Hi all!
I didn't get to see the movie in the end last night, the person in front of me bought the last ticket! So I watched one on my iPad instead and skype do Mum, Nan and Pa later on which was good :)
Today I set off about 9am and caught the subway to Harvard station. It was cold but not snowing at this point, and I found out there was a walking tour running at 11.30 so I wandered around by myself until then. I had found a self guided walking tour online so followed it and found it to be really easy to follow.
I started off at Harvard Square, a square at the corner of the university complex and home to 'Out of a Town News' where I bought my tour ticket. The two men inside were very keen to talk about Australia and asked me if I see kangaroos every day!
I then walked to the Lampoon Building, home to the Harvard comedy magazine The Lampoon. The building is designed to look like a face wearing a Prussian Helmet and was built in 1909.
Next was Lowell house, and then onto Adams House, named after John Adams. These are accommodations where students live. Then the Crimson Building where the Harvard newspaper is produced, JFK was the president of this for a while.
Then I entered Harvard Yard, which is probably the image of Harvard you all have in your minds from movies and TV shows. The Dexter Gate through which I entered said "Enter to grow in wisdom" on it. I passed Wigglesworth Hall, where Ted Kennedy and Bill Gates stayed during their time here.
Next I got to the Henry Widener Memorial Library. Henry was a Harvard graduate in his 30s when he boarded the Titanic and sadly perished when she sank, along with his father. His mother was so stricken that she wanted something built in his honour, so donated the money to Harvard to build a Library in his name and donated his rare book collection. The library has six above ground levels and four below ground levels and has over two million books.
I passed many more halls and then saw the Memorial Church, which apparently inside lists the names of all Harvard alumni who died in WWI (fighting for both the allies and Germany). Then I got to one of the main courtyards and saw the statue of John Harvard. Apparently it's good luck and you acquire some of his knowledge by rubbing his left foot, so I did!
The final stop on my self guided walking tour was Massachusetts Hall, the oldest building on campus. John Adams, John Hancock and Sam Adams all lived here while they studied at Harvard.
I then decided to have a bit of a wander around Harvard Law School, purely because Elle Woods goes there in 'Legally Blonde'. I couldn't help myself!! But by this time it was starting to snow pretty heavily so I made my way towards the tour starting point and had a hot chocolate at Starbucks.
The tour met at 11.30 and despite the very heavy snowfall by this time, there were eight of us on it. A man from Libya, a man from Mexico and a family of four from England who are coming to Melbourne for the Ashes later this year. I passed them my email address in case they had questions about how to get tickets!
Our guide was Nick and he was really funny. He is a current Harvard student studying Anthropology (or unemployment as he joked!) and took us around on a one hour tour. We ended up going to a few of the buildings I had already seen, but I mainly did the tour because I wanted to learn some history and facts. And I did...
The University opened as New College in 1636 but they didn't have much room for a large campus, so when a man named John Harvard offered to donate his cow pastures, lots of money and a rare book collection, they gratefully accepted and changed the name to Harvard University.
Women couldn't attend any form of Harvard University until 1839 when Radcliffe Women's College was started as a sister school. When WWII happened and a lot of Harvard alumni went to take part, women were invited to the main campus and in 1972 an 'integration agreement' was signed. Incredibly though, women didn't receive the same diplomas as men at Harvard until 1999. Thankfully we do now! The current president of Harvard is the first female one they've had.
Nick told us that the John Harvard statue isn't actually John Harvard, because in a fire long ago one of the libraries burnt down and it contained all photos of Harvard himself. So who knows who the statue actually looks like!!
As a student himself, Nick was able to shed some light on what it's like being a student at Harvard. He said 97% of Harvard students live on campus. You form a group and as a group you're put in a particular house, you have no choice over which. 94% of Harvard students graduate, and in May when graduation ceremonies happen, 20,000 chairs are placed in the main square. He said it's more hectic than any sporting event he's been to! They have famous speakers come and speak at the graduations too. The likes of Mother Theresa, JK Rowling, Bill Gates and Will Ferrell have spoken.
All the houses on campus are named after previous presidents of Harvard. When they pass away, some of them have houses named after them. Thankfully, President Hoar didn't get one named after him because he was not well liked by the students. That would have been a scandal - 'Hoar House'!
Towards the end of our tour we stepped inside the sporting facilities available to students here. Nick said football is really popular and Harvard has a huge rivalry with Yale, a university in Newhaven, Connecticut. They often play pranks on one another and in 2004, a "Harvard Pep Squad" came on at half time to rev up the crowd and handed out signs to the Harvard students. Problem was that Harvard didn't have a pep squad. Everyone was told to hold up their sign to spell out a morale boosting message, but because they were Yale students posing as Harvard ones, the message said "WE SUCK!" Thankfully Harvard had the last laugh and won!
Other famous Harvardians that we were told about were Matt Damon, Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of facebook) and Natalie Portman. We ended the tour by doing the 'Primal Call', a ritual that apparently up to 1000 students partake in before a naked lap around the campus in the middle of winter. Luckily we didn't participate in the second half of the tradition!!!!
I was pretty frozen after the tour so after a quick stop in the gift shop I hopped back on the subway and made a quick trip to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. By this time the snow was so heavy it was blowing in my face and had frozen my hair. Snow ploughs were driving around the streets and people were out spreading salt everywhere to de-ice the pavement. The baseball stadium was closed due to the season but I did a lap of the exterior and got some photos of the exterior signage and some statues of famous players. Thought you would like that, Dad!
This afternoon I went and saw 'La La Land' at the local cinema. It was packed! They have ads before the scheduled start time and then more after it here in America. There is also no allocated seating - it was a shambles!! But I enjoyed the movie, I didn't like the end though. Never mind!
Tomorrow morning I am meant to be getting a 6.45am train from Boston to Philadelphia, but the entire east coast is on a snowstorm warning tonight and apparently we are expecting 12 inches of snow. I think this is why I feel a little homesick today, I'm pretty anxious about walking the 20 minutes to the station in the dark in thick snow with my case, and I'm worried the train will be cancelled. I'm trying not to think about it but it's hard not to! But fingers and toes crossed, so far the Amtrak website says my train is going ahead. I guess they have to be prepared for that type of thing here. All part of the adventure!
So hopefully tomorrow evening I will be writing to you from Philadelphia - send positive vibes my way please!!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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