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New York, I Love You

March 16, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

Perhaps it is the 70-degree weather, the free (working!) espresso machine I found on the side of the road, or perhaps being in the company of friends and family, but New York City is intoxicating. While a flight to California was just out of reach, visiting my brother and his girlfriend in Brooklyn, NY was a perfect substitute, especially considering I was able to make the trip with my boyfriend and our other friend, Dan.

In case you haven’t been (or just if you’re interest to know about all the great cities you can visit easily by bus from Harvard), here’s a short whirlwind tour of NYC, Brooklyn, and beyond.

New York has great buildings…

… delicious (and beautiful) coffee…

… thiiiis many cool used book store (as does Harvard square too!)…

(PS. ^ that’s me)

… cheap thrift stores…

(as modeled by my boyfriend & legal advisor here ^)

… towering buildings…

… and towering people? (or the use of wide-angle lens cameras)…

(^ Dan & I just grew a few feet…)

One of the greatest parts about the location of Harvard (besides Boston being a fun city and Harvard Square having some of the best sandwiches around) is its closeness to other great cities to travel too—D.C., Portland Maine, and Pennsylvania have been among the ventures.

Indeed, all the time away from Harvard has given me the breath of fresh air (though being in the city, perhaps not so fresh) necessary to come back for part two of the semester. Already the Leverett House Open Email List is filled with discussions of diplomas, graduation day speakers, and job openings.

And speaking of post-grad plans, I have recently been working on my submission to the Carol K. Pfrozheimer Student Fellowship, which invites Harvard Undergraduates to take advantage of the Schlesinger Library I discussed in my last post. The Fellowship provides money for research that draws of the library’s holdings and given the amazing diversity of literature on food culture and history in Schlesinger Library, I’m putting together an application that draws together my work in political-economic anthropology and food culture, focusing on the recent artisanal movements. I believe this research would also be extremely beneficial for my final project for my American Food history course.

I’ll try to stay up to date on that process and until then, hope you guys all have a great weekend! I know I’m looking forward to this last weekend off and yet also to hanging out with my Harvard girl friends once a few of them return from their own spring break adventures in Austin, Texas as the South-By-Southwest Festival.

~Natalie

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From 60 to 40: Spring Break in VT

March 15, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | Permalink

Hello!

Sorry this post is coming a few (umm…almost 12) hours later than normal, but here’s one anyways! While my friends are jetsetting or tanning in Bermuda/Cayman Islands/Mexico, I am just chillin’ (literally, look at the title) with my family and friends back home. In no way am I complaining; Vermont is totally awesome, and I absolutely love it here in March. (Plus, I was in LA over winter break, so that was enough sun to hold me over until the summahtime.) For those of you who are flatlanders (anyone not from Vermont, Northern New Hampshire or Upstate New York), you may not know that Vermont has more than four seasons. We have six, in fact: Spring, Summer, Fall, Stick Season, Winter, and Mud Season, in which we happen to be right now! Though people say you can’t wear white after Labor day, I say you can’t wear white during Mud Season; aptly named for its lovely driving conditions on our dirt roads, this span of a few weeks prepares you for spring by making you readjust your outfits and cars. (You’ll need a realignment on top of taking off your snow tires once May rolls around.) I’ve avoided nice clothing, donned my Muck Boots, and only driven my truck, because the roads are really bad, and you don’t want to bottom out on the ruts and ruin your car!

Luckily, the weather has been pretty nice. It’s been sunny, and today I did all of my French homework for the next few weeks outside on one of our Adirondack chairs and watched my goofy dog, Posey, attempt to catch a squeaky chipmunk as it hid in our stone wall. Here are a few prime photos from the little escapade, which hopefully will bring a smile to your face.

Also, I cut my hair today! Yay! Actually, my really good friend’s mom cut it for FREE, and she owns a salon so it was all professional and such! I also have done a lot of online shopping and research on DIY projects that I can do to create an EPIC dorm room next year…seriously, it’s going to be insane. Prepare yourselves. Think: awesome lighting and headboard.

So, back to Academia: there are a few things that I can assess, as this is the middle of the semester and I probably should crack down around now…not like I haven’t been, but I have to decide my concentration by next November, so I should at least decide whether or not I like my courses. And so I shall, right now, ranking my courses with some numbers, but mostly judgment…just like Flyby’s housing ranking. (Sadly, I won’t make a cool graphic.)

1. Italian Acd: Intensive Italian

This class is totally awesome. My prof (TF, actually) is incredible, and it’s her first semester teaching…ever! She’s wonderful, the camaraderie in my class is top-notch (we had an Italian party the other night where we made pasta carbonara and spoke Italian to one another), and we have learned so much. After having only taken 2 months of Italian, from knowing nothing, I now can form the future tense, both past tenses, and the present, not to mention all the vocab and culture we’ve picked up! Soon we’ll be covering the subjunctive and conditional…yippee! Overall, this class is an A+, which mightn’t be reflected in my final grade, but we’ll see (:

2. Freshman Seminar: Pressing the Page

This class is also totally awesome. The only reason it comes in second place is because I don’t have it every day at 10 am (we only meet for 2 hrs mon/wed), and so I think it hasn’t really been properly tested in the long-term, early-morning scheme of things, like Italian has. My prof is, again, incredible, and Adams’s Bow and Arrow Press is both historical and efficient, creating some gorgeous art. The only reason I’m bummed about  getting housed into Currier is that I’ll be rather far away from the press, but luckily (or unluckily) The Crimson is right next to Adams, so I’ll be spending a lot of my time in that area, anyways! I have no qualms about this course, and really love being able to show my creativity through another outlet (for credit, nonetheless). In conclusion, this class is an A; the only thing that stops it from being perfect is the lack of adequate time to create as much art as I’d like!

Okay, this is where it gets kind of tricky, as I only have 4 courses….so it’s not like the fourth spot is the worst spot, but rather, it is simply the last one, which doesn’t make it bad.

3. Expos 20: Contemporary Theatre

Two things I really like: theatre and writing. Sadly, I don’t like writing about theater all that much; I’d rather perform, and creative writing/poetry is my forté, not analytical writing. But, it’s Expos, and most people complain a lot about their courses. Mine is pretty interesting, and covers risqué topics, so it’s never boring during class…it’s just when I get in front of my computer and try to write my 6 page essay about something I’m not interested in…that’s when it gets pretty difficult. I do, however, want to be a better writer, and I trust that this course will help me to become more apt with my words. Overall, I’d give this course a B, which is probably higher than my current grade.

4. French 50: Liberty and Culture (or something)

J’adore le français, alors c’est un peu étrange que je n’aime pas ce course beaucoup. Also, I’ll be going to Paris this summer (hopefully), which might lend some insight about my sentiments towards French culture. (I love it.) This class is interesting, and our workbook clarifies the complexities of French grammar (which is honestly so ridiculous sometimes…SO MANY EXCEPTIONS), but it feels like a lecture, even though there are only 15 people in it. Language courses should be more interactive, at least for me, and this isn’t very interactive. Still, I am heavily considering a concentration in Romance Languages and Literatures, or at least Francophone studies, so I can’t dislike this class too much (: Final grade? B-. It’s not in the C range, because it is definitely above average, as all courses at Harvard are!

Soooo, that’s all for now. Time to go:

a) bake a cake?

b) clean my lil’ room?

c) record a new song?

You choose.

Until next time,

-Reid

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Happy March!

March 1, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | 3 comments

Hello everyone!

It’s March, my favorite month. Why? Because it’s my BIRTHDAY MONTH…though I have to wait a whole 4 weeks until the big day rolls around and I turn 19. Another reason is because it’s only a week (exactly) until Housing Day! Eeek! Look at what I just got under my door, from Leverett House!

Housing Day is so SOOON!

I am very excited about this big day, because I’ll get a whole new community in which I can stay for three whole years! Also, even though Harvard is a small school (~6,000), I really need a smaller group of people, and having a House will let me do that. Some really funny housing day videos have come out from Pfoho, Eliot, and Adams (private video), and a very weird Currier video. Check ’em out. I can’t wait to make one once I’ve been “sorted.”

Speaking of Housing Day, I will be reporting next week on Friday instead of Thursday, giving you all the insight you’ll ever need about Housing Day. YAY! I’m blocking with my friends Cynthia, Buffalo, and Ansel, and we’ll be staying in Thayer where we have a perfect view of the Yard, which apparently gets totally crazy. OMG IM SO EXCITED I CANT WAIT.

Anywayssss, yesterday was Leap Day, which meant that Lady Gaga and Oprah came to Harvard. I don’t really care all that much about seeing either of them (I know, I know) but my friend Allie got some incredible photos of Gaga. Check them out here, in the “Going Gaga” media file. Also, it snowed (for about three seconds, and then it turned to rain) but c’est la vie, and this life is without snow 🙁 I miss it, not going to lie.

Another exciting thing that happened this week was Cultural Rhythms on Saturday afternoon, with my favorite person, John Legend, coming to Harvard to receive his Humanitarian Award!! I love him. He sang a few bars of “Ordinary People” and was a brilliant host, but the majority of the show was devoted to student cultural groups, mainly dance and music. I took some lo-fi videos, which are posted here.

IMG_0987

African Dance Troupe

Wushu

Step

I loved being able to cheer on my friends in this amazing exhibition, because everyone is so good at what they do, and it makes me so proud! I couldn’t cheer too loudly, though, because I had a gig right after and couldn’t ruin my voice before the show. My band and I cruised to Wellesley, the women’s college nearby, and played for their College Formal; it was awesome, and they had great decorations and even better food! (Yum)

I’ve been having a really great semester so far, with my midterms coming up next week (eek!) before we all go on Spring Break. I have to study my Italian vocabulary and flashcards, but we’re having a party tomorrow night (without la professoressa, sadly) where we’ll make “la cucina Italiana” and dance! My Italian class is awesome; we have a great mix of people, learn at a crazy-fast pace (tomorrow we’re doing the future tense, after only studying the language for a few weeks), and I love my teacher. Some of the students in my class are from MIT, and commute here every day, which I couldn’t imagine doing, but it is for the love of languages. I’m just glad we have such incredible courses offered here!

In my other courses, I’ve also been having a splendid time. I’m more motivated in French, although the class becomes stagnant sometimes, and I have to study hard in order to do well in my summer in Paris (hopefully). My expository writing course is great; we have a ton of papers due next week, though, with one due on Thursday (housing day), along with my Italian midterm! And, of course, my incredible Freshman Seminar that I’d actually been drooling about since last summer when we received the Seminar booklet. It’s amazing, and I know I’ll be spending a lot of time in the Bow and Arrow Press for the next few years here!

The back room of the Bow and Arrow Press, where all of the wood type is kept.

 

The presses are rollin'!

 

Some orphan lead type (don't worry, we wash our hands thoroughly).

 

Thank you so much for reading, and get ready for the most exciting post of YOUR LIVES next week!!

Again, happy March 🙂

-Reid

 

 

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Good for your Health, Good for your Brain

February 24, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | Permalink

For better or for worse, in a week and a half my thesis will be in, done, gone, and sweet sweet spring break will be the reward! For once the description is perfect as spring seems to have come early here to Cambridge this year (almost 60 in February? Amazing–though I hate to think of what summer will bring…). This spring break I’ll be sticking around here but my friends from California will be visiting complete with tour of Boston and New York City.

As for now, the week has flown by as I really get started in this semesters extracurricular. Tonight I just held my first Food Literacy Project event in Lowell House, a Superfoods Tasting. With the sudden ’bout of sickness that seems to be transversing around campus this antioxidant filled event was just the recipe. Lowell house students and friends came by and were able to sample a variety of healthy fare including cacao nibs, spirulina, coconut water, and roobios tea.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’m about to finish my second article for The Crimson today. I’m currently writing as an arts columnist about Culinary Arts in a postmodern era. You can find my first article here and another great column from a fellow writer here. It’s odd to think that The Crimson is over a hundred years old, but its the sort of place that when you walk into their headquarters to certainty feels established (in the best possible way). I’m excited to see how the column develops through-out the semester and am getting teary eyed already at the thought of this being my last semester to do extracurriculars such as these.

So in an effort to make the best of it now, I’m going to go finish the article before burying myself in the library for the weekend, hoping to emerge with a more finely edited thesis (i.e., readable). Have a great weekend!

~Natalie

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Innovate or Die (?)

February 23, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | Permalink

 

Hello Everyone! I’ve been really, really busy (in a good way) these past few weeks, mostly with Crimson and school stuff, which is obviously a blast. Although I’m getting worn down, I think I’ve been structuring my day properly to allow myself enough time to do exactly what I need to do and still get some rest. Do you know that I sleep 8 or 9 hours a night? Yep. I do. I pride myself on that, and basically my theory is that anyone who gets less sleep hasn’t organized their time well enough, or totally overbooked themselves. I have managed to (kind of) find a balance, with the help of some schedules and structure.

My schedule from yesterday afternoon…pretty full, but totally do-able!

 

So what, exactly, have I been doing? Same old, same old, except for this INCREDIBLE and very bizarre event I recently went to. It was called “Experiencing Economies; Innovate or Die,” and basically it was a tour of innovative and design businesses/spaces in Boston which ended up selling out in one minute (there were 50 slots, too). My favorite place that we went to was Continuum, an innovative consulting corporation that was definitely one of the coolest places I’d ever been. I was covering this event for The Crimson, and ended up going all alone on a tour with a ton of grad students and people who were older than me. It was all very secretive, and I really had no idea what to expect, so the bus that I boarded could have been going to Akron, for all I knew! However, we ended up at Harvard’s iLab first, which is essentially a large technologically-innovative and up-to-date building where students from MIT and Harvard can come in and collaborate on big ideas, eventually getting funding for them. It’s about half way between Harvard and MIT, and was really cool. There, we did a psychology experiment on advertising and branding, lead by a History of Psychological Science Graduate student. Here are some photos from the event!

Some Art at the iLab

 

This was pretty cute…and cool, because people were drawing on the walls!

 

This was definitely my favorite quotation.

 

Some photos of the psychology experiment….bringing me back to my SLS-20 (intro to psych) days!

Obviously, my artistic and academic abilities were put to the test! The next stop that I enjoyed was Continuum, because there was an incredibly interesting exhibit set up there; these two women had gone into Boston’s inner-city high schools and worked with students who were affected by violence, and they broke that violence down altogether. They filmed fights and replayed them to analyze how they worked, charted the cycle of a fight, talked about the differences between domestic abuse and gang violence, and went into extreme detail to help these students work out the true definition and consequences of violence.

This was really inspiring.

 

This exhibit was moving, and made me really consider pursuing a career within Continuum; it puts creative and innovative ideas to good use, for the benefit of others. What could be better? By the time the exhibit was closing, I started to get really, really hungry. Luckily, there was tons of food, and my friend Ned was bartending, so I could swing by and visit him!

Yummmm

 

Ned with the red suspenders!

 

The evening was a total success, and after I went to my friend/bandmate Noah’s 21st birthday party, I fell asleep both content and inspired. Check out the OFA article I wrote here!

 

The next day (Saturday), it was my mom’s birthday! I called her up a million times until she answered, chatted with her for a while, and was on my way. I love my momma! I had to finish a photography shoot for the cover of this week’s Crimson Arts, so I ended up staying at the Crimson all day Thursday, for part of Friday, and for a while on Saturday and Sunday in order to finish up the cover with my fellow exec, Dean. Here are some behind the scenes shots!

Dean photographing one of our models in The Crimson

 

Our completed cover!

 

It was a really fun assignment for The Crimson that Dean and I got to run entirely, from conception to final product, which was printed yesterday! Many thanks to all of my models/friends for their pretty faces (:

Now that I’ve covered some exciting things in my past, we can look to the exciting thing in the future: this summer, I will be going to Paris in the Harvard Summer Study Abroad!! I was accepted about a week ago, from a pool of many applicants, and will be able to get a jumpstart on my potential path as a Romance Languages and Literatures concentrator! Nothing could be more exciting than spending my summer in the City of Love (and blogging about it while I’m at it). Now all I need is for my grants to be approved, something I’ll know in about a month. By that time, I’ll be in a House, have my summer planned out, and be preparing for my trip to LA with my fellow CUPSI Slam Poetry members. Wow! The future is pretty exciting in general, but even more exciting when you’re at Harvard.

Thanks for reading, and happy Thursday.

-Reid

 

 

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Psychedelic Psouls

February 8, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by shannon | 3 comments

This weekend I had a birthday, and even though the week is already halfway over, I’m still feeling happy.  My friends threw a sorta-surprise birthday party at midnight, which included this groovy cake with psychedelic colors:

When I first came to Harvard as a fresh freshman, I had no idea if I would find real friends and relationships in college.  I was hoping for the best, but that first year of college is pretty socially demanding and hard to navigate, as any college-kid you know can probably confirm, and we were all more concerned with making friends than with keeping them.  During those first months of school, everyone had a ton of “friends.”  But while we were bouncing between room parties and study groups and sports practices and formals, the substance and mettle of those relationships hadn’t been tested yet.

The last three and a half years have been full of fluctuations for me.  I studied abroad in Paris last fall, and I felt like a freshman all over again when I came back to campus in the spring.  Then there are the natural ebbs and flows of friend-groups; for example, in field hockey off-seasons, I don’t see my teammates nearly as often.  Even though most of us long for relational consistency, I think that friend fluxes are a natural (and sometimes inevitable) part of life.  But on Saturday night, as I looked around at my closest friends, I felt so blessed and full to the brim.  To the casual onlooker, I was just shoveling rainbow cake into my mouth, but on the inside, I was thinking: the people in this room are all people I love.

I’m so grateful I can write that sentence before I graduate, and mean it.

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Figuring it Out: Post-Shopping Daze

January 27, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 4 comments

You know those days where sometimes things just fall apart? I was having that pretty much for a week. Sounds worse than it is… I’m really referring to my once-thought-to-be-set-in-stone class schedule, which is now completely switched around.

 

I started with my hope to cross-register and take a class at the Harvard Kennedy School, Food & Agribusiness. Note the picture above from the Kennedy School… they have an affinity for quirky floors there I suppose.

 

Turns out my class was nowhere to be found because it didn’t start until mid-march, a half-semester class. That won’t do. A so starts the long chain of moving, and shopping, and disliking, and moving, and shopping new classes.

 

Four hours to go till our Study Card detailing our course choices are do, but I think I figured it out, with classes one may more than I cared for, but another interesting food course to do research in:  American Food, A Global History.

 

My second choice that got run out was a History of Science, Machines and Human Nature course. Any class that starts out an introduction with a clip from The Matrix sounds awesome to me! Bladerunner, AI, I-Robot, all assignments for the course. Even the view (see below) from the fourth floor of the Science Center where the class is was persuasive.

 

Note the reflection on the glass window…

Alas, sometimes things just don’t work out (i.e., no history of computer course because another put a discussion section in the way). But with Friday upon us I can feel little reason to worry (except the sudden need to run out and find the cheapest books to buy….).

 

Tonight is the first in semester for senior social gatherings: a series event put on during the last semester for seniors featuring discounts of food, lots of friends, and everything from games to live music. I’m excited to see all my friends again and relax. I saw a lot of them, but not all, last weekend when we trekked by bus to Allston for Korean Food (btw. do try Bibimbap in a hot stone if you haven’t, so delicious!) for my friend’s birthday—great times! We ended the night back in Harvard square at a favorite restaurant, also the location for the first senior social.

 

But most of all, what I’m looking forward to on the next few Friday nights is some free s’mores, hot chocolate, and ice skating right inside Harvard! Above is a picture of the new erected (temporary) ice rink by the science center… can’t wait to try it out!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

~Natalie

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Wintersession 101: Fun in the Snow

January 20, 2012 in Alumni Blogs by npadilla | 1 comment

So apologies to begin with for missing out last week on posting: it was a busy week trying to get packed up from California and move back to campus in Boston. But I’m back now and will be making a particularly detailed post to make-up for it because it’s been a particularly busy (but fun!) week.

 

This week we saw our first two snow falls since Halloween, luckily nothing too heavy but gives a nice winter-feel to the barren trees. Trudging through the windy days, Harvard campus finally saw the return of many students to campus for the week long Wintersession.

 

Wintersession is a great, recently invented opportunity for students to come back to campus a week early to participate in a number of activities, some free or quite discounted. Everything from a one-day ski trip to a TV script writing class (taught by Carlton Cuse, Harvard Alum and scriptwriter of Lost, aka. Greatest drama show ever). I was lucky enough to participate in some great events that I know will be extremely useful as I move forward towards graduating and living on my own.

The first was a weeklong(-ish) afternoon Personal Finance Program set-up by the Harvard University Employees Credit Union. The subjects covered each of the four weekdays were Financial Budgeting and Planning, Personal Credit, Personal Insurance and Taxes, and Investing.

 

After a continental breakfast (much needed coffee and bagels at 9:30am), we received lectures from experts on personal finance as well as practice making our own budgets, choosing insurance plans, and credit cards among others. The information on personal credit was of particular interest as I’m currently looking into starting to build my credit now, as was the investing day for potential use in the future.

 

One more of the career oriented side, I participated in three different events put on by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) and the Office of Career Services (OCS) oriented towards understanding jobs in food and wine. These events were led by Harvard alum Cathy Huyghe, wine-writer and contributor to WGBH—part of NPR and the Public Broadcasting for Boston.

The first event was an evening on wine writing where we learned to understand all the sensory aspects to wine (including sight, texture, taste, small) and history to allow us to write about wine more creatively. After my experience on the wine tasting tour in Santa Barbara, this was a great way to integrate the skills I learned in sensory description of wine into creative writing. Of all the wines tasted that night I found my favorite to be this Argentinean Malbec that elicited a strongly smoky smell and brought forth an interesting history of how foodways changes with cultural adaptation (Malbec being originally a French grape).

 

The next day was an amazing experience. For the first time I took the commuter rail from Harvard Square to Concord, MA where we were led on a tour of recently opened restaurant by HBS alum (Ian Calhoun) and his partner, 80 Thoreau. Carolyn Johnson (former Chef-de-Cuisine at Rialto) is the head chef for this quaint upscale restaurant on the second story of the station, overlooking small shops and quite streets. Calhoun and his partner Vincent Vela were incredible informative and friendly in telling all of us about how to open a restaurant and what its like running a business. My own future endeavors I hope one day will lead me towards opening a restaurant/bar and the information I learned was enlightening.

 

After that we proceed back to Harvard Office of Career Services for the Harvard Food and Wine Internship and Job fair. There were a number of interesting opportunities I look forward to applying to in the next few weeks both during school and after. I’ll keep you updated as the career moves proceed. For now, I’ll enjoy the first days of snow with the last free weekend before classes start.

 

~Natalie

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JFK –> LAX

January 12, 2012 in Reid's Blog by Reid | 2 comments

It’s been a while since I’ve updated everyone on my life. The 30th, I was in New Hampshire with my family, doing a little snowshoeing and reuniting with my crazy relatives. The 5th, I was flying from JFK to LAX, happily squished between an old Italian man and a snoring jetsetter. Now that I’ve been in the land of sunshine for a week, I suppose it’s time to write an entry!

Christmas was, of course, excellent. I received a UKULELE from my stepdad and my mom, which was awesome, and a lovely plane ticket to Los Angeles from my father. (Awesome again? Yes.) After the celebrations, I said goodbye to my mom, little sister, stepdad, dog, and cat and headed off to NYC with my other sister to visit our father. (Enough family for ya?) The ride was smooth, and we arrived in Connecticut in time for dinner with my grandmother. It was great to see the other side of my family, and although I missed Vermont’s snow, I was excited to get into the city for a few days. Here’s my “travel guide.”

 

NYC in 36ish Hours

Dining:

  • Penang: My sister and I went to lunch here with her Oberlin field hockey teammates. Start with the Roti Canai as an appetizer, have the spicy shrimp noodles for a main course, and obviously go somewhere else for pastries.)
  • Sugar Cafe: This is where you should get dessert. If you like fudgey brownies, this is the place to go. It’s a skinny cafe, much longer than it is wide, and provides the perfect munching atmosphere. Or, take the sweets to go and hop on the subway.
  • Pinkberry: JUST KIDDING, don’t go here. If you go to any chain in NYC, shame on you. There are tons of places (that I obviously didn’t have time to go to) which are delicious and more fun than any froyo chain could ever hope to be.

Lodging:

  • Stay with your grandparents in Connecticut. If you don’t have any grandparents who live there, find someone else’s.

Activities:

  • Photography: New York City is full of tourists, and what better way to blend in than to tote your Nikon along? You may come home with such pictures as this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

ooohsparklez

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Go Shopping: see above.
  • Participate in an Occupy Wallstreet protest: Although I have many friends who are anti-occupy anything, I’m not. My sister and I ended up in Grand Central with about 100 other people, and we documented/protested the National Defense Authorization Act. (Look it up. You may wish to protest after reading what it is.)
  • Visit Rudy’s Guitar Center: If you’re at all interested in guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, etc, this is the place to be. Also, John Mayer was playing guitars in the uptown location for theentire day…the day before I visited. I’ll be back, though, because I left my guitar to be humidified, as it has totally dried up in Canaday this semester.

COOL. So NYC was awesome, per usual, but on the fifth I started a new adventure in the City of Angels. Read on for the exciting bit.

 

LA

I’ve been here for a whole week, visiting my GREAT friend Georgie, and staying in her house in the urban sprawl. I cannot think of a city more physically different than New York– it goes on forever, buildings are generally low (except for in downtown), it’s always fair weather (as opposed to the extremes of NYC), everyone drives, and there’s not really a subway system (earthquakes, you know). However, the fashionistas, musicians, actors, and the like can be found comfortably (or uncomfortably) residing in either city; they’re known for similar arts. Needless to say, I love LA and NYC equally, but this weather is the perfect break from the cold. (Yeah, it’s 73 and sunny right now.) Here’s a photo-essay of the highlights of my trip, including captions.

Silverlake is the home of hipsters, which means Intelligensia Coffee and cool laundromats.

 

If LA isn't known for its street art, it should be.

 

Vermont Avenue is home to the VT Restaurant, which sports a sign that says "Barre, VT"…interesting choice of towns, eh?

 

LA, birthplace of American Apparel.

 

In Little Armenia, you will find Harvard Boulevard and Harvard Preschool, the secret to acceptance.

 

Street art is so popular there are lines that stretch around the block, just to see a gallery.

 

 

That's Georgie, those are French fries. Best ones I've had here? At The Standard, an artsy hotel.

 

This is what your building could look like.

 

Check out the city! No, it's not that small–the high rises are just in downtown, and the rest of LA spreads out as far as the eye can see.

 

The City of Angels is also the City of Dreams. Whether or not they're broken is left up for debate.

 

Venice Beach, right on the edge of the city, is an awesome place to people-watch…because of the other bizarre people roaming about.

 

At Venice, you can find many a skateboarder. There's no place like empty pools.

 

Be forewarned: if carrying a ukulele on the beach, one might break into an impromptu concert. (Yup, datz me!)

 

The Santa Monica Pier — Gorgeous views, right near the city.

 

The End of Rt 66!

 

Obviously, LA has some downsides, one being the danger of eating seafood, due to pollution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s all for now. Next time I post, I’ll be back on campus for Speak Out Loud Wintersession workshop!

 

Until then,

-Reid

 

 

 

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Falalala Finals

December 15, 2011 in Reid's Blog by Reid | Permalink

Hello!

Sorry that I’m posting so late at night…I’m at home (!) and was busy today with family things. However, I just got off campus yesterday, so I do have some stories from this past week. It’s been full of exams, and although that’s the title of my post, I wouldn’t like to focus on that aspect. Oh, also, congratulations to the Early Accepted Class of ’16! WOOHHOOO! (Around this time last year, I was moping because I wasn’t accepted into my first choice, and thank my lucky stars for that, because I ended up here!)

 

So what am I going to talk about? FOOD. Yes, sorry, I know I talk about that a lot, but finals brings a lot of late nights and stress, and thus I spent a large portion of my week eating. The first item on my list: Instant Noodles.

 

THE INSTANT NOODLE STORY

Part I: The P.Set Pad Thai

Once upon a time there was this really, really hungry Freshman who did not have the money nor the motivation to order take-out from The Kong. In the spirit of independence/thrift, she asked her mother for a gift of Dr. McDougall’s Asian noodle bowls which were, to her surprise, delicious. This girl used to pour boiling water from her roommate’s electric kettle into the noodle bowl and suffer for eight long minutes as she waited for it to cook and tried to finish her problem set. Eventually, she ate the noodles (pad thai, kung pao, and soy ginger being her favorites) and finished the p.set in no time! This really helped her get through all that review for LPSA, which she really hoped she passed.

Part II: The Canaday Kung Pao

A few days passed, and money for noodles was getting short. The Freshman was in despair, so she sent out a quick post to the Harvard Marketplace Facebook page, which may or may not have looked EXACTLY LIKE THIS:

Within the hour, hundreds of messages came pouring in. One struck her in particular; a boy in ‘B’ entryway of Canaday desired this spicy ramen, and was willing to pay CASH on the spot! She couldn’t resist, so she clad herself in sweatpants, sweatshirt, and knock-off Uggs, hefted the giant box of ramen, and marched across Canaday courtyard. There, she found the residents of B entryway salivating, waiting for that delish gift; they exchanged money and she galloped home, happy to provide better noodles for her little family. The End.

 

THE APPLE PIE STORY

One day, this same girl was really craving pie. She’d just gotten out of the Crimson’s Basement, where she had been editing photos for an hour, and nothing could prepare her for an exam better than pie. But where to get pie at 10 pm on a Sunday night? Nowhere. She paced back and forth in her dorm room, until her eyes fell upon a jar of cinnamon on her desk, as if there by magic (why else would it be there?). She threw open her fridge and, to her delight, she found an apple! Luckily, her roommates happened to have caramel, so she knew what was in store– a makeshift apple pie! Here are the steps of exactly how she made this dorm-room delicacy:

1. Cut apple!

 

2. Put Apples in Bowl!

 

3. Put caramel on apples!

 

4. Sprinkle with cinnamon!

 

5. Ogle the vision.

 

6. Microwave!

 

7. Om nom nom….

 

The Freshman continued her night, content and full, ready to take on the scary finals. The End.

 

THE PIZZA STORY

It was late at night, and this Freshman was hanging out with her amazing friend, having finished watching an embarrassingly-stupid comedy on Megavideo. Their stomachs rumbled simultaneously, and they glanced at each other, deciding it was probably best to get food. But where? This amazing friend suggested Noch’s, indubitably the best pizza joint in Cambridge. As they were about to leave, she remembered that Scoutmob, a cool site with lots of great deals, had vouchers for ONE FREE SLICE of Noch’s pizza! They gleefully emailed themselves the code onto their smartphones/printed out the vouchers and skipped down past Mount Auburn. There, they found artichoke pizza, tomato basil pizza, and some hilarious owners. They ate happily and returned to Canaday to enjoy their last night together before break, stomachs silent. The End.

 

THE SUSHI STORY

The Freshman and her roommates decided they needed to go out to dinner before leaving for their incredibly looooonnngggg Winter Break. One of them suggested sushi, and the rest were quick to accept the offer. They all trucked down to the Sushi joint next to iHop, ordered “Crazy Spicy Tuna,” “Dragon Rolls,” “The Alligator Roll,” and many more deliciously-named/tasting food. As they discussed the month ahead, their families, and finals, they gobbled up the delicious nori rolls. All too soon it was over, and the four girls separated, this time for good, as our heroine departed the next day. The End.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed those short stories, which may or may not have all happened on the same night to me. I hope everyone else at Harvard has survived their Finals, which were really rough, and have moved on to their cheery homes, where they can enjoy lights, warmth, and good cheer. Signing off for now (:

-Reid

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