06/21/2023
So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought there’d be equations and sh*t on the wall. -Good Will Hunting
My friends and I were in town for the game, a big deal for those of us in Extension because the campus visit is a treat that requires planning, plane tickets, living out of a suitcase, and figuring out the T like a local without the day-to-day practice of a local. So I think we prioritize visiting the hotspots, landmarks, and places of the on-campus student.
That’s exactly what my friends and I did over the weekend. We had dinner with the beloved Professor Bird, went to a second dinner with our cohorts, and then we went to find a Harvard bar for one last round.
That spot was Longfellows, and in the upstairs area was the Harvard pennant, a symbol that we were home. No, there were not equations on the wall, as may be the expectation, but rather it was the conversation that marked us as Ivy students- a conversation on thesis, studies, and our lives.
I have a soft spot for extension students and maybe that is because I am one. However, we come to Harvard in the middle of our adult lives rather than the beginning. And as you become an adult you find that life is not the linear path upwards that you picture in the idealistic dreams of youth. Life instead is full of highs, lows, complications, fears, victories--- life that is messy. So the extension student has a lot on their plate and maybe that is why our time on campus together becomes these special memories that we look back on in our academic journey.
So I encourage all students to find a Harvard bar and be there with your Harvard friends. This is a special place and a special bond that we all share. Maybe there is talk of formulas and sh*t, but it is the talk of life and how our studies become part of our lives that is valuable. And maybe that is the magic of the Harvard bar, not the menu offerings or libations, but the communion that is shared between friends.
-η
