I’ll say this upfront: I’m not about to tell you to go to office hours or take your flu shot or to get on your proctor’s good side. This bucket list will contain nothing particularly helpful, goal-advancing, or resume-building; rather, the items on this list are purely for fun, memory-making, and the fact that you can look back on your freshman year knowing you did them.
Sit with random people in the dining hall. And knock on your neighbors’ doors. And introduce yourself to people in your classes. Appreciate what an unreal opportunity freshman year is for making friends. Pretty much everywhere you go–the yard, Annenberg, Ec10 section–you’re surrounded by other freshmen. Making friends doesn’t stop after the first few weeks, either: many students make some of their best friends during second semester.
Decorate your room. While your housing is likely the smallest it will be during your time at Harvard, don’t let that stop your creativity! Take advantage of the exposed brick. Consider stacking you bookshelf on top of your desk for extra space. Take a study break with your roommates and go shopping for all the decorations like twinkle lights that you’ve envied from other people’s rooms. For some inspiration, check out the twelve best freshmen dorms here.
Hit up Harvard Square’s late night eateries. Upperclassmen brain breaks are open basically indefinitely (and are free). Tasty burger is open until 4 a.m. every night. The Hong Kong is open until 2:00 a.m. on weeknights and 3:00 a.m. on weekend nights. Pinnochio’s is open until midnight on Sunday, 1:00 a.m. Monday-Thursday, and 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Have an epic Halloween. Whether you visit the haunted houses in Salem, MA, or simply attend one of Harvard’s “Heaven and Hell” parties, make this Halloween one you’ll never forget. And consider putting thought into your costume. You could be just another girl wearing animal ears, or you could do something like pull off an amazing group costume with your roommates or one of the ideas here.
Find your study spot. Trust me, when exam season comes around you don’t want to be playing musical chairs for the last open seat with other grungy, sweatpants-wearing, overtired students in Lamont. Just about every day of reading period last year, I would go to Lamont, kidding myself that “today it won’t be as crowded.” Instead, find a place that makes you feel at home while getting your work done.
-
No credit: the Starbucks in Harvard Square by the T; Lamont; your dorm room
-
For beginners: the Starbucks in the Garage; Cabot Library in the Science Center
-
Intermediate: the Graduate School of Design Library (across from Annenberg); Gutman Library (near Radcliffe Yard)
-
Advanced: the study room at the ICA overlooking the river; cafés in Central Square, Kendall Square, or Boston (suggestions include Tatte in Kendall Square and Thinking Cup.)
Eat a non-Annenberg brunch. While I love a Veritaffle and Marshmallow Mateys as much as the next girl, every once in a while, you need something a little different. Might I suggest Zoe’s Kitchen?
Create some traditions. You can start with off campus brunch once a month if that’s your thing (see above).
Primal Scream. You’ve probably heard by now that there are three things that Harvard students must do before they graduate: peeing on the John Harvard statue, having sex in the stacks of Widener, and Primal Scream, a semesterly pre-exams tradition in which students run a lap around Harvard Yard nude. Why did I, of those three, decide to claim that you must do Primal Scream before the end of this year? It’s been said that freshman year is the best time to run the lap because you know the fewest people and thus the fewest people will see you. Also, your dorm room is ridiculously close to where you’ll be running, so you won’t be dependent upon a friend to hold your clothes– just run back to your room. Don’t want to run around naked? Just linger around at Primal Scream in nothing but your winter coat or a bathrobe. While you will have to live with the fact that you didn’t run, everyone who sees you after the lap is done will assume that you participated, and you can still instagram it. (Filter optional, coat/bathrobe recommended.)
Speaking of running, go on at least one run by the river. You can’t get to the end of your freshman year without having done this. If you’re thinking, “but you said at the beginning of this article that you wouldn’t advocate for anything good for me”, I say, one run never really helped anyone. So there.
Pull an all-nighter for absolutely no reason. Not psets or papers or partying. No, just stay up to talk to friends and so that you can reminisce on how “stupid” it was (read: what a bonding experience it was) months and years later. Extra points for seeing the sun rise or grabbing breakfast afterwards.
Harvard – Yale. You’ve probably heard by now of the great tradition that is the annual Harvard vs. Yale football game, often simply called “Harvard-Yale” or “The Game”, which even gets its own wikipedia page. More than just a sporting event, Harvard-Yale is an entire weekend of competitions, a cappella concerts, and most importantly, tons of school pride. This year’s game is at Harvard, so you’ve really got no excuse. ;)
Write your own by-graduation bucket list. For every bit of advice telling you to study more in college, there is someone who will tell you to study less. There are those that will tell you both to get off campus more and others who will tell you to experience all that Harvard has to offer, that you have the rest of your life to explore the city but only four years on a college campus. There will be some that tell you to avoid the final clubs and some who advise that it should be your goal to hit up every single one of them. Obviously, you should do what feels right to you. You’ve got a couple amazing years ahead, so decide what you want out of them, write it all down, and then hang it on your wall (it makes for a pretty great conversation-starter, too).