The Game*

Wow, this semester has gone by fast! This afternoon I’m hopping on a plane back to Texas for thanksgiving, and next week is the final week of classes before reading period and finals! Perhaps because last semester was about a month longer than usual, this semester feels particularly short. Or maybe it’s just because there’s been so much less stress involved than previous semesters. Either way, time has flown, and I’ve learned a lot.

The past week has been fairly eventful. The first bit of excitement for the week started at around 5:40 Wednesday morning, when the Harvard ROTC students showed up at our zipcars** only to find out that Harvard hadn’t paid for them and our accounts had been frozen. After a panicked flurry or two, my carpool called a taxi (there’s an app for that now, of course) and arrived with time to spare. Of course, other people weren’t so lucky, and for about the first fifteen minutes of lab the auditorium received various groups of out-of-breath Harvard midshipmen. As soon as everyone had finally found a seat, the fire alarm went off. It was quite a morning, and all this before 7 AM had rolled around.

This weekend involved more enjoyable activities. The Harvard-Yale game was at Yale this year, so I headed down to Connecticut for the day with friends. This time we didn’t even see Yale; the bus dropped us off across the street from the stadium, and there we stayed. We went through the various security levels (people have gotten extra-careful lately), found food, found seats, and enjoyed watching Harvard win for the ninth year in a row and become Ivy League champion once again. The scheduling of our bus required us to leave a few minutes before the end of the game, which was disappointing, but we didn’t miss any game-changers, and we got home on time.

Watching the game made me quite nostalgic, and I’m looking forward to heading home. I like football, I’ve watched many games, and I know a lot of great people who have played or cheered. Still, college football (Harvard-Yale in particular) seems primed to bring out the silliest sides of human nature. The boys spend months training to run and knock each other over, so that they can say they’re the best at running and knocking people over, and maybe even make a career of it. The girls line up in cute, tight, short little outfits and jump around and smile and scream about the boys in tandem. And everyone else gets obnoxiously, dangerously drunk and makes out and watches so they can yell directions at the coaches and players. One can only imagine what an alien observer would think of us upon observing a college football game.

In any case, the weekend was fun. On Sunday I made it up in time for church, and then Helen did my nails – you might as well know her name; you’re going to see a lot of pictures of her in just a minute. I did what little work had to be done for the week on Sunday, and then went to bed fairly early in order to wake up for the final ROTC PT of the semester Monday morning.

I ended up driving myself to ROTC yesterday – they did unfreeze our accounts – but I was going to a new place, from a new place, in a new car, on a new road, so getting there was a minor adventure. I did manage to arrive on time – just barely – and complete the semester’s physical fitness test, which has been slightly worrying me on and off as the first real fitness test I’ve had since last fall, when my ankle was still recovering and my run time was suffering for it. I am happy to report, though, that I have recovered my original run time while maintaining my push-up and sit-up scores, so life is good. Besides which, the standards only get easier as you get older; apparently the Navy figures that after you turn 19, it’s downhill from there.

Running the PRT, because it’s the only time I put out all my energy, usually leads to my immune system breaking down, so I was a little sick the rest of yesterday, but I went to bed very early, and things seem to have improved since then. A couple hours of class, and then I’m headed back to Texas for the holiday! Talk to you next week, on the last week of school – Happy Thanksgiving!

*Harvard vs. Yale - the only game the majority of the student body cares about. Incidentally, it also sealed the Ivy League Championship this year, since we lost a game.

**It's a company that has set cars in set parking spaces around town that you can reserve for certain times. Harvard pays for the ROTC students to use them in order to commute to our MIT ROTC classes.

Pictures:

The leaves have finally fallen, but the Yard is as pretty as ever.

 'Cause we're cool.

 We may or may not have pretended to be freshman to get these, but we didn't get one when we were freshman, and they're good for pictures.

Temporary tattoos!

The tailgate (we didn't spend much time there; it was a tad frightening.)

 Our boys

 Entering the stadium:
Also, everybody say hello to Helen! (And also thank you to her for taking some of these pictures.)

 Before the game:

 The cheerleaders were really good, actually.

 And then the sun set, and it was freezing. Or possibly below. As you can see, people did eventually show up.

 This is actually the security line to get back the bags we weren't allowed to take into the stadium, but the nice (and seemingly random) pillared gate also spawned some nice philosophical reflections on retaining the form and losing the content/purpose of something (like religion).

 Back at home, I wanted a last picture before washing the face paint off for church the next morning.

 Fall/Thanksgiving nails!

That Time Again

                Well, it’s another week at Harvard. My philosophy instructor just emailed me that I need to completely redo my term paper plan, so that’s going to be fun, but everything will work out. Weekly assignments are being phased out; final projects and papers are coming into vogue; people are showing up to class later and later. It’s that time again. Still, life is fairly calm.

                The word of the week in German is unhaltbarkeit, un(not)-halt(hold)-bar(able)-keit(the quality of), also known as untenability. It seems very apt for the season of quasi-senioritis that comes upon us all at the end of each semester, when it’s a little too early to worry about finals but too late to worry about anything else. A week from now, I’ll be on a plane home for Thanksgiving break; I’m looking forward to being back.

                I’ve already completed one of my final projects. Last Thursday I presented in Arabic on whether governments should pay ISIS for hostages. I used my usual method of writing everything down (like most people, I write much more eloquently than I speak, no matter what language I’m using) and then memorizing it the night before, which meant the presentation was less than fluent but the grammar and vocabulary were high-register. I’m not sure how it went, but people seemed to understand what I was saying, so that’s a good sign.

                I did actually go into Boston this weekend, if only for a couple of hours. I attended Citywide, a worship event held by the Boston branch of Cru, at Park Street Church. The talk was on dealing with suffering and evil in the world and whether a loving God was justified in punishing evil. The general consensus was that he was. Then we all went home and heard about Paris and Beirut.

                On Saturday I woke up earlier than I wanted to in order to pass out programs at the Harvard football game. It was very windy and freezing cold, and after an hour of standing outside I wasn’t up for going to the game anymore, although I’d planned to. Instead, a friend and I grabbed a snack at a coffee-shop and then headed back to Harvard to chat. We ended up talking for about two hours; it didn’t get much schoolwork done, but I’m glad we did it anyway. I also had lunch and dinner with friends on Sunday. It was a very social weekend, but not a very productive one in terms of school. Still, with a two-day week coming up, there’s not that much to be done short-term. And it’s that time of semester.

                We did have a bit of excitement on Monday, if you haven’t heard. There was an ‘unconfirmed bomb threat’ – I’m not sure if the bomb or the threat was unconfirmed – for the same four buildings as my freshman year. I wasn’t in one of the buildings this time, but people in class were uncomfortable enough to be unable to think, so we ended class early. If it had been a week ago or time for midterms, perhaps it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but people are more keyed up now.

                On the other hand, since it wasn’t finals, having the buildings closed was much less inconvenient. It wasn’t snowing, I didn’t get locked out of my dorm, I didn’t have finals to worry about, I had my stuff, and I wasn’t caught as off-guard as last time. Still, it was a little nerve-racking. It took quite a while before all the buildings were reopened and classes could resume, but life eventually went on as usual. They still haven’t caught the perpetrator.

                One last thought before I go. In my music class we’re studying the Rite of Spring*, perhaps the most famous piece of music of the twentieth century. The music is meant to sound primitive, primordial, and dissonant, the idea being partly to show the primeval chaos before the complicated artifice of civilization came along. And yet, if you take a look at the rather overwhelming score, it takes a brilliant composer and an awful lot of work (and over twice the normal number of orchestra rehearsals before the first performance) to make something that sounds unplanned and unordered. Perhaps the world is not so naturally chaotic and dissonant as Stravinsky would have us believe.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo4sf2wT0wU

This is the complete ballet. For general information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring

Pictures:

Some belated additions from last week:

 To continue with my 'Harvard through the Seasons' photo series...

 This is Park Street Church before Citywide (Don't worry; this was taken fairly early, but there were plenty of people there by the time it started.)

 I saw three people take pictures of this platform while waiting for our train back to Cambridge; apparently it's very photogenic. You can decide for yourself.

 When we realized we matched

 I thought the mini-pine cones were adorable; feel free to disagree.

 This is of one of the helicopters flying around during the bomb scare, if you can spot it.

Harvard Hosting

I had a visitor this past weekend, as I’m sure many of you have seen on Facebook. Katie, my oldest friend (friend-wise, not age-wise), came to visit me in Boston, and we had a great time. That, combined with a few other happenings and my midterm grades, means that I’ve had an excellent week thus far.

What did we do? On Thursday I left after my afternoon class to pick her up from the airport; the plane landed a half-hour early, so she got there a long time before I did, but it worked out. We took the T back to Harvard Square, and I provided a cursory tour of the Yard before we headed back to the Quad. By this time it was already dark and early evening, so I went to my evening class and she took a nap. We watched the first episode of BBCs Pride and Prejudice before heading to bed.

On Friday the real adventure began. I’d already walked the Freedom Trail once when my parents were here, but we didn’t always go inside, and there were parts that were new to me. Fortunately, both Katie and I enjoy the (generally) quiet and peaceful atmosphere of graveyards, since there are a few of them on the trail; especially with the fall scenery, the plots were quite beautiful. We went by the usual monuments and went inside quite a few of them.

I’m afraid Israel and Europe may have spoiled me for touring for a while. After living in a 5000-year-old city and seeing some of the greatest cathedrals and abbeys in the world, a 300-year-old church doesn’t raise as much excitement as it might otherwise. Still, I always enjoy historical sites and handsome buildings. The attractions also gave us a chance to pass through a couple of the gift shops.

We spent longer at some places than at others, grabbing lunch and dessert at Quincy Market and paying to go through Paul Revere’s house. It was the first time I’d seen the house from the inside, and it was interesting to see the size and arrangement of the place, although pictures weren’t allowed. We didn’t have time to finish the trail – the last two sites are about three times as far away as everything else – but we did stop in Central Square for ice cream at Toscanini’s before heading back to Harvard to nearly finish Pride and Prejudice.

Saturday was much calmer; we slept in a little (I’d had ROTC on Friday morning) and then I gave a more thorough tour of Harvard’s facilities. We sat and talked a while by the Charles River, and then we went to see a couple of Harvard’s museums. By early afternoon we’d headed back to the Quad to talk where it was warmer and finish the series.

That evening, though, was special; it was the first UC concert I watched instead of participating in. Katie came with me, and I met a couple more friends there. We enjoyed the concert, I and the other alumni joined in the alumni song, and at the reception afterwards I got to trade hugs and news with the rest of the group, while Katie ran into a Harvard student from her high school who also happened to be attending. We had a good time before heading back to the Quad for a couple more hours of talking before we went to bed, ready to get up and head to the airport early Sunday morning.

A few other things have happened this week. For one, I joined the Cru worship team, so we sang during the large group gathering on Wednesday night. It’s a lot less work than a cappella, but it’s very satisfying to be able to sing in a group again, especially since I get to sing harmony. I had a slight fever Sunday afternoon – I’m usually borderline sick as long as the cold weather lasts – but a care package from my parents helped to remedy that. Most of the week, though, was focused on Katie’s visit, whether that was doing extra work in order to make time for fun, the visit itself, or reflecting on where our friendship is and how we’ve both grown.

And we have grown. I’ve known Katie all my life, and seeing her reminds me of who I once was, who I still am, and who I’m becoming. In college, and especially when studying abroad, I have grown and matured. I have learned and lived. I could never go back. But in essentials, I believe, I am very much what I ever was, and Katie assures me of the same. We are both different, but both, I think, more ourselves than ever before as we begin to work toward our potential. Hopefully we can stay on that path as the time passes.

Pictures: I took 270 photos this weekend (with Katie's help)! Here are the highlights:

Walking from Harvard Yard to the Quad:

 Boston Common:

 As it turns out, cemeteries are just really pretty.

 King's Chapel:

 Old North Church (I skipped a few stops):

 We found a small park by the bay through which to meander:

 More cemeteries (these are different ones; I promise)!

 Toscanini's

 I just look better in black-and-white.

 I find it hard to resist taking pictures of steeples.

 The Charles River:

 Harvard Yard:

 I insisted she take a picture with the statue (to be fair, I insisted on most of the pictures).

Halloweek

                Suddenly I turn around and there’s only a month left of school! (The frantic interlude between Thanksgiving and finals doesn’t really count.) It’s November, the foliage is at the peak of its glory, and the first of the three major end-of-year holidays is behind us. Whispers of Christmas are drifting through the air; Thanksgiving dinners are already being planned. It’s only a matter of time.

                Life has calmed down considerably since midterms, although I’m expecting a busy time this coming weekend, which means that I’m doubling up on prep work for now, as much as possible. For some reason I’ve found myself exhausted for most of this week, although I haven’t been sleeping any less than usual. Part of it is probably that, with sunset at 4:30, if you take an afternoon nap, it will look like midnight by the time you wake up. My internal clock doesn’t know where to turn anymore.

                My Halloweekend, I will say, was quite calm compared to some of my peers’. I went to a small party on Friday night that one of my friends had organized, and we decorated cupcakes and ate pizza and played catchphrase and talked. I headed home around eleven. Halloween day I slept in and chilled in my room – one of my favorite pastimes – and revised and lengthened a philosophy paper. A friend also came by the Quad with his baby daughter, so I got to meet and hold her for a little while. And another friend joined me for church again, so we lunched afterwards and discussed the idea of Halloween.

                I promise I’ll have more news next week, but for now, since I’ve pulled back on the extra-curriculars, I thought I would give you an idea of the actual content of my classes to try to give you a sense of what we’re actually studying. Here it goes:

                Music: We’re studying the first performance of Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony in Paris. This week we’re discussing the final movement, where he takes the Gregorian chant Dies Irae – the Day of Wrath, or Judgement Day – and subverts it to make it into a witches’ dance to celebrate the death of the protagonist. The actual poem talks about how God’s mercy saves us from His wrath, but in the Symphony, the highest spirituality is romantic love, which has failed the protagonist, and so there is no one left to save.

                Intellectual History: We’re studying the Skeptics, who claim that, because your senses might be deceived, you really can’t know anything – except, of course for the statement I’ve just made, which you can be sure of. The ancient Skeptics took both sides of every argument instead of taking a stance on one side or the other, in order to get as close as possible to the truth. I admire their prioritizing finding the truth over winning the argument, but their position seems a little extreme.

                Philosophy: Speaking of extreme positions, we’re discussing a book that claims that you are, in fact, not a particular person, but only a very specific type of person. If someone killed you and replaced you with an exact duplicate, it wouldn’t matter; he or she would be just as much you as you are. After all, if any given human is just atoms arranged in a certain way, it can’t be that hard to copy. The idea that such a thing as a particular person exists is just an illusion; people disappear, in a way I suppose is appropriate to Halloween.

                Naval Engineering: At the moment, nothing too complicated; we’re learning how refrigeration and water purification systems work. The class has become much calmer and more low-key since the beginning of the semester.

                Finally, German and Arabic: In German we’re translating Nietzsche; he’s making fun of the English philosophers, as usual. The phrase of the week is “im Zaum halten” – to hold in check. In Arabic we’re discussing Political Islam, the idea that government and law should be based on Islam. As we discussed, I discovered that some of my classmates consider America to be a de facto Christian theocracy.

                Most of my free time lately has been spent sleeping, but I did go back and read some of my old fiction writing last night, and was pleasantly surprised to find I still liked most of it. Perhaps I’m now finally distanced enough to do some proper revision, if I can find time. For now, this blog is my creative writing of the week – enjoy!

Pictures: By the way, thank you to all those who have taken pictures of me along the way so I have something to offer besides selfies!

Bible study (with cookies):

 More foliage - it won't last much longer!

 Halloween decoration in the dining hall:

 Decorating cupcakes at the pre-Halloween party:

 This was mine. Someone asked me if it was a snowman; I'm just going to go with that...

 I get to walk through this every day on my way to class.

 The ivy is as green as ever!

 Sunset in Cambridge (before four o'clock in the afternoon!):