Wedding anniversary

15th May is Isi and my wedding anniversary. This year marked our 7th year as a married couple and I can tell you that it seems to get better with each year :)

Luckily, the sun has finally decided to come out now and again and it was dry. We started slow as usual and went into the centre of Boston to see the Mapparium... to be honest, I have no idea what it is, and on that day we did not find out, as we chose the one day of the week, where it was closed. We will come back though :)

Thinking on our feet, we decided to go and see the Harvard Campus instead. I was not sure what to expect from Harvard. The name has been built up to be so big, it can only disappoint.

Sometimes, when you go somewhere the strangest things can be seen as omens. The two endstations on the red metro line that leads to Harvard campus are Braintree and Alewife. If you consider this straight line with various stops a spectrum, would you think Harvard is closer to Braintree or Alewife?

Judging by the long list of Nobel Prize Laureates from Harvard, you would think it is closer to Braintree, but, of course, it is a university, so it is only 3 stops away from Alewife. If this can be considered a sign, it would tell me that university and the consumption of alcoholic beverages go hand in hand ;-)

So we arrive at Harvard campus and the first thing we see is a building site, not a good start in my books. Shortly after we found the office from which the free tours of the campus starts and lo and behold within a couple of minutes, we were away from the building sites and onto greenery and old houses.

The green campus of Harvard University

Before I tell you of the tour, a couple of things to bear in mind. The person giving the tour was a student who was about to graduate from Harvard and the tour was targeted at parents and their soon to be students who consider going to Harvard.

With this in mind, a couple of surprises for me. Harvard is not a big university, in fact, it is distinctly medium in size and apparently they want it this way to keep the personal touch. It was emphasised several times that the Professors want to get to know each and every one of their students during classes and in the evenings when they have dinners and so on. From the viewpoint of a professional, this sounds like quite an obligation that leaves little time for the family.

The library of Harvard University

Next surprise, Harvard assesses the income of the parents for each student and checks how much the parents can support the student. If Harvard has decided to take you on as a student, but your parents cannot support you, they will support you financially 100%.
I do not know how this works out in reality, but the sceptic in me finds this a nice touch for the parents who are looking for a caring home for their child. During the tour, Harvard was portrayed a bit like the caring father-figure (or mother figure) during your studies away from home.

Bottom line from what I heard, Harvard creates an excellent springboard for your future career by exposing you to different disciplines not just the chosen one (it is mandatory to choose one subject each from 7 different pillars like science, languages, etc.), forces you to create an extensive network by making you share dorms with people based on a preference questionnaire that you fill out to make sure you match well personality wise and if you have a special need study wise, they go out of their to fulfill it. All of this in a familiar atmosphere. I guess, they tried and tested this approach over several centuries.

During the tour, there was one anecdote that I found rather funny. In the middle of their campus, their is a statue of John Harvard, the founder, in 1638 (as it states on the plaque). The students call this statue the "Statue of 3 Lies", because

1. John Harvard did not found Harvard university,
2. The University was not founded in 1638, but in 1636 and
3. probably most importantly, the statue does not depict John Harvard :-D

All in all, it was a nice trip to see Harvard, but all in all, both Isi and I were happy that we finished our studies. We both enjoyed our time at our respective Alma Maters, and therefore it was nice to see Harvard, but I did not feel that I missed out in any way.

The Statue of Three Lies

To round off the evening, we went to have a very nice in Brookline and then went into town for another drink or so, which is when we encountered a strange peculiarity of Boston center. We wanted to see a Comedy Night in a pub, but we were not allowed in because we could not produce our ID cards. They wanted to check if we are, in fact, over 21. They were not fazed when I told them, that I am 34 years old. I showed them my German ID, my driver's licence and my Belgian resident card, but because I did not have my passport with me, they would not allow me into the room.

The Nutella Banana Chimichanga - The dessert for our wedding anniversary

Very amused by this turn of events, I asked them what their concern was and their answer was "it is standard procedure", and they assured me that they check everyone below 50 years old. This little episode showed me again that giving small minded people power is a dangerous thing. Funnily enough, in the restaurant, I had a lovely Allagash white beer and a Kentucky Bourbon beer (fermented in a Bourbon barrel) which did not even require me to produce an ID.

Instead we went to a café to have a final ice tea before we went home, where my passport was lying on the bedside stand.

Our Last Ice Teas of the evening after our young appearances prevented us from getting served in the bars of Boston