Trip To Harvard

This is John Harvard. Mr. Harvard has the unimportant, yet noteworthy distinction of being the guy who donated a small chunk of change to build the first structures on what is now the campus of Harvard University. I'm applying to Harvard (among other places) for grad school, so I thought I should make a quick visit before I went to see Shewara again in Philly. I stayed at Irving House, an awesome little bed and breakfast just a few blocks from Harvard Yard. My room was ridiculously small, and also had no TV, but it was filled with lots of books for me to read. They also had a really good free breakfast, daily afternoon tea, free internet access, and free passes to some campus museums (like the world-famous Peabody Museum).

My first day, I did a little campus exploration. I went to Harvard Yard and discovered, in stark contrast to all the stereotypes, that is wan't really that pretty. Most everything was just standard red brick - no nice vines, no marble, nothing. There was also a decided lack of benches, which created quite the problem when I wanted to sit down and read between a class and my meeting. The prettiest building was the Interdenominational Church, on the south (?) side of the "New Yard."

After hitting up the Yard, I went to check out the Peabody Museum. I saw the office that was occupied by the celebrity archaeologist Gordon Willey, so I took a photo. I also saw the world's most famous piece of Maya sculpture, Lintel 24 from the site of Yaxchilan (now Chiapas, Mexico.)
It shows the king of Yaxchilan standing above his wife during a sacrifice ceremony. She is pulling a spine-covered rope through her tongue (and later her genitals). Her blood, along with that of her husband, will drip on paper which will later be burned. They will then make predictions regarding the future of the city according to what they see in the smoke made by the burning paper (my guess is they see things because they are hallucinating from the blood loss, which would have been substantial.) The coolest thing about it is that the Maya had an incredibly complex, yet specific, caldenar system, so we know the exact day this event took place: October 28, AD 709. The museum also had up a temporary exhibition of Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) altars, erected for the benefit of the souls of the victims of natural disasters. Most awesomely, one of the altars had a little dog with a sombrero. I named it Fred.

The next day I had got to attend a class taught by the man who will hopefully be my advisor if I get accepted. He was pretty awesome, and made some great points that I really agree with. After that, I got lunch (paid for by Harvard!!) with all of the Latin Americanist grad students. They were all really nice and seemingly interested in who I was, which came as something of a surprise. Some were quiet, others were kind of off the wall, but they all seemed like really interesting good friends. I tend to despise/loathe a competitive nature among students in the same department, so I see this as a very good thing.

The next day I had a meeting with Professor Tom Cummins, which went fairly well. To get to his office you have to go up these scary stairs in the Sackler Museum, one of Harvard's multiple campus museums and cultural centers. Professor Cummins is really famous in his field, but seemed really down to Earth at the same time. Our meeting was short but informative, so I felt pretty even keel when I left. He didn't exactly offer me admission to the university (but with 250 applications a year and only ten acceptances, who would), but he didn't kick me out of his office either. We'll see how it goes.

Overall, my impression of the campus was slightly pretentious, but almost too full of itself. People tend to build it up so much, yet when you are there, it really doesn't feel all that special. Harvard isn't much better of a school than any of the other Ivy League institutions like Penn or Cornell or whatever. Harvard's endowment is larger than the annual GDP of most small nations, yet you think this famous place that yields so much power culd afford better buildings and maybe some benches. Just a thought. I was going to buy a Harvard t-shirt or something, but I hate those non-Harvard folks that wear Harvard apparel as much as anyone else, so I thought it might jinx my chances. I saved the thirty bucks, and later the next day following my meeting boarded a train to go see Shewara in Philly.

More dia de los muertos photos (just for fun!):

Pointless Quiz Time!

So I took this quiz to find out what I (subconsciously) think is most important in a relationship. Apparently all things are just about equal, but intelligence triumphs! That's good, because Shewara and I are actually closet nerds, in case you hadn't noticed :)

Intelligence Intelligence is most important in a boyfriend/girlfriend. You like to be able to talk about everything that is on your mind, and if your partner can't keep up, well, you know. You are very attracted to someone who can challenge you, and make you see things in a whole new way. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com