or couldn’t work and pointing us to all of the complexities involved in the situation.  It literally felt like we were part of a president’s war cabinet. A week after the class, I’m still excited. Look out for volume two… no vagueness- I promise!

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