Yeah, I totally forgot to blog for a few days... sorry. :(
Anyways, part 2 of Spring Break was the oh-so-glorious, oh-so-snowy Boston.
We actually planned to go to Boston later than we did, but we went earlier so we could visit Harvard. :)
I planned like an entire day there. We went on a historical yard tour, wanted to watch a lecture (BUT THE PROFESSOR DIDN'T LECTURE :( It was like a "section" or something? :S I dunno what that means XP), listened to an admissions committee Q&A, and then went on another tour. XP
And OMG. Harvard is amazing! The campus is beautiful, it's big, and it's really nice. Harvard's resources are also AMAZING. The one story I heard 3 times that day was like this. The first tour guide, Adam, said that his friend wanted to learn some sort of obscure African language that he'd never even heard of. Harvard has 42 "concentrations" (majors) but his friend didn't want to do any of them and just wanted to learn this language. So guess what Harvard did. Harvard brought in a professor to teach him that language for a semester! Like OMG! That's so amazing!
Also, our second tour guide, Madi, said that the professors are really nice and they're always willing to make time for you, even though they have a reputation of always being busy with work. She said that Harvard has a "faculty dinner" where you invite a professor to dine with you, and most of the professors are really enthusiastic and nice about that :)
Apparently, Harvard has 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports team, more than any other college in the country. Wow. If I played sports, I'd be impressed. (Actually, I'm still impressed. Even if I don't play sports. XP)
Harvard is like a dream college for me. It's soooo nice, has lots of good resources, and its academics are amazing. After spending a day there and listening to a few tours, I'm seriously so captivated by it. We heard a whole bunch of other stories about different elements of Harvard life, but there's a lot so I don't have room to talk about them :(.
One more story XP:
You know there's a John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard? Apparently, it's also called the Statue of Three Lies. On the statue, it says something like John Harvard established this college in 1638.
So the first lie is about John Harvard. He didn't actually found the college, it was founded by some group with a long name that I forget. XP He was, however, the first major benefactor, donating over half of his estate and more than 400 rare books to the college. They renamed it Harvard college in his honour.
The second lie is that it was founded in 1638. It was actually founded in 1636. It was renamed in 1638.
And the third and final lie is that the man in the statue (oh that kind of came out wrong, I meant to say the man represented in the statue. This makes it sound like he's stuck inside or something, srry...) is John Harvard. That man is not John Harvard. It's someone else, but no one really knows who. There is no surviving representation of the (now mysterious) John Harvard, as his only painting burnt down with one of the library ages ago.
I didn't know this until Adam (the first tour guide) told us, actually, and it's pretty interesting. He also pointed out the irony--Harvard's motto is "Veritas" which is truth in Latin, and yet its most famous landmark is the Statue of Three Lies. (only a nickname, people, only a nickname. XP)
I had an awesome day touring Harvard.
In Boston, we also went to a seafood trade show (the seafood trade show XP). I didn't do as much there, wandered around a bit and sat outside a bit, because I was a little bit tired by this time of the trip. It was still fun, though :) and I learned a lot. :)
(And then we came back.)
Overall, it was a really fun trip and a good learning opportunity! :D
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