Wrapping Up

I apologize for posting this blog a day late, but in my defense, it is the last one of the semester, and I had my last final to worry about yesterday. I think my finals went well; I knew what all the questions were asking and most of the answers, although I can never tell how much I’m supposed to write on the essays. They’re over, though, which is the main thing.

I had my first exam (Music) on Saturday and the second and final (History) yesterday. It was much easier to study for music; there was vocabulary, and you could listen to the pieces we studied over and over. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to hear Beethoven’s 9^th again. History, though, was the history of philosophy, and it’s rather difficult to study philosophy by rote, so I did more general reading and reviewing of theories.

My free time has been spent going back to the lake for long walks and memorizing German vocabulary. It still hasn’t snowed – not once! – and the weather has been very nice, so the walks have been frequent and allowed me to do some deeper thinking. The vocabulary is progressing nicely, even if it does mean many hours staring at a computer screen. Helen gave me a book of “things to memorize” for Christmas; she knows me well. The rest of my time has been spent dabbling in Norse mythology through the elder Eddas, which I’ve finally found online.

The Eddas are interesting, although I probably like them better because I can’t read them except through the lens of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Still, I can’t see as humans differ much over time or space. For instance, see how you sympathize with these Norse sayings (I paraphrased the translations):

The early wolf catches the sheep.

Where there’s a wolf’s ears, there’s a wolf.

A witless man, when he meets with men/ Had best in silence abide/ For no one shall find that nothing he knows/ If his mouth is not open too wide.

And of course I went to a few events and said goodbye to everyone; for once, I’ll be in the same place when I come back, so the goodbyes weren’t that hard. And I’ll have a great many hellos to say soon. I’m not sure exactly what my break plans are, but I’ll resume my blog when I get back in late January. As I think I can say is traditional by now, I’ll do a little reflection on the semester/year before I go:

Classes were easier this semester, even though I had six of them. They were more sedately paced, and they gave me more time for reflection. They connected in various ways: the philosophy of personal identity made its way into my history class, and my reflections on Nietzsche from German related to the pieces in Music, and in Arabic we were talking about social and political topics that fell under one or another of these umbrellas at times. It’s given me a lot to think about; I love connecting things.

Outside classes I think I’m still seeing the effects of study abroad: more independence, more perspective. They’re easier to see now that I’m back in my normal environment. I can plan trips; I’m organizing my whole life, not just my studies; things are in perspective. And I’m driving here now – that’s a big thing, although I haven’t had to deal with snow yet.

One of the biggest changes since the last time I was at Harvard, which is due both to my development and having more free time, is friends. I’ve learned to better relate to and invest time in people, and that productivity and independence don’t have to mean shutting people out. As a result, I have more substantial relationships with more people now than at most times in my life.

I have to admit I get travel-sick sometimes; I miss all my studies abroad. Still, it’s good to be back in the States, although I may have had more culture shock coming from Texas to Massachusetts than I had in any of my other location-changes (probably because I wasn’t expecting it). I hope that in the future, I’ll have more time to spend adventuring, but I’m also glad I’ve had time to stop and reflect – and even more, now that the semester has ended.

Time is flying by; it won’t be long until I’m back at school and then done with school. Until I write again, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and best wishes!

Pictures: Sorry for all the scenery; it's just been really pretty around here lately.

In case you're wondering, this is getting near sunset, but that's because it's around 3:30 in the afternoon.

 Our dining hall: the extroverts and the introverts

 One of the side entrances to my dorm/a basketball court (this is sunrise - ROTC):

 About to take my music exam in the Science Center:

 It was just a really pretty day:

 History exam:

Last pictures of the lake (for this year). I promise. :)

A Period of Reading

                Classes are over! A week from today, I’ll be done with my last final for the semester and packing to head home for Christmas break. As far as schoolwork goes, things have been very calm; for possibly the first time this semester, I’ve gone a day without checking my to-do list, and nothing disastrous has happened. Of course, there are always the little things, and in about a day or so I’ll have to start preparing for finals, but right now I’m taking a sort of Sabbath, and it’s going very nicely. Before the free time, though, there were a few events. I’ll list them in order:

                First, on Wednesday, I and 11 other MIDN/cadets from the MIT unit (4 from each branch) met with the Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, for a very nice lunch. The lunch ended up being delayed, and we couldn’t eat or sit down until he got there, but when he did arrive we had a slightly nervous but enjoyable time (I had the privilege of sitting next to him). He was accompanied by the very first female fighter-pilot, who had just made general. We took pictures afterwards.

                On Friday evening I went to see a choral performance of Handel’s Messiah. They sang the entire first section and selections from the other sections (you can’t leave out the Hallelujah Chorus, after all). It was beautifully done, even it if was about an hour longer than I’d expected. This was mainly due to the introduction, which turned out to be extensive and conducted by my music professor. It was an abridged version of what we’d spent several weeks on in class, so it was a good review, even if I’d already heard all the punch lines.

                It was strange to enjoy overtly Christian music in the middle of Sanders Theater, but even stranger was not knowing if those producing the music believed it or not. The irony was highest at the very end of the peace, because it involves swelling repetitions of “Amen,” which is the root in Hebrew (and Arabic) for truth or belief. How many people believed what they were pronouncing as truth?

                On Sunday I went into Boston with Helen to watch the Nutcracker. The theater and the effects were elaborate, and we felt very cultured, having dressed up to go to the theater (the effect was lessened by multiple selfies and the fact that ushers were passing out paper crowns). I’d forgotten how sweet the story is, being about a child, and very much enjoyed the performance. The most confusing part was the ethnic dances, which weren’t danced to ethnic music or by ethnic dancers. For instance, one of the leads in the Chinese dance was from Paraguay, and was paler and blonder than I was. It took the parasols to realize what was going on. Still, we had fun.

                The rest of the weekend has been spent doing my own reading and studying. I started the Count of Monte Cristo in German, and I’m actually making pretty quick progress, although I was switching it out with other reading every other section or so. I’ve been reading a lot of C.S. Lewis, Chesterton, and MacDonald lately, which has given me a lot to think about. I also discovered a lake about a fifteen-minute walk away from my dorm, so I spent an hour walking around it through the park, which was refreshing.

                I realize my last couple of days must seem terribly dull when I write them down here; the best part of them was spent in bed with tea and my laptop, reading or thinking. But I’ve found them perhaps the most interesting part of the week. I’ll list just one of the dozens of things that have been swirling around in my head; maybe it’ll make sense, even if you don’t think it’s as interesting as I do:

                I’ve been considering borders for a while now. I live in a generation that intensely dislikes all limits, but limits aren’t just limitations; they’re delineations. In Hebrew, the word “to define” literally means “to make fenced;” things exist because they exist distinctly. This is part of the case for natural, intrinsic limits (those of morality, logic, and etc). More difficult is the consideration of man-made limits. Artificial limits or, as some critics call them, “constructions,” are what they sound like. They’re artificial. They’re erected by cultures and societies. There’s nothing intrinsically un-masculine about dressing in a pink robe or taking up embroidery. There’s no inherent reason a female ballerina can’t whirl her partner around in the air or a hideous orc can’t be the misunderstood hero. And yet, I think artificial constructions are as necessary and as natural as the cultures and societies they make up.

                I’m going to be honest; I just wrote half an essay on this topic and then erased it; there’s no space, and your time is valuable. But this is just one of the more minor thoughts passing through my mind right now; more has happened in my head in the past few days than has in perhaps the last couple weeks combined. I don’t know what I’ll end up doing with all these thoughts, but they keep life interesting. I wish you all happy pondering and, until next time, a joyful almost-holiday week!

Pictures: 

It was a dark and drizzly night...

 I completely forgot to mention, among everything else, that my music class attended (and sponsored) the world premiere of a piece called "When Music Sounds." It was for choral and piano, and it was a great way to start a Thursday morning. I've had a very musical week.

 The Boston Opera House apparently cost $50 million to restore. You can tell.

 The ushers direct traffic to allow you to take pictures by the tree.

 A rare moment when no one was at the John Harvard statue.

My lakeside adventure:

 I think the word I'm looking for is grand. (I take pictures with my phone and my camera, and they upload separately; that's why you're getting the same chronology twice).

With the SECDEF. Thank you to whatever DoD personnel were responsible for this picture; you were very efficient.

Breaking Out

                I hope everyone had a relaxing and joyful Thanksgiving break; I know I did. I finished my classes and flew home on Tuesday night to be with my family. I got to the airport early, but my first flight was nearly an hour late. I sat next to an older man who informed me he had 72 descendants and told me his opinion of all the Republican presidential candidates. I barely made my connecting flight, but after a few more hours in the air and another hour in the car with my parents, I made it home.

                On Wednesday I went with my mother to take her parents to the airport, redrafted my final philosophy paper, and spent time with my parents. I also cut a rather long novel I wrote over last Christmas break and the spring semester – I’ve cut it down from 242 to 198 pages by means of ruthlessness and only a teensy bit of doctoring.) On Thursday my parents and I had a quiet, cozy Thanksgiving dinner (at least after we kicked the dogs out of the house). And on Friday we decorated for Christmas.

                Christmas decorating at my house inevitably brings about a rise in tension between my father and me. He generally just wants everything in working order as soon as possible, and I generally want everything exactly the way it was when I was six. This used to end with my annual storming off to my room, but over the years we’ve both mellowed, and we’ve developed a division of labor (my mom does the china, I do the nativity sets, he puts up the tree, and etc.) that manages to diffuse most of the friction. There was a slight disagreement on whether my father should go up on the roof in the rain to put up the lights, but it ended in compromise.

                On Saturday we headed up to see my dad’s family in Austin and arrived tardily to have a home-cooked lunch, topped off by brownies and ice cream. One of my aunts and one of my uncles (why isn’t there a joint plural for that?) also joined us, and we talked for a while before heading to the hotel. I flew out of Austin in the wee hours of Sunday morning, so it wasn’t really worth going all the way back home in between.

                On the flight back I met an army veteran working in Santa Fe with a son who’d been offered admission to Harvard. I’m not sure how I always end up meeting people on planes – maybe it just comes from being on so many planes. In two weeks and a couple of days I’ll be in the air again, flying back home. In any case, Sunday I arrived back early in the afternoon and was able to finish my last bit of work for the weekend before heading to bed at the heavenly hour of eight o’clock (I had to wake up for class at 6 am Monday morning).

                And now classes have resumed as usual for the last week of school. That’s right – two more days and classes are finished! I’ll still be here for a couple of weeks; we have a week of reading period, and then I have two finals. Still, we’ve reached the part of the semester when my to-do list is comprehensive; everything is on it that’s going to be on it, as far as schoolwork goes. And it’s not actually that bad. Normally I would be making analogies to the last sprint of a marathon about now, but this semester’s been more of a moderate jog – and I’ve liked it that way.

                Next semester I’ll be taking two ROTC classes, since I have to make up last spring, so my blogs may go back to sounding sleep-deprived and stressed. But for now, I’m enjoying a calm semester that I hope will coast to a smooth finish. I have a few more exciting events planned down the line to tell you about, but I’ll wait until they actually happen. For now, I’m hoping to finish all my major assignments (outside of finals) before we meet again, so if you have a moment, remember me typing away on a presentation, a project, a portfolio, two papers, and two ROTC finals!

Pictures: Speaking of Thanksgiving, thanks be to my father, who has taken some of these pictures!

The front of our house: (The head of the reindeer on the right moves only due to my strenuous cajoling of the motor. You might remember the cross as a homemade prop from a Christmas Eve service.)

 After years of failed attempts, we finally found a star that would stay on top of the tree.

 My handiwork:

 Texas from the plane:

 These are our front yard. I was trying to capture the feeling of a gray-skied, lazy afternoon, but I don't think the pictures do the atmosphere justice.

 You can see that Texas doesn't really feel the effects of fall.

 We may or may not have forgotten to take pictures of ourselves until right before I left 3:30 Sunday morning.

 The Hebrew University hoodie is good for solitude. All the other college students on the flight have a (rather noisy) meet-and-greet, but no one knows quite what to do with you if you wear foreign college gear.

 The sunset out the window was much prettier than this, but it's the best I could do. It would make a lovely Impressionist painting, though.

 Back at Harvard!