First Impressions

In my short life I’ve had a fair number of adventures. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to several foreign countries, enjoy amazing experiences through different extracurricular activities, and learn a lot of fascinating things. After my first few days in college, it appears that the excitement is not going to let up; this is going to be the biggest adventure yet. In three days I’ve begun to adjust to running life on my own schedule, I’ve met interesting people from all over the world, and I’ve stayed up until 1 in the morning discussing Japanese, Sanskrit, and Gaelic. Here’s a whirlwind tour through the first few days:

On Thursday I headed over to Harvard with my family and a lot of baggage in tow. We slowly made our way through the madness of the Yard along with all the other freshmen and their parents, finally making it to my dorm: Canaday Hall. It was built in 1974, and I call it the “riot-proof, sniper-friendly” dorm. Built during a time of student unrest, Canaday is cut up and disjointed to discourage large

gatherings of students. I’ve also heard that from the adjacent buildings, all the outside doorways in Canaday are easy targets for snipers. Hurrah! There are 7 “entryways” in Canaday

—mine is entryway F, with an 'x' on the map—which are essentially self-contained sets of rooms for about 40 students each. To get from one entryway to another, you have to go outside and around the building. But Canaday also has a good side. It’s in the center of most of the action on campus. Canaday is the closest dorm to the dining hall, Annenberg, it straddles the two main areas for classes, the Yard to the south andthe area north of the dining hall, and it is about a 2 minute walk from the music building and 15 grand pianos available for practicing. My dorm room is plain but not unpleasant, and it’s new, for this school. I met someone in a different dorm whose room was so old the floors had settled and slanted down!

I share my dorm with 3 other guys: Tony, Conor, and David. Tony is from Connecticut, and has a talent for math. Recently he’s also demonstrated his talent in Starcraft and other battle-style computer games. He’s very laid-back and easy to talk to. Conor is from California, and is a really nice guy. He plays classical trumpet and enjoys a lot of jazz. We’ve had some fun talking music and our favorite artists. David is from Wyoming, and clearly

thinks a lot. He’s up for talking about pretty much anything, from politics to physics to the neurological basis of consciousness. I’m going to be sharing a room with him next September. There are four rooms in our suite: a main common room, two single bedrooms, and one double. David and I have singles this term, and next term we’ll enter the double and Tony and Conor will get the singles. I was glad to sleep in a single for the first term, the better to get my bearings, and I was especially glad that the rest of the roommates were also pleased with their sleeping situations.

After that it’s hard to know where to start. There have been a lot of activities of all sorts, from lectures on rules and expectations to panel discussions about academics and student life to social activities in the evenings. We’ve had several meetings with our entryway, proctor, and Peer Advising Fellows. A proctor is a grad student or faculty member who lives in the entryway and is a resource, a friendly face, and the first source of disciplinary action. The Canaday F proctor is Odeviz Soto, a Cuban-American Harvard alum currently studying at the divinity school. He’s very dapper, friendly, and has a great accent. The Peer Advising Fellows are current students who are another source of advice for us. They help schedule activities and meet with groups of about 10 freshmen in the entryway to discuss how to pick courses, deal with extra-curriculars and adjust to college life. My PAF, as she’s called, is Polina Krass, a junior from Canada who is majoring in Chemistry. At the meetings with Odeviz and the PAFs (a good name for a rock band), we discuss the rules and expectations concerning everything from parties to academic dishonesty. I suppose they’re necessary, but they can be a bit tedious. Most of the other events so far have been some kind of lecture or discussion getting us to think about choosing courses, understanding requirements, or adjusting to this big switch. Some of them have been more enlightening than others, but none have been a total bore. Most of them just make me excited about picking courses and eventually starting real school.

Interesting panel discussions aside, I’ve had the most fun meeting the rest of my 1,650-odd classmates. The easiest time to do this is during meals at Annenberg Hall (left), one of the most gorgeous places I’ve seen on campus. Despite its old Gothic look, it’s actually rather new, having been renovated in 1999. After swiping my ID card to prove that I’m a Harvard freshman (only freshmen are allowed to eat there), I wait in a meal line for a lot of very delicious food. There’s plenty of meat, pasta, rice, vegetables, and—most importantly—cereal available at every meal. While I’ve so far only eaten it at breakfast, the thought that I could have a bowl of cereal at any time comforts me. After getting food, I wander over to a table that has a few empty seats and some people that look friendly (i.e. most of the tables). It takes a little bit of pluck, especially for me, to make the leap, but eventually I sit down at the table and introduce myself. Since most people don’t have many high school friends here to talk to, everyone is willing to at least introduce themselves when you ask. Sometimes you can get into a really nice conversation as well. It just reminds me of the wide range of people that come here. Once I had a conversation about the advantages/disadvantages of being vegan, another time I sat and discussed Latin authors and different translations of the Odyssey. Forgetting people’s names is endemic, and so there are no hard feelings when I ask people for the third time what their name is. Even with the great diversity of interests here, I’m still reminded how small the world is. I once mentioned my friend Adam Hesterberg in passing, and I was surprised to find two people next to me knew him, too!

I just got back from an interesting adventure. Conor found a futon for only $35 on Craigslist, so we decided to take the opportunity to get another piece of furniture. It was two stops up on the T, and we got slightly lost. The sellers were understanding, and they helped us break it down. We carried it 30 minutes back to our dorm, and now we’re looking for a hexagonal screw-driver to set it up. It should be great fun when it’s completed.

In the next few days I have to choose my courses and get into an academic routine. I’ll be writing in about a week or so to clue you in about that. For now, thanks so much for the support all of you have given me, and thanks for rooting me now. I can feel it, even 3000 miles away!

Until next time,

Andrew