Visitas de Veritate

            Well, it’s Visitas* weekend, and all the pre-frosh are here looking around. It was raining yesterday, but today the sun’s come out to give us some beautiful spring weather, the air is warm, and the trees and bushes are blooming. People probably think I’m a pre-frosh; I’m so excited that it’s finally spring that I’ve gone around taking pictures of every flowering plant I come across. I’ve developed quite a collection.

            It’s also kind of exciting seeing all the pre-frosh activities. Last year’s Visitas was cancelled due to the Boston Marathon bombing, so we’re living vicariously through the pre-frosh. On Friday, for instance, I went to a NROTC breakfast designed so that the pre-frosh could meet current NROTC students. I guess we started too early, though – we ended up with a ratio of about 5 students to every pre-frosh, so we mostly just talked to each other. Still, it was fun.

            After that, I went to another breakfast, this time with HRCF. They were giving a talk on theology, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, which I was planning on going to but missed last year. Besides, now I’ve actually read LOTR, so I wanted to hear what they had to say. It was very interesting, and the food was good. From there I went directly to lunch and met a friend with the pre-frosh she’s hosting and ate with them!

            Why go to lunch immediately? Well, that’s the downside of Visitas weekend. The freshman dining hall, but more than that, the whole campus, is swarming with people. Even going to lunch when it opened, I found myself in a crowd. The friend I met for lunch ended up studying with me in my room for most of the day afterwards, having fruitlessly looked for quiet space in four different libraries (I know, we have so many libraries – it’s awesome!). Luckily, I have a single to hide out in, so I content myself with curling up under the covers, studying, and eating Ramen noodles so as to avoid the dining hall as much as possible.

            I don’t spend nearly as much time studying in my room as I’d like, though, and it’s partly my own fault. Yesterday, for example, my a cappella group practiced, starting at around 1:30, and then went to staff a booth at the Activities Fair in the Quad**. A few of us ended up staying in the Quad for dinner, and afterwards we stayed even longer to watch Pitch Perfect, which I’d never seen before. I ended up staying in the Quad until past 10 pm, which led to some late-night study and not much sleep, but maybe it was worth it. I haven’t yet figured out that cost-benefit analysis – my prefrontal cortex isn’t developed yet, you know.

            A major difference between high school and college: in high school and below, around this time of year things are winding down. If my memory is correct, people have parties, review old material in class, and chill a lot of the time. In college, this is where everything gets frantic: finals are coming, papers have to be turned in, projects are getting finished up. Everything is coming due. I had my first final this morning, and it went pretty well. I’m also putting finishing touches on my draft of a 12-page research paper on Pride and Prejudice. Which means I’m also tempted to quote Jane Austen all over the place now. Well, there are worse things to quote.

            Oh, my goodness! It’s the last week of school already – just a few more days and school will be out! I’ll be a quarter of the way through my undergraduate career; I’ll be an upperclasswoman; I’ll move again! So much has happened, and yet the year’s just flown by. I’ve gone from spending most of my time studying to having so many other things to mention on here that I can’t fit them in!

            I will be on campus for another couple of weeks after this; after classes we have reading period until May 8^th, and then finals start. Since I don’t have any finals, I’ll be done about then, and then my parents are coming up to help me move while I can still stay in my dorm for free. So I’ll probably write another two blog posts and then sign off for the summer; we’ll see when we get there. Thank you so much for all your support and prayers throughout the year, and I hope your week is lovely! I look forward to seeing many of you soon!

* Visitas (a play on our motto: Veritas (Latin for truth)) is where all the pre-frosh (accepted students) come to visit Harvard. We used to wonder why it was so late in the year, but once we lived through a winter here, we understood.

**Quad: the Harvard-Radcliffe Quadrangle; four of the upperclassman houses (including mine) are here; it’s about a 15 to 20-minute walk away from the Yard (the main part of Harvard College, where most of the classrooms and all the freshman dorms are situated).

Final Sprint

            Well, this is my second-to-last Monday as a freshman – hard to believe. It’s gone by so fast, and I’m already a quarter of the way through this stage in my life. It’s been a long semester, the longest period I think I’ve ever spent without taking a good break somewhere in between. Everyone here is worn out; we’re ready for the semester to be over. Of course, we’ll miss the seniors, and once we’re all divided up in our houses we won’t see each other as often, so it’s a bittersweet moment. Still, everyone needs a break.

            I’ve gotten used to living on my own now, I think (though I’m still looking forward immensely to going home). Obviously I don’t have it all figured out; there’s still a lot to learn. But the idea no longer seems strange or even that scary; it’s a part of my life now – thought I’m still occasionally struck by the thought of my parents going about their lives without me around; I think I still subconsciously believe that the world goes into stasis in my absence. Wow – I’m using a lot of qualifiers. But then, that’s what life is: a balance.

            Enough musing. I had a wonderful Easter weekend; it started with a Good Friday service hosted jointly by the two biggest Christian groups on campus (the two I’m a part of) and featured singing, testimonies, and even a ballet dancer. More than that, it was great to see so many of my friends together in one place; I’m used to thinking of them in different contexts, but it turns out that a lot of them know each other already.

            Easter Sunday was fabulous; I woke up and enjoyed dressing up for church, now able to walk for twenty minutes in a knee-length skirt and shawl in 45 degree weather without feeling uncomfortable. The service was lovely, and afterwards I met a senior from MIT who is from Texas and actually knows where Seguin it! We talked for a while, and then I headed back to my room for some Bible study, a nap, and a great Skype^® chat with my parents and all four of my grandparents (It’s the first time since the beginning of the school year we’ve successfully gotten the internet connection to work well enough for video).

            I also had a nice dinner with a friend last night and then headed off to a surprise birthday party. The only problem being that the guest of honor never showed up – I guess that’s the risk you take by making it a surprise party. I did get a little work done on one of my research papers during the hour we spent waiting, so it turned out to be a productive evening. Overall it was a pretty relaxed day.

            Which means, of course, that today is not relaxed at all. It’s Patriots’ Day, in case you were wondering – Lexington and Concord. It’s also the day of the Boston Marathon, which makes it the center of Boston Strong. And there’s Easter. And Passover. And yet we have classes. Oh, well. I suppose it’s the thought that counts. MIT is off until Wednesday, though, which means that we didn’t have ROTC at 6:00 this morning – a definite plus.

            I have now reached that point in the year where I can write out a list – a very long list, but a comprehensive one – of every single assignment I need to turn in for the rest of the year. It makes one feel slightly overwhelmed, but I learned years ago that I feel a lot better if I can see what needs to be done, give it a spot in my schedule, and then cross it off as one more thing accomplished.

            I have a presentation and paper due tomorrow, two papers and a presentation due Wednesday, three papers and a presentation due at the end of reading period, an exam on Monday, and a take-home exam due on Wednesday. And of course, there are normal assignments. And so I’m returning to the same metaphor I immerse myself in at the end of every year or, in this case, semester – the final sprint.

            I suppose I have a special connection with this metaphor because of the timed runs we do for ROTC. Every time I bring up the phrase, I remember all those early mornings going around and around the track and finally knowing that this lap will be the last one, that when I cross the line this time, I’ll be done. Timing is very important: start too early and you’ll run out of energy; start too late and you won’t reach your potential. Hopefully I’ve timed things right.

            I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, and thank all of you again for taking the time to read! Just think - when I post again, it will be the last week of school!

            PS – If you’d like to see my a cappella group in action, this is the link to the video of our entire concert (along with MIT’s group opening for us).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLChmBxANRX4LFRYNXVP8Vi9-92q5VLqeJ

 

 

Christenings, Concerts, and Counting Down

            It’s been a fairly eventful week. Actually, it was mostly just a fairly eventful Saturday, for two very different reasons. So why don’t I start with that?

            Saturday morning, I was in Maine. It took an almost-three-hour drive to get to Bath, including our stop for breakfast, and we started early, at seven in the morning, all decked out in our Service Dress Blues (which are actually black). Once in Bath, we attended the christening ceremony for the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), the US Navy’s newest guided missile destroyer and the first of its class. There was a lot of speaking, all by very important people, ranging from Senators, Congressmen, and the children of Admiral Zumwalt to the Vice CNO and Secretary Mabus.

            The ceremony itself wasn’t terribly fascinating; we sat and listened to people talk about the virtues of the ship and its builders and the virtues of her namesake and his successors, and of course we heard about the wonderful people who had helped to appropriate funding for all the materials and labor for this ship. Afterwards we walked around, took pictures with the ship, and tried to figure out how many of the officers wandering around it was actually practical to salute. And eventually we grabbed some of the free snacks, headed back to the vans, and returned to MIT.

            I probably would have enjoyed the ceremony more if I hadn’t been constantly worrying about getting back to Harvard in time for our concert that evening. We started practice at five, and I didn’t get there until six, but everything turned out okay. I had time to change, and it turned out that keeping my hair in a bun all morning actually added some nice curl that made it look like I’d done more than just to take it down and brush it out.

            The concert itself was fabulous. I went from having no solos last semester to three this semester, and the songs were really great. It was the seniors’ last concert with us, which made it kind of bittersweet, but we all had an unspoken agreement not to think about it that much at the time, so it was mostly sweet. We stopped near the end of the concert for the rest of us to surprise the seniors with flowers and a song, which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy. It was a night to remember. I’ll post the link to the concert videos when they come out.

            I’ve been bordering on sick for a couple of weeks now, and my voice was already hoarse, especially with the extra practices we’d been having. It hung in there until the end of the concert, but I couldn’t talk yesterday, and I still can’t sing. Still, the music was great, and at the end of the concert we hung out with each other, some friends, and the Cross Products from MIT, who opened for us at the concert.

            We had a good time afterwards chatting and making up for an early dinner before the concert, but I left around midnight so as to get some sleep before PT this morning. We had the PRT today, and it was the last PT practice of the semester, but more than that, it was outside, for the first time this semester! I don’t know if I’ve just been deprived for months, but the weather outside is gorgeous. Not only are there colors other than brown, gray and white, but you can walk outside in a T-shirt and jeans and be perfectly comfortable, even be (almost) warm!

            And that’s not the only reason to be happy. Happy Holy Week, everyone! I received a lovely Easter package from my parents earlier that brightened my day. It’s also Passover, which means I don’t have Hebrew this week, giving me a little more time to study. I need it – I have several papers and presentations to finish before next week, and I’d like to have them done before this weekend. On Good Friday the Christian fellowships on campus are having an evening event I want to attend, and I’d like to have Easter Sunday completely off. We’ll see.

            This semester I feel like I’ve fallen behind on studying, partly because I’m starting to do a lot of other things, more social things, that I never really got into before, and partly because I’m just tired. The last couple of weekends have been busy, and I haven’t had a real break since January. When I get tired, as I’ve mentioned before, I stop worrying about things as much, stop working on things as hard, and it’s starting to come back to haunt my grades.

            Well, it’s almost over. I have one more onslaught of papers and presentations and two more take-home exams, and then I’m done. We’ve finished ROTC class except for final review, and the rest of my classes are starting to come down to final projects. I need to find some energy somewhere and start my final sprint, and hope that it makes up for lost time. Wish me luck, and Happy Easter!

Breaking Down Boston

            I think I’m just now realizing how much of life is made up of “other things.” By this I mean things other than the general extent of your occupation. Technically, as a full-time student, one would think I’d spend most of my time studying. While I do study and go to class for a substantial amount of time, much of my week involves meetings, conferences and activities. If I’m not performing or going to church or meeting someone for lunch, I’m dropping something off or depositing something or buying something. Perhaps, after all, life is a lot more about the “other stuff” than we sometimes realize – more about relationships, character-building, and learning than about the actual productivity. Not that the week has been unproductive. There have been the usual assignments, quizzes, and stressing. At the moment, though, weekends are at the forefront of my mind. This past weekend, for example, was very busy and also a lot of fun.
            On Friday morning I attended part of a conference on Middle Eastern literature and heard analyses of different authors and their writings, ranging from books to comics to poetry. The talks were in English, but it was interesting to hear the close readings done in other languages. Friday night I went to DOXA* for the first time in weeks and had a great time worshipping and listening to a good talk that reminded me to place God first.
            This prepared the way for Saturday, all of which I spent performing with my a cappella group. I hadn’t realized how extensive Break it Down Boston (BIDB) is. We left for BC** at 7:20 A.M. to meet up with Christian a cappella groups from Princeton, MIT, Yale, BU, UPenn, Penn State, Rutgers, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, NYU, and several other universities for the event.
            After the initial meet-and-greet, groups went off in pairs to designated areas around Boston to “sing on the streets”. We had the opportunity to perform at an assisted living and then sang outside. It was cold, so most people hurried on by instead of listening, but it was still fun.  We then headed back to BC to prepare for our joint concert. Every group, including ours, performed one or two songs, and it was great fun. Our songs (one of them performed for the first time in public) went fabulously, and we were blessed by everyone else’s singing.

             I have to admit, I was too tired to be overly excited at the end of the concert, but that wasn’t the end. Instead we headed back to Harvard for Relay for Life around 11:40-ish, sang a couple of songs, and then decided to go to iHop for breakfast. It was already past midnight; most of us had given up on getting a decent amount of sleep. That was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. Some combination of hunger, sleep-depravity, and carryover good spirits made it a night – er, morning – to remember. I know I’ve said this before, but my a cappella group is great, and I’m going to miss them, especially the seniors who are graduating this semester. We stayed chatting and eating at the restaurant until around 2:00 am.  Needless to say, I went to the late service at church on Sunday.
            I didn’t get everything done for school, but I’ll be alright. The mid-semester hurdles are over now; I just need to settle back into the normal routine of things. This morning we had Swim PT for ROTC and played water polo. I’d never played before, and I wasn’t very good – for one thing, it’s hard to remember who’s on your team – but it was fun. Now it’s time to finally go back to studying, though right now that doesn’t seem like it dominates my life.
            I’m still excited about weekends. This Saturday morning I’m going on a ROTC trip to Maine that promises to be interesting, and in the evening Under Construction will be performing in our Spring Concert, which I am even more excited about. And then it’s Holy Week, and that Friday the three main Christian groups on campus are hosting a showing of the Passion, and then it’s Easter!

            Everything is happening so fast, but I’m super excited for all of it! On the other hand, I didn’t get much of any ‘normal work’ done this weekend, so I should really return to what is supposedly my default setting. Bye for now!

*DOXA – (Greek word for “glory”) the large group gathering for Harvard College Faith and Action

**BC – Boston College

Middle Earth and Mid-Semester

            Well, I’m still catching up. We had a lovely time in Taiwan, but then I came back and still had three essays and a take-home exam to finish. Which I did, by the way, but with little time to spare. Most of the past week has been spent procrastinating, due to the lingering effects of Spring Break, and then having to rush to finish whatever it was I was supposed to be doing.

            It isn’t just indolence, though. On the flight to Taiwan I watched The Desolation of Smaug, and after many years of indifference I decided I should actually read Lord of the Rings. Which I have been doing for the last week-and-a-half, whenever I could grab time from other things. I finally passed the climax this morning, so it shouldn’t be much longer, but my life has been quasi-suspended since I started, so it’s probably good that I’m close to finished. Still, I’m getting some studying done. I spent all Saturday studying with a friend, and then we went out for ice cream to reward ourselves once I finished an essay. Studying with people can make for good memories.

            It is getting warmer – I now consider 50 degrees acceptable T-shirt weather, if there isn’t much wind. If I don’t have to wear leggings under my jeans, I’m content. It’s been raining lately, with a little sleet mixed in, but spring has definitely begun. I happen to get ecstatic when it rains – a consequence of living in a drought for so long, I suppose – so I was perfectly happy. In addition to which, the rain actually made green patches start spreading through the grey grass I thought had died, which is always cheery. Still, I’ll be glad when summer comes, for more than one reason.

            And next year I'll be in upper-classman housing - a 'house', as opposed to a 'dorm'. I like my housing assignment – it’s Pfoho (Pforzheimer), which is in the Harvard-Radcliffe Quadrangle (‘the quad’ for short). That means it’s a fifteen to twenty-minute walk, or a shuttle ride, from my house to the main campus, but I like the quad. I stayed there as a pre-frosh*, and I remember being struck by how quiet it was. It’s like being in the suburbs, and since that’s where I grew up, I like that. In addition, the rooms are some of the nicest around, and there are a lot of singles and doubles available, though that’s all taken care of later.

            Speaking of later, I’ve also finalized my plans for the summer. I’ll be studying intensive Arabic in Amman, Jordan, and I’m looking forward to it! It will be the first time I’ve taken Arabic, and I look forward to learning a lot. At the moment, preparation means trying to learn a little preliminary Arabic (like the alphabet) and doing a lot of paperwork.

            Sometimes I sit and think to myself, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could just spend a few months learning and growing?” And then I remember that I’m a full-time student, and that’s about as close as it gets. Still, as I talk to my friends, we sometimes wonder if there isn’t a better way. Perhaps not. Perhaps we can’t transcend the rules, not yet. Maybe we have to have them, to keep us from falling short entirely. One day, though, perhaps things can change.

            A cappella isn’t resting, either. We learned our final song for the semester on Sunday, and now we’re counting down the days until our two performances this coming Saturday and our spring concert a week after that. Everything is going so fast – the semester is going to be over before we know it, with all the things we need to do. My anticipation for the summer is tempered by the friendships I’ve made with graduating seniors.

            The high school seniors are getting close to graduation, too. It’s strange to see them all excited about the colleges they’re going to, doing all the things I did last year at this time. Here at Harvard we’re preparing things for our admitted students and new freshmen and reminiscing about our own pre-frosh visits, while we make our own decisions about majors and minors and future classes.

            Well, it’s not time for end-of-the-year reminiscing yet. There are still plenty of things to do before leaving – finish Lord of the Rings, for one. I know I’m not the only busy person in the world, so I will leave you to whatever tasks may befall you (you can tell I’ve been reading LotR, can’t you?). Go, and may the stars shine on your faces!** And if you happen to leave a comment on Facebook, that’s also appreciated!

*pre-frosh: title for those between applicant and freshman

** The Lord of the Rings, Book II, The Ring Goes South