You are viewing a read-only archive of the Blogs.Harvard network. Learn more.

summer

You are currently browsing articles tagged summer.

I Summer in Paris…I Winter in Cambridge

July 10, 2012 by Reid | 2 comments

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying your summers thoroughly, and that the lovely [scary hot] weather at home is giving you all great tans and instilling a bit of fear…it’s quite the opposite across the pond, where the weather for Paris is always predicted at 70 degrees with 60% chance of showers. Fortunately, the rain rarely comes and falls for about 5 minutes, the wind blows, the clouds move a tad, and suddenly there is sun, until the wind blows again and the weather changes. It seems that everywhere I live has mercurial weather, but that’s perhaps because I haven’t lived in California or Antarctica. Hélas.

Besides the weather, which I kind of like but kind of hate passionately, Paris is wonderful. The limestone buildings glow in the evening light, contrasting against the grey sky, and the language rolls into my ears like rivulets twisting over slippery rocks. My words aren’t quite as beautiful; were they rivulets, they would pool in shallow depressions and eventually gain enough momentum to run onwards, creating an almost-constant sound. But that is how language goes, n’est pas?

And now I’d like to share a few moments from Paris with you, if you don’t mind.

 

The Phone

“But, only Asians live on the sixth and seventh floor. Are you sure you’re in the right house?” she asked, perched in her doorway, her face a mix of confusion and worry. I wasn’t sure. I had no idea, in fact, if I was in the right building, because apartments 40-47 were all built by the same architect in 1914 and were like six peas in a pod, neatly lining the street near Pont de Versailles station. “Non, madame, je suis super desolée mais je sais pas, est-ce que je peux utiliser votre téléphone, s’il vous plaît? J’ai pas assez de crédit, et ….” The woman whose home I’d entered handed me her phone with concern, and I dialed Anneli’s number for the sixteenth time, my fingers shaking and my eyes blurring with prickling tears. I turned away from the woman for a moment, waited, and heard nothing but faint clicking. Anneli’s phone wasn’t working, and neither was Mandi’s. I called Steven again, and for some reason, it went through, again; the only problem was that his calls weren’t connecting to either of the girls, and we were both about to run out of credit. It was already 9:00, and I’d been trying to get into Anneli’s house for exactly an hour to eat dinner and plan our evening. Obviously, it wasn’t working. Distressed, I thanked the woman and left the apartment building, knowing I was in the wrong place and that there was no way Anneli could see me from her 7th story window. I walked to the métro, defeated, and was letting line 12 rock me to sleep when my Bollywood-esque ringtone jolted me upright. It was Mandi, who said that her phone wasn’t working and that she couldn’t get through to Anneli either, and that she had just failed to enter her building. I told her I was going to meet Steven instead, as I hadn’t eaten, and she said she’d probably do something else and maybe I’d see her later. Our hopes lowered, we ended the call and I sunk back into my chair, my eyes closed, counting the 15 stops until my next transfer.

 

 

 

Puma Social

It’s a’ one two three take my hand and come with me cause you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine. His eyes were more than halfway closed, his shirt buttoned incorrectly, but his feet grooved to the driving beat. We threw our heads up and down, tasting the humid air with our hanging tongues as if to quench our wild thirst, but only succeeding in looking absolutely insane. To put it frankly, I didn’t give a care; I was on a perfectly-crowded, perfectly-lit dance floor in Paris with two awesome girls and thirty-odd French guys just off of Rue Oberkampf at 3 in the morning.  I swung my wet hair out of my face, singing the words to Jet’s best song along with the rest of the club, the only difference being that mine were correct and not tilted sideways with the smooth French accent. The music went on. I was so glad to be wearing sneakers instead of flats. I could dance forever, and had been dancing for at least two hours among well-dressed, kind of skinny, faintly cigarette-smelling men and my ladies, stopping to refuel on cold water and ice cubes snatched from champagne buckets. Mandi and I had gone to the bathroom a few songs ago, which was a thin corridor of black-lights and white writing, contrasting slightly from the higher-lit rest of the club; I was glad that I only looked relatively insane (maybe just suffering from a personality disorder). Now, however, I could be sure of nothing about my appearance except for the fact that it felt like I’d been swimming in the tropics for the past twenty songs and that the guys here were pretty good dancers and, if they weren’t, they were at least fun to watch. Four five six come on and get your kicks now you don’t need money with a face like that do you honey? Nope. I don’t. Which is good, because I don’t have any more cash.

 

Brunch

My iPhone charger wasn’t plugged in so there was no alarm, but it’s a good thing I am fast at getting dressed, because I’m already a half-hour late to meet Anneli for brunch and I haven’t even left my flat. Exactly twenty-seven minutes later, I’m at Bastille again, this time for the pleasures of Sunday morning, also known as brunch and less tourists in the Marais. I see Anneli (orange dress, grey sweater) before she sees me (orange shirt, blue pants). We embrace in our démi-français half-english way, hugging and cheek-kissing all at once, and decide on Fontaine Café for the morning special of croissants, coffee, and wifi. As expected, all are slow, but we have plenty of time to spare and it’s best spent together before the afternoon clouds roll in. Over buttery, feathery pastries and café allongé (luckily not the expected tiny cup of espresso) we let delicate French words roll off our ever-studious tongues, weaving stories of childhood and countrysides that bind our friendship tighter. A firetruck passes by, the siren tearing at my eardrums, the contents of the packed-vehicle eyeing us like we’d just eyed our croissants. A little boy in a red striped shirt and mussed hair reminds us of Hanna Anderson, yet another thing we had in common growing up, and more stories fill up the hours of the morning. By the time the waiter comes with the check, it’s hard to stop talking and stand up. It’ll be even harder to cease speaking French and leave Paris, but I suppose we have some time.

 

Les Étrangers

There’s little else cooler than seeing someone you haven’t seen in more than a year pop out of the métro via the escalator, and Tess was no exception. Our roles had changed, she no longer a foreigner in my state, me no longer the one speaking a native tongue. Tess and I had graduated high school together last June and by some twist of fate I’d ended up in Paris for summer school when she’d just completed her Baccalauréat in the same city, with high honors nonetheless. She leaves tomorrow for the south of France, to Montpellier, and I come the center of Vermont, just near the capital with the same name. But today, we were having coffee and catching up. As she smoked her skinny Vogues and talked about her upcoming years of preparatory school for Les Grandes Écoles, I couldn’t help but feel excited and bizarre; this encounter reaffirmed how intertwined our lives become as get older and meet more people. I used to be afraid of growing up, but at least for now, I’m liking it.

 

 

About class, if you want to know:

I love class but hate how people slip into English so easily. We are only in Paris for 6 more weeks, babes. Let’s stick to the nation’s tongue like taste buds. The readings for class are kind of a lot, but really interesting, so I don’t mind reading them. I haven’t been able to always get through the readings, but I find that we discuss a variety of things throughout class and so it doesn’t always matter that much. Class is kind of like this:

  • Sprint to school (fast-walk, at least). Jiyae (my roommate) forgets where to turn which always makes me laugh, but Reid Hall is across from the cool hotel with painted tree shadows on its façade.
  • Go over les actualités, from newspapers such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Le New York Times/International Tribune.
  • Brief history and summary of the arrondissement we visited the day before. (Side note: I thought this was going to be a stupid order, because I like learning about things and then going out and visiting them, but this works really well because our discussions are more grounded in experience.)
  • Discussion of parts of the texts we read.
  • Launching of the broad philosophical questions of the day, also prepared by the students responsible for the arrondissement of the day before.
  • 10 minute break, where most people buy 45¢ espresso. (I finally bought some yesterday, and met these awesome girls from Barnard and Hamilton who showed me how to use the supah-high-tech machine. Coffee wasn’t strong but tasted really nice, even though there was slightly too muchsucre.)
  • Discussion of parts of the text within the context of philosophical questions.
  • Done at 13h00.
  • Lunch until 14h00
  • Afternoon excursions until 16h00 or later, frequently with theatre or movies or supplemental activities after the excursions. (I tend to go home unless it’s mandatory, as I want to rid myself of my backpack and take off my shoes.)

 

How does this relate to Harvard? Well, Harvard made it possible for me to go, from offering the program in the first place to graciously giving me funds once I’d applied for them. If you have any questions about Study Abroad, especially summer, let me know!

À bientôt!

-Reid

Just doing some learnin’ near the Pantheon, sporting my future University’s hat — La Sorbonne

 

Guest Blog: My Life in the Macklis Lab

July 10, 2012 by | 1 comment

Janet Song, Chemical and Physical Biology Concentrator in Quincy House, Class of 2013

This summer (as with the past 2 summers and 2 school years), I’m working in the Macklis lab in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (SCRB) thanks to funding from the Harvard College Research Program. I’m a rising senior concentrating in Chemical and Physical Biology, who loves watching football, playing cards, and eating froyo.

The SCRB department in the fall

An aerial view of the SCRB department

I study corticospinal motor neurons (CSMN), which are the neurons that control voluntary movement – like moving your arms or legs. CSMN are located in the neocortex (the “cerebral cortex”; that’s the part of the brain that makes us human) and extend axons through the brain and down the spinal cord to make connections at every level of the brainstem and spinal cord, from the controlling centers for the face in the brainstem to the cervical spinal cord located at our neck, down to the lumbar cord located at our lower back. I am interested in characterizing genes that are specifically expressed either in the population of CSMN that extend axons to the cervical spinal cord or those that extend axons to the lumbar spinal cord to see what roles they play in axon outgrowth and building the “circuitry” during development. As you can probably imagine, understanding the development of CSMN is important for spinal cord injury (in which CSMN damage leads to paralysis) and diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease (in which CSMN are the brain neurons that degenerate and die, leading to paralysis).

Green shows the path that CSMN that project to the cervical cord would follow, while red shows the path that CSMN that project to the lumbar cord would follow

The Macklis lab uses mice to study CSMN development. One of the ways we investigate how genes function during development is by doing experiments using in utero electroporation. As the name suggests, this allows us to mis-express or knock-down the gene we’re studying in specific progenitor cells and neurons. We then analyze the developing mice a few days after that. Single genes each do specific things, like individual concert instruments, and, together, orchestrate the incredibly complex developmental processes that build the brain!

Of course, I wasn’t born with a pipette in one hand and a test tube in another. When I first joined the Macklis lab way back in freshman year, the only things I knew about neurons were that some of them were located in the brain and that they allowed us to form conscious thoughts. My Principal Instructor, Professor Jeffrey Macklis, paired me up with postdoctoral fellow Vibhu Sahni, who has been an amazing mentor through the years. Both Prof. Macklis and Vibhu have been instrumental in helping me to grow as a scientist.

Lab isn’t always fun though. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve repeated the same experiment over and over again because it failed the first time (and the second time and the third time …), and the hours are nothing to sneeze at. Mice aren’t thinking about what day of the week is convenient for you when they become pregnant or give birth. And I, along with most of my fellow undergraduates, spend time in lab on the weekends as well.

At the end of the day, though, I’m here doing research because I genuinely enjoy it. There’s a special kind of excitement that comes when you discover something that no one else in the world knows, and it’s that sense of possibility – combined with a pervasive curiosity about biological systems – that keeps me motivated. As I apply to graduate programs in biology this coming fall, I hope that I will continue to possess a sense of wonderment and inquisitiveness about the natural world.

Seeds of International Love

July 5, 2012 by Jeanie Nguyen | 1 comment

Harvard’s love may not be as scandalous as Pitbull’s and Chris Brown’s love, but it definitely branches internationally.

I had a friend from back home who was admitted into Harvard College but was torn between another comparable (cough cough) university on the West Coast. She was interested in global health and political matters so my plan of attack was to emphasize Harvard’s presence on the global scale which a lot of domestically well known universities in the US lack.

One of the most influential factors that drove me to commit to Harvard was the fact that there are not only its graduate schools (and their resources!) nearby, but its resources range far and wide beyond national boundaries. It’s an understatement to say that I’ve been extremely lucky and blessed because I’ve benefited from both.

During term-time, I work as a paid research assistant at the Harvard Kennedy School Decision Science Laboratory. As for the majority of this summer, I’m currently participating in the DRCLAS: SIP (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies: Summer Internship Program) in Peru. Allow me to backtrack to explain how I got myself in this delightful situation.

I started taking Spanish classes in 8th grade and completed all of my high school’s Spanish classes by the end of my junior year. I would have been able to take Spanish throughout my entire high school academic career, but I decided to skip a year and go into Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language as a high school junior. I didn’t really hesitate too much about this decision because with the advantage of growing up as a bilingual (Vietnamese and English) kid, Spanish had always come pretty easy for me.

However (cue horror music here), a burst of regret and tremendous trepidation overwhelmed me during my first week as a high school *junior (*edited 8 July 2012) when I couldn’t comprehend what was being said or anything I was reading in class. I admitted defeat after a short week and expressed my desires of transferring classes to my teacher who told me that the Spanish department extremely disliked students who went backwards due to all the trouble they go through to promote students forward. I didn’t know what to do – except to Google Translate everything in my workbook for hours each night.

 

The class, thankfully, got much easier after my diligence. In retrospect, I’m elated that I chickened out of chickening out!! AP Spanish – both the class and the exam structure – closely mirrors the Spanish Language and Literature classes that I have taken as an undergraduate student and undoubtedly prepared me well – but prepared me well in the classroom sense. Even after 4 more college semesters of intensive Spanish courses, I still struggle to completely understand Spanish and conjugate at a native speed…I’m working on it though!! The other day, I held a conversation with a taxi driver in Lima well enough that he believed I was from Mexico.

After so many years of Spanish classes, I became really frustrated about only seeing pictures of paella or gazpacho in textbooks and movies instead of actually seeing it in 3D for myself. Within the realm of science courses, I’m able to learn concepts and basically immediately apply them in lab that same week. However, Spanish started feeling like an abstract concept due to the fact that the language wasn’t applicable to my life outside of the narrow walls of the classroom. This frustration sparked my profound desires to study abroad during my college years because it’s an opportune time when you can drop all of your domestic responsibilities for new foreign ones!

My desires of studying abroad transformed into desires to work abroad – which I point out not to highlight how some of my desires may or may not be fickle, but rather to illuminate that changing your mind is perfectly acceptable. Harvard students are often epitomized as perfect students and although I don’t completely hate this reputation, it does indeed trigger tons and tons of pressure to feel like you always know what you’re doing to get to where you want. But as Natalie said in her post, indecision oftentimes unexpectedly leads you to where you want to be – and in my case, this was Peru!

After some online research, I quickly realized “studying” abroad wasn’t what I actually wanted to do. Whether the classroom was located in America or in a Spanish speaking country didn’t matter to me: I didn’t want to be in a classroom. I wanted to be spending all my time with locals and impressing myself by casually dropping the imperfect subjunctive whenever I could…go ahead and call me a nerd…my friends already do, haha

My obscure grammatical desires effortlessly intertwined with my premedically oriented personality and propelled me to apply to the DRCLAS SIP Peru Program to intern at a clinic. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the website because it’s pretty vague. Not to worry though – you can quench your curiosity with my next, ambitious post where I hope to summarize everything the DRCLAS kids here in Peru have done during the past 3-4 weeks!

 

**Sorry folks! I accidentally left this post as a draft without posting last week 🙁 Please factor in Peruvian time 😉 I’ve updated since then though so please forgive me!

Kemie Cambridge Barcelona

July 3, 2012 by Kemie | Permalink

It has been a good minute since my last post, so I am really excited to check in and update you on my status this summer.   I didn’t have the chance to share my summer plans with you all before I went on hiatus in the spring, but I am happy to share that I am spending the summer in Cambridge and working at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau until August.  I could not be happier with my decision to stay close to campus.  Cambridge is my home away from my real home (Fairfax, Virginia) so for me, Summer 2012 is all about embracing the familiar.

Embracing the familiar is a far cry from last year’s summer break.  Instead of staying close to home or on-campus, last summer I participated in the Harvard Summer School Study Abroad Program in Barcelona.  It was my first time spending any substantial amount of time in Europe, and I am so appreciative of the experience.  Even though it was a Harvard program, I met a lot of new people and formed lasting friendships.  As a group, we really took advantage of our weekends and used the time outside of class to travel.  I experienced a lot of previously unfamiliar cities (Madrid, Granada, and Seville to name a few) and took in some truly amazing sights.  Just as importantly, I became more comfortable communicating in Spanish in the classroom, and the street signs and side conversations throughout the city served as my (brief and superficial) introduction to Catalan.  All in all, last summer was a stimulating adventure.  Looking back on it now, I would not change a thing, but leading up to this summer I was definitely looking forward to something different.

The Barcelona Program on the last day of class

That being said, living in on-campus for the summer does not mean that I am not experiencing new things.  As I’ve mentioned a couple of times in the past, during the school year I live in Pforzheimer House, which is one of the three houses that are located in the Radcliffe Quad.  As a Quadling, I am used to having some distance between my home and the hustle and bustle of Harvard Square and the center of campus, but this summer I’m getting a taste of life on the (Charles) River.  I have summer housing in Adams House, and right now, I am loving the convenience.  I can walk out of my room and have a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee in my hand in less than 5 minutes.  The Quad commute is not as big of a deal during the school year, but during the summer the central location of Adams saves me from the oppressive heat and humidity.

From the Quad to the River

As I am writing this entry, I am realizing that even though I am in Cambridge at the moment, elements of my Barcelona Summer are still present.  At the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB), part of my work is to serve as a translator for Spanish-speaking clients.  The lectures and assignments for the course I took in Barcelona were entirely in Spanish, and I am not sure that I would feel comfortable in this position, if I didn’t have last summer’s experience to assure me of my capability.  On top of that, I met my summer roommate, Tessa, when I was in Barcelona last summer.  Tessa wasn’t in the same program as me, but she was working in a lab in the city so we got to know each other really well.  Tessa and I are also in the Crimson Key Society together, but we became good friends in Barcelona.  In the name of platitudes, I guess you could say that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.  No need to roll your eyes at me, because I already beat you to it.

 

Me and Tessa in Gerona last summer

Nothing concludes a post like a cheesy saying, so that’s all I have to say for today.  I hope that everyone is looking forward to a relaxing Fourth of July!

Right Place, Right Time

July 1, 2012 by npadilla | 7 comments

Follow your dreams. That seems to be a theme of my posts, but that is because I truly believe it. There are so many opportunities to do so at Harvard too—everything from growing your own vegetables, to engaging in political discourse, to theatre troupes with a long history. Yet the wealth of resources can also make us veer of course.

 

I (perhaps unfortunately?) was not one of the students that changed my major as often as I immersed in Lamont to study. Partly because all the departmental intro meetings often have delicious, free food at them, but mostly because for my first two years I was so entrenched in pre-college major that I didn’t give myself the freedom to explore callings that arose.

It wasn’t until junior year that I explored the Mind-Brain-Behavior Track Program & Philosophy Department. In senior year I took on classes in anthropology & history, and realized my dream was at the intersection of all of these courses, departments, and teachers: food education, nutrition policy, and cultural foodways.

 

Instead of jumping into a job the day after graduation, I took on a fellowship to research the artisanal food movement (which I begin this week!), and completed a yoga teacher training (YTT) program that spoke to my interest in healthy & holistic healing (complementary to nutrition). Its scary to take the road less travelled, but in doing so, you may just realize (as I did) that its the path your meant for.

 

Indeed, if I never stayed in Boston and did the YTT, I would never have met the amazing owner of the studio in which we did our YTT (Karma Yoga), Jesse Widner. Through Jesse I became involved with helping and expanding his non-profit C.A.R.E, (the Community Animal Rescue and Education organization) into new projects I probably will update more as the summer goes on and plans become solidified. I’ve found this work an extremely satisfying way of bring together my varied passions of community, yoga, healing, and education.

My YTT Tribe & Jesse in the middle at Karma Yoga!

So, wherever you end up, follow your desire and carve the path you want. More updates on a summer in Boston—including the beginning of the fellowship and my evolving working with C.A.R.E—to come.

 

~Natalie

 

“Ohhhh We’re Halfway There”

June 28, 2012 by Kate Meakem | Permalink

Hello friends!

Yes, it is I, after a very long sabbatical from writing, back to report to you about my life.

So wow, a lot has happened, but rather than bore you with a drawn-out narrative of the stressful end to my sophomore year (papers, papers, papers, Finals, Finals, Finals, PACK UP, MOVE OUT, OMG STORAGE IS CLOSING IN 30 MIN! AHHHHHH), I will share with you a few vignettes from my summer so far.  I have had some incredible experiences – some big and some small and meaningful.  But they foreshadow what I hope to be an amazing summer!

Before I launch into it, I’d just like to say that finishing my sophomore year has been a strange experience — I’M HALFWAY THROUGH COLLEGE!  What is this supposed to mean?  Do I even know what I want to do in life?  Am I ready to graduate in another two years?  Did I do enough with the two I just had?

As I contemplate all of these feelings, Bon Jovi’s song “Living On a Prayer” Living on a Prayer comes to mind, and that’s where I got the name of this post.

 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

In celebration of being done with all of our final exams, my roommates and I treated ourselves to buying tickets to a RedSox game.  I had never been to a RedSox game before and one of my roommates had never been to any baseball game before so this was a big event.

It was a wonderfully warm summer night, and the Boston fans were out in full force.  The Sox were playing the Indians, but not a single Cleveland fan could be spotted (I mean, they would have to be pretty brave).  My roommates and I arrived at a packed T-station, sporting all of the RedSox paraphernalia we could find.  Thrilled by the combined sentiments of being done with finals, of being at a Sox game, and of finding great seats even though we had paid for standing room-only tickets, we were giddy as we dug into our cracker jacks and hot dogs.

One of my roommates and me at the RedSox Game!

But in the moments after the ballpark had stood up to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” I admit, the happy feelings began to falter a bit.  Our sophomore year was over!  We were now halfway through our college experience.  We weren’t going to see each other for an entire three months.  And in just another two years, we would be separated by wherever life took us.  Everything just seemed so scary!

And so, embarrassingly, we had one of those girly, sentimental moments – right there, in the middle of Fenway Park.  A few tears may or may not have been shed.  And I don’t regret it one bit.  In fact, I think it’ll be one of the moments I remember most fondly when I do eventually graduate and look back at my college experience.  Because I was there, surrounded by my closest friends. Together we had grown to be new people, together we would continue to change during the next two years, and eventually together we would face the world.  And it wouldn’t be so scary so long as we had each other.

And that might be the corniest thing I have ever written.

But I mean it.

 

So freaking Patriotic

I went home for a week around Memorial Day, which is a big deal in the town of Sewickley, PA.  We host a huge parade in which every pee-wee baseball team, every Girl Scout troop, every high school band member from every high school around, every greyhound dog owner (don’t ask…), every vintage car owner, and every firefighter troop and its trucks, not to mention every veteran from every war (including reenactments of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars) march, jog, trot, play, and drive through the town.  In addition, the middle school’s Clown Club always provides alternative modes of transportation to its members such as unicycles and pogo sticks.

Not only is Memorial Day a big deal to our town, but it’s also a big deal to my family.  My dad is a Gulf War I veteran and we’re all very proud of it.  My dad will usually organize a group or fellow-vets to march in the parade and host a barbecue at our house afterward.  This year, the town asked my dad to give the public address at the post-parade commemorative ceremony.

As my dad stood in his dress blue speaking about the heroism of those who fight to defend our freedom, I felt so proud and so loved surrounded by my family and my community.   It’s a feeling that I sometimes forget when I’m at Harvard, hustling and bustling from one activity to another.

My sister, my dad, and me after my dad’s speech on Memorial Day!

But as I watched the parade march by, the same parade I had been watching every Memorial Day since I can remember, and as I was feeling this great sense of family and community, I couldn’t help but also feel a sense of separation.  Less and less do I feel like Sewickley is my home, and more and more do I feel like its part of a very loving past.  It wasn’t a sad feeling, just a different feeling, one that I accepted.  I had been living at Harvard the past two years, Harvard was my home now.  And well, I guess that’s what you get after you finish your sophomore year.

My sides hurt from Cartwheels and Laughing

During the summer, when most Harvard students are off campus exploring the world, the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) suspends its normal programming and starts up twelve summer camps for low-income kids around Cambridge and Boston.  These twelve camps constitute PBHA’s Summer Urban Program (SUP).  Like everything else at PBHA, SUP is student-run, so I am working this summer on what we call Fulltime SUPport (get it?).  I like to tell people that the job is a combination of administrative work and manual labor.

We hauled 60 chairs from the Harvard Recycling Center to our Mission Hill Summer Program camp site for their classrooms. It was a 97 degree day. In the background is one of my friends cheering when we finished!

SUP is a great community of awesome students working together to change the lives of elementary and middle school students.  But beyond that, it’s a great community of friends.  We live in the Radcliffe Quad in Cabot House, and in the evenings, after camp is done for the day, we use the Quad to play soccer, run around and have fun.

This summer, I have compiled a short bucket list of things I would like to accomplish.  One of these things is to be able to do a cartwheel.  Now, I know this is a basic part of many people’s growing up, but somehow between my never-ending stages of gangly awkwardness, I never could quite get there.  I remember when I was probably three or so, my mother signed me up for a Gymnastics course, and at the end of the class while all the kids performed cartwheels and summersaults to the “Ooooo”s and “Ahhhh”s of their parents, my only contribution to the performance was a Donkey-kick… in which my teacher had to grab my legs and kick them up for me.

Yes, clearly I am gymnastically-talented.  So finally, at the age of 20, I am determined to accomplish this great feat.

With the help of a few good SUP friends, I practiced on the Quad Lawn for about an hour, slowly progressing, but never quite getting it.  By the time it started getting dark, I was sore all over from trying to propel my legs through the air (don’t laugh…) and from laughing with my friends at each of my awkward crashes to the ground.

I haven’t accomplished a full cartwheel yet, but it was a great evening, one I shared with close friends as we looked forward to what the summer would offer us.

And that’s all I have for now!  As you can see, I have some pretty mixed feelings about beginning the second half of my college experience.  A large part of me is screaming, “I don’t want to grow up!!!” while all the while, I keep looking around and seeing the ways I already have.  It’s a funny thing.  But you guys get to witness the whole process.  Should be interesting to look back and read all of these entries in two years.

Cheers!

Cambridge in the Summer Time

June 17, 2012 by npadilla | 8 comments

Harvard Square and the outskirts around it exude feelings of small town culture and community. At the grocery store you happen by your favorite coffee barista, and by the river you give a wave to a friend from MIT. So spending the summer here in Cambridge has been a real treat, filled with great community events and lots of areas to get some sun while enjoying the best the city has to offer.

 

This week was particularly great, with some awesome events this past weekend & some outdoor places on my list to visit. Check out this list below for some things to consider doing if you find yourself in Cambridge for the summertime.

 

Herbstalk, June 9th

  • What an amazing event! This past Saturday, I went with a few friends from my yoga teacher training (and even our teachers were there as well!) to the Somerville community space (The Armory) for an event on discussing and integrating healing herbs into our life. There were classes ranging from how to use herbs to make natural lotions, what herbs into integrate with aromatherapy, and how to heal diseased with natural herbs. Between the entire information download, you could stroll through the expansive herbal market place and pick out a favorite tea, homemade lip balms, or deliciously flavored honey.  The event was a hit in its first year and I expect it will continue again—if it does and you are here next summer, certainly check it out!

Taking a class on healing herbs in the warm sun!

Dragonboat Festival, June 10th

  • There are many events during the summer around here that celebrate the cities multiculturalism. This is just one of the many, but its location (taking place on the beautiful Charles River) was certainly a draw.
  • Our yogi tribe decided to make a weekend of it and headed over. The river was filled with boats decorated in vibrant colors and followed with the deep beat of the drums in each boat.

Watch the dragonboats go!

Farmers’ Markets, ongoing beginning around June

  • Time to rejoice—farmers market season has begun again! While the armory also hosts a winter farmers market, the full spread of summer vegetables and berries begin to emerge now as the farmers markets of summer open. The one nearest my summerhouse in Davis Square has just begun, and Harvard and the Food Literacy Project host their own farmers market near the Science Center beginning this upcoming Tuesday. If you’re in the area, drop by organic produce or kombucha on tap!

Get your fill of kombucha on tap, at the Harvard Farmers’ Market

Mt. Auburn Cemetery, on a clear day

  • Boston is a city full of history, and Mt. Auburn Cemetery is no exception. Built in 1831, this cemetery is not ordinary gravesite, but is filled with the headstones attributable to some of Cambridges’ historically famous elite including B.F. Skinner (professor and psychologist), Edward Everett (former US Secretary of State and Governor of Massachusetts), and John Rawls (Harvard philosophy professor), among others.
  • On top of that, the cemetery is a breath-taking place to visit filled with thousands of shrubs and plants along the hills, expansive ponds and waterways, and woodlands with more than 5, 500 trees of 700 varieties. Given this, the location is a favorite for Cambridge bird-watchers. Come on a clear day and ascended the main tower of the cemetery to get a 360-degree view of the city from up high.

The beautiful view from atop the Mt. Auburn Cemetery Town w/ my Cambridge & California friends

Walden Pond, during a warm to hot day

  • A bit of a drive, or else a ride on the commuter rail over, Walden Pond is the former home of Henry David Thoreau where he wrote his infamous book, Walden. The expansive pond is still full of forestry and wildlife, and it’s a great place to cool off on a hot day.

Taking a dip in Walden Pond

Cambridge Commons, on a sunny afternoon

  • Between all the gallivanting to and fro these great events and historical sites, you may hope to find rest somewhere and refuel. If it’s a nice day outside, try to make it out early and find a restaurant with a patio. The restaurant Cambridge Commons is a favorite choice of mine for just this. There are a group of wooden tables seated on the main street out on Mass Avenue. Located conveniently close to Harvard, Cambridge Commons has a great selection of food for a nice brunch out.

 

 

Home Sweet Home

June 13, 2012 by Scott Yim | 2 comments

I’ve only been home for a week and a half, and now I need to start packing to move back to Cambridge for the summer. Wow, time really does fly by. Before I know it, it’ll be the start of my second to last semester at Harvard. Scary!

As I’ve mentioned, I’ll be proctoring for Harvard Summer School and doing some independent research in the undergraduate labs on campus for the next seven weeks. Before all of that starts, though, I wanted to make sure I was really taking advantage of this 3-week, no commitment window. It doesn’t happen often! I was invited to speak at my community’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life, which was happening the day after I got back from my filming trip overseas (ouch, jetlag!). I’m sure many of you have (or had) things you were super involved with in high school. Two of my greatest passions are volleyball and public service, so I really structured my high school extracurriculars around them. In 2009 (senior year), my best friend, Madison, and I started the first Relay for Life in our community. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Relay, it’s an overnight event when teams of about 10-15 people camp out and walk around an indoor or outdoor track. The goal is to keep one representative from your team on the track at all times for the entire 24 hours. The premise behind this idea is that cancer is a disease that never sleeps, and therefore, the walkers don’t either. Fundraising occurs months and months before the actual event and Relay itself is filled with live music, games, food, and more. Each one that I’ve been to is unique in its own way; Harvard has its own Relay and it’s extremely different from my community’s event. However, it’s all for the same great cause, and at Harvard’s event, fraternities, sororities, and other student groups come out to fundraise, support, and walk. I think both are awesome. The reason why I flew back from my filming trip specifically for my community’s Relay is because this year was a special one. In just four years, we hit a total of $1 million raised. Unfortunately, the day was filled with wind and rain, but over 1,000 people still showed up to walk! It was almost like it was 80 and sunny outside. The event was truly unbelievable.

Madison and I speaking at my community's Relay for Life!

Madison and I speaking at my community's Relay for Life!

Attending Relay was the last thing on my agenda while at home, so it’s been nice to finally be in one place without anything to do. Since then, I’ve been bumming around, relaxing, working out, and soaking up boredom while it lasts. I think everyone needs a bit of “me” time after a period of hard work (i.e. my spring semester) in order to rejuvenate and reflect on your experiences. I can’t believe it’s almost over though! Two days ago, Madison and I went up to Mt. Sunapee, closer to northern New Hampshire (I live right on the border of MA and NH, right on the southeastern corner) and went on a (relatively) easy 2 mile hike. Hiking and being outdoors are some of my favorite things to do, so it was sweet getting away and being surrounded by nature for the entire morning and afternoon. For those of you who will be attending Harvard in the fall, you should consider the First-Year Outdoor Program (FOP) for pre-orientation! I did a different one called Dorm Crew, and don’t regret it at all because I met some of my closest friends through it, but if I could have done more than one, FOP would have been next on my list. Caroline has written a lot about the program in previous blog posts and I know a lot of amazing people who’ve loved it. By the way, it’s her 21st birthday today!

I’m traveling to New York this weekend to see a few of my blockmates (people you choose to live with in the same dorm building after your freshman year) who are all working internships there. One reason I like college summers better than high school ones is that I’ve been lucky enough to have friends in different cities, so it’s nice to see some familiar faces when you visit somewhere new. The next time I write will be from campus, and I’m sure I’ll have something about New York or being back at Harvard to write about. Until then!

At the top of Mt. Sunapee awkwardly using self-timer!

At the top of Mt. Sunapee awkwardly using self-timer!

The crazy month of June!

June 11, 2012 by Caroline Burke | 1 comment

I can’t believe it’s June already! Even though I finished exams way back on May 12, it’s been a pretty constant rush over the past few weeks: I transitioned from school immediately into a backpacking trip for Harvard FOP, and then have been spending the past couple of weeks starting research for my senior thesis. Here’s an update on what I’ve been up to!

Exam period was absolutely crazy for me this year: I ended up writing 75+ pages in four days (distributed across papers and take-home finals) and then had two tough exams right at the end of the week. Needless to say, I was pretty burnt out by the end of it all, and was really grateful to have the opportunity to go up to the woods on a training trip with FOP. This year, I was leading a “switch” training trip, which meant that my co-leader and I spent ten days in New Hampshire teaching trainees the art and form of FOP trip leading. Most of the time, we got to kick back and relax while the trainees practiced leading; other times, we would set up “simulations,” which gave them the opportunity to practice their outdoor medical training. “Switch” trips are half backpacking and half canoeing, and we were really lucky to have BEAUTIFUL weather while we were out on the lake. It was 75 degrees and sunny almost every day!

 

My trip at WFA medical training

Me and my co-leader!

Throwing up the switch "S" at sunset

Once I was out of the woods, I started transitioning into research for my senior thesis.  I think (?) I wrote about this briefly in an earlier post, but I was really fortunate to find an advisor from the Sociology department who’s allowing me to work as a research assistant for him on a study that he’s developed for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. I was able to put some questions on the bigger survey that will directly target the issues of health and healthcare that I’m looking to address in my thesis, and have gotten a lot of support in developing my question and using different research methods. It’s been really interesting to be part of the bigger project, as it’s my first time doing formal research outside of the classroom, and I think it’s been a great opportunity to get a taste of academia. Between my 3-4 weeks working as a research assistant for this summer and my 9-week summer internship for a consulting firm, I’m hoping to get a taste for different post-grad options. (It’s also terrifying to already be thinking about “post-grad options,” but that can be the subject of a different blog post)

I took my first trip to Coney Island this summer!

This coming week is going to be exciting for a couple of reasons: Wednesday is my 21st birthday, and I’ll be officially moving into my summer sublet in Cambridge this coming weekend. I also spent this past weekend celebrating my younger brother’s 16th birthday… Needless to say, there’s a lot going on around here! I’m looking forward to my last official week of summer before my internship starts!

We're turning 16 and 21 in the same week!

Post-Graduate Life: An Italian Family & Yoga on the Grass

June 6, 2012 by npadilla | 2 comments

Hi everyone!

 

My apologies for the sudden disappearance for the last few weeks: with post-graduation festivities and settling into summer housing and programs, things have just begun to smooth out.

 

My time as a student at Harvard may be over now (at least as an undergraduate), but that doesn’t mean I’ve let go of Harvard Square and the Harvard community so easily. This summer I’ll be participating in two programs in Cambridge, MA in conjunction with Harvard College: Harvard-Karma Yoga Community Yoga Teacher Training Certification Program (which I’m in the midst of right now), and a research fellowship with Harvard’s Schlesinger Library (which I will begun right after my teacher training is done).

 

Before I get into the amazing Harvard-Karma program and what its like beginning summer in Boston with a bunch of yogis, I wanted to give a quick update on the graduation festivities!

 

Graduation week (May 21st to the 24th) flew by, attributably largely—I believe—to the fact that I had 10 family members staying with me and touring Boston…

With my grandparents peering out to sea

My mum & dad at the wharf 

…and Harvard together.

Outside the freshman dining hall (Annenberg)

My aunt and her boyfriend hiding from the rain as we tour Harvard

Some of my family, such as my grandparents, had never been to Boston before and it was great taking the time to re-explore this place in potentially my last summer here. We even were able to cook a full family meal together and it almost made up for missing Thanksgiving these last four years! A child of Italian heritage, pasta, bruschetta, and cannoli’s flowed plentiful from the kitchen.

Many cooks in the kitchen, with my brother Adam and mum

A real Italian-style feast

My second family who has graciously allowed me to stay through the summer: my friend Dylan and his mum Pia

Graduation itself seemed to take place in the span of two. Wednesday was Class Day, which focused on just the Harvard Undergraduates graduating complete with hilarious speakers (Andy Samberg and Barney Frank) and four great student speakers as well. The whole event was less formal and featured a lovely pre-picnic before the speakers.

With the boyfriend before senior picnic

Senior friends at senior picnic

Commencement day was on Thursday and began early at 6am with a Senior Breakfast, church service, and was filled with tradition at every turn—everything from men in top hats to a full speech given in Latin! It was a whole day affair, but the ritual of it all was amazing to witness—traditions that have been around for hundreds of years it really makes you feel part of something larger than yourself.

Note the sports-announcer-esqu explanation of commencement and its many traditions

All of Harvard Universities’ schools from the Law School to the Business School to us undergraduates was presented and united together on Thursday as each of our respective school deans declared we had met the requirements to graduate and each graduating class broke our into much deserved cheers. After a final song from the choir and the local sheriff declare the event over, we all marched the deep drum of the Harvard band out to our undergraduate house. Once there we received our diplomas with family and friends in company: a perfect ending to a beautiful day.

 Bright and early on commencement day!

With my blockmate, Anita, at our house’s diploma ceremony

Diploma officially in hand!

When Friday morning rolled around, I was sad to bid farewell to my family members but was able to find solace in my new endeavor—training to be a certified yoga teacher. A recent program began between Harvard University and Karma Yoga studio in Cambridge where students received discounted 200-hour-certification in exchange for teaching yoga for free to underserved populations in our local community. I truly believe in the healing potential of yoga and meditation, and in its ability to show individuals that they can each become self-empowered—that we all have that potential within us!

 The whole group: Om Shanti~

I am truly grateful to be part of such a great community and to learn so much about myself and from others post-graduation. As many of my Harvard friends left town, it was great to be able to truly find friends and encouragement in this new program.

Teaching each other

Learning & growing together

…And jumping off the footbridge into the Charles River together…!!

Summer so far has been beautiful, if occasionally rainy, and I’m using the opportunity to take advantage of my last few months in Boston—exploring local farmers markets, opting into new classes and workshops I’ve always wanted to take, exploring amazing parks and greenery, and trying out new restaurants as well as old favorites. Next entry I’ll write back with some of the specific events I’ve been checking out in case you too ever find yourself around Harvard for the summer—it’s a wonderful place to be!

 

Until next time~

 

~Natalie

« Older entries § Newer entries »

Proudly powered by WordPress. Hosted by Pressable.