Winter was long. This semester is long. Most of campus pretty much feels like this right now:
That’s because it’s about that time in the semester, and in the year, where doing anything feels virtually impossible. Schoolwork, extracurriculars, even socializing — frankly, it’s all just turning into a pain in the ass. Let’s face it: we’ve been cooped up on campus for far too long, and the cabin fever is getting weird. It’s officially time to escape. So drop your books, grab your most bad-ass sunglasses, and GTFO of Harvard. Not sure where to go? Then check out one of these cheap, easy, and totally refreshing options.
1. Run Away
Literally, run away – down a river path, that is. For the past five months you’ve probably been pounding away on a treadmill in the MAC. This is not a fun way to exercise. So instead, now that the snow has melted away and the cold is tentatively withdrawing, get your pale chicken legs outside and cruising along the paths that line the Charles for MILES in either direction. There are soft dirt trails right next to the water for Birkenstock-style people who want the full, transcendent nature-run experience, and paved paths for the rest of us, who would probably trip over the embedded tree roots in the dirt.
HACK: Running toward the MIT bridge is the most common way to do a river run, but there’s also a trail going the other direction that plunges into a weird little thicket of wood about a mile out. Running through there with the highway hidden and only the sound of your feet for company is the quickest, easiest way to escape the suffocating stress of campus.
2. Take a hike
With the Outing Club, I mean. Now that it’s reasonably warm and (hopefully) not snowing, the Outing Club is running trips like every weekend out of this damned bubble and into the wild world of New Hampshire – well, not that wild but it definitely beats Cambridge. You don’t have to be a professional mountain climber either – the first time I hiked with them was the first time I ever really hiked, and I spent the whole eight miles wondering why people thought hauling your ass up a mountain and not showering was fun. Now, I’ve grown to love it, and the little escape it provides. The best part is that the hikes are wicked cheap. For the cost of three coffees, you can spend an entire day in a completely different world. And let’s face it: you would’ve bought those three coffees that day anyways.
ALSO: It may sound crazy, but getting on a hike now in early spring while it’s still pretty wintery up there will make you appreciate/love the kinda-warmish weather here a zillion times more. And who doesn’t like loving things?
3. Get Marooned on an Island
So no, don’t actually get marooned. I just said that because it sounded like a nice way to escape. But what you should do is go to one of the Boston Harbor Islands, to do absolutely nothing but lay on the grass, watch the waves, and feel the freedom that comes with spending a day where there’s literally nowhere to charge your computer. If you have someone special, you can drag them along for the world’s most friggen adorable date. If you don’t, you can bring a book and pretend to read it while you breathe in the ocean air and the sun and remember how annoying dates are (because you have to talk to them instead of focusing on nothing).
FOOD: If you bring a bagged lunch from the dhall you can have yourself a nice little picnic. S’cute it gives me giggles.
4. Be a good person and stuff.
If you ever feel like the time you spend here goes into a vacuum of uselessness, then you’re probably being a good student. But sometimes, in order to gain some perspective on life, you need to step back and be a good person too. An easy way to do this is to join one of PBHA’s once-weekly volunteering programs. Though it’s mid-semester, plenty still have open spots for volunteers. Most programs work with underprivileged kids or adults, and take a three-hour commitment, one day a week. Those hours, which you would probably spend watching Netflix or hitting your head on a wall (or something), can be weirdly transformative in the most cliché, perfect way possible. You are living and working for something greater than an endless stream of psets, and leaving this place for a few hours once a week is just the escape you need to know that.
BONUS: The kids in all of the afterschool programs do a lot of weird things and make great snap stories.
5. Get Mary Lou’s.
Mary Lou’s? What’s Mary Lou’s? You’re probably asking yourself that right now (if you’re not I see you, South Shore MA for #4lyfe). Unfortunately for you, I can’t answer the question ‘what’s Mary Lou’s’ because words can’t answer ‘what’s Mary Lou’s’. I suppose, if you were being really really really daft, you could say it’s coffee. But it is so much more than that. It’s like every thirteen-thirty year old girl’s dream, poured over ice into a pink and black coffee cup with a hot pink straw. It’s sugary and caffeine-filled and more delicious and cheaper than Starbucks. It is literally HEAVEN. A perfectly sized, reasonably priced, drinkable escape. All’s you have to do to get it is pop in some headphones, hop on the T (to Braintree), and meander a sunny, spring mile to the closest Mary Lou’s Coffee. I suggest ordering an Iced Peanut Butter with skim milk and sugar, or a Funky Fanabla if you’re fancy. The. Best. Escape. Ever.
BTW: Let me know if you’re going because I will totally drop everything and come with. Just saying.