Hi everyone! My name is Caroline Trusty, and I am a new blogger for the Harvard Admissions Office! I am a junior living in Eliot House and studying History & Literature and this is my very first post on this particular blogosphere, so I’m excited to get started.

It’s been quite a weekend here in the 02138. This weekend was Junior Parents Weekend at Harvard. For non-juniors, Junior Parents Weekend just means longer lines at the Coop, particularly crowded dining halls, and lots of older couples asking for directions. It was, however, really exciting for me, as well as many other juniors, because my parents were here for the weekend!

My parents arrived on Friday morning after their lengthy 8-hour drive from Baltimore, Maryland. It was a short visit – they were only able to stay until Saturday night – but those two days were some of my best at Harvard so far. The weekend was full of love, laughs, and sentimental nostalgia. Harvard provided tons of fun programs for students and their parents to do. On Friday we took a tour of Widener Library. During the tour, my parents were surprised to hear that a large portion of Harvard’s books are actually stored underground. I could have told them this, having spent many long days studying in the study carrels next to those underground books. We also visited the Office of Career Services where counselors assured my parents (and me) that even humanities concentrators can find jobs after graduation. We also attended a reception hosted by the ever-hospitable Eliot House Masters, Doug Melton and Gail O’Keefe, complete with some of the best bacon wrapped hors d’oeuvres that I’ve ever had.

One of my favorite parts of the visit was watching the Immediate Gratification Players perform. The IGP is a Harvard undergraduate improvisational group, comprised of some of the funniest and most talented people at this school. They held a free performance of a one-hour improvised skit that included former Russian spies, reality television, detective agencies, live statues, and plenty of penguins. My mother, my father, and I were all in stitches by the end of the hour.

The Immediate Gratification Players performed this past Friday, March 1st, for Junior Parents Weekend. They were hilarious!

What was especially special about this weekend was the fact that this was not just a visit for my parents, but also a return. Both my mom and my dad attended Harvard College “back in the day.” They met in college as undergrads, with my mom being an Adams House resident, while my dad lived in Dunster. The whole trip was a stroll down memory lane for them and a glimpse into my parent’s past for me. We visited the Dillon Fieldhouse to see my dad’s old football and lacrosse team pictures, and took a ton of pictures in the Dunster House dining hall where my mom saw my dad for the first time.

My Mom & Dad standing outside of Dunster House. Back where it all started!

It was cool for them to relive their college days, and compare their time at Harvard to mine. They could never have imagined while they were walking across the yard to class back in the eighties that over twenty-one years later they’d be back visiting their daughter on that same campus. I truly learned this weekend what it means to be a legacy at Harvard, and I am truly grateful for that special title.

Anyway, that’s about it for now – but I’ll be back next week with more stories about my Harvard experience!